I enjoyed this story so much that I was able to finish it in a day. I didn't want to put it down, I even went and found the next part so I can find out what happens next. To me this book is a pretty fast paced book that not only focus on the relationship between Riften and Maxi. It also focus on Maxi learning to over come the physical and emotional abuse that she went through at her family home. She is learning to come into her own and that she is worth more than she thinks. I also feel that Riften is learning how to not be such a tough guy and come off as being this mean person. I am eager to know what will happened once Riften finds out that Maxi has not lived a luxury life.

On another note I like this cover of the book, not that the one for the current volume are not good. The colors in this cover is what initial made me want to read this book. I am glad that I have, I cant wait to read the next volume.

Wow. There was a lot on this book that I wasn't expecting. Warning, lots of sex that isn't fully consensual. I didn't like how mousy the FMC was. She didn't really stand up for herself much and that's kind of a pet peeve of mine. The MC was just, not my cup of tea. He SA'd her and was overall a rude and demanding jerk. Not my favorite. The world building also confused me; like it wasn't that concise. I did like the setting of the castle's and stuff. So if you like the tortured protagonist type non consensual sex stuff you'd like this.

I read this when it was first published as lite novel in small increments on Amazon for kindle, and I immediately got sucked in. The world building, in my opinion is so good. I loved learning about the magic system. Couple that with all that knights entail, and I was completely hooked.

Maxi is the daughter of a powerful duke who despises her for her stutter. She is generally either ignored or mistreated in his household. However, when the duke is called upon by the king to serve in the dragon crusade, he comes up with a clever use for his daughter. Marry her off to lowborn knight who will surely die fighting in his place.

To everyone's great surprise the knight Sir Riftan, not only survives, but becomes one of the most lauded knights of the kingdom. He comes back to claim his wife and we follow Maxi's as she learns to find her voice, confidence, and place in her new household.

I loved seeing Maxi's confidence begin to grow and the different relationships and bonds she formed with the different knights and members of the order. I can't wait for the second novel to be released!

For those who have already read the lite novels, not only is this edition beautiful, but I found the translations to be slightly improved for a better reading experience.

Warning to sensitive readers, this book does contain graphic scenes.

Highlights:
-Dragons!!!
- KNIGHTS!!!!
-Great world building
- Interesting magic system
- Grumpy, but soft on the inside, MMC

When I thought I was getting a graphic novel and found out it was a novel I was skeptical. Boy did that change because this world. The characters. EVERYTHING is magnificent. I immediately pre-ordered this book and the volume 1 bind up!

The main character in this book grows more resilient as you read, although I wish the author didn't write out her stutter. I am hoping in future volumes she gains more confidence and can work through some of her insecurities. The spice was definitely there, and even though most of it is dubcon, it is still refreshing to read about a character dedicated to his wife, even though a seemingly better option has become available. I don't trust Ruth, and I am wondering if more is going to come of that in future volumes. I also wish there was more world building and exploration as Maxi was trapped in her father's castle her whole life, and now she appears to not really have a lot of desire to explore her new home.

2.5/5
The story was just alright. The miscommunication trope was terrible. The FMC and MMC were unrelatable and forgettable.

This story is about a girl who has been abused by her father because of a stutter, who is then given away in marriage to a knight she doesn't know just to keep a war from happening. The day after their wedding, her new husband leaves for 3 years for battle and comes back a hero. Now that he is back, they have a chance to finally get to know each other, but they are both hiding their own insecurities, and they both feel as if they are not worthy of each other. They grow as individuals, and as a couple throughout the book, and fall in love with each other along the way. This was an easy, enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC of Under the Oak Tree, in exchange for an honest review.

As a huge fan of the comic, I enjoyed diving back in to the world of Under The Oak Tree with Maxi and Riftan. It's so satisfying seeing Maxi bloom into the woman she was meant to be with the help of her gruff husband. Riftan is definitely BOOK Husband material. He's a slayer of monsters, very protective, and listens to Maxi's needs.. even helps her come out of her anxious shell.

