In order to enjoy this one, you have to get through the typical Japanese Manga ton-deafness of the main character being an "Arabian Prince" with white hair, pale skin and red eyes. Then of course there's the fact that these are a 17 year old a MAYBE 16 year old who get married without even knowing each other.
Not my cup of tea.

So, the heroine's family is in a lot of debt. One day she saves a guy from suicide. Turnes out he is a sheikh prince of an Arabic country. He proposes, she rejects, but then agrees,again, due to a lot of debt.
Ummm, ok. This premise would work a lot better in an adult manga, dark romance style. But as it stands, these characters are 17. 17, Carl! Way too young, it made me uncomfortable. They legit have a wedding ceremony, she goes to live with him in his country, they live in the same room and share a bed. It made for such a weird reading experience. I really wish this was adult and the characters were older.
The heroine is cute and pure at heart. Her obsession with money wasn't because she is money hungry, but because she wanted to help out her family. Speaking of which, what kind of father would be ok with his daughter marrying some rich dude in order to pay his debt? That was just horrible.
The sheikh had pretty much no personality, so I didn't care for this romance one bit.
And the art style was ok. It's pretty to look at, but it's nothing memorable, just your generic shojou manga art.
Overall I won't be continuing with the series, it made me uncomfortable while I was reading and the romance didn't grab my attention.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think mostly I'm feeling a bit weird by the representation and some of the things implied. It isn't a bad story though.

This was not really for me, it made me uncomfortable a plot that involves cultural appropriation and Stockholm Syndrome involving a 16 year old, not appropriate at all!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

A fresh and funny story that has entertained me while reading it.

Sanagi is a girl who does everything possible to help her family, made up of her father and her little sister, who are experiencing financial difficulties. So much so that she studies everything she can to get scholarships and works part-time to help with a salary. Everything is like that until one day at work she runs into a boy she helps and later she learns that he is Lui, the second prince of a foreign country. As in all manga with these characteristics, Lui will offer to pay all the debts and help Sanagi's family in exchange for her agreeing to marry him.

The story has some very funny moments, and although there is still no romance as such, Sanagi's feelings change throughout this first volume. And at the end, another character appears who can intrude on the leading couple.

This is another miss for me. I really struggled to get behind the plot in this one and I really feel like they romanticized Arab people in this one and also everyone was very white looking... Maybe I could be convinced to pick up another volume but I have very mixed feelings on this one.

Another shojo Cinderella romcom, this one with the imagined world of Arabian royalty. High schooler Sanagi Yoshino works hard to support her struggling dad and her younger sister. While working as a maid at a high-end hotel, a young, handsome guest begs for help escaping fans and the press. Ending up on the roof, Sanagi is furious when the young man moves to the ledge in preparation to jump, so she lectures him on the importance of never giving up in life. Stopped in his tracks, the guest is soon whipped away by body guards. Sanagi thinks that is the end of their encounters, until the young man shows up at her school to declare that he, a crown prince of a pseudo-Arabian country, will be marrying her and taking her home with him, in trade for rescuing her family financially. From here, the story unfolds much as expected, with romantic sentiments developing whilst court intrigue looms around every corner. While predictable, it is an enjoyable read for shojo fans.

Firstly I wanted to thanks for the opportunity to the publishers and netgalley and apologize that it took me so long review it. I mean it, and I will continue say it bc it’s true.

The story was just so beautiful, I loved it from the begging to the end and ended up wanting more😭 she was the perfect heroine, intelligent, well mannered I could say? She isn’t just a cute girl and a know nothing. She is caring, loving, respectful and hard worker and has SO many values that of course the Sheikh would want by his side. And he is so lovable and daring. I just need to be in his harem too but I would only want to be her friend and cheer for them 🥰
What I liked too was the humor, just her face when she discovered that it was a HAREM. Well with just her though 😂

Im so keen to see more of them already. 😭💗

I received an e-copy for an honest review from NetGalley.

The art is lovely and easy to look at which is important for me when reading manga. The plot itself is an interesting concept but it played out like your typical shojo romance style manga. The rep for those in the middle east seemed a lot more of a fantasy and trope rather than real representation which feels like they are just playing it up for exoticism.

