As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and Yōko Nogiri (That Wolf-Boy is Mine!, Love in Focus) certainly doesn't need to fix anything about her approach to the standard shoujo romance. Those Not-So-Sweet Boys is fairly basic in terms of the genre – take one ordinary girl, add three hot boys with backstories of varying tragedy, mix well, and bake at 350 for an hour et voilà – instant shoujo. But none of that is to say that this isn't an engaging, endearing story despite the way it sticks to the standards; in fact, it's the standards that add the very element of comfort reading that this book gives off.

Nogiri does make attempts to play around within the confines of the genre, but mostly the strength of the book is how deftly she manages to incorporate the genre tropes without giving us that nagging feeling that we've read this before. Midori Nanami, our heroine, is no wilting wallflower, but neither is she too badass to be believed. Instead, she's simply doing what she has to in order to keep her family together – as per the demands of the genre, her father left the family with a ton of debt, and now she, her younger brother, and her mother all do what they can to function. For both Midori and her mother, that means working as hard as they can, and initially Midori wasn't even going to attend high school to be better able to help the family. She and her mother are determined to make sure that Kon, her younger brother, have as normal a school life as possible, so his helping is primarily around the house – a good plan since, once again in line with the genre, Midori can't even reheat food properly.

Although she can be a bit flaky (especially when it suits her interests, like not knowing she wasn't allowed to work while attending school), Midori's determination really makes her as a character, and she steadfastly refuses to be bullied by the eponymous boys, who don't appreciate her new "job" making sure they come to school. The school chairman is more difficult for her to get a handle on, but while she may be annoyed with his heavy-handed tactics, she also appreciates what he's doing for her and that he's genuinely trying to help everyone, making him one of the few good school employees in manga history. Ultimately, she goes along with him because it's a good deal for her, both financially and in terms of getting to thank the boys who helped her when she lost her wallet on the first day of school. The girl's got chutzpah, and that makes her interesting to us as readers and naturally to two of the three boys.

The boys in question are Rei Ichijo, Chihiro Goshima, and Yukinojo Ieri. All three are from wealthy families, and at least two of them carry an impressive amount of emotional baggage. Fortunately for the story, it's not the same baggage – Rei is the neglected son of a busy father who lost his mother two years ago (which may have something to do with Dad's neglect) while Chihiro is the son of a yakuza family who is constantly painted with his father's colors out of prejudice. In fact, it's that fact that has led to the boys' prolonged absence from school; a group of older students blamed their own bad behavior on Chihiro and the school principal was all too willing to buy the story based solely on Chihiro's family. Rei and Yukinojo then acted in solidarity with their friend. That this speaks to Midori is unsurprising, given how her own family is banding together in a similar way to overcome their difficulties as well, though it doesn't stop her from taking Rei specifically to task when he tries to use her financial situation to his advantage. Midori's scathing explanation of the value of money is a highlight of the volume, giving us a good sense of who she is as a person; her cutting Rei down with an impressive ruthlessness shows more backbone than we might otherwise expect her to have, chutzpah notwithstanding. It also, however, seems to sound some sort of alarm for Yukinojo, who is the least developed of the boys at this point. He's not pleased with Midori's sudden entry into their lives, and while that's likely to change later, right now it really bears keeping an eye on.

Those Not-So-Sweet Boys isn't looking to blow you away with its clever take on the shoujo romace. It isn't interested in innovation within the genre or fixing what isn't broken. But it is fluent enough in the tropes that it doesn't feel overdone or like that same story you've read forty-seven times before, even though, technically speaking, it is. That's a talent in and of itself that deserves praise, because it isn't easy to serve up the same dish and keep it from feeling stale. If you're looking for something completely different, this isn't likely to do it for you, but if you just want some good old-fashioned shoujo comfort food, this is worth picking up.