Through time and cherry blossoms

Here’s a book with some great surroundings, hot sex scenes, but unfortunately not very interesting plot.

Kaminishi by Jan Suzukawa

My rating:

Goodreads | Amazon US

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I know what you might think, I wrote I won’t be reviewing romances, etc. But it’s JAPAN! It’s kind of my weakness :D. If some random person walked through my door right now and told me – you and I are going to Japan right now – I’m in! Imagine all the manga 😀 the lovely places you could see, the food!

But, let’s go back to the book.

Kaminishi is basically a love story. A young student, Michael, somehow finds himself in mid-nineteenth century Japan. And what’s better – he finds the man whose face he was drawing and dreaming about.

There are some things I really liked in this book. First of all – the place (yes, I know we’ve established that already) but it goes in pair with the time. All the descriptions of Edo period Japan, the cultural references, a bit of language here and there it all makes a perfect atmosphere for the story. You almost feel you’re  there.

As for the modern Japan, because you’ll find it there too, it was also nice to get a feel of this country just as it is now.

As for the disadvantages of this book – I was disappointed with the lack of plot. Well. there were hints of the plot that was promised in the book blurb, but I was so distracted with all the sex scenes that I couldn’t really concentrate on the main plot. Or maybe the scenes were the main plot? That would explain a lot ;).  But then again, what was I expecting from a book which description has this:

Lord Shinjirō’s commanding presence and smoldering sexuality draw Michael again and again to the past

Plus the whole blurb pretty much describes all that’s happening in the book minus the scenes.

So if you’re a fan of more or less plotless stories with a lot of hot moments, or if you really like Japan and you wish to find yourself there for just a moment – here’s something you might check out, but I won’t recommend it. And yet I’m still going to read the second story… it’s just 120p, so I think I can do it… my weak mind wants to read about Japan 😛

How do you deal with stories where a plot is obscured by the sex scenes? Do you read books like these? Or maybe you simply don’t mind a scene or two in the story, but prefer the plot to take over? Let me know:)

PS: Goodreads description has a mistake in name… it’s Shinjiro, not Shinjaro ;P.