Beyond thrilled to be able to have an ARC for this!!! I loved the webnovel so it’s no surprise I loved this. I do think I can agree it reads better as a webnovel, but that does not detract from what a charming read this was.

Thank you, netgalley, for letting me read this arc.
I was very happy with how Maxi gets to grow and become more than the frightened daughter of an abusive Duke. The beginning of the book was a little rough, and it would be good to have some warnings. It starts out with Maxi being abused by her father and gifted to a knight to be his wife. Their relationship starts off rocky and comes off a bit abusive in its own ways. She knows nothing about what is expected of her as a wife, other than to just lay there and do what her husband tells her.
It was nice that very quickly their relationship changed for the better, and she became the lady of the castle. There are the up and down struggles, but Maxi finds a way to navigate this new world she has been forced into and has made friends along the way that stand by her. I can't wait to see how she continues to grow.

A romatic fantasy for the ages. A novelization of the much loved webtoon of the same name, Under the Oak Tree was an interesting introduction to what im hoping will be a terrific series. The character growth of both Maxi and Riftan, as well as some of the other characters was riveting. It did end sort of abruptly, but other than that it was really well done.

This book is for anyone who craves a plot forward story that is not solely focused on the Romance aspect which acts as more of a slow burn sub plot. The world building was fantastic, the pacing of information shared was in sync with the storyline and what the characters were experiencing. The natural flow to it made for such an immersive read that was easy to follow along with.
The characters in this book are so well-developed. It was really interesting to learn the different pieces of their back stories to form theories and learn what motivates their purpose.
-ANNOTATION AND HIGHLIGHT FRIENDS! GET YOUR STUFF READY!-
This book is one of the easiest and most deserving ratings I have given this year. Quite honestly it reminded me why I love reading in the Sci Fi and Fantasy genre so much.

Maximilian Is such a strong and brave woman. Everything she been through she still standing. Like that she has new life with Riftan. Also like that Maxi found something that she wants to do in life and not get hated for it. I dislike Maxi family very much. From the way Duke Croysu treats her to the abuse, and the fact that she was kept away. Riftan character has grown since the beginning of the novel. He has become more open, and he has become less grumpy towards everyone. The one thing that I just dislike about him was that he left right after their wedding and did not tell her anything. Like that he really doesn’t care about luxurious things. I wish they communicated more about everything going on. And there’s also a lot of miscommunication about Maxi. Like the Ruth is willing to help Maxi. From studying and helping her understand money, and so many other things. Throughout the book, there is a lot of happy moments between these two. Also, there is a ton of spices scenes throughout the whole novel. I can’t wait to read the next volume, to see what happens between these too.

I have read the web comic and absolutely love the characters. I will be comparing the novel to the comic as well as it being an independent work.

plot:
The premises for both the comic and novel are the same. There's this teasing out of wondering when it's going to be revealed to Riftan that Maxi's prior life with her father isn't as pleasant as he thought it was. I don't mind dragging this out. It's nerve-wrecking to think about what Riftan's reaction will be. I would've liked to see more backstory on Maxi's relationship with her father, specific scenes I can compare her being back home versus with Riftan with.

characters:
Riftan as a character in the novel is disappointing. He seems far more aggressive in the novel to Maxi. At least, in the comic, I could tell that he misunderstood her. In the novel, he's more of a "take what I want" guy, which I wasn't fond of. The writing made it seem like Riftan was more abusive rather than aggressive and misunderstood. He's not painted in a good light. I feel like people who didn't read the comic would mistake him for being more of a villain than he is aimed to be.

Maxi was the same in both comic and novel. She's this flat character who is trying to develop as an independent person. In the novel, she remains flat up until she's learning magic. I understand her re-decorating the castle was also a step-up, but it would've been nice to see her interactions with the servants and cooks who have been there for so long. I did enjoy her interactions with the knights like Sir Hebaron and seeing their view about Maxi and her family.

intimate scenes:
It felt like there was sex every other chapter, especially in the beginning. The beginning was hard to read because the writing was awkward and clunky when it came to the intimate scenes. It became better over the chapters, but there's a lot of sex.

