Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 1 by Sunsunsun is a light novel that follows Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou and Masachika Kuze. I ended up watching the anime prior to reading this, so I knew what to expect and there wasn’t really any additional content featured in this. I like the two main characters, and the overall romance concept is fun and sweet. I thought that the narrator did a good job as well. I’m just not a fan of each of the siblings’ dynamics, (which were the same in the anime), so I had to really ignore/skip over those moments. 2.5/5 stars (rounded up to 3).

Thank you to Hachette Audio, Yen Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 1 by Sunsunsun. My comments are an independent, honest review.

Very cute slice of life light novel high school romance.

Alya is a half Russian student in a private academy. Admired by many for her beauty, but nearly unapproachable by everyone… except for one student. Kuze seems to be the only one Alya tolerates (in her own way). She has no clue Kuze can understand her when she makes sweet comments about him in Russian.

**ARC provided by NetGalley for honest review**

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 1 by Sunsunsun was my first ever light novel audiobook, and it was very cute. This is a lighthearted, high school story about a lonely girl who has trouble conveying her real feelings and her lazy class neighbor. I had been watching the anime before I listened to this, so nothing was new, but I was incredibly impressed with the narrator's acting in this case, especially with the Russian accent. Her hard work really made the story come to life; it was great. If you enjoy sweet, younger romances and school life this story is for you.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this audiobook ARC!
2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Can anyone tell me if Sunsunsun is a guy? I can't find anywhere saying, but this *feels* like a guy wrote it. There was just so much talk about female features and weird sexual aspects and also a mention of yuri-ness between sisters??? I just... There were some ew moments. Unrelated to that, but there was this random flashback in first person? Was it meant to be the character's direct thoughts the entire time? I dunno. Just lots of random weirdnesses.

Other than that, though, it was a cute slice-of-life high school romance. The concept behind the series is silly but fun. Masachika is also just a fun character, where he's really good at getting things done but also just super unmotivated to do it when it's for himself. It made a good contrast to Alya, and really helped to open her up from her seclusion. I liked the direction the plot took as it developed into having a goal, and the final moment of the story would have made such a nice panel to see drawn.

So yeah, if you want a fun slice of life high school romance and can ignore some weird moments, you'll probably enjoy this! I just know those moments were weird enough to almost make me DNF if it wasn't so short and brief with its weird moments, personally.

this was so stinkin cute! I’ve never read a light novel so I didn’t know what the vibes were gonna be or how similar it would be to a traditional novel. To me this read like a script for an anime. Like I couldn’t totally picture everything as anime scenes and the tropes in the story were so similar to shows I’ve watched. The story itself is very sweet and fun (did think it was a little weird the way they talked about the girls’ body). My problem was the narrator would randomly switch the way she would pronounce the male main character’s name and it was kind of annoying. Also I hated how it would switch from 1st person to 3rd person. Not sure if that is a light novel thing but that was so weird to me.

NetGalley Review

Star Rating: ★★★★☆

Got the audiobook for this one. I needed something and it was there. Not quite what I was expecting, but it made me chuckle and kept me interested the whole way through. I'm interested to see what happens to the two main characters from here and especially when everyone finds out that he can speak Russian.

Like always though, read it and decide for yourself

This was fine. For someone who enjoys this genre of light novel more, I think it will be a hit. The concept is fun, and the writing is good. To me, however, it was a little boring at times. I think the concept will get boring after a while, so I hope it evolves in future volumes. The audio was good and easy to listen to.

This was a really fun listen! I've never read an audio adaptation of a manga I love, so it was a cool experience. Overall, I loved the way the book built a descriptive world and I enjoyed the narration. I can't wait to listen to more of these and to see if/how (it better be how!) Alya and Masachika's relationship progresses!