The Fantasie of a Stepmother - Reviews

*SPOILERS REGARDING THE PAST (discussion on ch. 57-62) - review purely for discussing my thoughts- *

The backstory before the second chance is so tragic and heartbreaking. Yes, im writing a review solely to discuss the past life before Shuli gets a second chance, as the past backstory is seriously so heartbreaking for many reasons.

I will begin with Nora and Shuli, their love story which is both beautiful and tragic at the same time. that panel with him fully grown holding her in his arm breaks my heart. (scroll to bottom to see said image) the art is breathtakingly beautiful in this scene, perfectly capturing the tragic lovestory between the two.

it hits so hard for me seeing the pure longing in noras face for the woman he was unable to be with, as nora longed to be with her but couldnt at the same time. he fell in love w her ever since the first day they met but he was never able to meet her like that again since shuli ends up dying brutally. he was assigned to watch over her, but he was unable to properly meet and interact w her again, as nora had to be in her shadow but at the same time wished to be with her. thats heartwrenching alone, the sense of longing for someone out of your grasp, watching them from the sidelines and only wishing you could be the one for them- and said person ends up dying.

shuli gave nora a reason to live, she was the only one who understood him, as they both were the same. after growing up, he desired to be with her, be a man for her, but all he could do in the end was watch her from afar. even to the point of her death. he yearned to be with her, but couldnt. after her death Nora dedicates himself to finding out who killed her.. thus ends their tragic love backstory (reminder this backstory im being depressed abt is the one before the reset). how sad is that?

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if you thought the backstory couldnt get anymore heavy and depressing, then you are incredibly wrong ;-; the tragicness between nora and shuli was enough to destroy my heart, but it gets worse

ill talk about shuli, her whole life she believed that her children didn't love her and saw her as a nuisance, living up to the expectations of those around her while being crushed by pressures that weigh down on her shoulders. we later learn that her kids do indeed love her, but she dies not being able to know the truth. fast forward, jeremy is getting married, shuli is excited and cant wait to see him get married. jeremys fiance tells shuli that jeremy doesnt want her to attend, she is crushed because she both somewhat expected it and does believe it as she thinks that her children dont have any affection for her. she decides to leave the next morning, with no goodbyes and not even visiting jeremy as she genuinely believed he didnt want to see her. we later learn that wasnt the case at all, as jeremy and the other kids do care for shuli. shuli had so many people next to her, yet those people failed to help her realize that, as she believed she was alone. she was the only one who didnt see it, dying not knowing the truth.

anyways all the other kids decide to surprise her and call her 'mother' and open up about how they feel towards her as it would be the last day of all of them being together (before the wedding). they were too late as they find out shuli left without saying anything. jeremy desperately waits for her to show up at his own wedding, but all that shows up is the news of shulis brutal death. shuli dies believing that the kids dont care for her and that jeremy didnt want her to show up to his wedding that she was looking forward to, all of this is false but its too late for her to know the truth. the day the kids were gonna open up to her they find out she was killed. jeremy has it the roughest as his fiance lied to shuli which resulted in shuli leaving and getting murdered, all on jeremy's wedding day in which he wanted shuli to be there!! after he death he regrets not visiting her the night before the wedding, we then see how much pain and regret he goes through

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this backstory is surprisingly dark and heavy, both heartwrenching and equally depressing. im stopping myself from writing further as this review will become painfully long. this past before the reset never fails to make me cry my eyes out like oh my goodness T-T

 re-reading the story especially at the chapter with Nora and Shuli while listening to sad music HITS SO DIFFERENT YA'LL :((((((((((((((((((

also nora as an adult is daddy material  pls excuse that disguting comment im in pain from the sadness right now let me have that HAHAHAH

ANYWAYS LOOK AT THIS IMAGE BELOW, PLEASE IT MAKES ME SAD EVERY TIME I LOOK AT IT KNOWING THE TRAGIC STORY BEHIND IT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH 

Although sometimes the comedy in the story doesn't land, not once has it ever been enough to turn me away from it.

It's heart wrenching at times, and wholesome at others. It makes me cheer when something good happens, and feel dread when something bad does. 

The story can seem to drag a tiny bit here and there, but never to a point of me getting bored.

The sibling dynamics are realistic and endearing, and the story progressively takes a more serious tone with time, slowly dipping its toes into more serious subjects. In my opinion, they're tackled well in a way that is digestible but doesn't take away from the seriousness of what is being discussed.

Highly recommend

I know this deserves more than the rating that I gave it, but I just didn't particuarly feel anything special for the storyline after finishing the first season. It wasn't quite my favorite style of genre and at the time I was reading it I felt like I had better things to read, even though I admit the art was pretty and the opening especially really stuck with me. I recommend this for anyone who is looking for a manhwa with avrerage seriousness and a realistic and strong female lead, a read that lives up to it's name and the genres listed below--all except for the 'romance' tag, which I honestly think was misplaced, as there was little or no romance in this manhwa.

I've been holding off from making a review of this manhwa for a while but I read "How To Win My Husband Over" by the same author and it was so good and this one is just as good, if not better! Shuri is an insanely relatable female lead and when following through her story, I felt like I was transported into her world and it felt surreal and enchanting, yet dark at the same time. And the kids are freaking adorable! The male lead Nora, is so cute and hot at the same time, I loved his soft personality!

My jaw dropped when I witnessed Orka's beautiful and gorgeous art style. They made all of their characters look like they're actually real people that came out of a fairy tale and I absolutely loved all the details of the environment too! Also, this manhwa is definitely one that will make you emotional and I rarely ever cry when reading but this and the author's other manhwa takes the cake as two of the top few most depressing historical manhwas of all time (for me personally)

Overall, this is definitely one of my favourite manhwas of all time and I definitely recommend this to anyone - and everyone!

I recommend this manhwa a lot, if you are into fantasy historical romance manhwas/webtoons where the FL get(mother) chance to live then yes this is for you

actually this manhwa/webtoon deserves more attention I don't see people talking about it like never although it's sooo amazing manhwa 

unlike other manhwas when the main character died and reborn in both of her life the MLs liked her most of those kind of manhwas/webtoons usually hated or never knew the FL (which is way I usually didn't like) and she is the same person she didn't travel into another world or dimension 

The story is great amazing plot but we didn't see the ending yet so I left it on 9.5 but TBH the plot is so great by far I wish there are more chapters 

The characters were very good written I LOVE THE ML, the FL is specially very good written she is so sweet and strong at the same time her back story honestly made me cry and the way she died, I actually loved the kids a lot, also even that first prince is good written (I hate him),their back stories seem to be so deep and there always seem more into it so it makes it more interesting 

the art was really good although the website I was reading the manhwa/webtoon in was bad quality but I still saw how good the art are

So yeah go read it now