I enjoyed this cute manga! This sweet love story follows Kaoru, a patisserie shop owner who gets fired up after some of his customers become enamored with a rival shop dealing with traditional Japanese sweets run by the handsome Soujirou. His competitive passion quickly turns to a huge crush after he begins a food war, and the two grow closer the more Kaoru visits.

I liked the story of this manga and how the relationship blossomed. I think the pacing was a bit odd in some places, but it progressed well as a one-shot and it was nice to see Soujirou like Kaoru as much as Kaoru liked him. One of my favorite things about this manga, though, was how it dealt with identity. It wasn't a huge part of the story, but it was nice to see both Kaoru, who was confident in his bisexuality, and Soujirou, who didn't care for labels at all and wanted to love who he loves, talk about their identities. Often you see characters in BL stories grapple with being gay in slightly over-the-top ways and how they were portrayed was really refreshing!

I really love this one!!! It was so super cute!!! Word of warning though, this is super x-rated. Like see it all x-rated. So if you’re not into that, don’t read this. But if you are, come on down!!!

Sojiro is adorbs, but Kaoru is just cluelessly cute and cuddle-able. As they go back and forth, it’s easy to fall for the story and the characters. It’s super short and is such a quick read. I burst out laughing multiple times and just really enjoyed this.

I recommend this to manga lovers who enjoy some lgbtqia+ loving. So much fun!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Tokyopop for allowing me to read this for my honest and unbiased opinion!!!

The premise of Chéri, My Destiny! has all I could ever want in a Yaoi manga! The story follows Kaoru, a pastry chef from France, who is confident that his desserts are the best. However, he becomes suspicious at the growing popularity of a nearby Japanese pastry shop and decides to confront the owner, Sojiro, himself. Of course, things take a much different turn than expected!

The couple don’t get together too quickly, which is something I enjoy, and there is some conversation, mostly from Kaoru’s part, regarding internalized homophobia/biphobia. Personally, I love the dynamic of a couple that’s made up of an easily excitable hot-head (Kaoru) and a calm and stable rock (Sojiro). The sex scenes are also very hot and intimate, so look forward to those as well! My only complaint was the use of the “get him drunk to seduce him” trope for one scene. It led to some very hot sex, but I don’t think it’s something we should be using as a plot device anymore. There are better ways to bring two people together that involve both parties being sober and able to make decisions.

Nevertheless, I found Chéri, My Destiny! to be super cute, fast paced, very steamy, and full of many, many delicious looking sweets! I’m excited to see what the mangaka does next!

CW: internalized homophobia, on page sexual content, and one scene with dubious consent.

*Thank you TOKYOPOP (LOVE x LOVE) and NetGalley for the ARC*

Ahh, this was adorable! Kaoru is the manager of a French-style patisserie but when he learns about the popular Tatsuya, a Japanese-style sweet shop, he’s hit with a need to prove the worth of western sweets to the manager! But when he meets Sojiro, who compliments Kaoru’s chocolates, suddenly it’s not just competitive need that has his making sweets doe Sojiro.

This was all around a really sweet, cute manga. I loved the incorporation of food and the development between Kaoru and Sojiro around their different sweets and baking styles.

Starting out, this manga is filled with cute, shy and humorous moments. It caters to greatly to the awkwardness of a budding crush on somebody, portraying what many people feel when they’re not sure feelings are reciprocated. As the two MC’s interact, their relationship moves quite quickly. I would’ve loved to see a little more detail in their story and them interacting outside of work. I think the relationship could’ve been expanded on to make the reader even more intrigued with their connection. That’s not to say that I disliked the storyline - it was cute a friendly. I hope to see more writing and incredible art by Okege Mochine, and I’m looking forward to reading more.

Disclaimer : I received an ARC of this manga in exchange of an honest review, my thoughts are my own.

This was meh.
A BL romance between two rival bakery owners, while this is cute I was bored. This is definitely more of a feel good book, no angst and quick happy ending. To me it was too short, I did not care for the MC's and their romance as I felt that I hardly knew them.
Cute art, very little character development and a passable romance.
Overall disappointed.
2/5 stars
Bookarina.

I've noticed that lgbt+ mangas are usually very hit or miss... this was definitely a miss. I had high hopes for this so this was so disappointing.

My main issue with this was the fact that the MC literally put achohol into some deserts to get the love interest drunk. He does this knowing that the love interest will end up wanting to have sex with him... and they do. After that I just couldn't continue because... what?

Before that, the story was fine, nothing special. There was almost no development and it was very insta love. I'm not a huge fan of that trope in general but this manga just didn't do a good job with it at all.

Overall, I definitely don't recommend. Please don't spend your time or money.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first BL manga and what I do appreciate and love is the beautiful art and drawings of the characters and food. The background setting doesn't play too much of a role, but you still get the overall vibe of being in a dessert store set in Japan.

The story revolves around two dessert chefs who have their sweet stores in the same neighborhood - Kaoru who makes Western-style sweets (French inspired) and Sojiro, who creates traditional Japanese sweets -- and I just loved how beautifully drawn the desserts were. Despite being in black and white, they looked darn good and made me wonder what they would be in real life; the colours, the textures, the taste. As someone with a sweet tooth, this was my jam!

The characters were also so beautifully drawn, and I think it would be almost impossible for anyone to not think they were attractive. Can I say that about drawn people? Heck, I thought Aladdin was cute when I was a kid.

For me, I thought the premise and idea was cute, and surprisingly more intense than what I had I realised I was getting myself into. I did find the pacing a little off (it was fast and hard to understand why for instance Kaori immediately turned to anger after finding out about another sweet store nearby) and after reading Okoge Mochino's notes at the end, I can understand there's a limit when it comes to the pages and physical space to tell the story, so I get it. I think if this were to be an ongoing series or at least more than 3 volumes, there could be more space and time to play with to flesh out a story, and develop personalities for the characters, and build some tension. These are some of the things that the story lacks - a downfall of this short format.

The story itself is very much of a young type love, where everything is just so intense and over-the-top. I could be wrong, but is this a general rule for BL manga? Again, the lack of character development and connection to understanding their actions might just be because of the lack of space to tell their backgrounds.

I did mention this was my first BL manga, so I'm not sure if this is the typical style of the genre -- but I have a sneaking sense that readers who regularly read BL stories, would be pleased with this one!

Cheri, My Destiny! is a comedic yet soft story about a French dessert chef, and a Japanese one. I absolutely adored the parallels between the two as they're not usually compared. Furthermore, Cheri, My Destiny! gives such cafe vibes, it's honestly the best thing ever! My only complaint is that it was a bit too insta love-y for my taste. Overall, if you want a rivals-to-lovers story about two chefs that'll make you laugh out loud, I highly recommend this book!

Unfortunately the way this book came through as a file did not work on the device I was using - it was sideways and it was broken up in strange ways. It's likely this is just a result of the device I was using though. I'm certainly curious enough about the story to investigate when it is out in physical form.

It was okay, it started out really sweet and cute, but moved way too fast for my personal preferences. However, I’m sure this would be up some people’s alley, just not mine at all