I was not expecting the amount of smut right from the start. This is not a complaint. I'm reminded of early romance and fantasy novels where the woman doesn't have much agency in the beginning but has some by the end of the book. The consent is very dubious, bordering on non-existing in the beginning especially. Maxi is soft-spoken with a stutter that has been punished harshly by her father for years and has the low self-esteem to match. Riftan seems to have two big feelings. One is anger and the other is desire. He has a strong handle on neither of these. If Maxi had remained a wilting flower under her big, strong husband's wants, I would have hated this but Maxi starts to make decisions about what she wants and doesn't let him strong-arm her. The romance is, again, reminiscent of early romance novels where a woman having wants and desires is frowned upon and a lot of that comes with dubiously consented to intimacy. I look forward to Volume 2 and really hope to see Maxi learning how to put herself and her wants over what everyone wants of her.

i just wanted to reach into the book and hug Riftan and Maxi and tell him everything would be ok but there were times I also wanted to shake the ever loving 💩 out of them and tell them to smarten up!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Trigger warnings are important to read here too.

I was drawn in by the beautifully designed book and pretty art and what seemed like an interesting storyline for a romance where an anxious and oppressed girl starts to find her voice in the world and a new love.

I know this was adapted from a web novel and it reads that way for sure. Which isn't inherently a bad thing, but I think it could have been edited a little more smoothly together. This could be a translation issues as well though.

The plot was a bit of a let down, Maxi never reaches any kind of potential in this first novel, her romance isn't giving me anything to actually root for either. Being "nice" doesn't actually make a difference when you are opening the book with SA in the marriage. Made it hard to come back from. It would have been possible, but there was no actual development in their relationship other than she started to actually enjoy their bedroom activities sort of. None of the characters were developed enough for me to care about what happens to them. We didn't get enough world building or plot development to make the romance issues inconsequential to the enjoyment of the story either.

Maxi trying to become a mage is the most interesting thing that happens in this first volume and they barely give us enough information and time to really explore that as well. Nor does the Love Interest in this romance, which is the main plot of the story, give any kind of actual support towards her goals. I just needed them to have an actual conversation.

I'm sure some of these problems might get addressed further in the story, but nothing that happened in the first 39 chapters that are in this first volume enticed me enough to make me want to continue reading about Maxi and Rifton.

You know the romance is failing when I start hoping she leaves her husband for her magic teacher and his sorcerer.

1.5 stars is my final rating, Ruth the sorcerer helped bump it up just a bit.

No. An insane amount of marital rape, verbal abuse, trauma bonding and its romanization of that is awful .

THIS IS SO GOOOD!!!! 5 STARS!
I have read the manhwa of this novel, but let me tell you the novel has my heart!

First things first, this book was MUCH STEAMIER than I thought it was going to be!
Secondly, I thoroughly enjoyed myself with it. I had a great time with it, and can't wait for the next installment!

Maxi, the daughter of the Duke of Croyso is forced into an arranged marriage to Sir Riftan. Maxi spends one night with him where he forcefully consummates the marriage before he disappears the following morning. Three years later he returns after war to bring her to his castle.

Maxi has a significant stutter which resulted in years of torture and humiliation from her father. For this reason she has a hard time trusting that Riftan cares for her and will not just leave her. She did not receive the normal instruction of what is expected of a lady and must learn as she goes as she is afraid to tell Riftan. She is so afraid that if he finds out how little she knows and how she was treated in the past he will be disgusted with her. Many of their disagreements and the anguish she puts herself through could be avoided if they would just communicate with each other.

Really good 😊👍🏻
I really appreciate the publisher for sending this book
Thanks netgalley and the publisher for the copy of the book

do you like the naive virgin trope + a FMC with extreme low self esteem?

then this is the book for you!

Let me just start by saying that I had high hopes for this book after hearing a lot of good things about it, and people being excited that it was being traditionally published as a novel, but I did not enjoy this book.

It started off with a descriptive of an SA between a husband and an innocent wife on their wedding night, where she had no idea what was going on, and told him no and to stop many times. And then he leaves her without a word for three years, comes back and then instantly blames her for not fulfilling her wifely duties while he was gone? And THEN when he comes back, he SAs her again and there's more instances of it later on as well. And this is supposed to be the romance everyone loved in the graphic novel? I'm so confused on why some people talked this up. I get that this is a fantasy romance that takes place in medieval times when that was acceptable and was expected, but it's not now, so lets not make it a thing, please and thank you. Nothing else that happened in this book redeemed these characters for me.

Maxi was a terrible FMC. She just let everyone walk all over her constantly and couldn't stood up for herself and because of her stutter and severe lack of confidence due to familial abuse. But I still couldn't find myself rooting for her or caring about what happened to her. Riftan was just as bad, but in another way. Instead of letting everyone walk all over him like Maxi did, he was the one that walked all over her. After coming back from his three year journey fighting dragons, he instantly verbally attacks her and doesn't listen to a single word that she has to say after he left her without a word on their wedding night..... after SAing her. The relationship between the two lacked so much chemistry and stemmed from marital rape... Of course, with the relationship starting like that, I don't care what happens in the relationship afterwards to "progress" the relationship, I would never root for this. I'm pretty sure Maxi just had stockholm syndrome and thought she had feelings for him after what he did to her.

I will not be continuing this series.

I read the manhwa and was so excited to see this pop up on my NetGalley! I feel this goes into further detail of Maxi and Riftan's relationship and dynamic. I thoroughly enjoyed this version of their story and cant wait for more! Maxi is my favorite and she deserves only the best in life after all she has endured!

