Now let’s start of these fun times with a fun little yaoi manga shall we? For on this first day of the 12 Days of Yaoi I present to you Liquor and Cigarette by Ranmaru Zariya, one of my favourite manga reads this year! A big thankyou to SuBLime for giving this manga an official English release and yours truly got her copy through Amazon on Kindle, I swear this year Kindle and a few other sites and apps have been my savior when it comes to reading!
Theo runs his family’s Liquor store and his childhood best friend works just across the street from him in a cigarette store that woman come from other towns just to be his customers. His friend Camilo is a known flirt but does not seem to date anyone who takes interest in him be they women or men which he has shown interest in both because he has openly stated that he is bi and lately Camilo has been a lot more forward with his attraction to his childhood friend.
Exploring themes of sexuality, slight internalized homophobia, and the classic trope of friends to lovers Liquor and Cigarette is a fun boys love read that has just enough drama to keep you hooked without being over melodramatic. The only real issue I think some readers might find with this story is at the beginning of the experimental relationship between the two main characters Theo relies quite heavily on liquid courage and this may bring up some consent issues for some readers so I feel it is only right to pre warn any new reader of this story.
The artwork is what drew me into this series I especially love the amount of emotion the author and artist Ranmaru Zariya is able to convey in the characters eyes in particular, they just seem to stare into you soul making you want to invite them in, especially on the cover which is what initially drew me to the title. It’s no wonder then that another of their works Coyote which I have yet had a chance to read has been on everyone’s must read list this year.
I hope you enjoyed the first day of 12 Days of Yaoi here on Yaoi Playground, stay tuned tomorrow when I will be discussing my favourite yaoi game of the year but also give an honest review about some of the minor problems with the game…
Yaoi Playground 
Ranmaru Zariya is quickly becoming one of my favourite BL mangakas. Birds of Shangri-La is another great series by her that I immediately fell in love with.
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