Kamisama Kiss: Volume 1

by Julietta Suzuki, 198 pages

When Nanami Momozono's useless father skips out on his debts and his daughter, she finds herself evicted and alone with nowhere to go. After she "rescues" a cowardly gentleman from a dog in the park, he suddenly offers up his house for her to watch while he's away, kisses her on the forehead, and runs off. With no other options, she follows his crude map and ends up standing before a run-down shrine, not a proper house. Also, it's not exactly empty. Nanami isn't just house-sitting, she's been chosen as the new tochigami, or master deity of the shrine. Unfortunately, one of her new minions doesn't take too fondly to her. Should she stay? Should she go back into the human realm and fend for herself?

If I can't have more Karakuri Odette, then I will happily take more Kamisama Kiss. Suzuki's stories are fun and sweet and she makes you care about her characters from the get-go. Tomoe, the surly fox spirit, refuses to accept Nanami and doesn't bat an eyelid (or maybe just one, when no one is looking) when her life is in danger, but he's clearly been hurt by the abandonment of their previous master and possibly more before. It's his nature to care, but experience has made him wary. And Nanami, while understandably freaked out by the idea of legends turning out to be not so not-real after all, has her own harsh experience with abandonment and has been playing the responsible adult for most of her life, so she takes charge of her new situation as best she can. I look forward to watching the two of them develop some mutual respect. :)