Contains Chapters 8 - 11: I am really enjoying this series so far & seeing how all the characters interact with each other as well as seeing how each character develops throughout the series. This volume allows us to better understand Ando & he is becoming a favorite character of mine more & more with each chapter that I read, especially after learning more about his past. ( )

This series is growing on me with each volume. The sidebars were less distracting for me in this volume as well. I particularly like that Io Sakisaka shared her creative process with readers, Many readers/fans are young unpublished authors who will value Sakisaka's sharing. ( )

The first volume of this series was so-so, but the second was fabulous. Sadly, this one took the series back to so-so.

My biggest problem with this series is that Ninako and Ren, the series' main couple (unless Sakisaka decides to do something completely shocking and pair Ninako up with Ando), don't really excite me. Sakisaka thankfully abandoned the first volume's set-up, which had Ninako believing absolutely everything anyone told her, but, even so, Ninako still isn't the brightest crayon in the box. She adjusts to new information really easily, but this volume featured a couple misunderstandings on her part that should have been easy to avoid.

Ren continues to be a mystery. He's been shown to be excellent at reading people, and yet he seems to be incapable to examining his own feelings, or he'd have realized what everyone else already knows, that he probably likes Ninako as more than just a friend. At some point, he's going to have to have some kind of an epiphany and make a decision. Either that, or Ninako will have to choose to move on and stop pining over him.

It's frustrating that, so far, readers have gotten a better look at what's going on in Ando's head than in Ren's. I need more than that in order to root for Ninako and Ren and, three volumes in, Sakisaka still hasn't given me much. I'm still rooting more for Ando than I am for Ren, if only because I feel like I know Ando better. This volume even gave Ando a few more points in his favor, because it showed him making a conscious decision to abandon his playboy ways in order to devote himself more to catching Ninako's eye.

I'm not really sure how well Sakisaka has planned things out. Not only is Ando more interesting than Ren, Daiki has become almost unnecessary. He got maybe a couple scenes in this entire volume, only one of which had any purpose as far as furthering the story went – he mentioned to his girlfriend that his dad might get remarried, which will likely lead to bumpy emotional times for Mayuka, Ren's girlfriend. I can just see it now: Mayuka's dad tells her he's getting remarried just as Ren realizes he loves Ninako. Because Ren is so very nice, he won't want to break up with Mayuka while she's going through such a rough time. At some point she'll be forced to tell him that it's okay for him to go be with Ninako, because she likes him, wants him to be happy, and can see how much he likes Ninako.

Since I plan to continue reading this series, I suppose I'll get to see if I'm right. I can't seem to stop myself from hoping that Ninako and Ando end up together, though.

Extras:

More author freetalks: this time, Sakisaka writes in detail about her workflow. She also writes about a few random other things, and mentions her chinchillas in her comments at the very end of the volume.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )