Koi no Kaori  is a short story collection of Yuri romances by Takemiya Jin from Comic Yuri Hime; all but the first tied together with the common thread of “scent.”

In “Tsuushin Omachishite Orimasu” Mayumi learns that her confidant on a Lesbian BBS and her rival at school are one and the same. Luckily for her, “Kuro-san” turns out to be a kind upperclassman…and a good friend, which becomes even more important when Mayumi realizes that she’s fallen for the girl in “Ki ni Nacchatte Gomen Nasai.”

In “Sweet Temptation,” the scent of vanilla may be sweet, but the smile on Chika’s face says she knows that her words of confession, like her scent, will fill Risa’s mind with extraordinary thoughts. In “Sweet Desire” – she turns out to be right about that. ^_^

“Love Aroma” is an experiment in aromatherapy and feelings for a teacher new to the school.

In “love * preparation,” Riko manages, eventually, to communicate to her next door neighbor, that she really means it when she say she likes her.

And finally, “Love Aroma 2” continues the double lesson of aromatherapy and love. I’m a big fan of ylang ylang myself. ^_^

This book exactly hits Takemiya-sensei’s sweet spot – stories just long enough to get to like and care about the characters, but not long enough to overblow the drama. I love when she draws “zOMG, what did I just do!?!” expressions. ^_^ And I still love that Takemiya-sensei is one of the few Yuri manga artists out there with characters who are actually lesbians.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 10
Service – 2

Overall – 8

For a perfect manga sampler of Yuri sweets, you couldn’t do better than Koi no Kaori.