Ash’s review of Under the Oak Tree, Vol. 1 > Likes and Comments
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I share the exact same sentiments, I picked up the book because I read the PG WEBTOON which I did quite enjoy. But the book does not address the blatant SA at all. it is completely swept under the rug and you the reader are just expected accept it and ‘forgive him’. Really was quite horrendous and I can’t believe some of the reviews on here rating the smut completely ignoring the scene.
Oh good I’m so glad I’m not the only one who had the same reaction to that scene! This romance is supposed to be Maxi coming around to Riftan but it feels more like Stockholm syndrome with a rapist husband. Also the first 50 pages felt like it was all about this guys sex drive, like can he not contain himself long enough for the story to start??
So I completely agree with your disgust of the SA, I was equally horrified the first time I read it. And I’m still not justifying or excusing it but I will say there comes a time later in the series where we hear Riftan’s side of things and all was not as it seemed. Again, not excusing because like you said I do think there could have been a better way of doing it or at least EXPLAINING it to her, but he was not exactly a willing participant either. The major arc of the entire series is these two learning to communicate, because they would rather shove it all down and hide it. I think if he’d explained to Maxi the blackmail that was held on him in that moment if he didn’t marry her and consummate it, she wouldn’t have been quite so terrified.
Nearly bought it so I’m glad I read your comment, thank you so much! (SA, DV, and r*pe survivor)
Thank you for this review! I hate plots that romanticizes r*pe, which is horrifyingly very common in this generation's mainstream.
Added to my tbr shelf because the book cover art was very nice, but once again, almost a victim of judging a book by its cover.
god I HATE sa in so-called romantasies where the central thing is abuse shit
The way my jaw dropped when you said he was the love interest?? eughhh
Reading yalls comments makes me feel so much better. Getting through this book was a struggle. I'm in a book group where this book was highly recommended, and I finally have found people I agree with. The whole book seemed very Stockholm syndrome. I found myself getting annoyed that Riften was her final love interest. I thought she had a better relationship with Ruth. The whole book you barely see Riften and her interact unless it is sex and the few interactions they have seem uncomfortable. Even at the end of the book, I feel like the communication didn't improve but perhaps a centimeter.
Currently reading because Im reading the webtoon and yeah.... that scene was so fucking horrible! Sticking through it because Im all caught up to the webtoon.. I want to see if there are any differences. The webtoon is def 10x better
If you think about the time line, the first sex scene makes sense. Woman of that time were forced into a marriage and told to do as their husbands said. It’s also a consummation of their marriage. The book goes on to him learning to be gentle with her for their second time and so on. She also learns that her first time she was wrong and did seem to enjoy it when she looks back on it. The fact that you think marriage in that time was all for love and happiness is ridiculous. Read trigger warnings if you don’t want to read this shit. It’s also not the main reason for the book, maxi learns to love herself more.
I did have a trigger warning at the start? So l don't think your comment has no merit but I do think they added a clear warning. And that was the only scene like this in the book (plus it's supposed to be justified by the timeline, consummating marriage issue blah blah - not justifying it myself but giving context as that doesn’t take place again at another point) and the stutter doesn’t maintain this way throughout. However anyone feels about any book, I don’t think it’s fair to put 1 star when you only read a chapter, even if you hated it. By all means write the same review but unless the writer is completely missing an editor or going off on some sort of inexcusable diatribe it isn’t really fair to rate DNF’s (especially at 10 pages or whatever)
The author puts in the beginning of the book a note to readers informing of all triggers
Y'all are over shitting all over this book when it is just being historically accurate. Did we just forget that the plot takes place in the 1470s? Women were property in that time period. It is mentioned many times in the book how little rights women had back then. Riftan actually loved and cared for Maxi. He could have done so much worse than consummate their marriage. I would really appreciate it, if you guys could stop attributing modern times to a book that takes place over hundreds of years ago. I love how people just shit all over a book for it being historically accurate for the time period it takes place. There is trigger warnings in the beginning of a book for a reason. STOP rating it based on modern times. Thank you that is all.
