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The Male Lead Is Mine #1

The Male Lead Is Mine Vol. 1

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The story tells a story of a modern-day woman who reincarnates in a fantasy novel as Aris Horissen, the novel's supporting character destined to suffer.

She wasn't sure what had happened. She was just reading a book that suddenly piqued her interest. Before closing it, she ended up pitying Aris, the daughter of the marquis who refused to marry the male lead and ran away from home; Aris met a wicked man in the streets and suffered severe physical and emotional distress, leading to her bitter ending. The modern-day woman felt sympathy for Aris as she fell asleep thinking about how Aris could have avoided her bitter ending if she hadn't been stubborn to the very end.

When she awoke, she had become Aris Horissen herself. Realizing that a bitter ending that awaits her, she decides to change the future and snatches the male lead for herself.

According to the original novel, it would take two-and-a-half years for them to meet, but she couldn't wait that long. She'll have to make the first move. With that thought in mind, she decides to write him a letter. There was no time to waste, after all; she'll make sure that the sweet and caring male lead is hers.

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 17, 2018

83 people are currently reading
284 people want to read

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Kkamang Kkamang

10 books3 followers

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5 stars
136 (43%)
4 stars
88 (28%)
3 stars
52 (16%)
2 stars
26 (8%)
1 star
11 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Jen.
3,463 reviews27 followers
November 1, 2021
Absolute love. 5, siiiiiigh, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?].
830 reviews1,024 followers
December 1, 2021
I absolutely love Korean novels like this.
But for people that don’t read them, that don’t know the manhwa adaptation of them, will probably think they’re kinda slow.

Still, I liked it! Can’t wait for book two.
Profile Image for Anna.
226 reviews
April 30, 2022
So bad I couldn't finish this. The entire story is bland, with no interesting hooks, tension or flavour to it. The characters read like they're not real people, everything is extremely bland and soulless and I simply couldn't care wow.

Oh yeah, the protagonist is also a giant Mary Sue and any problem she runs into gets solved instantly or in a few pages.

The English translation is awkward, has mistakes and the print version of this book (the one I read) has some of the worst printing I've ever seen: at least 50 percent of text is pixelated and even the cover is printed with low quality.

Not even amusingly bad, this is just BAD bad.
Profile Image for Nitzan Schwarz.
1,203 reviews223 followers
April 19, 2022
I did it. I finished a novel.
description

I haven't written a review in literal ages, but I have thoughts about this one, so I'm gonna put them in writing and maybe later come back to edit it more properly. It's not necessarily about the plot as much as about everything around it, from the translation to the underlying disturbing elements of the novel. As such, I am going to divide this "review" into a few different parts that explore the different aspects of this book.

Feelings about the novel
To be honest, this is a pretty average novel. Don't get me wrong. it's not bad--but out of the many fan-translated Korean works I've read, this didn't quite strike a chord. Aris was once a normal Korean woman--with a tragic backstory that involves being orphaned at a young age and dying of cancer. I guess I should give this novel point for not using the ever-popular traffic accident to send the heroine hurtling toward transmigration. Tl;dr, she wakes up in her favorite novel, as the character who is set to trigger the novel's events--years before they're set to happen. Aris has no plans to follow the original plot, and instead aims to marry the male lead--whom she always loved in her past life--cue in the title "The Male Lead is Mine".

None of the characters really stood out--except perhaps for the prince, who stood out because I initially expected him to be a detestable prick but he ended up just being a kind of lovable, albeit narcissistic, himbo. Having the prince was a really nice subversion of what usually happens in these types of novels and honestly, I wish more novels in the Korean world did this. But aside from that, everyone else felt a little "boring".

The first volume is short, at just over 200 pages, but it felt longer than its length because there were many moments when I was bored. Throughout the novel, the male lead and Aris . Now, to be clear, I like the idea of this. I like the notion of a romance novel allowing the main character to breathe and develop her connection to the readers before diving headfirst into the romance. But here, with Aris feeling so... meh... it didn't really work. There are many scenes that felt unnecessary, and as such, I just wanted to see more developments in the plot department. Sadly, not much of that occurs in this first volume, and I may never venture any further than this because there were some non-story-related things about this book that bothered the sh*t out of me.

