Yakuza Pride and Yakuza Courage by HJ Brues - First Look

Spoiler-free: definitely not perfect, but not bad.  Definitely have moments that are just dumb romance writing decisions, but it feels like a slightly-more-serious Ryu Ga Gotoku.  There is definite porn that I can't give my opinion on because I skipped it (it came so soon and I hadn't gotten a feel for the characters so it's not a draw for me; also while I was skimming in the first book I think there was one instance of the word r*pe being used in a way I don't approve of, but I can't say for sure again because I was basically like 'glance at page still porn okay next page').  Also it doesn't fully feel accurate because WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THE WORLD ARE GAY not just bi or whatever, gay (a few main characters, sure, random side characters really??  this isn’t an lgbtq meetup this is a bunch of random adults who happen to populate the entire world I’m all for more lgbtq+ representation but a) that requires the l and b in the lbgtq+ to be represented at minimum and b) no straight people except for maybe one guy exist, which is…just weird?)  There is also some graphic torture in the first book.  And some parallel to Majima Construction intrigue shenanigans in the second book. Basically, definitely related M for Mature, warnings all over the place, stay safe there.  It's outside of my usual reading comfort zone and as mentioned I didn't read all of it but I'm glad that I gave it a chance (mixed genre renders romance okay, hence why Princess Bride is so fantastic).  Honestly, I might be taking this too seriously.  It might just be an excuse to write erotica/Romance with a capital R.  I might be the only one reading this for plot.  But you know, I do what I want, and what I wanted at the time was more Yakuza|RGG.

 

( spoilery and detailed looks )