Gimai Seikatsu
Days with My Stepsister

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I doubt that many people will see this review since this LN isn't that popular as of now. This was a really refreshing read and I'm glad that I started it.

To delve into the positives, the male lead and female lead are both good characters, and I hope that they get even more development in the future. They can act maturely and reasonably, and it's great to see people who can communicate so openly. The romance aspect is slowly built up instead of just being dumped on us suddenly. The side characters are not the most developed, but they all have their own little ... quirks that make them enjoyable. Not much to say about the story since it's mainly SOL and there isn't much to delve into.

Volume 1 and 2 are both great reads, with Volume 2 being more romance centric than the first novel. I'll update this review after the release of Volume 3.

Now onto the negatives. As another reviewer mentioned, there are parts that can get repetitive and slow. This is mostly internal dialogue chunks though, and I would actually recommend just skipping over them after you've read them a few times (pretty easy to identify) for maximum enjoyment. There are also some instances where the story decides to excessively explain some things that don't really need to be explained with that much detail (once again this is just background stuff and internal dialogue bits).

Edit for volume 3: Volume 3 was definitely the best volume so far. It spices things up more while keeping the same enjoyable format, despite the author still rambling too much when it comes to inner monologues. I think so far this series has been a great subversion of certain tropes and it's still a very good read. Here's hoping that the author can keep things fresh. Easy 8-8.5 for now

This series has gotten quite popular. It won a spot in Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi which is amazing. I've been making a review on each volume and this is the review of the 4th volume.

Been a while since I read this series, I liked the amount of retold information and scenes in this volume. Not too boring nor too vague, just the perfect amount. I think the author has improved on his writing style, not much of description of the place, which was hella boring in v3 if I remember correctly.

Spoiler warning!
It was said in the book that anyone with little exp. ... with the opposite sex will fall for them for the smallest help and support because they don't have any expectations of the opposite sex. There's a reason for people to love each other, which is why I found the point of their dating not being good because the have no exp. and fell for each other. I think it's completely okay because there should be a reason and it could be whatever as long as it's ethically right.

And as always, nice guys finish last. [This is unrelated to the paragraph above, incase you're confused ;) ]

Thanks for cclaw translation for the articulate translation, they never disappoint me.
If you have made it this far, thank you and you are amazing.
Stay relentless.

The setting and the premise is good. The step-sister angle provides some natural dramatic tension. The translation is also good. The romance is slow burn (not really a positive or negative for that). Where it is weak is in the tone and voicing of the story and in the believability of the characters.

Too often, it feels like the author is just using the characters to convey his LN/YA-level deep thoughts, rather than telling a story. Ironically, the characters themselves acknowledge the same thing. The most recent translated chapter (Vol 11, Ch. 7) gives a good example: ... "It may seem like we are talking about something pretty deep, but it's actually quite simple when you think about it." This type of thought-expression, where characters are philosophizing or documenting their thought processes, is prevalent throughout the series and can get very cringe at times. To me, it conveys a pretentiousness from the author that damages the credibility and believability of the characters as real teenagers. I've seen others bring up the realism of the series when defending the slow progress, but these characters speak like obvious creations, not real people at all.

A little further along in the same most recently translated chapter (Vol 11, Ch. 7) is a good example of the level of feels that the romance provides: '"Can I touch you?", "Yeah, it's okay... Can I touch you too?", "Yeah". Our conversation was almost business-like, which I suppose was typical for us in its own way.' The level of detachment the main couple has for each other makes it feel like the reader is a voyeur over a strange relationship between two autistic people rather than vicariously experiencing a romance. So overall this is a 4 or 5 out of 10 for me. It's an easy read but it's pretty long. If you're only happy reading solid 7+ series, just stick with the anime or manga and save yourself some time.