Something Dark is Underneath the Surface...
There were several things the author either glossed over or was obsessed with that I found truly disturbing.

First, let's talk about Ian, Aris's father: It's just so unsettling because you have this rather dark backstory glossed over, with Ian presented as just a great and loving father, all the while the readers know of these things. Dear author, if you want me to believe Ian is a good man, this setup is not ideal.

And speaking of Lucine, the maid, and half-sister... Aris's behavior toward her feels weird. I cannot tell you if, in this timeline, Lucine knows she's the illegitimate daughter. I feel like I might have been bitter in her place if I had to serve my older sister just because I was a maid's daughter, but maybe I'm just less forgiving than Lucine. But Aris. Aris, who used to be Korean, knows of Lucine's identity. In fact, she even knows she's preventing Lucine from becoming a well-bred lady and marrying a good man because she's changing the plot. But there seems to be no action on her part to change Lucine's status or change their relationship from maid and master to sisters. Oh, she treats Lucine well alright. Well enough for Lucine to brag about how good-natured and kind and lovely her lady is. But everytime, I wondered if she knew. And if she didn't... Then everything seems suddenly a lot darker, doesn't it?

That being said, Lucine wields an extraordinary amount of power in the household--enough to "starve" her lady multiple times in the name of slimming down and getting her beautiful and perfect for events. In fact, dieting, slimming down, and starving in order to lose weight repeat constantly, to the point I felt sickened and wondered if the author was fatphobic. How many times can you talk about how the maids force their ladies not to eat in order to look good in their dresses and impress others? How many times can you then praise the results, in the form of describing how beautiful the girls look in their outfits having slimmed down thanks to the strict dieting. These are not even fat ladies, and yet the author cannot shut up about them dieting and watching what they eat. I wrote several notes asking the author to shut the f up already about it. I hated it so freaking much.

Feelings about the translation
Tl;dr it could've been better. There are areas where you could see editing mistakes, for example, the same sentence repeated slightly differently so you can tell they had two possible versions but forgot to edit one out. The formatting was also kind of all over the place, with weird spacings in words, parts that kind of blend together, missing quotation marks, and the likes. Overall, it was hard to physically read this novel because of the minimal spacing. I will not lie, I kind of regret buying a physical copy, because I don't think WE delivered on their promise to have the volume copies more rigorously edited compared to their web version. And now they're also come out saying all their novels will get the light novel treatment (illustrations and the likes) so if I had waited I could've gotten a better copy lol

Also, it's my first time seeing a pixilated cover lmao. Someone didn't check the resolution for the title before printing because looking at it makes my head hurt haha

I'm looking forward to seeing WE develop and mature as a legal and official source of English translations of Korean works, but I'll probably hold back on buying more physical copies from there for a while.
Profile Image for Lexie.
2,066 reviews356 followers
September 15, 2021
A sweet novel, light and fluffy

Unlike many of the reincarnation themed novels I read this one is very sweet. A young lady finds herself as the tragic character in the novel she read. Determined to change her fate she corrects the original character's bad behavior and becomes a model aristocratic lady.

Her only real goal is to marry the male lead. However along the way she makes friends with the womanizing crown prince, becomes the face of society and unfortunately changes the events just enough that she can't predict what will happen next.

Its light and sweet and adorable, aptly translated and easy to read. While its mostly a daily life sort of romance, its enjoyable to read as Aris pursues her dreams and actively encourages those around her to be happier in their choices. As a first volume its set up nicely and I look forward to volume 2.
107 reviews1 follower
August 13, 2024
Boring and the story was flatter than a sheet of paper.
Profile Image for Géssika.
124 reviews5 followers
October 17, 2021
Eu amei o livro. Mesmo. Não tem dramas excessivos. São apenas pessoas que querem realizar seus objetivos e vivem suas vidas. Achei que o Príncipe seria um empecilho pra protagonista, mas eles se tornaram AMIGOS! Gente. Há tempos eu não lia um romance tão gostosinho de ler.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Atlas.
173 reviews22 followers
June 18, 2022
I smell the flowers everyday and hope that war will end soon. I don't particularly care for war.

