Tags: Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life, School Life, Josei
Sub-Tags: Misunderstandings, Second Chances, Cute
Cover Illustration for Volume 2
Synopsis:
After Viola faked amnesia and Phillip tried to trick her into a romance, they’re finally in a real relationship. Now, in order to become a suitable duchess once they marry, Viola must learn to fight her discomfort of socializing with the other nobles. Phillip also takes up an appointment as a guide for a foreign princess. Viola knows it’s just a job, but she can’t help suspecting her fiancé of infidelity when she sees just how close they’re getting…and Little Vio repeating Phillip’s confession about Luna serves as the final nail in the coffin! Follow the needy heir and the oblivious heiress as they tangle with yet more misunderstandings in pursuit of their happily ever after! (Source: J-Novel Club)
A Disturbance in the Happily Ever After!
Following the clear up of a host of misunderstandings, Fake It to Break It’s sequel finds that Viola’s amnesiac adventures aren’t quite over yet.
Kicking off exactly where we left the blossoming lovebirds last time, the series continues, this time with the misunderstanding of mixed-up feelings resolved. Now, the two of them are free to enjoy each other’s company and get to know one another properly, that is, until a new problem reaches their door. With a party of foreign princesses visiting and Phillip in charge of their care, new rumours start to swirl that Phillip’s conduct towards them could be considered more than just friendly.
In an unsurprising change-up to proceedings, the sequel of this misunderstandings fantasy rom-com sees Viola in the firing line, attempting to fight for her engagement. With the possibility of Phillip’s fidelity in question, this arc brings Viola’s feelings into the spotlight.
It seems that ever since her little amnesiac stunt, her feelings for Phillip have been quietly growing, making the rumour reveal a rather heavy-hitting event for the series protagonist. Thankfully, these feelings are also what saves their relationship, as she’s able to look beyond the circumstantial evidence and believe the truth of Phillip’s words.
In addition, the latest volume provides more than just misunderstandings. Adding to their more settled relationship at this point in the series, this volume provides ample downtime from the misunderstandings plot. Several cute dates take place throughout volume two’s story. Moreover, the author gives ample time to the wedding and to their happy life afterwards.
Fake It to Break It’s second volume makes for a fine albeit superfluous addition to the series. Tying loose ends and showing that Viola’s love for Phillip equals his for hers provides all the necessary ingredients for the epilogue’s happy end, even if this was already satisfied by the previous volume’s ending.
Fake It to Break It Vol. 2
My Rating: 6/10
If you like what you read and what I do, why not consider supporting me through Ko-Fi. Any donation helps keep this site up and keep me writing.
You can read the second volume of this series digitally on the J-Novel Club website.
Tags: Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life, School Life, Josei
Sub-Tags: Misunderstandings, Second Chances, Cute
Cover Illustration for Volume 1
Synopsis:
Viola wants nothing more than to break off her dull arranged engagement with Phillip. He’s the son of a duke, and Viola is thoroughly convinced she’s an unfitting future wife for a man of his station. Worst of all, he seems utterly uninterested in her. So when Viola is in a carriage accident, she takes the opportunity to fake amnesia in hopes of getting out of her betrothal. Little does she know Phillip is also an opportunist, and he takes advantage of the situation by feeding the “amnesiac” Viola a tale she can scarcely believe—that they’ve been passionately in love this entire time! Now trapped in her own lie, Viola is forced to play along. Can this curious couple outwit each other into happiness? Or will their bizarre web of deception get them both caught? (Source: J-Novel Club)
A Lie that Leads to a World of Love!
Liar, Liar
Featuring lies, love and truth, my latest review sees me return to the J-Novel Heart catalogue and their latest title – Fake It to Break It!
The story finds its protagonist, Viola, at an impasse. Stuck in a seemingly loveless engagement, she’ll do anything to find a way out. Luckily for her, the chance arises after she’s caught up in a carriage accident. Taking advantage of the situation, Viola pretends to have amnesia as an easy way to escape her engagement without repercussions. She is blindsided, however, when her fiancée also uses this as an opportunity. No longer dull and uninteresting, he regales the amnesiac Viola of how much they love each other, forcing her to find out the truth.
Whilst this series won’t win any awards for originality, the story is solid and written entertainingly and engagingly. Mixing up themes of misunderstanding and second chances, it finds the two leads locked in a battle to keep their versions of reality alive. As the two investigate to find the truth, they become closer to each other than ever before. Perhaps even realising that love can blossom between them where once there was nothing.
Parroting the Truth
Key to the series’ entertainment value comes from its deuteragonists, Viola and Phillip. Viola brings the comedic value to the partnership as her constant lies about her amnesia bring with it a house of cards. Not naturally gifted in the art of deception, she often only manages to blunder through tense situations. Phillip, on the other hand, brings along the intrigue. After Viola’s amnesiac event, Phillip undergoes a sudden personality change that forces Viola to investigate. Slowly picking apart his tangled web, she discovers that his newfound feelings may be older and deeper than she ever realised.