This is a fictional book in a fantasy world. Let’s not act like there actually needed to be rape, by the main love interest might I add, to be “historically accurate”. That’s such a tired excuse.
Cazzie, thank you for being the voice of reason! People love to tout historical accuracy to excuse all sorts of gross depictions in modern literature. He’s the love interest, this was written in the modern day, and we’re reading this through a modern day lens. This is meant to be a romance, not a harrowing depiction of the female experience of the time. All that aside, it’s fantasy. Even if it’s inspired by history, it’s fantasy. We don’t need rape in fantasy—least of all perpetrated by the love interest. Why is this so hard for people to understand? I’ll never get it 🤦🏼♀️
Allison and Shelten, my ARC had an author’s note that did not indicate SA. It vaguely alludes to graphic sex, which I’m fine with as I’ve read a lot of adult romance, and also physical and mental abuse. However, this is a romance. The author’s note never indicated the abuse would be perpetrated by the love interest, or that the abusive relationship would be the thing romanticized. I’m sorry you took my review as an indictment of your tastes, however, this is just my opinion. I felt it was more than fair to post a review condemning a book for depicting violent rape perpetrated by the love interest especially when it’s set in a fantasy world and there was no discernible need for that to occur. This isn’t actual historical fiction, so that’s not an excuse to portray it for “accuracy.” Fantasy worlds are invented, so authors can cherry pick what they’d like to incorporate when basing their world on a historical era. It’s just mighty interesting to me that this is what the author chose to include. Have a nice day 😊
I'll admit, those Seans were a bit uncomfortable, but you must understand that the book takes place in olden times. It was common for women not to know what sex was, especially for her. She was hidden away in her castle for years because her father was ashamed of her. Today, we know better. Rifton had not been aware of Maxie's treatment before they married. I'm not trying to give excuses, just trying to explain a bit further why these things took place in the book
I'm glad I saw this. The author had a note at the beginning talking about a few things, but it definitely didn't clearly inform about these topics. I'll be skipping this one
I would have thought that this review would be fair if you had finished the book. But alas…
You know, just because it’s a fantasy book it doesn’t mean it can’t have its fair share of rawness as depiction of those times. George R.R.Martin should have taught us something here…but you just didn’t care and wrote this review based just on one charter. Ok then.
Hi all 😊 I received this ARC under the condition that I write a review. I was not warned at any point in the process prior to physically picking up the arc and starting it that it contained a violent, rapist love interest. I had no interest in continuing and, to fill the condition to leave a review, here it is. I also thought it pertinent to provide a warning to all reviewers that this contains SA, as the author’s note (read: NOT a content/trigger warning) in my copy only vaguely alluded to graphic elements and abuse—not once calling out that rape would be perpetrated and romanticized by the love interest. Raffaella, I am not a fan of Martin. I have no interest in reading books that artlessly throw around rape and flaunt violence against women for the sake of entertainment. There ARE ways to handle SA in writing, and it certainly isn’t this. It’s actually wild that you would imply that this is somehow “raw,” great writing when the author poorly mishandled a real-world issue that should never be thrown around as a plot device and then romanticized. It’s not raw. It’s gross, and it’s terribly written. That’s my opinion 😁 I would apologize for you not liking my opinion, but that’s your problem, not mine. Furthermore, your inability to understand that these points were already discussed in my very clear review speaks more to your reading comprehension than mine—and explains pretty succinctly why you seem to enjoy this hot garbage. I think it’s wrong to flaunt and romanticize SA for the sole purpose of entertainment. There IS a time and a place for deeply unpacking rape and the impact of that trauma on a character. However, as Riftan is her love interest, that could not be done here. I had no interest in seeing a woman ride off into the sunset with her rapist, so I DNFed and left the review that I was obligated to leave. If you have a problem with that, there’s nothing I can do for you. Have a nice day 😁
Did you skip the trigger warning or do you just want attention lol
Thanks for your comment. It really means a lot to people like me who definitely want to avoid this. ❤️
Ah thanks for the reminder of why I hated the manhwa lol. I kept seeing people call this couple cute but how Riftan was introduced makes me question all of them. I came thinking the book might be somewhat better but I guess its gonna stay a pass.
