The One I Love is a collection of twelve short stories all about love -- ranging from such topics such as marriage, long-distance relationships, age-differences, honesty and insecurity.

At only half the thickness of a typical manga tankoubon, The One I Love may not seem like good value for money, but if you enjoy romantic feel-good shojo, you can't afford to miss this. The stories are short -- only seven pages each -- but each succinctly manages to sum up an idea in their brief pages, and each is accompanied by a mini-essay by lead CLAMP author Nanase Ohkawa, detailing the inspiration behind the story. The artwork is, of course, beautiful, as you would expect from CLAMP, and the first ten pages are fully in colour. A nice touch is the table of contents, which takes the form of a gorgeous (colour) illustration of the twelve protagonists together.

Despite being about modern, real-life issues, these stories all have a very innocent fairy-tale feel about them. This makes for a touching, cosy reading experience, but by the end you'll probably be wistfully wishing that love really were so simple.