A really fun new series!

Impossible to write a plot summary of this book without a teeny bit of
spoilers, but to be honest, you should probably know what’s coming based on
that usual love triangle tropes!

Aoki is a typical high school boy with a crush Hashimoto, the pretty girl in
class who sits next to him. She’s genuinely lovely and just a bit shy, but
always willing to help her classmates. Because of that, when Aoki is missing an
eraser during a test, Hashimoto is happy to lend him one. He’s all aflutter due
to this, but then realizes it says “Ida <3” on her eraser, and Aoki assumes
she has a crush on their classmate, Ida.

It ends up being a case of mistaken identity as he drops the eraser, only
for Ida to pick it up to hand it back and thus, Ida thinks Aoki is the one with
the crush! Slowly Ida and Aoki start talking because Aoki wants Hashimoto to be
happy and tries to help her get together with Ida but starts to develop real feelings
for Ida himself. Ida, in turn, is a genuinely nice guy who isn’t sure how to
handle all of this but is diplomatic about his feelings and doesn’t get grossed
out or push Aoki away. Instead, he tries to become friends with Aoki and volunteers
to be partnered for him with things and goes out of his way to make sure he
doesn’t get bullied or made fun of for any reason.

Then (SPOILER ALERT) at the very end of the volume, we find out Hashimoto
never had a crush on Ida! She had a crush on Aoki’s best friend, AIDA! * cue dramatic
music *

This was a super fun first volume in a series, and I’m really excited to
continue reading it! The characters are all fun, the relationship between Aoki
and Ida is sweet and very normal, and I enjoyed how it’s a dramatic trope the
characters don’t respond in out of control, over the top ways. So far, I really
enjoy this and am going to order the rest of the series for my library!

Title:  My Love Mix-Up
Author:  Wataru Hinekure, Aruko (Illustrator)
Format: Paperback
Pages:  176
ISBN:  9781974725274

Three Descriptors: Offbeat, Trope-Heavy, Fun!