Delightful read- scratches exactly the itch I read web novels for.

This is the tale of a girl who has been treated badly by everyone in her life, and now has only a teaspoon of self esteem. She thinks her husband from an arranged marriage hates her and thinks she brings no value.

Her husband has the appearance and reputation of a brute, but actually cares very deeply for her. He’s a bit randy and assertive, shall we say.

This story is largely a compendium of misunderstandings between the two of them, along with our FMC Maxi slowly building self confidence and abilities. This book is alllll misunderstandings, which I love but I know many don’t. And it’s going to be for the long haul. But I love this dynamic of two people both thinking they’re in unrequited love due to their underlying trauma when it’s done well, and I think it is here. And Maxi is such a cutie as she learns to do things and starts to make friends.

CWs for dubious consent. basically I think the book goes along with the idea that she is just too nervous to agree but Maxi is presented as very passive in these scenes.

This book was really sweet and I really enjoyed reading it. I found the main character a little frustrating to deal with, but considering the trauma, maybe I just didn't understand it fully. I did empathize with the main character. The story itself was endearing and I found myself still wanting to know what was going to happen and how it was going to end. It was definitely spicier than I was expecting and they managed to make it spicy and sweet all at once.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher for the ARC of Under the Oak Tree: Volume 1 in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.**

4.25⭐️

I read a lot of manga and graphic novels and sometime they don't translate well to actual novels, but this did a fantastic job! There are a lot of tropes and styles that a more western audience might not be familiar with, especially drawn in by a pretty cover and intriguing premise, and it may take them time to adjust- if you are one of these people, read some fantasy/romance manga first, it will help you!!

The actual story was quite interesting, and I won't give anything away. But the translation was good, and I felt like I was actually reading a manga. The main character goes through a lot, but she grows. I hope to continue this series.

Got this off NetGalley after seeing how beloved the web comic seemed to be. Turns out not to be my thing as the noncon really isn’t my thing. I appreciate the rep for stuttering, but trying to read the stuttering lines just makes my head hurt and I think it could have been done better. DNF at chapter 3 as I just wasn’t into it and found it hard to read.

The cover of this book immediately drew me in. It is absolutely gorgeous! Personally, I didn't like the main character and found it hard to get through the story because of her, so I did DNF this pretty early on.

I was a huge fan of this story when it was on Mantra. Some changes were definitely made unless I’m misremembering and I’m not thrilled with all of them. The first half feels very rape-y between the FMC and MMC and despite Maxi being his wife, I’m not a fan of that. There also no communication between them. While that may be character flaws that are legitimate, it made much of the story a bit cringy. I wanted to love this but there were just some things I couldn’t get passed.

Thank you @netgalley for giving me an arc kindle edition of Under the Oak Tree! I really wanted to like this, as it was highly anticipated and looked really interesting. However, I couldn’t quite get behind the fmc. It just felt like a woah is me kind of thing, and I was hoping she’d have some major growth for what she endured, and I was really unimpressed with her male counterpart. I love a slow burn fantasy romance, but the intimate scenes seemed a little out of place and frequent. I thought the overall story and concept was interesting, and I could be interested in reading the following books, but as of now, it just wasn’t a personal favorite. I’d give this a solid 3 stars

As someone who has been following the graphic novel version of this story, I knew I was going to be getting much more as far as content. This story is what happens after the "Happily Ever After". Maxi is such a wonderful character, you read her background and see how she's lived and you see the potential for growth as the story goes on. Riftan has enough mystery that it makes you want more to find out about his character. The dynamic of these two characters is something romance lovers will crave, you want to root for these two and yet you want to shake them and be like "What are you doing! Talk to each other!". Kim was able to transport readers to a beautiful kingdom that opens a new world for Maxi as she is now a noble lady. Her struggles with fitting in and finding her place, are very relatable as a reader. You can also relate to the couple in how they interact with each other, awkward, nervous, but as they get to know each other, there's genuine affection, admiration, passion, and love with these two. A story beginning with the "Happily Ever After" and goes into a story that has something any reader will love. I look forward to the rest of the story as it continues.

Thank you NetGalley, Inklore, and Suji Kim for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I sadly couldn’t get into this one… But I recommend for others to pick it up still because that could have just been a personal issue. The cover is absolutely gorgeous as well and when it releases it will be stunning.

Fantastic!

Easily a favorite read of the year for me. I love the manwha and the novelization is equally as good.

I did find the chapters a smidge longer than my preference but this was still such a fun read.

Note: Thank you to Random House Inklore and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read the eARC for Under the Oak Tree Volume 1 by Kim Suji!

