Your vote does more than crown a winner—it helps spotlight a new generation of light novel talent outside of Japan. During the voting period, the top ten finalists will have their works featured on the NOVELOUS app, where thousands of light novel fans across North America can discover their stories beyond Honeyfeed. Whether you're supporting a rom-com that makes you laugh and fall in love with its characters, or a psychological horror that left you unsettled long after the final chapter, your vote will help decide which stories leave a lasting mark on those who read on NOVELOUS.
Which story will get the chance to take NOVELOUS by storm? You decide.
How to Vote
The voting period will run from June 29, 2026, at 21:00 EDT to July 27, 2026, at 23:59 EDT. To cast your vote for your favorite novels, please visit the official voting page through your browser or use the dedicated app.
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Rom-Com Category
✎ Despite My Fear of Heights, the Space Princess Still Loves Me!
Once ambassador to a princess from space, Annin Sessa is now just a (mostly) normal high school student with a secret fear of heights. The only person who knows? The very same princess, Nelle XI Yumin Rondar, now herself a regular girl, who has sworn to help him keep his secret safe. The only problem is that Nelle's ideas often cause more problems for Annin than they solve.
Can Annin survive his fear of heights and Nelle's wild ideas with his dignity intact? And, more importantly, why is the space princess so committed to helping him anyway? Could it be... love?
Yes. Yes, it could. 💖🌏
Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Sci-Fi, Slice of Life
Author: marble〇
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Reader's Comment
Despite My Fear of Heights, the Space Princess Still Loves Me! Is one of those rom-coms that immediately understands what the reader wants. From the start, Annin and Nelle's chemistry is undeniable, and the novel wastes no time establishing both its comedic identity and emotional vibe. The whole setup is delightfully absurd: a boy desperately hiding his fear of heights while an adorkable girl constantly devises increasingly ridiculous ways to protect his secret. The comedy reminds me of the charming absurdity of anime like Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!, while the friend-group dynamics remind me of You and I Are Polar Opposites. All the supporting cast feels distinct and enjoyable, and even the hints of secondary romances among the friends add an extra layer of charm to the story.
This is a read I thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end. It's funny without relying entirely on pop culture references, romantic without the drama, and heartfelt without feeling serious or sentimental. This is the kind of story where you finish a chapter and immediately start looking for someone to gush about it with. In fact, I found myself stopping mid-read to recommend some parts to a friend, who immediately became interested and asked for the link to read it all. That kind of reaction is difficult to achieve and speaks volumes about the story's appeal.
✎ I Don't Want to Be Fixed! I Am the Evil Duke!!!!
I Don't Want to Be Fixed! I Am the Evil Duke!!!! is a charming and surprisingly witty romantic comedy that fully commits to its premise without ever letting the gimmick wear thin. We follow Duke Luphor and his attempts to preserve his “evil” image in spite of his growing affections for Marquessa Ambrillia. Their dynamic is truly endearing and hits all the right notes in its comedic timing and in its more serious beats. Funny, memorable, and effortlessly readable, this feels like a work anyone could enjoy.
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Shoujo
Author: Moon
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Reader's Comment
I Don't Want to Be Fixed! I Am the Evil Duke!!!! is a charming and surprisingly witty romantic comedy that fully commits to its premise without ever letting the gimmick wear thin. We follow Duke Luphor and his attempts to preserve his “evil” image in spite of his growing affections for Marquessa Ambrillia. Their dynamic is truly endearing and hits all the right notes in its comedic timing and in its more serious beats. Funny, memorable, and effortlessly readable, this feels like a work anyone could enjoy.
✎ Hit Me Like A Meteor
Nodo Hade is the charismatic voice of his school's radio club. Every evening, he graces the ears of listeners all across Japan with the latest news and messages of encouragement. Women love him. Men want to be him. He believes his beloved voice is his ticket to the high life. Nobody has ever ignored him, until he meets a beautiful deaf girl named Meda, who throws his entire life upside down... Literally...
Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Slice of Life
Author: Taylor J
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Reader's Comment
Hit Me Like A Meteor is a story that hits as hard as a notebook to the face, or that’s how the protagonist, Nodo Hade, might come to describe it after meeting a beautiful–albeit fiery–blonde named Meda during a meteor shower. As much as it's a tale about awkward romance and disability awareness, it also serves to inspire people to follow their dreams, regardless of whether they’re financially lucrative. As Hade and Meda spend more time together under the stars, they begin to grow closer, despite the worst first meeting ever. If you like school romance with an interesting twist, you’ll want to check this one out.
