i really liked the fact that once you start reading, it's hard to put the book down. riku is the cutest thing, and ayato well. once you learn more about why he was acting so much of an asshole, you start to sympathize with him. srsly, ayato = best bf. though his actions in the beginning with riku were uncalled for... though i have to say, i loooooove the side characters. haruka and amano, omg. yes. i honestly ship haruka with riku so hard, but well.
anyways. as much as i did enjoy this, it was frustrating to read towards the end bc i felt like misao dragged this on longer than she should. plenty of times i thought, "ok lady, end this". but the ending was sweet, and it was funny how in the afterwards misao commented how this ended up being like a shoujo manga. no shit, lol!
riku is adorable, and ayato when he's not an asshole, is an amazing seme. this "bug/human" world is super interesting, and so my type. it kind of reminds of omegaverse with its caste system. misao's writing in this is really good, and the sweet, fluffy parts are hella sweet and fluffy. misao and her pings for unrequited love stories lol. definitely worth a read, especially if you've listened to the blcd.
Second volume in the Bug series. Completely different set of characters from the first volume. This is about a pair of star-crossed lovers with massive doses of miscommunications and misunderstandings, and, again, dub-con 😞. The story is tropey as hell, but it’s so well-written that I enjoyed it a lot. It reminds me of all those Taiwanese romance novels that I devoured many years ago, down to the frequent plot points where MC keeps overhearing other people discussing important private matters 😂 Their miscommunications could have been easily cleared up just by asking a question or 2. That is both irritating and so tropey that it’s hilarious. I love the characters’ growth in the second half of the story. They were eventually able to look back and realized how young and naïve they were (which makes their lack of communication skill more forgivable) and be more straightforward with each other from now on. It’s nice to learn about the ecology of the endangered parasitic butterfly, Niphanda fusca, but also depressing to know about its hurtling toward extinction from Wikipedia.