Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC of this novel.

I've been a fan of the webcomic of this series on Manta for a while now, so I was super excited to read this. And I am glad to see the translation feels more fluid than some of the translations online, making it an enjoyable experience (not that it wasn't before, it just feels more refined). In all I really like this story: rising from uncertain circumstances, just enough miscommunication to be realistic but not to the point of frustration, emotional MMC - it's nice. The novel ends during the start of a more relationship contentious plotline, which is meh, but I'll live. I haven't finished this story online and will hold off I think because I'm not sure I like where the story is headed, but I'm sure I'll get over it once I decide to binge the finished comic or the rest of this novel series publishes lol.

Pros:

🌳Super cute romance with uh, an undeniably sexual chemistry haha

🌳MC has a speech impairment and quite a bit of trauma, but the storyline never goes into "get her fixed" montage. She goes on with life working on herself in bits and tiny pieces as she slowly learns to trust the world.

🌳Great fantasy world that's not too complex. Old faithfull Swords & Sorcery concepts.

Cons:

🌳The use of euphemistic language in the sex scenes. I know this can't really be helped considering the author/audience/translation. But it still made me chuckle a couple times.

🌳 When will they ~communicate~!!