[Review] The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese - Setona Mizushiro

Summary: Ootomo Kyoichi, a weak-willed salaryman in a troubled marriage, is cheating on his wife. To his surprise, his wife hires a private eye to expose his affair–and the private eye is none other than Imagase, an underclassman Kyoichi knew in college. Imagase explains that he’s gay and always had a crush on Kyoichi, so he offers to hide the infidelity in exchange for the make-out session he’d always fantasized about back in college. Kyoichi reluctantly agrees, thinking it will save his marriage, but things with Imagase soon spiral out of control. (Pub Date: Nov 26, 2019)

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

This is a steamy romance by the much experienced Setona Mizushiro.

3.5.

Kyoichi is married but he can't resist it when women throw themselves onto him. That's how Imagase manages to blackmail him into a kiss after getting proof of his affairs and threatening to show his wife. The two used to be acquaintances back in college, but now Imagase is ready to go after his ten-year-long crush.

This is more graphic than my usual reads but it's not in excess, even though I'm not into explicit scene, I could fully enjoy the manga. Still, it focus on the plot and not on the sex. The drawing is very pretty, as expected, and the Kyoichi's helplessness against women's advances was both funny and believable. This leads well to both conflicts—he can't deny he's attracted to Imagase and how can Imagase know he's interested for real and not just going with the flow, as always?

I think this manga's biggest fault is not having an end. Each chapter is told episodically as if they could possibly be standalones. The volume isn't marked as a first but it's actually a duology—from what I could verify. Reading one or two doesn't make much difference, but I'm sure readers prefer to be aware of those facts beforehand.

Aside from that, the story goes as you can predict. I'm sure you'll enjoy it if the summary caught your eye, but it won't be the type that'll surprise or be memorable, standing just a little about average.

Rating: 3 out of 5.