Dear Ash S.H., Thank you for the review, I am avoiding this now. I have absolutely no desire to relive past trauma. You are a sanity saver!
Ok ,for weak minded people writing reviews like this one it is why writers are afraid to show their full talent, geez 🙄
I fucking love this story so much,it is in fact one of my favorites EVER!!!!
GirlieasF, I think the weak-minded people are those with garbage taste who clutch their pearls when someone disagrees with them. But go off 🥰
"Explicit sexual content" does not let me know there will be SA. It does not equate. For those commenting as if we just have to suck it up, I hope none of you have gone through or ever go through SA. Historical accuracy is not an excuse. In this day and age with the things going on politically, I would think people would be more understanding of this take where it literally WAS NOT properly stated. Some of you are bitching about OP being weak when really YOU ALL SOUND WEAK. Very weak. Very uneducated. Very absent minded of the points others bought up understanding this review's take.
I'm trying my best to see if I can read the entire book. The manhwa didn't read as graphically uncomfortable so I may switch completely to that if I cannot get through the novel. Again, especially in a fantasy setting, there is no reason (nor ever really) for romanticizing assault. We know "he was doing his 'duty' and what he thought or what they both expected." We know how things were back then and how this is the reality for some people today. Stop being so ignorant to seem like you're "hard" or more "intelligent" for your disgusting comments.
Why are people so frustrated with this review? "You should read the whole thing before reviewing---" NO. People should be able to review whatever they want because this is a genuine problem. I'm not sure why people assume that JUST because it has a warning page, that means it's suddenly okay for the male mc to SA the female mc? This is such a problematic issue for y'all for some reason. I went to the bookstore to potentially buy this book because it sounded interesting and the cover was beautiful, and the first review that came up was this one. AND they were right. The female mc stuttered in literally EVERY single dialogue she had. The male mc forced himself upon her TWO times in the span of just 15 pages. Is this what y'all call a good book?? Just because this was "Normal" back then does not make this romantic at all. And the fact that this is the male interest is utterly ridiculous. This small review definitely gave me the view on what to expect and I was completely disappointed to skim through the novel just to see that the OP was correct. Just because you enjoyed a book doesn't mean other people can't hate it. Period point blank.
Yeah I agree with you, I stopped when I realized the first chapter was a rape, trigger warning didn’t mention sexual assault
Exactly. There’s a difference between tackling these topics and making the love interest the rapist. Well said.
Also your review is great 🩷 fuck the haters. Books promoting rape culture are a plague.
So for an author to “show their full talent” they need to be able to write graphic SA scenes? How about not. I’m glad I saw this review because I was considering reading this. How absolutely disgusting that the MMC is the abuser. It drives me crazy when people excuse SA behavior as “accurate to the time period,” too. It’s fantasy, not non-fiction.
Thank you for posting this review because I was interested in the book but had no idea about any of this
Thank you for this! I was about to read it based off content from people who loved this. I’m not down for this type of content in my romance novels. No thanks.
the manhwa glazes over how maxi feels about her experience and the trauma from it whereas the book just casually throws in the fact that shes shaking, sick to her stomach, and literally DREADING riftan touching her in any sexual way so it was so jarring for me when i started this. i dont understand why the author couldnt have just written him as a normal understanding man instead of a rapist, its certainly a choice.
Thank you for this honest review. I was about to place an order for both volumes after watching the hype in TT. Thank god I came to GR instead.