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin Random House and Inklore for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

When I realized that the current manhwa I was reading was getting a novelization, I jumped at the chance to read the first volume. I had read a majority of the manhwa chapters covered by the novel, and I did find myself going back to the illustrations because the pictures themselves gave much more in the sense of describing their facial expressions. Also, the artist's work is absolutely gorgeous and I would recommend reading through the manhwa for sure.

That said, beyond the pretty pictures, this novelization did give more characterization and depth to Maxi as the protagonist. I loved the extra detail of her thoughts throughout the book, and her outlook on her developing relationship with Riftan had an almost realistic slowness to it. It's clear that both characters come with a lot of baggage, and I wished that it was clearer with Riftan as well. I'm still also not sure how I felt about all the spice scenes. On the one hand, man, they were amusing to read because the scenes in the manhwa were definitely tame in comparison. But also, like damn, I felt sort of sorry for Maxi, because Riftan has STAMINA.

The ending of this book did leave me a bit "meh," and I wonder what the reasoning was to end it where it did, since nothing really happened. Or maybe I'm just so used to endings of first books having some kind of cliffhanger. Anyway, I think I enjoyed the manhwa loads better, so I might just continue that instead.

4 stars
Spice level:🌶️🌶️🌶️
Emotional damage:😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

For those unaware, a few years back there came a WebNovel from South Korea that took the entire internet by storm. It started off devastatingly slow, with a damsel-in-distress FMC and a too-proud-to-ask-for-anything MMC determined not to show each other their weaknesses but equally obsessed with each other. It ran with a tagline, "A flawless love story of the flawed," through cliffhangers and character growth and transformations that would make you weep openly... and then it just stopped. The author had apparently suffered some illness or injury that prevented her from writing, and for about two years, she simply disappeared from the internet and left the story hanging. But then! Joy! She returned and finished this "flawless love story," maybe in a little bit of a rush, but we're not here to complain! And since then, that WebNovel has been converted into an extremely successful web comic, YouTube sketches, animated shorts, and has even had Kpop idols writing and dedicating ballads to its story and characters.

This is merely the first translated volume of that expansive story, and as such, it falls a little short of those grand accolades if you go in expecting all of the above all at once. The pacing is a bit long-winded, the exposition and set up of our world might feel never-ending to some more used to snappier traditional editing. But the payoff is so worth the build-up, even if we can't yet see it in this installment.

We first meet Maximilian Calypse, the stuttering eldest daughter of one of the richest and most powerful dukes in the country. Three years before the start of the novel, she'd been married off to a relatively unknown knight, Riftan Calypse, in order to spare her father having to enlist in a war. She spent just one traumatizing night with her new husband before he had to go off to the fight in her father's stead. Now, three years later, he's back. Misunderstandings will abound, emotions will run high, tensions will be off the charts. Maxi wants Riftan to believe she's everything her father presented her as--spoiled, beautiful, treasured, someone who has never wanted for anything in her life--even if it's the exact opposite of what she truly is. Riftan, believing himself unworthy of her, wants Maxi to be all those things but for herself, constantly lavishing her in riches and refusing to allow her to lift a finger--even if it goes against what she wants for herself. Their insecurities are almost a complete foil for each other.

Two rather broken people, traumatized by past hurts and neglect, determined to present themselves to each other as far more whole and perfect than they really are, even when the other loves them for all their faults. Slowly over time they learn to better communicate and bridge these gaps, but it takes time and trust. The author brilliantly executes this slowburn in almost direct opposition of the definition of the word--the spice is there and abundant from the very beginning. Riftan--and as she learns to enjoy the more physical side of marriage, later Maxi--are incredibly compatible in bed. It's just in real, honest conversation that they struggle.

There are extremely dark elements to this story that must be forewarned. Parental abuse, PTSD, graphic depictions of war and violence, marital SA, the list goes on and on. This is a story set in a time when women were property, first of their fathers and then of their husbands, and Maxi is often caught in that snare. But through Riftan's careful nurturing and her own burgeoning friendships, she begins to see just how powerful and valuable she really is in her own right.

Because this volume is simply a snippet of the whole, the editing will feel off to those more used to trad published works. The ending isn't an "ending" at all, the story simply just stops after a certain chapter. There is no discernible plot arc within this volume alone, no real climax or resolution. I do think some of this could be cleaned up a little by editing, but I also understand why they may choose to keep it like this, true to the original. Once the rest of the volumes are published, the overarching plotline will be far more easily understood. But it will definitely throw off some readers the way it is now.