Both of their lies, however, are brought hilariously crashing down in no small part thanks to an overly talkative parrot. Whilst this brings with it its own convoluted misunderstanding from the past, this doesn’t stop the two blossoming lovebirds as they move to accept each other’s failings.
With all the misunderstandings put to rest, the last parts of the volume finds their relationship moving into a fluffier dimension. In a move that’ll likely have any fluffy rom-com enjoyer jumping for joy, the end of the story sees the sugar piled on for a conclusive happy ending.
They say two wrongs don’t make a right, but sometimes, two lies do. Solid and entertaining, Fake It to Break It makes for a great addition to the J-Novel Heart line-up, with a foray into misunderstandings and second chances.
Fake It to Break It Vol. 1
My Rating: 8.5/10
If you like what you read and what I do, why not consider supporting me through Ko-Fi. Any donation helps keep this site up and keep me writing.
You can read the first volume of this series digitally on the J-Novel Club website.
Tags: Fantasy, Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life, Josei, Villainess
Cover Illustration for Volume 2
Synopsis:
Rachel Ferguson is living it up behind bars! Prison life suits her, and she spends her days relaxing, napping, and tormenting Prince Elliott. But though she relishes in her newfound freedom—and in watching Elliott fume—she decides it’s time to pack it in and crush the prince before he explodes! Find out how Rachel concludes her dungeon vacation in Prison Life is Easy for a Villainess: Volume 2! (Source: J-Novel Club)
A Curtain Call on Rachel’s Prison Life Vacation.
After the fantastic first volume of this villainess prison comedy, the concluding volume continues its hilarious antics as Rachel ramps up her campaign of torment against the prince and his allies.
Everything I loved about the first volume continues here as Rachel remains as hedonistic and sociopathic as before. Her life of leisure is causing no end of trouble for those at the palace and as the King and Queen are likely to return any day she has focused her campaign on the remaining members of the princes’ clique and the women of noble society. Rachel isn’t alone in participating in her twisted joy as she’s upped the ante by inviting other players to the game. Martina, Sykes’ fiancé has returned and she’s none too pleased about what her fiancée and his friends have been up to. Furthermore, this volume introduces us to Rachel’s prized pet, Haley, a very naughty monkey who can’t help but get himself and others into trouble.
Not everything is as plain sailing for Rachel as it was in the first volume. She ends up almost meeting her match on a couple of occasions throughout the volume. Even behind those iron prison bars, Rachel’s unable to escape the lessons to become a future queen. Duchess Somerset and Countess Marlborough are a force to be reckoned with and can even put the fear of god into Rachel with their smack ass first ask questions later approach. Rachel will also have numerous fires to put out due to the bereaved woman’s society who have sauntered into the capital. Less a society for talk and more for murder, they specialise in killing fiancées who have done their significant others dirty, which is a big problem for Rachel as she wants to get revenge on Elliott herself.
I think the best theme this volume showcases is just how reprehensible and too far gone some of the characters are in this series to ever change. Whether it be Elliott’s general idiocy and ignorance, Rachel’s sociopathic nature or Martina’s penchant for violence, the volume seems to come to the thinking that if you can’t change them the best thing to do is to put them somewhere out of harm’s way or in Rachel’s case put her in a position that in the long term would do good for the country. The only exception to this rule and a character before this volume I’d never have thought to root for is, Margaret. She’s a product of her environment and has had to crawl her way up from a prostitute’s daughter to eventually getting the attention of the future prince. Unlike the rest of the cast, she isn’t spiteful or cruel, just trying to get to a comfortable position in life.
As much as I love this series, it always had to end at some point given the time limit set by the King and Queen’s holiday. The final part of the series sees the actions of their overall judgement on the situation. It’s a situation where nobody wins, Elliott seems to have gotten off lightly as the lord of a failing estate only for him to be joined by Martina, Rachel is forced back into becoming queen and Margaret faces the worst punishment of all as Rachel’s human sacrifice and punching bag. A truly fitting end for a series full of genuinely awful people.
I should note that the one thing I’m not a massive fan of is Martina’s character and her actions throughout the volume. She’s extraordinarily violent and takes a lot of it out on her fiancé, lots of domestic abuse that generally ends with Sykes in the hospital with numerous horrific injuries. I feel making it such a comedic thing within the volume is inherently problematic and in bad taste.
Now that Prison Villainess has come to a close, I truly can’t write enough about how much I’ve enjoyed the series overall. It has a wonderful sense of humour and often had me laughing out loud during both volumes. I truly loved every second of the series and I’m glad it had the conclusion it did given just how irredeemable its cast members are. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes villainess series and is looking for a fresh and unique twist on the genre.
Prison Villainess Vol. 2
My Rating: 9/10
I hope you enjoyed my review and would love to see what you thought of the volume in the comments!
You can read the pre-pub version of the second volume or purchase the first volume digitally from the J-Novel Club website.