✎ You Amidst the Blossom Storm
Komiya was nobody in middle school — quiet, unnoticed, forgettable. High school was supposed to change that. His goal: become the most popular guy at Boushi High. It takes him one day to become infamous instead.
After confessing to the school's most beautiful girl on his knees, in front of everyone, and getting spectacularly rejected, Komiya finds himself friendless and decides to hide in the library during breaks. There he meets Noriko — a girl in a beret who keeps to herself and has a very deep passion for films and novels with a quiet ambition to create something of her own.
She wasn't supposed to matter to his plan. Neither was he to hers. But their unlikely partnership means more to them than either could've predicted.
Genres: Comedy, Romance, School
Author: Koutei
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Reader's Comment
You Amidst the Blossom Storm is a romantic comedy about Komiya Tomomi’s quest to become someone his classmates can remember, the most popular guy in school. Still, it starts in infamy when he is rejected by his middle-school crush on his very first day of high school. The story constantly finds new ways to make his awkwardness both funny and strangely admirable as he navigates what it actually means to be ‘popular’, along with the girl he met in the library, Noriko. Sweet, funny, and emotionally satisfying, this is the kind of romcom that is easy to love–but impossible to forget.
✎ I Hate Dating Shows, So I Joined One to Ruin It!
Jules hated dating shows. They were all big, fake insults to the idea of love.
But a chance encounter leads him into a rabbit hole he swore he'd never go down - he's been chosen to be a bachelor on a new reality dating show! Channeling his hatred for the idea, he decides to go all in - because if he survives the insanity long enough, there's a big payday in it for him.
Three big problems stand between him and that money. First, the bachelorette he has to woo, Kristina? She hates his guts.
Second, he's not the only bachelor who's doing this for the dough. With half the cast in it for the payday, what's he to do?
And third... what happens when the sparks start to fly between Jules and Kristina? Is he in it for love or is he in it for the money?
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Author: AdventFalls
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Reader's Comment
I Hate Dating Shows, So I Joined One to Ruin It! is a chaotic and cartoonishly entertaining romantic comedy that turns the absurdity of reality dating shows into a heartfelt romance. From the moment Jules is dragged into a competition he fully intends to sabotage, and for a hefty payout, he leverages his wit to become the “villain” of the show. What he doesn’t expect to happen, however, is to become one of the very love-stricken fools he thought so little of before. What starts as a money-driven scheme transforms into a genuine connection, leaving Jules to wonder whether he’s still in it for the money by the story's end or if he’s gone and found himself “the one” in the place he least expected to find her.
Psychological Horror Category
✎ Black Company
The eyes will follow you until none see you anymore.
Life has never been easy for Ishikawa Masaru. A lazy eye and a speech impediment made him awkward. Poverty made him exhausted. All his life, he’s been haunted by spectral eyes that float in the shadows just before terrible things happen nearby. And now, life as a salaryman at a property management black company in Tokyo is robbing him of his sanity.
When his boss begins to ignore him and sends him to lead management at a grimy love motel, Masaru starts to feel like all of the world is ignoring him. Is he a victim of social constructs destined to leave him invisible, or is he actually fading into nothingness?
Genres: Horror, Psychological, Romance, Tragedy, Paranormal
Author: Prufrock
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Reader's Comment
Psychological horror stories thrive on making readers feel trapped inside a character's messed-up mind, and "Black Company" accomplishes that with remarkable effectiveness. This story quickly establishes an unsettling atmosphere that only grows heavier with every chapter. The protagonist's deteriorating sense of self, his growing invisibility to society, and the constant uncertainty about what is real create a deeply unsettling experience. The novel reminded me of dark, unsettling anime like Takopi's Original Sin and Goodnight Punpun, which unapologetically portray themes of isolation, abuse, and human worth.
What impressed me most was how the novel made me care about its main characters. Masaru and Sayane are both deeply damaged individuals living on the fringes of society, yet their struggles feel painfully real. The horror here is not driven solely by supernatural elements or shocking imagery, but by the amplification of realistic human fears of being forgotten, ignored, or discarded by society. Even the story's most gruesome moments serve a larger psychological purpose, reinforcing the despair and hopelessness that permeate every aspect of the narrative.