Also women werent this ignorant not even in older times, Maxi is kept even more ignorant of it so her first time is even more traumatic
I agree 100%. I just wanted to finish this book. I will not continue the series
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Aleyna
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Nov 06, 2024 09:25AM
I share the exact same sentiments, I picked up the book because I read the PG WEBTOON which I did quite enjoy. But the book does not address the blatant SA at all. it is completely swept under the rug and you the reader are just expected accept it and ‘forgive him’. Really was quite horrendous and I can’t believe some of the reviews on here rating the smut completely ignoring the scene.
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Oh good I’m so glad I’m not the only one who had the same reaction to that scene! This romance is supposed to be Maxi coming around to Riftan but it feels more like Stockholm syndrome with a rapist husband. Also the first 50 pages felt like it was all about this guys sex drive, like can he not contain himself long enough for the story to start??
So I completely agree with your disgust of the SA, I was equally horrified the first time I read it. And I’m still not justifying or excusing it but I will say there comes a time later in the series where we hear Riftan’s side of things and all was not as it seemed. Again, not excusing because like you said I do think there could have been a better way of doing it or at least EXPLAINING it to her, but he was not exactly a willing participant either. The major arc of the entire series is these two learning to communicate, because they would rather shove it all down and hide it. I think if he’d explained to Maxi the blackmail that was held on him in that moment if he didn’t marry her and consummate it, she wouldn’t have been quite so terrified.
Nearly bought it so I’m glad I read your comment, thank you so much! (SA, DV, and r*pe survivor)
Thank you for this review! I hate plots that romanticizes r*pe, which is horrifyingly very common in this generation's mainstream. Added to my tbr shelf because the book cover art was very nice, but once again, almost a victim of judging a book by its cover.
god I HATE sa in so-called romantasies where the central thing is abuse shit
The way my jaw dropped when you said he was the love interest?? eughhh
Reading yalls comments makes me feel so much better. Getting through this book was a struggle. I'm in a book group where this book was highly recommended, and I finally have found people I agree with. The whole book seemed very Stockholm syndrome. I found myself getting annoyed that Riften was her final love interest. I thought she had a better relationship with Ruth. The whole book you barely see Riften and her interact unless it is sex and the few interactions they have seem uncomfortable. Even at the end of the book, I feel like the communication didn't improve but perhaps a centimeter.
Currently reading because Im reading the webtoon and yeah.... that scene was so fucking horrible! Sticking through it because Im all caught up to the webtoon.. I want to see if there are any differences. The webtoon is def 10x better
If you think about the time line, the first sex scene makes sense. Woman of that time were forced into a marriage and told to do as their husbands said. It’s also a consummation of their marriage. The book goes on to him learning to be gentle with her for their second time and so on. She also learns that her first time she was wrong and did seem to enjoy it when she looks back on it. The fact that you think marriage in that time was all for love and happiness is ridiculous. Read trigger warnings if you don’t want to read this shit. It’s also not the main reason for the book, maxi learns to love herself more.
I did have a trigger warning at the start? So l don't think your comment has no merit but I do think they added a clear warning. And that was the only scene like this in the book (plus it's supposed to be justified by the timeline, consummating marriage issue blah blah - not justifying it myself but giving context as that doesn’t take place again at another point) and the stutter doesn’t maintain this way throughout. However anyone feels about any book, I don’t think it’s fair to put 1 star when you only read a chapter, even if you hated it. By all means write the same review but unless the writer is completely missing an editor or going off on some sort of inexcusable diatribe it isn’t really fair to rate DNF’s (especially at 10 pages or whatever)
The author puts in the beginning of the book a note to readers informing of all triggers
Y'all are over shitting all over this book when it is just being historically accurate. Did we just forget that the plot takes place in the 1470s? Women were property in that time period. It is mentioned many times in the book how little rights women had back then. Riftan actually loved and cared for Maxi. He could have done so much worse than consummate their marriage. I would really appreciate it, if you guys could stop attributing modern times to a book that takes place over hundreds of years ago. I love how people just shit all over a book for it being historically accurate for the time period it takes place. There is trigger warnings in the beginning of a book for a reason. STOP rating it based on modern times. Thank you that is all.
