How to Win My Husband Over - Reviews

Starts strong, but it's kind of impossible to keep suspending disbelief when she has two options for living:
A very happy life in the woods with the monsters
or to continue in a place where she's been repeatedly threatened, attacked, and had several attempts made on her life, standing with a man who's been at best indifferent, and at worst hostile towards her for the three months she's known him.

she then repeatedly chooses option B there, and the author has done a sum total of zero things to justify that choice. I know the long-game here is it's gonna be one of those cosmic coincidence manhwa where the ML is actually just a real stand up gentleman and everyone surrrooounding him is bad, so he can justify being forgiven as being a victim himself, but that's both annoying and rediuculous.

I originally had a somewhat nicer review, but it bothered me so I rewrote it more honestly. I'm kind of tired of giving a pass to 'redemption' stories where the one being redeemed is insanely terrible for the entire fuckin story, before spinning on a dime and being a good person after only offering the most superficial of apologies; and then having it justified in universe as it really not being his fault, so his apology and niceness after-the-fact is totally more than enough.
Like, first of all, no it's not. second of all, it's just kind of creepy. You can have genuinely good characters be genuinely good, you can have abusive characters and they can be redeemed; but you can't have a heinous and uncaring bastard be redeemed by the fact that a lazy author retconned him into being a genuinely good guy all along. He wasn't, and I don't like this trend of FMCs who have literally zero self respect. It's understandable (a bit) in stories where death is a constant and pressing threat, but that's not truly the case in this one; as I said before our FMC has an option at living a life surrounded by beings who truly care for her, and have the resources and supplies to ensure she can thrive (massive money, food, healing shit.) she simply chooses not to.

That's absurd. and annoying. 

CONTENT WARNING: Before you read this manhwa, I have to give you guys some warnings. This story focuses on depression, abuse, trauma and there is quite a bit of gore so if you don't like these topics, I highly recommend that you don't read this manhwa or at least read it but proceed with caution.

OMG THIS WAS A ROLLERCOASTER. A VERY "EMOTIONAL" ROLLERCOASTER. So yes, I know I keep babbling on about this manhwa but this I actually finally read it! And on Tapas as well (been begging for this one to be licensed for months). So this one is definitely my favourite manhwa ever! It was a journey but here we are!

So the plot is basically your typical reincarnation romance fantasy story except if you actually read it, there's more than just that. Our main character Rudbeckia suffers from eating disorders, abuse, trauma and depression. This actually makes me want to give her a warm hug considering the fact that she is neither a strong nor weak FL. I also think that she is really clever. Like when she thinks in her head and plans on her next motive in order to survive her husband, who's about to kill her. But the other characters in this manhwa are very well explained and the author makes sure that some relationships are healthy whilst others are not and I really liked how feelings played out an important role as well. You could really see how happy or sad or even mad the characters are feeling. Though I do have to mention that this manhwa is a pretty difficult read, I still think it's worth it even though it can sometimes be a little bit slow-paced.

The art style is beautiful, of course! The artist really made Ruby shine like a total drama queen and she did a really good job with drawing the backgrounds, colors and characters of this manhwa. This is also surprising considering that I didn't like the art style at first since it was more common and not the most unique. However, I tend to have a huge liking for the art just because of how beautiful the artist interprets the story and wovens this beautiful but tragic tale of Rudbeckia.

Overall, I think that this manhwa is definitely worth the read unless you are someone who is extremely sensitive with trigger warnings or you prefer tragedy in your story and tragedy alone. This means no romance. Also keep in mind that while there are funny scenes in this manhwa, it is actually a real tragedy in its own way. So thanks for reading my extremely long review and I'll make sure to update/write down notes as I read one chapter at a time.

Reviewed at Chapter 20 (Status: Currently Reading)

Edit: Came here to make an update on the art style and I gotta say, I'm impressed! This is one of the only manhwas that manages to have a consistent art style remain and the shades actually turn lighter as the story progresses! I've never really seen this often in other manhwas I've read but this strategy actually makes the art style of this manhwa even more beautiful than it appears to be! Keep it up, Siru-nim!

