I'm a well read grad student who's bluntly honest about all things, although I try to be most honest about myself.
The story was cute, and so was the art. It was cute, and lush and I loved it.
Unfortunately, I didn't connect to the characters at all: I didn't care for them, so I didn't care what happened to them.
I feel like maybe reading this as a stand-alone might have been the problem, although the author claims that he wrote it to be a stand-alone.