Name: Under the Oak Tree (Under the Oak Tree Novels #1)
Author: Suji Kim
Publisher: Inklore
Date published: November 2024
Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance
Pages: 484
Rating: 4/5
This review contains minor spoilers.
Lady Maximilian is the daughter of the powerful Duke Croyso, but she is rarely allowed outside her family’s sprawling castle for fear that her stutter will tarnish their noble name. When she is forced to marry Sir Riftan, a lowborn knight caught in one of her father’s schemes, Maxi doesn’t dare hope for happiness, let alone love. Her stumbling communication and his gruff manner sour their relationship before it can begin, and Riftan leaves without a word the morning after their vows are exchanged.
Now, three years after their disastrous wedding night, Riftan has returned as a war hero. To Maxi’s surprise, despite rumors that he was offered marriage to Princess Agnes, a beautiful and renowned sorceress, Riftan still wants Maxi for his wife. And when he comes to claim her, his longing becomes a desire that bewilders Maxi, even as she is overcome by the scorching heat that Riftan’s presence ignites within her. As she learns to navigate the intricacies of her new life, Maxi will find herself and her courage, and discover that she is anything but powerless.
- From Goodreads.
I can see why some people may find the beginning of this book tough to get past as Maxi and Riftan do have a difficult beginning to their relationship. Maxi is very shy and insecure, and because of her sheltered upbringing and the abuse she suffered from her father, she doesn't know or understand much about the world, or marriage. Riftan meanwhile is quite domineering and can be quick to temper, somewhat because of his role as the knights' commander. I was hesitant whether I would enjoy this at first because there is some very dubious consent in their intimacy at the beginning partly because of Maxi's lack of knowledge and her belief that she needs to complete her wifely duties, so it might be best to avoid this book if that would be hard for you to read.
However it was compelling to see them both grow from that point. Although Maxi still struggled a lot with her insecurity, she did find a little more confidence in herself and learnt that she could do more than she realised, and that people could treat her kindly and she could fine somewhere to call home. Riftan learnt to be gentle with her and clearly wanted to treat her well. They had an interesting dynamic and I will be interested to see them learn and grow together in future volumes.
There were plenty of other interesting characters too, the servants at the castle were all likeable and it was fascinating to learn about the hierarchy of the knights and the different dynamics between them.
There was also some great worldbuilding. The politics between the kingdoms, the royalty and lords of each one, and it was exciting to read about all the different fantasy creatures that lived in the land, and the knights' fights with them.
As already mentioned, I probably would not recommend this if you do not like to read anything with issues of consent or abuse, as Maxi's abuse from her father (both physical and mental) is also a part of the story and described multiple times in detail. But otherwise I found the story to be quite easy to get through and I became quite invested in the characters and especially enjoyed following Maxi as the main character and I am looking forward to reading the next volume to see what happens next in her story.
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