I like both of our main characters, they feel fleshed out, and the budding romance and how Lui treats Sanagi doesn't come across as boundary-pushing or creepy which could have easily happened given the premise of manga.

This is not a title that asks you to take it seriously and is more of a fun romp than anything else.
I do think I'll be continuing this series for at least another volume to see how I feel moving forward.

Thank you for giving me a chance to read this but I don’t think this manga was for me. The pre-plotwas too rushed for me to care about the character’s. Maybe she could have had a real friend than a non described friend you see asking her why she cares about money. The thing that irked me was the random calling the school and buying it in the matter of minutes when asked to leave the property since he wasn’t a student. The art style was nice even though the MC was drawn to look pretty young to be a bride.

was initially drawn to this manga because something about the title promised comedy to me, and I wasn’t disappointed. What did surprise me, was the actual likeability and other feelings the manga drew out. Whilst both characters are very naive, you get to know them well enough to understand where their priorities lie and even root for them, simply put they are quite adorable. Although they may not necessarily be relatable – I can’t say I’ve ever been or met a prince of an incredibly rich ‘land’ – you can somehow relate to the smaller aspects of their personalities like loneliness, worry for family, etc.

The premise of the first volume is pretty simple itself, I guess how you would expect something like this to go so there were no massive surprises plot-wise, which is perfect if you are after an easy, light-hearted read. The end of the manga did promise to bring a bit more drama and some new dynamics into the fold which I was pretty pleased to see, taking it away from the slice-of-life feel and making it a little more rounded out.

The author also has little notes interspersed throughout the manga to explain certain reasonings behind choices and to help you learn about the kind of place Armadia is meant to be. I found this to be a really cute touch, and somehow it sucked me into the story a little more, knowing the author's intentions allows you to see the kind of effort they have put into what they love.

Ok so I had mixed feelings about this manga. It was an interesting story but I felt no attachment to the characters and I thought Sheikh Lui was low-key creepy. The Sheikh’s country also reminded me a bit of Dubai and the name “Armadia” just reminded me of Arabia. I can’t explain exactly why but the portrayal of Arabs in this book just seemed a little…wrong? Lui is also very wily with how he gets Sanagi to stay in Armadia. I did like how resilient Sanagi was though and how she’s such a great haggler. Also the fennec fox translator was hella cute! There’s lots of royal drama in this story so I’m a bit intrigued in how everything will work out but I don’t feel invested enough in the characters to continue reading future volumes.
2.75/5

From the front cover art and title I honestly had low expectations and felt this might be trashy, and With the Sheikh in His Harem vol 1 by Rin Miasa didn't disappoint.

This is not really a title for me. I can enjoy titles with Sheikhs in them if I suspend disbelief and choose to just take the work for what it is - absolute nonsense. I have read many a BL title or Mills & Boon title that included this 'trope' but I really had to read it as a nonsensical story and, this is very important, they involved *adults*. This one made me uncomfortable though! Mostly because it follows many of the same devises in this trope to move the story along, forced relocation, monetary or business dealings, power imbalance, forced interaction (to an extent Stockholm Syndrome-y) but involving a 16 year old girl! Not cool! This made me feel icky to the extreme and I feel it is inappropriate to advertise this to Shojo readers (who are girls) with a protagonist that is also a girl, when this trope has traditionally been the sphere of adult stories. Why foist this onto impressionable young women and girls as anything like appropriate behaviour (adults know it is not and can distinguish between the two).

The story follows impoverished Sanagi, a high schooler who works in a fancy hotel to help her family to survive. One day she helps a foreign prince, Lui, who decides to take her away to his country to marry her (by paying off the family's debts and leaving her with no option but to go along with it! Prostitution by any other name...) 'Comedy' ensues?

There have been many shojo titles written in the past and now that perpetuate beliefs that are in this day and age very outdated. I felt that this work would have been published in the 1990s not the 2020s. Not one I would recommend to anyone, unless I wanted a mutual friend to rant with. Positive though - the art work was well done!

This story while cute, I found the characters and story flighty. Didn't feel a connection between the main characters or an interest in them. I didn't feel attached to knowing what happened to them.