I always enjoy reading about well-executed dorks in fiction, this includes straightforward and empathetic Aris too. Her witty comebacks made me laugh as much as it does the crown prince, Hiel. Speaking of the crown prince, I thought he was going to be one of those "you're the first woman ever to reject me" type of leech male lead... he's not. That was one of the many things surprising about this book. Once he realized both Aris and Violet don't consider him to be a stepping stone, he even got protective as well as more genuine. Limontri was a nice addition to their group.

[...] they wouldn't expect any favorable treatment, and would always be honest with him. Such people were few and far between, but by some stroke of luck, he had discovered two such individuals!

I haven't seen them in a while.

He looked forward to seeing his friends again at the hunt.

Hiel's adorable even under all those arrogant remarks, the girls may not want to marry him but I do. Hope he can come up with a new law or something so my girls could stop talking about diets and starving themselves in each section of the book. Literally, 100 pages out of 197 were concerned about girls not being allowed to eat freely in this volume.

This book also had united noble fathers who tried to keep their young daughters safe; quite the shocking scene for a fantasy novel; seeing not only the female lead was protected but also other girls too. I was about to call the police at some point, due to Violent's age (it was a relief to learn that betrothed people don't get married until they're in their twenties in their world) Ian and Louisson paved the way!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, A COMMONER WARRIOR ML. LONG-HAIRED. TREATS WOMEN RIGHT. WANTS A QUIET LIFE WITH A CAT. He's surely nothing but a dream. I quite like how he isn't considered to be a typical cold-blooded killer with wealth and status unlike other male leads nowadays Everybody wants a piece of him but his only wish is to end the war so he can finally have some peace. Between all those people who expect something from him and a merciless battlefield, no wonder he finds comfort in Aris' letters in which he reads nothing but mundane stories of a young noble lady.

Can't wait to see more of them!

This book has a manhwa adaptation too! Look at their adorable character designs AND LITTLE BLUSH ON THE FACES UHH
Profile Image for Leigh.
390 reviews19 followers
June 25, 2022
A terminally ill woman wakes up in the early days of her favorite romance novel. Determined not to meet the fate of the character she’s now become, she sets out to meet the protagonist and snatch him up to get her own happily ever after. …Or something like that?

**STAR BREAKDOWN - WEBNOVEL EDITION**
Cover: ★★★★☆
Story: ★★★☆☆
Characters: ★★★☆☆
Enjoyment Level: ★★★☆☆
Easy For a Beginner?: Yes
One-And-Done?: According to Amazon, it will be 4 translated volumes.
Bonus?: Vol 1 is free on KU
Support the Author Through: Amazon? Unsure where else…
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 carefully sealed letters

I did like this novel, but I don’t really care for the whole subplot of the maids making the ladies diet all the time and compete over which is best-dressed when Aris has made it pretty clear she doesn’t want to impress the Crown Prince…

Regardless, I’m continuing on to Vol 2 because I was to see Roy and Aris meet in person.
Profile Image for Sara.
407 reviews
November 4, 2021
This is a very sweet story, following the life of a modern-day woman, who finds herself in a story she was reading, earlier feeling sorry for the stories villain. However, she finds herself as the said villain. And unlike other reincarnated stories, she takes it in stride, changing her fate.

As this is just the first volume of the story, all we get is a glimpse of her life, prior to meeting the male lead, which in the original novel takes place in about 3 years.

I look forward to the next volume!
Profile Image for Mie Lex.
11 reviews
July 15, 2022
I was surprised and delighted,

I have truly enjoyed reading this book, so sad that it ended so soon. I have been hovering over this book for a while. I did not particularly like the premise of transmigration, it really ticked me off but the reviews have been good so why not give it a chance? I was much surprised and utterly delighted that I have given it a chance. I finished it in one sitting! Now, if only the next volume is on kindle unlimited as well.
Profile Image for Andrea.
60 reviews12 followers
October 29, 2022
I find this story very sweet and I love the friendship between the male and female characters. However, it is a slow burn and I could have done without all the talk about dieting for looks.