This is a fictional book in a fantasy world. Let’s not act like there actually needed to be rape, by the main love interest might I add, to be “historically accurate”. That’s such a tired excuse.
Cazzie, thank you for being the voice of reason! People love to tout historical accuracy to excuse all sorts of gross depictions in modern literature. He’s the love interest, this was written in the modern day, and we’re reading this through a modern day lens. This is meant to be a romance, not a harrowing depiction of the female experience of the time. All that aside, it’s fantasy. Even if it’s inspired by history, it’s fantasy. We don’t need rape in fantasy—least of all perpetrated by the love interest. Why is this so hard for people to understand? I’ll never get it 🤦🏼♀️
Allison and Shelten, my ARC had an author’s note that did not indicate SA. It vaguely alludes to graphic sex, which I’m fine with as I’ve read a lot of adult romance, and also physical and mental abuse. However, this is a romance. The author’s note never indicated the abuse would be perpetrated by the love interest, or that the abusive relationship would be the thing romanticized. I’m sorry you took my review as an indictment of your tastes, however, this is just my opinion. I felt it was more than fair to post a review condemning a book for depicting violent rape perpetrated by the love interest especially when it’s set in a fantasy world and there was no discernible need for that to occur. This isn’t actual historical fiction, so that’s not an excuse to portray it for “accuracy.” Fantasy worlds are invented, so authors can cherry pick what they’d like to incorporate when basing their world on a historical era. It’s just mighty interesting to me that this is what the author chose to include. Have a nice day 😊
I'll admit, those Seans were a bit uncomfortable, but you must understand that the book takes place in olden times. It was common for women not to know what sex was, especially for her. She was hidden away in her castle for years because her father was ashamed of her. Today, we know better. Rifton had not been aware of Maxie's treatment before they married. I'm not trying to give excuses, just trying to explain a bit further why these things took place in the book
I'm glad I saw this. The author had a note at the beginning talking about a few things, but it definitely didn't clearly inform about these topics. I'll be skipping this one
I would have thought that this review would be fair if you had finished the book. But alas…
You know, just because it’s a fantasy book it doesn’t mean it can’t have its fair share of rawness as depiction of those times. George R.R.Martin should have taught us something here…but you just didn’t care and wrote this review based just on one charter. Ok then.
Hi all 😊 I received this ARC under the condition that I write a review. I was not warned at any point in the process prior to physically picking up the arc and starting it that it contained a violent, rapist love interest. I had no interest in continuing and, to fill the condition to leave a review, here it is. I also thought it pertinent to provide a warning to all reviewers that this contains SA, as the author’s note (read: NOT a content/trigger warning) in my copy only vaguely alluded to graphic elements and abuse—not once calling out that rape would be perpetrated and romanticized by the love interest. Raffaella, I am not a fan of Martin. I have no interest in reading books that artlessly throw around rape and flaunt violence against women for the sake of entertainment. There ARE ways to handle SA in writing, and it certainly isn’t this. It’s actually wild that you would imply that this is somehow “raw,” great writing when the author poorly mishandled a real-world issue that should never be thrown around as a plot device and then romanticized. It’s not raw. It’s gross, and it’s terribly written. That’s my opinion 😁 I would apologize for you not liking my opinion, but that’s your problem, not mine. Furthermore, your inability to understand that these points were already discussed in my very clear review speaks more to your reading comprehension than mine—and explains pretty succinctly why you seem to enjoy this hot garbage. I think it’s wrong to flaunt and romanticize SA for the sole purpose of entertainment. There IS a time and a place for deeply unpacking rape and the impact of that trauma on a character. However, as Riftan is her love interest, that could not be done here. I had no interest in seeing a woman ride off into the sunset with her rapist, so I DNFed and left the review that I was obligated to leave. If you have a problem with that, there’s nothing I can do for you. Have a nice day 😁
Did you skip the trigger warning or do you just want attention lol
Thanks for your comment. It really means a lot to people like me who definitely want to avoid this. ❤️
Ah thanks for the reminder of why I hated the manhwa lol. I kept seeing people call this couple cute but how Riftan was introduced makes me question all of them. I came thinking the book might be somewhat better but I guess its gonna stay a pass.