This was terrible. Incredibly boring, barely any plot. Far too much non consensual or dubious consensual sex. All of which was poorly written. The story had no climax and I was left wondering what the point of this story was. Maybe it’s because I never read the web series this was based on, but I thought it was awful.

I didn’t care for this novel at all. I feel like there was a whole lot of nothing going on the whole time. This novel revolved around Maxi hating and questioning herself 90% of the time, sex, sex, sex, and Maxi learning magic. There’s little character development, no real plot or climax to the story, and so many questions left unanswered. I understand there’s a vol. 2 that may answer everything and get to the point of the story but theres no reason vol. 1 should have been this long.

4.5 stars

I am a big fan of the webcomic. (Though like all my webcomic reading, I am severely behind right now.) So I was very excited to see the original web novel getting a print one (and such a gorgeous edition!)

I will say that the comic seems to move a bit faster than the novel (not in a bad way, it just felt like Maxi acclimated to her new home quicker in the comic.) Also I find Maxi's voice and emotions and thoughts to come through a lot clearer in novel form. I didn't realize quite what she was feeling and on the receiving end as much in the comics.

And also, the novel is much more explicit and spicy than the comic. (Something that is a few panels is entire, detailed, frequent chapters.)

On a minor note, I really loved the formatting of the chapter headers.

Will definitely read more, and looking forward to my pre-ordered fancy edged copy.

I read this without having any prior experience with the webcomic or original Korean webnovel.

The story follows Maximilian Croyso, the neglected and abused daughter of Duke Croyso with a speech disabilty, who marries Riftan Calypse, a low born knight who later becomes a war hero, through an arrangement made by her father in a bid to avoid going on a dragon hunting crusade. As the story progresses, we witness Maxi’s growth as a character and the relationship between Maxi and Riftan evolve.

This was a solid story in my opinion. It’s more character driven rather than plot driven as it explores Maxi’s development now that she’s in a more loving and safe environment. I am looking forward to seeing how her magic develops but I am mainly interested in seeing her become more assertive and stand up for herself.

I had some doubts in the beginning due to the dub-con/non-con aspects of the relationship. I feel like this doesn’t really endear the readers to Riftan and is more of a disservice to his character. He does improve as the story goes on, but it doesn’t change the events that were used to introduce him to us unfortunately. I hope this will be addressed between Maxi and Riftan later in the story. If not for the beginning scenes, I would be more into the romance.

Overall, I rate it 3/5 as it was entertaining and easy to read. I will definitely pick up the next volumes to follow Maxi’s development. Hopefully, the relationship between Riftan and Maxi improve as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the arc.

RIBBON BOOKMARK! YAY! Do more of those please :-) Beautiful first edition!

Based on the writing style, I think this will appeal better to the more traditional fantasy reader set. I stopped after chapter 1 but it feels like a solid 3-4 stars for the target audience with 5 for the right readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC.

The absolute happiness I feel knowing that the light novel of this series FINALLY has offical translations makes me the most content person in the universe right now.

As someone whose already a huge fan of the manhwa, I knew I immediately needed to pick up the novel. I felt like I got more in depth with the charcaters of riftan and the mc. I loved reading in a perspective that had no images and a guess on what they could be really thinking. Instead we get the whole perspective of the fmc and I loved that detail even more.

I’m also dying to have the physical copy with the sprayed edges because it is absolutely stunning and having that in my hands will make this book even MORE memorable<3

I originally read this online as a comic and mostly enjoyed it. I think that it reads okay as a novel but does not have a lot of depth to it. The characters have personalities but there doesn’t seem to be anything more to them. I don’t see an underlying goal or anything motivating which made the book fall flat at times.

Have been really enjoying this. Starts as non-consent, reluctance, but the story and worldbuilding and character building is actually quite strong. I love the idea that this novel is a serialized book not dissimilar to some of the old Victorian novels that people love. Written a chapter at a time. Read the whole thing (seasons 1 +2) and enjoyed it a lot.