If you can stick around through the rather long, slow-paced, meandering beginning, this story is truly one for the ages.

For those who have read this story in other iterations, whether that be Manta or the Amazon editions, I can add that this version is its own translation of the original. I have compared it to those other editions and I do feel that this translation is as accurate to the original, if much better edited for flow and language discrepancies. If you're concerned like I was that the somewhat stilted, choppy translations used before would just be repeated here with a prettier cover, you can rest assured. This edition reads much smoother and more natural.

Thanks to the publisher and the author for providing me an electronic advanced reader copy of this novel via NetGalley!

I hope as drawn to this because of the genre and beautiful cover. Because of pacing and not being able to connect with the characters, this one's not for me. If you like slower pacing and lots of spice this could be a good fit for you.

This book was a little too slow paced for me. Ultimately it felt like not much happens in the span of the whole story, and it ends incredibly abruptly. I liked some of the lore and the character interactions were sometimes interesting but overall this felt like a very repetitive read without much substance. Certain aspects of the romance turned me way off and I just couldn’t ever fully get into the story because it all felt like filler that was leading up to something that never happened. I definitely went out of my comfort zone on this read and it just missed the mark for me, it may just be the book isn’t my style but I found it hard to finish.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Banter: 🔥🔥🔥

💖Single POV Romantasy
💖Damsel in distress vibes
💖Main Character transformation

This is a tale of a girl who feels utterly helpless in her abilities. She is forced into a marriage and at first it seems like a bad thing but comes to love her relationship with her partner. She is a misunderstood woman who feels the need to keep her secrets from him all for fear of being rejected. Eventually, things begin to change as she grows into her role as the lady of the castle.

What I Loved: There was so many steamy moments in this book between the two main characters and really warmed up the conflict at the beginning. I love how the Riftan ( MC’s love interest) sees past her stutter and is obsessed with her. There was a change in the main character which changed her from being a dainty shy flower into someone who is determined to help and make something of herself in anyway possible with the help of those around her. I do see this main character coming into herself in terms of her power and her strong will to change things for the betterment of not only herself but her situations.

What I Did Not Like: There was a sense of confusion between the two main characters in this book, Maxi and Riftan have a hard time truly sharing their feelings and getting things clear. At times, it seems like Maxi’s natural stutter and her shyness but I truly felt like shaking this character into saying what she needed to say so she wouldn’t feel pushed around. I did not feel there was a strong plot in this story and felt that the end was a little rushed. It doesn’t seem to have a great balance between romance and fantasy but thinking about it, there will be more volumes of Under The Oak Tree so it doesn’t seem like a big issue.

Overall, this is a great choice if you like a lot of steamy scenes and minimal fantasy as this is a duke’s daughter and a knight romance and sort of enemies to lovers from the perspective of Maxi (the MC).

Special thanks to the Publisher and the Author for providing a complimentary digital Electronic Advanced Reader Copy (E-ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest, and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

I found this to be a cozy, enjoyable read once past the first few chapters, as we're mostly following the main character as she adjusts to her new life as a married lady. I appreciate that the book opens with a note from the author warning that it contains triggering content (our main character's father is emotionally and physically abusive, and the scenes with him are quite graphic; Maxi's first handful of encounters with her new husband are non-consensual and awful for her, and she's essentially abducted from her home in the beginning), and I wouldn't recommend this to anyone triggered by that type of content.

It's nice to see Maxi's relationship with Riftan improve over time, as she gets more comfortable with him and he gets to know her better, and following along with her as she learns how to take care of her new home and builds relationships with the others around her is what gives this such a cozy vibe for me. That said, it is frustrating to be in the head of someone who's so unsure of herself, and so unwilling to speak up and communicate, for the whole book. It's another case of "if they would just communicate with each other, all their problems would solved".