Everything moved quickly and suddenly. Including Sanagi's family just not being a part of the story anymore. Also, why is she still running around in her school uniform the entire time?

Certain character "quirks" and plot choices seem to be chosen to appear more interesting, but just came across and weird and unnecessary.

Also can we talk about how long it takes for us to find out the Sheikh's age... (Did we learn his name?) Very questionable content until then... then still a bit questionable.

The topic of Sheikh's is generally just "should we have done this?" content with what appears to be very limited real life research.
Not my cup of tea.

**Thank you to Kodansha and NetGallery for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

Excited to see where this series goes. It was an enjoyable Shojo and while it isn't a story line that's 100 percent unique (but really though, what is any more?) it was interesting enough to keep my attention. I also really love the illustrations (they're so pretty!)

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read a digital ARC

There is a full length review forthcoming on my site, MangaLibrarian.com and on my YouTube Channel! I go in depth on my analysis there.

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of With the Sheikh in His Harem vol 1 by Rin Miasa through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for this opportunity.

With the Sheikh in His Harem by Rin Miasa is romance manga about a young girl who meets a prince by chance and ends up marrying him after she convinces him not to do something drastic.  It was published on May 5th, 2021.  I rated it 4 stars on Goodreads.


Here's the summary from Goodreads:

Sanagi loves nothing more than money—not even love. After all, it's what keeps her small family going. But when a chance encounter with a stranger leads her to push away his offer of riches, she wonders if she's gone crazy...and starts to believe she really has when he reveals that he's a Sheikh, and proposes to her! She rejects him, but soon finds out that a marriage with him might be the only way to keep her family safe...!

I will admit that I don't really have much experience with manga, so I can't tell you how this one would compare to others.  I did end up giving it 4 stars on Goodreads, but that was because I just had a lot of fun reading it.  It's light and simplistic, and fun.  I'd probably compare it to junk food.

The story line has a fairly simple premise.  A young girl, Sanagi, rescues an Arab prince from the press and then also convinces him to not kill himself.  In return, he asks her to marry him and offers to forgive all of her family's debts and ensure that they will be taken care of.  She agrees to keep her family safe, and moves back to his country where life is a little bit different.

Sanagi isn't the most well rounded character, and neither is Prince Lui.  They're both quite different but they're interesting nonetheless.  I enjoyed their interactions and appreciated where Lui was coming from when it came to Sanagi.  It's definitely not the most unique concept, but I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the art style as well, and I loved the little fox character that was introduced.  Animal sidekicks are the best.

I will say that I kind of wished that it was longer, because I felt like it was just ramping up when it suddenly ended but I understand that when something's a series, that's just how it works.  I definitely think I'm going to try and continue on with the series.

I won't say that it has particularly great representation of that area of the world, but since the country seems to be fictional, I was willing to suspend my disbelief.

It's definitely worth checking out if you're at all interested.

I thought there was going to be a harem but not at all. This is just a classic shojo between a prince and a normal high school girl who one day marries and go away with the prince in order to help her family financially. I know it sounds quite classic but Sanagi has quite a strong temper and she is very funny. Moreover, I liked the fact that there is a bit of adventure and mystery, especially at the end. I think this helped keep my attention.
I would recommend this manga to people who want a cute shojo with a beautiful prince.
3/5

This was a really great funny read for the start of a new series! I loved the situation that the main characters have been put in. I am loving where this is heading! I can't wait to read the next one.

The art style is really nice and simple but very well done.

A fairly generic shojou manga in which after helping a young man out, our lead discovers he is a sheikh and now wants to marry her. The lead is money obsessed (which is her main trait) except when it comes to other people being hurt by her antics (thus allowing the audience to still like her). The sheik is a pale pretty boy character with stalker tendencies.

Honestly, I don't have much else to say. It goes most of the directions one would expect it to go. There's nothing particularly wrong with it (I should note that it does have some nice artwork) but it just seems bland in comparison to so much of the other manga being released. Nothing sets it apart really in terms of style or content. I'm sure some manga fans will love it, but there's just nothing in here to make me think that I'll pick up the second volume. 2/5

My thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.