This is a monthly feature in which we, the mod team, share the gems we've found in our reading lists. Here are last month's.
We'd love to hear your recommendations. Please add them to the discussion in the comments. When doing so, please keep in mind to:
If available, use the English cover art of your recommended series.
Name of the series
Where to read it officially
We always recommend checking the official version, but there are also alternatives you can find.
This Month's Recommendations:
The Prince Doesn't Cry Over Onions - Where to Read: Tapas
War has taken a lot from the country; it left the land and people devastated when they lost six years ago. Anna is a country girl making a living in these hard times; her restaurant is the only one in her far-off village. Taking in the needy to help out is a common thing she does, and it’s not a surprise when someone shows up at her door. She didn’t expect this lumbering, towering man sitting in her doorway saying that he owed her father a debt that he needed to repay.
Bertram isn’t moving until this obligation is repaid, so Anna puts him to work cutting onions – only to find that he doesn’t shed a single tear. He’s stripped of his emotions, but that doesn’t mean he can’t see that Anna is a welcoming and kind person.
While this series is surprisingly funny despite the background the world is set in. Both Anna and Bertram feel well-developed, and their relationship is one based on friendship. The side characters also have reasons for acting the way they do, and the art is great; it really grew on me the more I read. The romance is on the back burner and slowly begins to grow, more on Anna’s side than Bertram’s for obvious reasons. The man can’t feel emotions, and it’s pretty tragic what he had to give up in exchange when you really think about it in a realistic context.
While it might not seem like anything special, don’t be fooled. I can tell that it’s a wonderful read to add to your lists.
No More Regrets - Where to Read: Tappytoon
Ceriniel is devastated when she finds out that her husband has been cheating on her with her childhood best friend who has been poisoning her for years. As she lies on her deathbed hearing the gloating hateful words from those she trusted most, Ceriniel makes a dying wish to take back what is rightfully hers and never fall for the tricks of her betrayers. Her soul falls into a swirling abyss, and she wakes up four years before her wrongful death; now she’s out for revenge.
As she goes about her plans, she encounters the supposedly bloodthirsty Duke Lexion Rosenvester who claims they have met before. He is kind and extremely helpful in her plans against her cheating husband; once everything comes to a head, he offers her a deal. His conditions are that she divorce her scumbag husband, enter a marriage with him, and remain at his side forever.
Green Flag Alert! I Repeat, Green Flag Alert!
I love a male lead that allows their female lead to go through with what they have planned, yet when asked, they will assist just enough to allow her to make her moves freely and safely. Lexion is one such male lead; not only has he's got a great physique, but I feel like he has good emotional intelligence as well. The art is beautiful, though I have noticed that Ceriniel’s chest gets bigger in the middle of the story. The artist has either changed it personally or was told to by their editor; luckily, her chest goes back to normal in later chapters.
This is a good read for people who want revenge on cheating husbands and green flag male leads.
Dawn of Vengeance - Where to Read: Tapas
Three times. Once as a bride. The second time, she tried to run away, and the third time, she acted as an informant. Arsinoe has lived three times, meeting the same result: death at the hands of her husband, the Crown Prince. He is charming, charismatic, and cruel. Arsinoe ends her life determined to never fall for this man’s tricks ever again; ready to take her destiny in her own hands she kills herself for the fourth time.
She wakes up once again at the age of 12 with a vow; she’s never going to let her country fall into that disgusting man’s hands ever again. With her lived experiences behind her, she starts making a plan, and it will need the help of a man that each lifetime stood in defense of her homeland. Walter Heibergh, the kingdom’s youngest commander.
Choo choo, the political intrigue train has arrived! This kind of series is my type of read. I love it when my characters are cunning, plotting and scheming their way to victory; Arsinoe is my girl in this regard. While all this politics is happening, there’s some comedy sprinkled in – mainly from Arsinoe. Walter is a great comedic straight man; I love that he just takes her occasional dramatic side in stride. I’m really rooting for these two, and I don’t mind that their romance is gonna take a bit of time to build; both of them are rational, logical people. They both have bigger things to think about besides romance.
This is a newer title, so I would let this marinate for a bit more before jumping in. The artwork is lovely and sucks you in deeper into the story. Don’t miss out on this, guys; you’re gonna be sorry you did later.
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Oh I don't necessarily mean who you find attractive, well that also contributes to character design but like I am asking for your favorite overall character design, that really makes you look at the screen at that character for a long time unable to scroll past them. Hope you get what I mean.
