Title: Just Say You Won’t Let Go Vol. 2
Author: Peter Rodriguez
Publisher: Peter Rodriguez
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 162
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: August 15, 2023
The Story
When we had last left off in the first volume of Just Say You Won’t Let Go, Haruto had proposed to Emina. The second volume picks up with the two of them as being engaged; however, they still have an issue in the fact that Emina hasn’t told her parents anything about wanting to marry Haruto. They still have it in their minds that she will go through with an arranged marriage and carry on the tradition of running the family business.
Emina has other plans, though. All she desires is to be with Haruto for the rest of her life. Because of that, she ends up marrying Haruto with Toru and Rumi at the ceremony. Meanwhile, Haruto’s soccer team is doing well and has made it to the playoffs, even going so far as to qualify for the finals.
Shortly after their marriage, they take their final exams and graduate from college. Emina’s parents are at the ceremony; however, she cannot find it within herself to tell them. This complicates matters but it’s nothing compared to what Emina and Haruto are about to face as a couple!
Characters
In this volume, Haruto hasn’t changed much from a character standpoint; however, Emina has become fully devoted to defying her father’s wishes. Despite that, she’s still hesitant to pull the trigger. She knows that deep down in her heart that breaking family tradition and living her own life is what she desires but her parents don’t exactly allow for that to be known easily. The repercussions of revealing this to her father are the very core of her anxiety. Her next stage of development should come in the form of finding the strength to take her life back completely and state that clearly to her father. Only time will tell
Toru, on the other hand, is still as two-faced as ever. He is hatching a scheme to play the long game with Emina, hoping he can find an opening to snuggle up to her and steal her away from Haruto. This will be a very tall task considering Emina’s devotion to always being by Haruto’s side, which has been the case now for about six months into their marriage. Still, Toru is very persistent and willing to do what it takes to make her his bride instead. On the outside, he’s still sweet and innocent but it’s all just a façade. I’m just waiting for the day to come when he exposes his true intentions and gets kicked to the curb… or maybe he’ll have a bit of a redemption arc… although I think at this point it would be wasted on him. If I’m saying that about Toru, then that shows what a great antagonist he is.
Rumi is just Rumi. She’s kind of blind to the whole Toru thing and she really morphed into a great friend for Emina and Haruto. She even went so far as to apologize to Emina for everything. She also was there for Emina during some of the more trying times in this volume which shows her devotion. She’s also fun as she’s a bit of a tomboy… one of my favorite character archetypes. Right now, she is delegated to the supporting character role but she’s playing it perfectly.
We also get introduced to a new cast of characters in Yoichi, Shioko, Minami, and a guy simply referred to as Old Man. Each one plays a different role in Haruto’s development… whether it is through Shioko who offers up a child’s innocence and her love of ice cream, to the Old Man who is pretty good at reading people, each one ends up teaching Haruto a thing or two. We’ll see how this cast acts moving forward and how they can help Haruto with a little issue he’s having. If anything, they all should have a positive effect on him and help lift his spirits.
Final Thoughts
In the first volume of Just Say You Won’t Let Go, I was a bit happy that Peter Rodriguez pulled the trigger and shipped Haruto and Emina, although, the proposal was a tad too early. I kept saying to myself that something was going to happen but what?’ Now that the second volume is here and knowing that there is still a third to time, having the wedding at the very beginning REALLY made me ask that same question… and then… it happens.
To say that this will be a challenge for Haruto and Emina is an understatement. Then we still have the uphill battle with explaining things to Emina’s parents as well as Toru’s schemes. The good news is that the hurdle Haruto and Emina are facing is traversable and I fully expect them to leap that hurdle. I’m of the belief that once they get over this hurdle and come out the other side, Emina will find the courage to stand up to her father and Toru will probably get exposed which will bring the story to its conclusion.
I just can’t see Toru winning here. Emina’s love and devotion to Haruto were on full display as they work through their issues together. I don’t think anyone, including Toru, has the power to pull these two apart. Maybe that is a bit of a flaw of the series is that Haruto and Emina’s relationship is almost too rock solid with not enough if any, cracks in it. Sure, their current issue COULD manifest a crack here or there but I don’t think it’ll be enough to break things between them.
We’ll have to see when everything wraps up in the third volume but despite the predictable nature of where the story is heading, this was still an incredible read! I may read WAY more manga than light novels but I can say that out of all of the light novels I have read, this series is still up there as one of my favorites! It’s very well-written, and being under 200 pages makes it a comfortable read.
I may be a little biased as slice-of-life romance is my favorite genre (and the focus of my own light novels) and you could call me a sucker just because the story is in my favorite genre but trust me… I’ve read plenty of bad romance stories, too, and I can safely say… this is not one of them. Go pick up the first two volumes of Just Say You Won’t Let Go! You won’t be disappointed!
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This item was provided for review by Peter Rodriguez.