Tags: Comedy, Fantasy, Drama, Slice of Life, Josei, Villainess
Cover Illustration for Volume 1
Synopsis:
Get ready for a high-energy prison comedy! Prince Elliott is engaged to Rachel, the daughter of a duke, but he has his eyes set on someone else. He decides to break off their engagement by accusing Rachel of a crime she didn’t commit and throwing her in prison. Little does he know, Rachel has already heard about his plans…and she is thrilled! To her, prison sounds like a fun vacation with no lessons and no annoying servants. She is more than ready to laze about and live the slow life! Surrounded by all the comforts she could want, Rachel thoroughly enjoys everything the dungeon has to offer while tormenting the prince however she pleases! Her free and merry prison life is just beginning!
The Lion, The Witch and the Absolute Audacity of this Villainess!
(This review will contain spoilers)
J-Novel Club have been killing it recently with some of the villainess novels they’ve announced over the past year. Prison Life is Easy for a Villainess, is one of their titles from the latest round of licensing announcements and its easy for me to say that their streak remains unbroken when it comes to their great villainess titles!
Starting as any novel in the villainess sub-genre would, the titular villainess, Rachel, has come face to face with an engagement annulment/condemnation event at the hands of Prince Elliott. This, is where things derail in every possible way leading to some of the funniest scenes that I’ve come across in light novels so far. As it turns out, Rachel, is a legitimate psychopath with the only thing keeping her in line was the necessity of keeping up appearances as the Crown Prince’s fiancée. Now, with the help of her secret underground organisation, she can finally live a life of hedonistic relaxation whilst annoying the ever living hell out of her captures, all from the safety of her prison cell.
Rachel can be a real terror at times (understatement of the year!), she really will do anything in order to ensure her life of luxury, much to the chagrin of the Prince and his motley crew who are really trying (and failing) to punish her. These start with small things at first, lots of canned food and some furnishings to make the cell comfortable and quickly snowballs from there. Suddenly, we start to see a nice fancy bed being added to the cell, art supplies and a mural, then we move to bigger things from holding a barbecue and an entire party in the prison to managing to swap places with her most trusted maid in order to have a sleepover with friends and see a play. All the while, the Prince and his crew are being lead around by the nose trying to figure out how Rachel is able to pull all of this off. This is all done to great comedic effect, its always wonderful to read these insane escapades whilst Rachel thinks of these actions as the most normal thing in the entire world. I still can’t get over how she just planned an escape to see a play and to have a sleepover trusting everything to her maid Anne, who’s skills are great but just don’t come up to Rachel’s level leading to a number of problems for the females of noble society that could have hilarious implications for years to come.
Rachel’s actions do not merely stretch towards ensuring her own lavish lifestyle, as she still has an interest in pulling her more questionable “pranks” and getting her own style of revenge. Her pranks do cause some hilarious mayhem as well as cause the untimely death of a nobles’ prized duck. A truly unfortunate victim of her merry whims. Her revenge for the Prince and is crew follows more along the lines of causing their downfall and teaching their naïve selves on how the world actually works. In the first volume, we can already see the troubles that the Prince is having with his workload and high society life and how Margaret is a prime target for Rachel as her own personal punching bag. However, it is the villainess’ brother George who has to face the brunt of her schemes by the end of this volume. As it turns out, George has many embarrassing secrets and certain unhealthy obsessions about his sister. To make matters worse, this is revealed whilst his fiancée, Alexandra, is waiting in the shadows. Looks like he’ll have to step back in line and into his sisters and his fiancée’s good books in order for his world not to be turned upside down.
Rachel’s character is possibly one of the biggest selling points of the light novel. She’s equal parts psychotic and intelligent, which has lead to her being the defacto strongest noble within the country perhaps even more so that the royalty themselves. In order to get everything she has ever wanted and to ensure her plans always succeed, she even created her own secret organisation known as the “Black Cats” who are almost exactly like the secret governments you hear about in conspiracy theories. They are literally everywhere and hold high positions in not only her own countries government but also foreign countries as well. The Prince and his faction have an important role to play as well, they are all in their own ways naïve and haven’t quite worked out the horrors that await them beyond their own close circle of friends and allies. It’ll be interesting to see what types of revenge Rachel has in store for them over the course of the next volume.
To really add depth to the story, the author, Hibiki Yamazaki, has gone out of their way in order to build the world around the characters. Beyond the main cast, we as readers get to experience Rachel’s actions from some of the characters on the outside e.g., her parents and the King and Queen. They know exactly what she’s like and what actions she’ll likely take and have chosen the sanest approach – run away as far as possible and wait for everything to blow over. There are also quite a few flashback sequences thrown in to show just how much of a terror Rachel can be. Most of these incidents have cause extreme ptsd and amnesiac effects on their victims, from the Prince unable to remember Rachel trying her damnedest to kill him to all the traumatic experiences that George has had to put up with. Rachel has been and always will be an unrelenting psychopath!
Prison Life is Easy for a Villainess, is a fantastic comedic play upon the villainess sub-genre. Brimming with great characters and believable yet audacious acts, it’ll leave readers rolling around with laughter as you wonder what exactly will Rachel do next? I really enjoyed this volume and am truly looking forward to seeing just how things develop in the final volume whose prepub will likely start in the next couple of weeks.
My Rating
10/10
The prepub for this series is currently available to read via a subscription on J-Novel Club. The first volume of the series will be officially released on February 23rd.
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