Title: Her Sheikh Boss
Genre: Drama, Josei, Romance
Publisher: Harlequin K.K.
Artist: Earithen (Original Book by Carol Grace – published by SB Creative Corp.)
Original Release Date: December 5, 2013
This isn’t meant to be a secret or anything, but I’ve read very few manga that include romance in my life. Even in my manga collection, out of more than the 27 series that I’ve collected in the past years, very few are shojo, and I have yet to own any Josei manga. The majority of my collection is full of hot-blooded battles and dark humor stories.
It’s not that I particularly dislike the romance genre, it just doesn’t draws me in as easily as the mystery or comedy genre. Also, I have to admit that as much as I appreciate love-triangles or cheesy romantic stories that end well, I tend to dislike the way manga generally orchestrate love stories and make them tiresome until the very end of the series.
In some way, I’m thankful this wasn’t actually the case for the manga I’ve recently read, Her Sheikh Boss. Since it’s a one-shot and made up of less than 150 pages, the mangaka got to the point of her story and didn’t make many of those classic situations where the characters end up being blushing messes.
Her Sheikh Boss is about an American secretary named Claudia who is head-over-heels in love with her handsome, slave-driving boss, Samir. One day out of the blue, the latter shows his human side and proposes Claudia a trip with him to his home country, Tazzatine, where he is seen as the equivalent of a King, a Sheikh, there.
When Claudia arrives at Tazzatine, everything is fine and dandy until her Boss announces to her his engagement to his beautiful childhood friend, crushing all of Claudia’s hopes and dreams and making you feel really sorry for her to learn it so suddenly. However, all hope is not lost –or else it wouldn’t be entertaining- since unbeknownst to her, Claudia has what it takes to make Samir’s head turn around…
Out of all the elements I had trouble with in the manga, the one I couldn’t stand was the artwork. While Samir was well-drawn and candy for the eyes most of the time, I didn’t understand why Claudia and the others were sketchy-like compared to him. I do realize that Samir is supposed to be the center of attention (hence why he’s on the cover and all), but I also believe that the same attention should have been clearly accorded to the main character Claudia too, and it doesn’t help that she isn’t a charismatic or attention-grabbing character to begin with.
Continuing on with Claudia, I’ve been bothered by the fact that there’s nothing remotely remarkable about her. Even if I did root for her to get Samir throughout the one-shot, I also fail to see what exactly makes her as special as her unintended rival. Sure, she’s close to the boss and has been by his side for two years, but what else? Her rival is Samir’s childhood friend and at least shows off more of her personality than Claudia. This maybe isn’t the mangaka’s fault, but rather the original book – I’m not sure; I didn’t know anything about it until just recently- so I can’t just easily blame anyone for this fact. At least not until I get my hands on the book and survive reading it.
One thing I did like about the story was how it got to the point. I won’t spoil for anyone who is reading this and would like to check out this manga, but it’s nice to know that there isn’t one slow moment in this story. However, I can’t help but not feel disappointed at how the manga didn’t go into depth with Samir’s mother, a French woman who left her husband and children due to cultural differences. It’s been repeatedly pointed out by a few characters how Claudia reminds them of Samir’s mother and how they also fear that the blooming relationship between the two main characters might, quite possibly, end with the same sad conclusion.
While this wasn’t the manga capable of making my own head turn around, it was a decent read and I wouldn’t hesitate to re-read it from time to time. Of course, there were elements I disliked more than liked about it, but in overall it was enjoyable.
…I think you got my point about it being a decent read.