Rating: 4/5 stars!

Summary: Maximilian Calypse has grown up being the stuttering, undesirable daughter of Duke Croyso. Three years ago, she was married to rising knight Riftan Calypse before he left for a campaign to defeat an ancient dragon, and now, he is returning. Her memories of Riftan are painful and tense, and on top of that, rumors abound that the princess of the nation offered her hand to Riftan. Divorce would mean at the very least exile from the only life she’s known, and at worse, death. As Maxi and Riftan make their way to Anatol, Riftan’s domain, can she come to learn who her husband really is, and make a happy life for herself in Castle Calypse?

Content Warnings: Dubious Consent (due to period-typical lack of sex education and misogyny) and Physical and Mental Abuse (Duke Croyso to Maxi, not between the FL and ML)

Review: I included the content warnings above because I would have appreciated those warnings being given before I read. It’s hard to read where Maxi is at the beginning. Throughout the novel she grows to understand more about her sexuality and herself as a person apart from the abuse she’s suffered her whole life.

I love Maxi with all my heart. She takes the shitty circumstances she’s been given and does her best to find happiness despite that. Maxi alone keeps the rating at 4 stars because I just love how she’s been written as a character.

Riftan… he’s not the worst ML I’ve ever read in this genre but good lord does he need to like, communicate with Maxi. He did not grow up as a noble and thus probably doesn’t understand that noble women don’t know a whole lot about ‘marital duties’ but Maxi’s body language was giving off discomfort and fear pretty strongly during the first few times they had sex, and for that he’s lost a lot of likability in my eyes.

Perhaps throughout the course of the story, he will realize his early mistakes and apologize, especially once the truth of Maxi’s life before him comes to light.

Other than that I really liked this novel! Kim Suji’s writing comes across well with the translation work done by the teams at MANTA! It really brings out the medieval fantastical elements of the novel while retaining a lot of the emotion and personality of each of the characters. Though the sex scenes were a bit repetitive, they were fairly well-written, and didn’t leave me feeling bored or disinterested.

I will be looking out for Volume 2, and checking out the manhwa!

*Under the Oak Tree: Volume 1* by Suji Kim is an intriguing story of love, power, and self-discovery. Lady Maximilian, sheltered and insecure due to her stutter, finds herself married off to Sir Riftan, a lowborn knight, as part of her father’s schemes. Their relationship starts on shaky ground, and when Riftan leaves immediately after their wedding night, it’s clear that their journey together will be anything but smooth. However, the story picks up when Riftan returns years later as a war hero, and Maxi begins to find her own strength and courage in a world that has long underestimated her.

While the premise of the story is compelling, the execution could have been better. The lack of trigger warnings is concerning, as the content might be distressing for some readers. Additionally, Riftan’s behavior, particularly his insensitivity towards Maxi, especially after their marriage, was off-putting and made it hard to fully connect with him as a character. That being said, Maxi’s journey of self-empowerment is inspiring, and I hope the final print includes the necessary warnings to better prepare readers for the emotional challenges ahead.

#UnderTheOakTree #NetGalley

The stuttering in this book is what took me out. The main character's stutter I sentences long? That being introduced so early on in the book really took me out.

4.2 / 5.0

This novel adaptation of a web comic follows the original story word for word. It ends exactly where the comic ends and with the same sharp cliffhanger as the original work. So, obviously, as a fan of the comic, I loved this.

I am not going to say much about the story itself since a lot of those main points are in the blurb. I am going to say that I have read a few of these comic to novel adaptations and they generally fall into one of three categories: great, fair, or poor. This one is in the higher end of fair for me. It is SO LONG, like every little leaf flutter and gasp muttered is here, but the angst is exquisite. The violence and trauma in this is also not hidden or off page, so read the TW and prepare yourself.

I hope that they continue to adapt this web comic to novel format, that they hire the same exact artist for the covers (because this cover is amaze-balls), and that Suji Kim brings her story to a solid HEA that we can all love.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the chance to read this eARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Maxi has a stutter. Her father hates her for it and marries her off to a lowborn knight so he doesn't have to go fight in the dragon wars. Three years later, the knight comes back for her. Can they move past everything and find love?

A very long read, but also a very engaging read. It follows the webcomic pretty much word for word and ends at the same moment as well. I was definitely not ready for it to end and will be impatiently awaiting Volume 2!

This is one of my favorite stories of all time. Both the manhwha and the light novel are ethereal. This romance is like no other, carefully weaving discussions of assumptions and stereotypes, with my favorite miscommunication trope example of all time. I love them <3

First of all, I want to mention that this should come with some trigger warnings right out of the gate for SA and r*pe.