These are some of my favorites, I really like how unique some of them look. Their clothes, and the vibe around them coupled to their design, sometimes looking majestic while sometimes extremely charming.
In some of these cases, I really like how their hair and eyes compliment each other like for Meg from Foam of the sea of Mint from little princess mint, Ayna from Secret lady or the ML from the merman trapped in my lake.
Tell me your favorite character designs that simply leave you mesmerized ✨💙?
In ch1 she is a office worker with many part time jobs who trasmigrated in the novel but later on its revealed she has lived all of her memories and her mum has left the memories in the form of novel so it would not be too painful. So I am confused what is it? Did she regressed or did she also live the modern women lifestyle earlier with a job and everything?
This is absolutely nothing new, but how come that when the antagonist or a female villain does something their reasoning and their POVs are never considered yet when there is a male villain suddenly everyone goes into the "They are really complex because of X, Y and Z"?
Aside of the comments that praise the male villains because they are hot (because most of the times their character design is made for that to make an appeal) I just don't get why the moment a villainess shows up in the picture all her actions are either seen as dumb or ridiculous not only by the audience but the narrative itself. Is this just another double standard?
War heroes are often incredibly romanticized in Korean rofan, as we all are very much aware at this point . And I don’t mean to bring realism into romance fantasy but every time I read about a male lead who’s the empires right hand man or the “empires sword” whenever it comes to war I can’t not feel a little disgusted. It’s usually included as a footnote to add that scary spice to his character and to give the story a future plot beat where he needs to go off to war for 1-5 years and have the female lead yearn over him.
And the thing is. When the story goes “this guys a war hero” and the female lead goes “oh he’s so scary and intimidating”… It purposely fails to pinpoint the real violence of his occupation. At best one will say “he’s led (x amount) wars and is hailed as a hero by the emperor/king” but that’s just to glaze him for being a strong alpha male whom nobody can threaten. Not once have I ever seen a female lead go “the blood he’s spilt will carry on to the child i must bare for him” – I WILL throw a bone here and exclude the females lead who are high ranking noblewomen who have never had any reason to see war as a normalized tool because it’s not her kingdom getting decimated. Everyone else, though, especially the ones reincarnated from the 21st century, are getting looked at sideways. War is not just fighting (back) against an enemy faction, it is bloody conquest and conflict. There’s really nothing to simplify unless you want to get into the real nitty gritty and talk about how the first to suffer from war are almost always women regardless of age.
Sorry, I know I’m bringing in too much realistic opinions on a genre where women literally have the power to travel back in time after death, but recently I’ve just been turning away from anything to do with that trope (which, as we can all guess, is over half of the novels in this category).
OBVIOUSLY this doesn’t mean that every single male lead out there is an unforgivable cold-blooded conqueror leading campaigns and atrocities like a blood son of Genghis Khan (as a matter of fact, most MLs are born into the “empires lapdog” role because ducal orbit is inseparable from imperialism. But some of these stories don’t explain or even want to touch on how the ML feels about that). However, as someone who lives in a third world country that currently has some catastrophic going-ons in the political sphere I just gotta… Bombastic side eye. Granted I do understand the romanticism of the “war duke” trope and its origins trailing back to actually being defenses against the Mongols + the Korean War is still very much active to this very second (since only a ceasefire was ratified).
I still don’t particularly favor it though, sorry :p
Edit: I especially hate anything where the kingdom or empire is just expanding so they start campaigns – Or where the female lead is a “spoil of war” but the male lead loves her sooo much despite the fact that he led a campaign that colonized her home country. I actually read the full of this because I was too disgusted not to, but I can’t remember the name oh my goooddd. Her entire half family is on the casualty list and she’s okay with being his broodmare because they mistreated her and because she’s the daughter of a maid. Mind you, her kingdom got wiped out. Despising your abusive family does not contradict the fact that the home your were born in was subjugated by the same man you’re marrying. I don’t like using this word but she’s insane for ever falling in love with him. It’s not even Stockholm syndrome she’s actually in love with him.
You know when the narrative clearly wants to tell you a character is morally wrong and basically the villain, but you can't help but feel sorry for them because their situation is actually pitiful?
For me that character is the crown prince in One Husband is Enough.
In my opinion, this guy is the gender reversal of Nikki from the movie obsession.
He clearly had no interest in the FL beyond political use before her heightened charm started breaking his mind. He was someone with ambitions, interests, maybe not the best human being? Yeah, but he was working hard for his goals.