*ARC received for honest review*

Lady Maximilian, the unfavorable daughter of a Duke is forced to marry a lowborn knight, Riftan Calypse. After her wedding night, she wakes up alone without a word from her husband. Three years have passed and now he’s back, a war hero. Now a knight favored by the King, she must do whatever she can to convince Riftan to not divorce her. Until she realizes that Riftan had not come to divorce Maxi but to take her back to his estate.

I was so excited when it was announced that we would be getting an official English translation. Maxi has a stutter and has been the subject of her father’s abuse. Most of the time, Maxi is very timid and fearful of everyone. Always wondering when Riftan will lose his cool or send her back to her father. As the story progresses, you can see Maxi become more and more confident. Like Riftan, I just want to wrap her up in a blanket and keep her safe. Riftan just wants to care for her and give her everything that she deserves. He doesn’t want Maxi to feel like she lacks anything compared to when she was at the Croyso castle. What he doesn’t know is that Maxi has never actually known such luxuries. Riftan has no idea about the mistreatment and abuse that Maxi went through at the hands of her father. She’s scared that if he were to find out, the lady image that he had of her would be broken and would come to hate her as her father does.

It did slow down a bit in the middle but I still enjoy reading this book. I love seeing how Maxi’s confidence grows as the story progresses. I love her relationship with all the servants, knights, and the banter between Ruth and Maxi. I am so excited for the next volume.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This book was really hard to get into. The book opens strong with triggering content, that is not listed in the content warnings. I also found that the main characters were hard to read about. One just wanted to be grumpy and the other just wanted to be insecure. This story being in a novel I think was a disadvantage to the story and plot.

This book was probably my biggest surprise read of the year. I didn't know much about it going into it, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I loved it. Maxi was amazing and so easy to root for. Riftan was great as well. I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.

This was interesting! The SA scenes that apparently were not SA were pretty intensely described and although it was a misconception since we’re getting what happened from her pov I still don’t know how to feel about it. I’ll have to reread this volume when the next one comes out.
Other than that there were many things that although being a bit predictable were very enjoyable.

3.5 stars

Sexual assault by the main make love interest in the first few pages? I will pass on reading this. No thank you.

I requested this novel because I used to be an avid reader of the Manhwa a few years ago. I quite honestly forgot what happened and how much dubcon/noncon there was in this story. Maybe it's becaues the artwork distracted me.

Regardless, I was uncomfortable with the story and I unfortunately decided to DNF. I am sure a ton of people will like this story, however I am not one of them.

Thank you to Suji Kim, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this title!

"Under the Oak Tree" is a novelization of the popular Webtoon of the same name, which follows the adventure of high-born but sheltered and abused Maximillian Croyso and her aloof, low-born-but-rising-hero husband Riftan. Three years following their arranged marriage - in which Riftan leaves for adventure following their wedding night - he suddenly returns and claims her, throwing her into a new life amidst swirling rumors of his engagement to a famed princess and her own worries about his temper and her secrets. Maxi must find her courage and power as she struggles to find her place as a wife, and as the object of her new(ish husband's desires and longing.

I had not read the Webtoon before requesting this title but have seen it advertised many times across social media, and throught that the story and art style were beautiful, and was excited to read this novelization. As many other reviewers have pointed out, however, the series begins with an account of SA between the two main characters, and I have a hard time recommending this book to anyone who may have any triggers or misgivings about reading books with this specific subject. Though the author offers a generalized "mature themes" warning at the beginning of this book, they do not mention SA specifically and it was jarring to read about within the first chapter of the book. I have seen others dub this scene as "non-con" instead of SA, and for my reviewing purposes, I will only say that there really needs to be a better warning so that readers can enter the story well-informed and make a decision beforehand about whether they wish to continue the book.

All that to be said, I still was surprised I enjoyed the story. Further encounters between the FMC and MMC grow increasingly enthusiastic, and the idea that their first encounter was not with the FMC's enthusiastic consent is darted around. The FMC has a pronounced stutter and I think the book does a good job of exploring what living with this disability in a fantasy world looks like, and provides the FMC with a way to regain power and balance in her relationship that doesn't involve her magically losing her stutter, overcoming her insecurities in two chapters or less, and becoming good at weapons and fist-fighting, which is a trope that happens a lot in romantasy which I don't care for. I found myself comparing this book to the manga "My Happy Marriage" quite a bit and I think that it follows a roughly similar timeline, albeit with a LOT more smut, which is not a bad thing, just an observation.

Overall, while I can't generally recommend this book or likely the manga/Webtoon due to the SA themes and the lack of warning of those themes on the author's part, I actually enjoyed the story going forward and would likely read the second volume when it comes out. I think there is a specific genre of readers who would enjoy this with enough specific warning about the content, but unless this is addressed so that anyone picking up the book will know before starting into the story, I don't feel comfortable giving more than a three-star rating.

Format: Ebook

Rating: 3.25

My Review- This story was a self-published novel and graphic novel but the first time I saw it was on a webtoon and I liked the story was interesting when I found it was getting picked up both the books, I heard the book so better the the webtoon. I was blessed to get an arc and I did like it better than the webtoon but only half of the book, you have a girl who is treated badly by her dad and is forced into marriage. She meets him on the wedding day and leaves her the next day to fight in a battle that lasts a long time. He comebacks and they try to get to know each other I just don't like how he treats her in the beginning and assumes things about her. It did get better and can't wait to see what happens with them.

I loved reading about their love story and watch them overcome hardships. And watch the MF develop into her new role.it was refreshing to see the MM show his love for the MF and see his story develop.