This is the kind of story that would need to start with trigger warnings and helpline phone numbers. The story leaves behind a lingering sense of melancholy and unease that sits with you even after the final chapter. As a work of psychological horror, this novel succeeds exceptionally well, delivering an experience that is disturbing, thought-provoking, and difficult to forget.
✎ Puchi Pura Midori!
Did ya hear the news!? After fifteen long years, PuchiPura is finally getting a third season! Come join long-time series fanatic 'PuchiBro' as he guides you on a series retrospective of this otaku moe cult-classic, in the months leading up to the broadcast date. Revisit the laughs, the cuteness, the comfy vibes! New fans welcome!
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"PuchiPura" (Disambiguation Page)
PuchiPura was a Japanese animated series franchise centered around a group of five schoolgirls, and their carefree days in the Flower Arrangement Club (Tentative).
For the manga of the same name, click here.
Though a potential third season was announced, production issues forced—…
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Miyazawa Misaki (born March 3, 1990) is a Japanese voice actress, best known for her starring role as Miyanami Midori in the animated PuchiPura series.
(For the dedicated article detailing the 2026 Miyazawa Misaki Karasutome Incident, click here.)
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Psychological, School, Slice of Life
Author: Hype
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Reader's Comment
"Puchi Puira Midori!" excels at exploring the darkest side of obsession, blurring the line between psychological horror and the seemingly harmless hobbies that hit close to home for many readers, particularly anime culture and fandom spaces. Through its unconventional storytelling and layered narrative structure, the story examines how admiration can curdle into entitlement, how fandom can become delusion, and how fragile the boundary between fiction and reality truly is. More than its disturbing imagery or surreal twists, its greatest strength lies in the unsettling realization that the horrors it depicts feel uncomfortably close to everyday life.
✎ Rabbit Hole
After surviving a traumatic event, Marnie Worick has kept his true feelings under lock and key. With statuses to uphold and expectations to live up to, there's simply no room for the real Marnie to fit into the real world.
That is, until a designer drug takes him to the Other Side, a world where fantasy can be lived without consequence. The chains around Marnie's real self have slipped, but is his freedom truly free?
Genres: Horror, Psychological, Supernatural, Isekai, Tragedy
Author: Kohaku Rin
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Reader's Comment
What stands out most about “Rabbit Hole” is the quality of the writing. The character voices are distinct and memorable, the dialogue feels natural, and the emotional scenes consistently hit their mark. The progression from anxiety to addiction and eventually psychosis is handled with surprisingly strong pacing, making the protagonist's downward spiral feel both believable and deeply affecting. On top of that, the author successfully adapts familiar influences into a compelling psychological horror narrative, using them to explore themes of mental deterioration and emotional suffering in a way that feels fresh and engaging.
✎ Mirror's Guise
In the cold, barren world of Ikalla, rations for daily life are given by armed delivery men in mirrored masks. Solen is a man just trying to get by through scavenging what few medicinal herbs there are to sell. One day, the reflection he sees in the delivery man's mask is no longer his.
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Thriller
Author: Lilu Lulilla
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Reader's Comment
“Mirror’s Guise” is one of the most effective psychological horror novels as it doesn't just threaten the protagonist physically but gradually strips away his senses. Watching him lose the ability to recognize himself or his memories creates an atmosphere of constant unease that only grows stronger as the story progresses, making the confusion and paranoia feel genuinely unsettling.
✎ Dead Dreaming
With her little brother in an unexplained coma, Zoe desperately seeks out the only lead she has that might save him: a dark, mysterious tower that only shows up in dreams of their hometown on a moonlit night.
However, the secrets buried in Holmstowe's past pale in comparison to the horrors lurking just beneath its inhabitants' dreams. To delve deep enough to find her brother, Zoe may have to accept that, where some nightmares are concerned, not everyone always gets to wake up.
Genres: Action, Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural
Author: Sam Kelpie
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Reader's Comment
“Dead Dreaming” is all that its title promises: an oneiric ballad and a hymn for the macabre all in one mindbending story. We follow Zoe, whose investigation into her brother Noah's coma leads her to discover the monster slumbering beneath her unassuming home in the North of England. With fascinatingly grotesque imagery, a world of horrors fenced in only by the limits of human imagination and a unique spin on the psychological of its prompt, I’ll recommend “Dead Dreaming” to anyone who wants the vibes of Stranger Things boiled down to their rawest – and most disquieting – essence.
