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emychii's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
bookishrealm's review against another edition
5.0
FINALLY. We get the truth behind everything that we've been trying to figure out since vol. 16. I'm not going to lie, the twists were good and I absolutely did not expect the story to unfold the way that it did. These people were BIG MESSY, but it was nice watching them finally put everything on the table to get to the truth. I know that I have a few more volumes after this one, but it was truly enjoyable making it to this point in the series.
greylandreviews's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
Well that was a very interesting twist.
Well that was a very interesting twist.
genrejourneys's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
othersian's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
malu's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
rouge_red's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
4.25
The truth! She is revealed! A lot of shit happens this volume- we get many resolutions to things we've been wondering about and some things revealed this same volume that I didn't know I was curious about?
- Takigawa-san has been in hiding for 8 years, not dead like Kaoru said. The Proprietress goes to his secret mountain home to try to get him to kill Nao.
- Nao almost loses her resolve when she sees Tsubaki continually searching for answers while reading Nao's mom's letters. Something Kaoru said about letting go of the past and just moving on. Tsubaki can't abide by that because his gramps said that carrying baggage around like that would taint the purity of making wagashi.
- Then we get a whole thing that will bring Takigawa-san and Tsubaki and Nao together. They notice that one of the letters has a different address from the others (the aforementioned mountain home) and we learn from T-san that Nao's mom stayed there for a time when she didn't have anywhere else to go.
- We also learn that Kaoru came home late the night of Isuki's murder. T-san thinks his son has something to do with the events of the past.
- Man...Kyoko can't stop...being evil. She orchestrated the events that led to her and Isuki's marriage. Gramps made a bad deal by trying to help out a friend by giving them a lot of money....which turned out to be a scam Kyoko had set up. When she learned of their struggles (financial hardships and workers leaving Kogetsuan's kitchen), she sprang into action by giving Isuki one of her family's heirlooms to sell for money. After that, Isuki let go of his thoughts to leave the wagashi business, his father, and marry Nao's mom. But he never managed to develop feelings for Kyoko, never consummating their marriage and reconnecting with Yuriko...and the rest is history. So he always knew Tsubaki wasn't his kid.
- T-san thinks his son was the murderer.
- Yep. Jojima and Shiori will be a couple soon.
- Heirloom daggers are a thing.
- Kyoko really just stabbed a bitch.
- Not.
- Kaoru works pretty fast. But not fast enough and gets stabbed.
- Long story short- Kaoru's mom (Miyuki) was manipulated by Kyoko to kill her. Kyoko dangled her affair in front of her face. And Kaoru's mom, already a mentally unstable woman, tried to kill Kyoko but ended up stabbing Isuki instead. Kaoru was trying to protect his mom this whole time.
- Tsubaki saves his mom but it's a bitter thing. He says he never had a single good memory with her and he wants her to live so that they can share something good together. I teared up.
- Nao uses RED dye!!!!
- Kaoru's fine.
- "Hey Tsubaki, will you marry me?" aaaaah!