This was a slow burn for me but I'm glad that I read it.

The story is typical for the genre, containing reincarnation into a villainess, abusive family, and the much favoured Duke of the North, but it doesn't stop there. The author and the artist wove such a complex story together, relying on visual cues and expressions to show the reader what the characters are feeling. They don't hold your hand throughout the story, they want you to read the subtext and understand the unspoken cues given by each of the characters and I really appreciated that. I was reading this somewhere and there was one person in the comments section that helpfully provided more context to each chapter based on the light novel. I liked that they gave the story a little more depth which could be easily missed due to the adaptation to the visual medium. Nevertheless, that doesn't cheapen the story but rather provides a better understanding of why so many people love this manhwa.

Artstyle-wise, you're in for a treat. I love the style of the art, the colors are quite vivid, and the expressions suited the scene and the emotions of each of the characters. If their goal was to make you laugh, the artist knew how to contort or refrain each feature to make sure you feel what they're feeling. But nevertheless when it comes to showcasing scenes where the characters are meant to be attractive, they execute it quite well. Screenshots galore!

The relationship between the FL and the ML is the ultimate slowburn. Winning over the cold ML through sincerity and understanding is almost always the key for stories like this but here, the FL's trauma sometimes gets in the way of them building a relationship. She often has times where she loses her cool or reverts to a trauma response, which the ML has no clue how to get her out of and why it happens. I loved that he tries to understand where she's coming from, rather than judging or berating her for doing so. It's pretty neat to see an ML who respects boundaries but at the same time, retains his original personality while he learns about her.

Bit of a spoiler warning below but nothing of the main plot. I think it's important to talk about it as well to provide why I really enjoyed this manhwa.

Our FL has an eating disorder. That actually surprised me because it's rare to see mental illnesses portrayed with the intent to educate rather than to disturb. It's not used as a plot device but as a way to let the audience know that these can happen to people outside of their control and they should not be shamed. Rather, we should understand where they're coming from and how they can be supported to be able to manage their symptoms. It was done in a respectful way and didn't detract at all from the plot; the FL, who withstood multiple years of abuse, seemed more human because of it.

Should you read this manhwa?

For sure! Just be mindful of all the trigger and content warnings associated with this manhwa. Although this isn't the most brutal manhwa out there, it doesn't pull back its punches when it comes to showing scenes as needed.

Reviewed at Chapter 36.

I've taken a liking to this story so far. The art is pleasing to the eyes and the storyline may be a bit common due to the fact that there are a lot of stories similar to this where the villainess wants to change her fate but the way this story is built so far is interesting. The manhwa only has 35 chapters so far but the progressiveness of the story is satisfying, not too slow and not too fast.

[SPOILERS WARNING] This is the first time I'd be giving a review for a manhwa so I hope you bear with me, I wanted to talk about the dedication the author put into this story on the details of being anorexic, especially when the ML's sister noticed our FL's Russell's sign (search it up). Also how the author was able to portray a glimpse of how victims of abuse process and react to something that sparks their trauma. 

I like how the FL isn't careless about how she should act around the people who seem to hate her, and also how she's been keeping her guard up. I absolutely love smart FLs. She definitely deserves better. I haven't read the novel but I hope to see how well she would handle obstacles that I guess would probably be quite a lot seeing how the opposition (Freya and her brother) just recently showed their true colors in the latest chapter.

I've been seeing comments on how the ML would be turning into our FL's simp in the coming chapters, so hyped to see it!! I LOVE ME A GOOD COLDHEARTED TO HEAD OVER HEELS TROPE. <333 Wanna see how he uses his position in favor of our FL. AND A SHOWDOWN BETWEEN HIM AND THE FL'S ABUSIVE BROTHER. 

Will be editing this review once the manhwa is completed. I hope it doesn't get cancelled. >:(

Beautiful artwork.

Interesting and complex characters. The author does a good job of balancing Ruby's thoughtful personality, with her complex trauma and showing us how it weaves into circumstances she can't control.

Plot is interesting but not much happens in the overarching story as of chp 22 it is highly relationship driven but there's some larger plot points that it has indicated we will get to.