Love Me, Love Me Not, Volume 1

April 15, 2020
Grades 7-10 Yuna's first love was the prince in a storybook she read as a child, and she firmly believes that, if she waits long enough, her own true love will find her. Akari is much more pragmatic, thinking that if you want to find the perfect boyfriend, you need to get to know a lot of guys. The two are classmates, and together, along with Yuna's childhood friend Inui and Akari's brother Rio, they navigate the ins and outs of unrequited love, crushes, and friendship. The story moves gently, and as the four teens move through their first year of high school, introverted Yuna struggles to reconcile her romantic ideals with extroverted Akari's reality and slowly comes out of her shell. The artwork is clear and easy to follow, with minimal backgrounds and enough differences in hair color and facial expressions to distinguish one character from another. Hitting all the expected romance tropes and giving a nice twist at the end, this first volume makes a fine starter series for readers new to shojo manga.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)