I would not recommend this one to anyone that has experienced or is experiencing difficulties in connection to food and dieting. It is played off for laugh in this book and in my opinion, it is so way too many times.
Profile Image for Nerys Medina.
92 reviews6 followers
June 14, 2023
Engaging

You can say that this is my first Korean novel read. I usually read webtoons and not the novels some of them are adapted from, so it was a pleasant surprise that I found this story entertaining, and interesting enough to keep me reading without pause until the very end.

I'm looking forward to reading vol 2, cause the cliffie of the main characters starting to interact left me with a smile on my face.
186 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2021
Better then buying by chapter

I could easily read this on tappytoon but pay for a half chapter a week. Having a book with barely any wait time is worth the money.
Love the story sad there wasn't more though, if they had ended it with them meeting i think would have been better then where it was ended. Can't wait for the next one!
Profile Image for Kimberly.
301 reviews1 follower
July 18, 2022
NO normal chapters

I would prefer this to have chapters. But it's separated in sections. And I don't understand what separates the sections.
I don't like the obsession of being thin. I don't know what country this is from but I started assuming this was asian. And I don't know of any past asian society that valued upperclass thin women.
Profile Image for Melissa Garcia.
46 reviews
August 5, 2022
The only thing I hated about this book was all the mentions of dieting. To anyone with an ED, I would not recommend this unless you know it won't trigger you. Or you could skip those parts.

I was also worried that the prince would fall in love with the FL, but I'm glad that isn't the case. I wonder if he'll ever find a lady who can change his womanizing ways.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jessie Winterspring.
Author 13 books166 followers
October 6, 2022
I'm looking forward for more 🥰

A sweet and adorable take on isekai stories. No villainous original female lead, no nasty best friend, even the casanova prince is adorable and most of all, loving family ❤ they're rare on stories like this. I'm so excited for incoming romance 😍 I also love that the love interest are older 🥰
Profile Image for Alycia.
317 reviews
October 21, 2022
2.75

The story is typical (I was really here for the romance, which I typically enjoy in these types of stories), but the writing is just so dry, and repetitive.
There were also some problematic takes on weight, skin-color which brought the enjoyment down for me.
I guess this one just wasn’t for me.
3 reviews
January 10, 2022
I like it

With this type of story you expect a villain. None so far and I’m ok with that. I’ve read reviews on other websites saying the story is too bland. I do not think that at all. I’m thoroughly enjoying the characters and storyline.
Profile Image for Stephanie  S..
146 reviews3 followers
January 11, 2022
I am enjoying this!

This is a great start! I like the characters, and the storyline. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Side note, it's nice to read about a male lead that's not abusive, or a rapist. THANK YOU, to the Author.
Profile Image for Sherrisse.
35 reviews5 followers
January 15, 2022
Restart

This was a very good light novel. The main character was very relatable and she helps you to get into the story.. but seriously I so wanted to smack the prince right up side the head.....
93 reviews2 followers
October 15, 2021
I like this book

I bought this book because of the description. I really liked it. The only problem that I have is that it might take too long for book 2.
Profile Image for Imelda.
1 review
January 26, 2022
I liked seeing how love grew, the determination of the protagonist and above all the growth of the characters. Roy is without a doubt the perfect husband. ❤
Profile Image for Katy.
135 reviews2 followers
March 20, 2022
Great read

I love much she just wants a peaceful life and works so hard for it. It's a shame about the real female leaf of the novel, but I love close they are.
Profile Image for Myrnin Aidoneus.
4 reviews
April 5, 2022
Intriguing

The intrigue is there, and now thing are just starting to get into motion - now time for volume 2!
Profile Image for Kiara.
255 reviews3 followers
May 2, 2022
This was so fun, cute, and easy to read. Can’t wait for the next one.

4.5
Profile Image for Namelessfox.
210 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2022
5.0 stars (paperback)

I can’t believe I just recently found out about translated Korean novels!

Greatly enjoyed this read. Was gentle and fun, nothing too crazy happening - which was exactly what I needed after reading a couple of suspenseful books haha.

I’m super rooting for the main leads. I can’t wait for them to meet in the next novel maybe??

Overall, greatly enjoyed! I plan on reading more novels from this new publisher :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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