Towards the end it felt slower, because we're still simply following Maxi along in her day to day life. There isn't much conflict, or much progress with her self-confidence or willingness to actually communicate with the people around her. Overall, this first volume feels very much like a set-up for the next, where hopefully we'll see some conflict, some happenings, some progress. I would recommend this as a companion for anyone reading the manhwa, less so as a standalone experience.

In the enchanting world created in the book ‘Under the Oak Tree’ we follow the main female character Maximilian (known as Maxi). Maxi is the resilient daughter of the Croyso family, and due to the cruel treatment, she has struggled with inferiority complex.
But, thankfully fate steps in and Duke Croyso (her Father) arranges for her to marry Riftan Calypse, who is a peasant knight.
Their first night together is fleeting, due to the fact that Riftan departs for war the next morning.

Three years later, Riftan returns victorious, and Maxi fears he may seek a divorce, which would result in a death sentence for her. As their story unfolds, Maxi’s transformation from a timid young woman to a beacon of strength captivates readers. She defies societal norms, discovering her true worth beyond being mere marriage material.

The author excels in character development, crafting angsty knights who easily win our favor. The blend of historical romance with a dash of spice! adds intrigue, and the dark castle setting sets the stage for mystical discoveries. Maxi’s journey is one of resilience, love, and self-discovery.

"Under the oak Tree" is a must-read for those seeking a powerful tale of love against all odds. I eagerly await the next installment!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing an advance copy. 🌟

Prior to reading this novel I had absolutely no exposure to the webcomic or anything else, so I went into this blind. That being said, all of my opinions of characters are based off of this work alone.

Overall. I liked this. I really couldn’t put it down. There was something so driving about wanting to continue. Even now, I hate that I am done with this book. I want more of these characters, more story, more development.

I really like Maxi. I love getting a softer more feminine protagonist. I think lately fantasy has overwhelmingly favored “badass” heroines. Maxi is soft and delicate. She has been through hardship and misery, but remained soft and kind. She is not weak, but her strength isn’t physical, which I really appreciate. I like that she has faults and struggles. I like that she isn’t just a prodigy immediately. Maxi is probably my favorite part of this book.

That being said. I don’t always care for Riftan. This book contains sexual encounters between Riftan and Maxi, and if I am being honest, the first few encounters were uncomfortable for me to read. This might just be me over analyzing or something, but it didn’t feel to me like the chemistry or honestly consent were clear.


That aspect definitely improved as the novel continued, but that introduction to Riftan made me wary of him going forward. While he is never outwardly mean to Maxi, he also doesn’t really take the opportunity to get to know her on a more personal and less sexual level. Riftan is clearly attracted to Maxi, but he never really takes the time to learn about her. I’m pretty sure Maxi and Riftan are endgame but honestly, I would almost rather her end up with the sorcerer. At least he genuinely helps Maxi, spends time with her, and is learning about her as a person.

Anyways, complaints aside. I liked it. I was engaged. The characters feel real. I just wish it wasn’t over. I will for sure be reading book two

4/5 stars

I went into this story excited because I had heard great things from friends! As an avid fantasy romance reader I was looking forward to a story adapted from a webtoon, but was left underwhelmed.

Long story short, I was immediately offput when a very large trigger was not mentioned prior to reading. This isn’t a trigger I have, but could definitely foresee readers being blindsided. Because of this, I lost interest in the story because I couldn’t move on from it and eventually had to dnf.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it turns out it’s just not for me.

I read the first season of the comic adaptation on Manta, so I was curious about the source material. Unfortunately what was a guilty pleasure in sequential art is almost painful to read in prose.

Some things that are a little off putting in the comic adaptation are downright distracting in the novel, like Maximilian’s stutter and the stilted dialogue. Because we get a different glimpse into each character’s thought through the narration it emphasizes the non-consensual aspects of Maxi and Riftan’s marriage.

This book was not necessarily for me. I enjoyed the spice and the storyline, but the FMC really wasn’t the kind of person I like to read about. Questioning herself and being meek while I know that may appeal to some it didn’t for me. I know a lot of people however that will love this book and will recommend it appropriately.

This novel blew me away. I am absolutely obsessed with Maxi and Riftan. This book was so beautifully written and had me immersed in the story the entire duration of me reading it. I enjoyed it so much that I preordered on Amazon so I can have the physical copy.