What's It About?

When her engagement to her childhood bully is announced, Alice Coleman ― the gentle-hearted and serious daughter of an impoverished noble family ― is utterly aghast. In a desperate bid to find someone to stand in as an alternate fiancé, she blurts out a proposal… to the wealthy, high ranking son of a Duke, Arthur Grindelbard.

And to her shock, he accepts.

Despite the strange beginning of their engagement, Arthur is an adoring fiancé to Alice, eager to spoil her with luxurious gifts and earn her affection. But behind his charming smile and solicitous attention lies a deeper intent and focus, hints of a man who has had his eye upon Alice for far longer than he cares to admit…

Trapped by His Love: The Duke's Unexpected Bride has art by Nimo Kakunimoto and a story by Kotoko, with English translation by Katie Kimura and lettering by Vibraant Publishing Studio. Published by Tokyopop (March 20, 2025). Rated T.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

It's always interesting to see which creators get multiple series released in English. Trapped by His Love is Kotoko's fourth, fifth if you count the fact that Fake It to Break It! is getting both novels and manga translated. Her works are also across a variety of publishers, with J-Novel Club taking one, Manga UP! another, and Yen Press claiming a third. This is Tokyopop's second Kotoko series, although she tells us in her afterword that it's based on her very first novel. That does show a bit in the story – while Trapped by His Love is fine, it also has some of the hallmarks of an author who hasn't quite found their stride yet. Alice isn't as developed as Kotoko's later heroines, and both Arthur and Gray fit neatly into prescribed tropes: Arthur is the nice one who has been yearning after Alice for years, while Gray is the jerk who has disguised his yearning as bullying for years. Naturally, Arthur has blonde hair and Gray has dark hair, as is written in shoujo romance law.

The story itself also follows conventional lines: Alice doesn't like her proposed arranged marriage, so she sets out to ask the first guy she sees at the school gates to be her fiancé instead. Obviously that's Arthur, who is beyond tickled to be asked. We still don't know at the end of this volume when Arthur and Alice met, much less why he's been in love with her for years or why she doesn't remember him. But it is easy to see why she doesn't want to marry Gray: they've known each other since early childhood and, in her mind, he's been putting her down ever since. I have to say that I like that this has made him persona non grata to her, because all too often in YA fiction authors lean into the terrible idea that boys pick on the girls they like and then go out of their way to excuse such behavior. Gray isn't getting Alice; this volume makes that very clear. But he is realizing that his poor treatment of her has led to this pass, ultimately losing him the girl he loves.

This volume is very basic. While the art has some literal (and quite nice) frills, the story is as pat as it gets. Kotoko and Nimo Kakunimoto are a good enough team that the book remains pleasant to read, but it never quite shakes off the sense that the author hasn't yet hit her stride. Still, it's a perfectly nice book to read, just possibly at the library or by using points or discounts for the digital version.