By Yoneori and LINO. Released in Japan as “Misuterareta Ikenie Reijou wa Senyou Skill “Otoriyose” de Jaryuu wo Ezukesuru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

This is one of those titles that feels like a much better read when you realize it’s complete in one volume. Admittedly, I’ve said that before and then been startled with a Vol. 2 popping up a year or so later, but there’s no ‘1’ on the cover or the copyright, so I feel I can treat it as a standalone. Which is good, as the main issue with this volume is that it had a tendency to get a bit boring. If I was supposed to want to read more of this story, I’m not sure that I’d want to get the next book in the series. But as a stand-alone, it does its job. Abused child who slowly realizes how abused she is and overcomes it. Found family out the wazoo. No real romance per se (notice it’s not a J-Novel Heart imprint book), instead concentrating purely on our heroine escaping a bad situation and finding herself in a much better one.

Francheska is in a very familiar position at the start of this book. Her father hates her, her mother is dead, her stepmother loathes her, and her sister has seduced her fiancee (the prince) and is now pregnant with his child. So, after years of training to be royalty, she is instead going to be sacrificed to a dragon, something that happens every fifty years or so. And she’s better be grateful, the little bitch. A VERY familiar position, especially if you read this genre on the regular, as I do. See, she (groan) doesn’t have a good skill. She has mana off the charts, can teleport, do fire and water magic, etc… but who cares, she doesn’t have a special whosis. Or rather, she does but no one knows what it is. Then the shock of all this awakens (groan) her memories from Japan… and it turns out her skill is ordering food online with free delivery.

Which, I have news for you, we’ve ALSO seen in another light novel before this. Except he at least had access to an Amazon expy, Francheska is limited to food. In any case, once she gets past the murderous monsters that have been killing every sacrifice (by using her magic), things look up. The dragon turns out not to eat anyone, and while he’s a bit grumpy, he’s mostly pretty nice, and handsome once he turns sort-of human for her. She meets various mythical spirits, who turn out to not be so mythical. The job of everyone else in the cast is to reassure Francheska that she has value and that it’s OK to value herself. The goal of the book is to tell us about what the cast are eating, in long, lingering detail. It’s pretty good at both of those.

If you didn’t order this already, I’m not sure I’d tell you to get it, unless you’re a disgraced noble completist. If you got it and read it, though, I don’t think anyone will regret it. It’s decent. And she lives happily ever after eating lots of food with her incredibly powerful friends on their remote island nowhere near her abusive family. (Except granddad. Sorry, granddad.)