Under the Oak Tree is a story about Lady Maximilian, daughter of the powerful, Father-of-the-Year recipient, Duke Croyso, who is forced into a marriage with the definition of toxic masculinity, Sir Riftan. Riftan is a lowborn night who takes a mere glance, a light breeze, as a slight against his ever fragile manliness. He responds in kind with some “cutting” remarks that really befit a toddler.

Maxi, a woman who has been incredibly sheltered her whole life and is totally okay with it because she finds her stutter embarrassing, has some glaring gaps in her education. Those gaps are namely what (who, when, where, and why—seriously…) is ✨expected✨ of her on her wedding night, what is expected of her as a wife when her new husband trots off to places unknown the morning after their wedding, and generally how to stay alive when she’s not under the gaze of a man. As her father’s throw away child, he absolutely does not attempt to aid her.

I have a lot of problems with this book, the biggest and only one worth mentioning is the constant sexual assault the FMC experiences at the hands of her husband under the guise of a sort of enemies-to-lovers romance. It’s peppered throughout the book and even when she says “wait” and “stop” he basically pretends not to hear her and thus, it still continues. He wears her down, ignores her, forces himself on her, and the thing that “makes it okay” (no. Absolutely not) is the fact that she orgasms. Oh, and that he “can’t help himself.”

Not cute and definitely not romantic.

There is absolutely no thought to consent. I desperately hope no one ever reads this who has been in those situations because it’s extremely upsetting.

All that aside, the story is utterly boring. The first 20% of the book details traveling from her childhood home to Riftan’s. This was a great opportunity to world build or… I don’t know, literally describe anything about this “magical” world outside from a random attack by some trolls. I can safely say I know all too much about the jostling of a carriage and nothing about the space around it that she’s constantly staring at. Trees, trees, and more trees… The writing lacks in all imagery. I don’t think I made it far enough in the book to comment on the character development, but I can’t continue with a romance entirely based on marital rape and breaking a woman down until she finally says “okay”.

I want to thank the publisher via netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC.

Fair warning this has an ample amount of smut. And with a timid protagonist and an aggressive love interest, this may not be for everyone. I, however, seriously enjoyed the smut in this book. It was actually my favorite part unbelievably. 😂 it’s very beautiful and tasteful while also holding this intensity that just brilliantly conveys their feelings. I was impressed! And what’s so surprising is that the smut actually got less as the book went on and I…. Missed it???? With the amount in this book, you’d think it would be overwhelming but it NEVER was. I actually would have liked 1-2 more scenes near the end! Who am I???

Other than the smut, did anything really happen in this book?? It was very veeeerrrrry low stakes. She’s hanging out at the castle, refurbishing it while he goes to visit the king and then he comes back and the knights train and then she starts learning from the mage. That’s legit the entire book.

Since this is just a compilation of the webnovel, it does have a concise climax / resolution. So the book itself just … ends. It was weird because I felt like it was moving toward a big plot point but it didn’t get there 🙈 I know it’s 496 pages apparently but I wanted another chapter to give me some kind of cliffhanger or conflict that could bring some stakes.

I likely won’t continue with the series because it is SO slow. Even with the intensely amazing smut, I just can’t sit back and keep waiting for something to happen. 🙈

I really did like Ruth, the mage. Sometimes I liked him more than the MMC, Riftan. Not for a love interest for the FMC! But just as a character. It felt like Riftan was a tad one note at this point: he needs to be developed a lot and I wish we had gotten more of that in this book. Like I said, not that much happened in this book. 😂

Overall, this was a fun relaxing read with some great smut!

This was so good and an amazing companion/comparison to the graphic book on Manta! I loved reading this, especially after having read the original version! It was a fantastic story and a great read overall!

First thing that caught my eye was the cover - it's truly stunning.

The steamy scenes between the main characters really added some spice to the story. I appreciated how Riftan saw past Maxi's stutter and was completely taken with her. It was great to see Maxi's character develop from a shy, reserved person into someone with real determination and drive.

However, the communication between Maxi and Riftan was often frustrating. There were times I wished Maxi would speak up more and express herself clearly. Their misunderstandings became a bit tedious after a while.

The plot felt a bit thin in places, and the ending seemed rushed to me. The balance between romance and fantasy wasn't quite there, but knowing there are more volumes to come, this might improve in future books.

Overall, it's a mixed experience. If you enjoy romance with a touch of fantasy, you might find this entertaining. The character growth is promising, and I'm curious to see how Maxi continues to develop in the upcoming volumes.