I should know better....

Than to read Shoujo manga. Since The advice in Song of Solomon to not awaken desire too soon works just as well for widows as the "maidens" it was intended for.  In fact, I generally stay away from even Christian-themed romance novels (much less the nearly pornographic standard variety) because frustrated physical or and/or emotional desire isn't going to make life better for me *or* the kids who would have to deal with me being cranky.

Unfortunately, I wasn't really thinking about that when Eldest Kidlet offered me the first volume of Skip-Beat since I usually stick to Shonen manga and had read no Shoujo in several years. Surprise, surprise, given that I found the relationships in such Shonen as Inu Yasha and Rurouni Kenshin to be extremely romantic, Skip-Beat is nearly unbearably so.  It doesn't help that the artist did a very good job of catching the sort of tender, amused, or intense looks that are something I definitely miss.