Dear Ash S.H., Thank you for the review, I am avoiding this now. I have absolutely no desire to relive past trauma. You are a sanity saver!
Ok ,for weak minded people writing reviews like this one it is why writers are afraid to show their full talent, geez 🙄I fucking love this story so much,it is in fact one of my favorites EVER!!!!
GirlieasF, I think the weak-minded people are those with garbage taste who clutch their pearls when someone disagrees with them. But go off 🥰
"Explicit sexual content" does not let me know there will be SA. It does not equate. For those commenting as if we just have to suck it up, I hope none of you have gone through or ever go through SA. Historical accuracy is not an excuse. In this day and age with the things going on politically, I would think people would be more understanding of this take where it literally WAS NOT properly stated. Some of you are bitching about OP being weak when really YOU ALL SOUND WEAK. Very weak. Very uneducated. Very absent minded of the points others bought up understanding this review's take. I'm trying my best to see if I can read the entire book. The manhwa didn't read as graphically uncomfortable so I may switch completely to that if I cannot get through the novel. Again, especially in a fantasy setting, there is no reason (nor ever really) for romanticizing assault. We know "he was doing his 'duty' and what he thought or what they both expected." We know how things were back then and how this is the reality for some people today. Stop being so ignorant to seem like you're "hard" or more "intelligent" for your disgusting comments.
Why are people so frustrated with this review? "You should read the whole thing before reviewing---" NO. People should be able to review whatever they want because this is a genuine problem. I'm not sure why people assume that JUST because it has a warning page, that means it's suddenly okay for the male mc to SA the female mc? This is such a problematic issue for y'all for some reason. I went to the bookstore to potentially buy this book because it sounded interesting and the cover was beautiful, and the first review that came up was this one. AND they were right. The female mc stuttered in literally EVERY single dialogue she had. The male mc forced himself upon her TWO times in the span of just 15 pages. Is this what y'all call a good book?? Just because this was "Normal" back then does not make this romantic at all. And the fact that this is the male interest is utterly ridiculous. This small review definitely gave me the view on what to expect and I was completely disappointed to skim through the novel just to see that the OP was correct. Just because you enjoyed a book doesn't mean other people can't hate it. Period point blank.
Yeah I agree with you, I stopped when I realized the first chapter was a rape, trigger warning didn’t mention sexual assault
Exactly. There’s a difference between tackling these topics and making the love interest the rapist. Well said.
Also your review is great 🩷 fuck the haters. Books promoting rape culture are a plague.
So for an author to “show their full talent” they need to be able to write graphic SA scenes? How about not. I’m glad I saw this review because I was considering reading this. How absolutely disgusting that the MMC is the abuser. It drives me crazy when people excuse SA behavior as “accurate to the time period,” too. It’s fantasy, not non-fiction.
Thank you for posting this review because I was interested in the book but had no idea about any of this
Thank you for this! I was about to read it based off content from people who loved this. I’m not down for this type of content in my romance novels. No thanks.
the manhwa glazes over how maxi feels about her experience and the trauma from it whereas the book just casually throws in the fact that shes shaking, sick to her stomach, and literally DREADING riftan touching her in any sexual way so it was so jarring for me when i started this. i dont understand why the author couldnt have just written him as a normal understanding man instead of a rapist, its certainly a choice.
Thank you for this honest review. I was about to place an order for both volumes after watching the hype in TT. Thank god I came to GR instead.
Also women werent this ignorant not even in older times, Maxi is kept even more ignorant of it so her first time is even more traumatic
I agree 100%. I just wanted to finish this book. I will not continue the series