NOTE TO OTHER READERS - after reading this book, I continued to read the series and enjoyed it TREMENDOUSLY. It will *not* be everyone’s cup of tea. There is a lot of conservatism in how men’s and women’s roles are depicted and how the main characters treat each other. But there is still a place for women who wish to have a handsome hero sweep them off their feet and protect them with single-minded devotion…just as there is a place for men who growl but love deeply, and wish to fight monsters and defeat enemies and return to their beautiful lovers who they can be safe and spoil with fine things and fine foods.

Under the Oak Tree balances this traditional wish fulfillment with the main character, Maxi, starting down the road to her own independence, which I appreciated as a strongly independent woman myself.

BIG trigger warning for familiar abuse, rape, and violence. There is also no LGBT at all.

Loved the webtoon for awhile now and really see how the novel brings the story to life in a new way! The novel brings so much more detail and gives insight that is overlooked so I highly recommend reading if you are a fan of the series!

I had previously read the manhwa (the novel goes further than what I had read) and really liked it, so I wanted to check out the now translated novels. This is the first volume of several.

The story is set in a mostly generic fantasy world, but there is still some good world building here. We follow Maximillian ("Maxi" for short), a young woman with a pronounced stutter. She's the daughter of the richest noble in the land, Duke Croyso, who has abused and hidden away Maxi for most of her life. He marries her off to a lowborn knight, Riftan Calypse, who, after marrying Maxi, is sent on a seemingly impossible campaign for three years. Riftan defies the odds and emerges a hero, so much so that even the King wants Riftan to marry his daughter. We start the story with Riftan retrieving Maxi from her father's castle and taking her home.

I've read my fair share of fantasy romance, and I will say that Under the Oak Tree has an honest-to-god interesting dynamic not usually seen in these types of books. We see lots of sassy, headstrong, beautiful female leads and their bad-boy-but-not-really male leads; but actual difficult relationship dynamics are rare. Both Maxi and Riftan are incredibly insecure, but in different ways. Maxi has lived a life of being abused and told not to speak. She's been compared to a younger sister who is supposedly her but without defects. Riftan has spent his youth tirelessly proving himself worthy to be a knight. Their insecurities play off each other in interesting ways. Riftan believes Maxi to not see him as worthy and lavishes riches and constantly questions if she is unhappy away from the wealth of the Croyso castle. Maxi believes that if she lowers her walls for a moment, Riftan will abandon her and see her for the charlatan she believes herself to be.

In the manhwa, I thought that Riftan's possessive and at times, very toxic behavior was portrayed favorably. In the novel, it's much clearer that Riftan is shown to be quite agitative. The beginning of their sexual relationship is hard to read, with Riftan treating Maxi as his object. They do find their way and honestly, one of the only ways they seem to communicate positively is through sex. They have a weird and kinda messy relationship!

This is not to say that I don't have qualms with this book, I do. The way time is presented is bizarre to me. Riftan is gone three years, that's understandable. It seemingly takes a very long time for Maxi to get to Anatol, but then Maxi has the castle decorated and remodeled in 8 days. And in that time, Riftan goes to the Capitol, attends a celebration, and returns to Anatol. It is bonkers. There's also just a lot of time spent...not doing a lot. I don't mind this generally because, well, Maxi isn't Riftan and she's not fighting monsters, but it can be a bit boring at times.

This is a romantic fantasy that has some elements you just never see. A female lead with a disability! A relationship that's a sort of reverse slow burn, but then is...a slow burn? It's drawn out for sure, but there is something just really addicting about the characters and story.

This story is so witty, fun, and full of life! From what I noticed, this book follows the webcomic fairly well. Our heroine gives it her all in every situation, and is very likeable. I would recommend this novel to romantasy lovers.

*This review will be posted on my instagram on 5/20/2024*

Under the Oak Tree is a cozy romantasy novel that I was truly looking for. This ebook took me about a day and a half to finish and I loved it the whole time. I never wanted to put this book down, it really captivated me!

The whole time reading I wanted the best for Maxi. Dealing with her past along with her new life was so much on her but seeing the progress she was making within herself was actually inspiring.

I’m looking forward to the next novel because I have so many questions about their relationship and I need to know more about Riftan. Ruth was also a pleasant character to read and reminded me of a pestering little brother..in the best way.