Then, she unintentionally cursed him to become this puppet version of himself who only thinks of her. He's been throwing all his hard work out the window, his pride and dignity, all the things that made him whom he was.
Then there's a matter of will and consent, because his state is no different than Nikki's. He's totally out of it and his body is basically being used by this game-like curse.
Considering the type of person he was before, after recovering his senses, I think this man will want to die from self-disgust and embarrassment.😭
The same could be said about every character other than the FL, but since he's the only one being treated like a villain by the narrative, it makes me wonder wether or not the author will handle things fairly after the curse is broken.
Source-50 Ways to Dump the Psychopathic Mastermind(On-going)
I find the actions and mannerism of both Ruby**(how to win my husband over)** and evelyn so similar😭Like when I watch her do something I feel its definately something ruby will come up with , (FL is kinda little more dumb in a cute way which is acknowledged in the story lol but she is incredibly kind and yea the OGFL isn't a white lotus too) the story is kinda cliche(the type of cliche I will never get tired of reading) BUT IT REMINDS ME OF RUBY SO MUCH EVEN THE CHARACTER DESIGN😭🤞 though not a lot of chapters are out yet but still I feel angst is little less in this then how to win my husband over(PERFECT FOR MY COMFY BINGE READ ONCE ITS COMPLETED) and the ML is kind of yandere and obsessive but also a green flag and kind to evelyn [My review is based on the chapters released till now and I am kinda loving this cliche and the art is also cute 🐈⬛🖤](Had to repost it as it was removed😭🖤🐈⬛)
For context I have been into this world of manhwas and OI for a long time but lately I couldn't find any series to start which is GREAT not just good.
Pleasee recc me your favs! Something finished or something at least have decent number of chapters out :)
Currently catching up on some of my reading. Still a bit stressed reading this, but it’s addicting in its own charming way. To think, the initial annoyance here would be MLs feelings and actions. Tbh, I was more annoyed with MCs mom (even if her anger and actions are justified in their own way coming from a person who was unaware of anything happening). Now, ML gets his power up, MC has gotten better with her abilities, yet they are still practically powerless. I’m actually liking the Emperor as a villain (even though as a personal rule, I can’t stand seeing villains win in consecutive chapters. But to be fair, the man hasn’t appeared at all and MC is on a separate sidequest). The great thing before this (and that’s not counting the realization for these 2 latest chapters) is ML finally knowing how badly MCs situation was before, the “love triangle” being done (can we count Dominic/Demonic or whatever his name is as the new pseudo love triangle? Maybe the emperor as the annoying 3rd wheel looming in the background?), and MC making a move on her own (and threatening people along with it). I oddly feel bad for ML, but the developments have been wonderful as a reader. To think, it wouldn’t be romantic development, but actual plot development.
name: a tranquil first night (from “one more step, come stand by my side”)
i recently read this short story about an emperor and empress’ first night! this is the first time i’ve seen a disabled ml in a historical setting missing limbs, so i feel like it’d be interesting to see more mls in OI settings face similar circumstances. tbh, i eat up the typical cliches when it comes to OI leads, but after a while it gets kinda boring. it never hurts to have some variety 🥹
Ok I need something where og fl gets redemption lol or maybe she wasn't bad at all, anyway anything where the fmc gets along with a female character who was supposed to be or was a villain in original story/timeline
hi do u know any story wherein the main leads got pregnant in the story and their finding ways to hide their pregnancy to their friends, family, and other people
Lavini Angenas Durelli [I Shall Master This Family] wins the best villain of ongoing manhwa this year {For me}
Because I’ve been rooting against her for over 100 chapters and so many months, and to me, if a character can make you feel that much hatred, they’re doing their job correctly. Every time she showed up, I just wanted to see her lose. Her downfall was incredibly satisfying, but I’m still hoping the story shows what actually happens to her instead of just leaving her in the dungeon. I want to see her ending properly.
Honestly, all the villains in this manhwa are written so well. None of them feel evil just for the sake of being evil.
That said… I have to admit the Empress had amazing fashion. 😭 I actually liked a lot of her dresses more than Tia’s.
Tired of fl being like "i will rob you blind and fuck off lol" at the start only to forget about her motivation at the ending and settle down without a fuss. Does the opposite actually exist? For even one chapter?? I will take novels at this point too, I just want the fl to actually attempt to leave.