I can’t wait to read more hopefully in the near future because this book is going to have me thinking about the outcomes.

There are some triggers here with abuse and heavy sexual content.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Serial web novels, though I am largely unfamiliar with most of the main platforms (I only knew of Kindle Vella before finding out about any others), can be quite amazing, as it turns out. Under the Oak Tree took me by surprise. I love the arranged marriage trope in romances, and Under the Oak Tree (so far) does it in a way that kept me engrossed the whole time I was reading it. Maxi and Riftan, along with all of the Remdragon Knights turned out to be just what I needed for a rainy, cloudy weekend. A word of caution, however: those who do not like reading “spice” (explicit sexual content) may enjoy this book but will have to skip a LOT of parts.

Maximilian Croyso lives under an extraordinarily abusive beast of a father, and she’s sold off to a knight whom the Lord Croyso finds abhorrent. For the Lord’s new son-in-law, however, the feeling is entirely mutual, and though he marries Maxi, he leaves for a ridiculously long military campaign immediately after the marriage is consummated. I’ll avoid just rehashing the plot too much and boil it down: Riftan comes back for Maxi, despite her impression that he desires not to, and he’s not happy that she didn’t move out of her father’s house and go to her new estate of Anatol. He takes her there, and once she emerges from under her father’s oppressive and utterly abusive treatment, Maxi slowly begins to thrive. Slowly.

Stories of people blossoming and healing (and finding love) after terrible abuse number among some of my favorites. Kim writes fantastic, round characters full of depth that I couldn’t help but love. I even find the cantankerous mage, Ruth, who treats Maxi exactly as he would anyone else, completely endearing. Add that to the high-fantasy, medieval setting with nearly every kind of fantasy creature, and the story was catnip to me. I can completely see why Under the Oak Tree is the phenomenon that it is.

The only drawbacks for me were minor and nothing I wasn’t utterly distracted from: the storytelling is a bit simplistic for me, but it got better as the novel progressed. The miscommunication completely frustrates me, though that is entirely preference. Lastly, the spice is quite prolific. While I read books with and without it, there was quite a lot here, and I feel the two main characters were nearly always having sex instead of building a relationship based on communication, mutual respect, and a deep knowledge of one another. Maxi knows her maidservants and the castle mage better than she knows her own husband. I do hope that changes in future volumes. I love deep connections between love interests.

Overall, 4 stars out of 5. The book really was like catnip, and I will most likely purchase it for my library.

My profuse thanks to Inklore and Penguin Random House via NetGalley for the eARC (and for giving me a book that kept me glued to the pages), for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

I was sooooo excited to see that this story was made into a novel after being a fan of the Webtoon for a long time (still reading that as well).
The author made it possible for me to really visualize the characters that she had previously portrayed in a graphic novel and I thought it was so amazing to be able to have that image in my head as I read.

Maximilian (Maxi) is the unloved older daughter of the Duke of Croyso. All her life she was made to see herself as less than and worthless due to her speech impediment. She lacks confidence and is unaware of so much due to how her father treated her throughout her childhood. She always came second to her sister, because she was perfect and didn't lack according to their father.

Upon wedding Riftan one of the most fearless and strong and well-renowned knights of the realm she was forced to stay home by her father not knowing better and not knowing that her husband wanted her at his home. After 3 years of fighting, he comes back to take her home with him and to start their lives together. Maxi fears that he will hate her just as her father has all her life, but is surprised to find out that he thinks that she was a cherished daughter of the duke and knew only wealth. Therefore he showers her with riches even though he could care less for them himself. He wants her to have the best and to never feel like she stooped lower than she should've by marrying him.
Slowly with his love, she begins to grow into a strong confident woman who is loved by him and his people.

Throughout the first volume, Maxi slowly begins to learn what is required of her as the wife of Riftan and the lady of their castle. She gains the trust of the maidservants and learns to use her knowledge to assist the Mage Ruth in all things healing and magic.

I totally recommend this story for those who love a good little spicy romance mixed with magic and old knight tales.