The Villainess Needs A Tyrant
The Villainess Wears an Idiot's Mask
Sierra
Sierra was a child hated by her mother and unwanted by her father. At a ball, she then met the illegitimate child of the emperor, Claude. Both being alienated by their parents, they instead found solace in each other. At least until Sierra is promised to the crown prince. To make a final good memory with her lover, the two of them spend the night together, resulting in a pregnancy that Sierra ends out of fear. Not long after, Claude ensues a rebellion, killing the emperor and first prince, as well as Sierra's father and all his employees (wtf), in order to be with her. However the death of her nanny and all the servants that raised her, scarred and terrified Sierra and she renounces her lover's deeds. As a result, he kills himself out of heartbreak. In that moment, Sierra wishes that time would reverse so she could make a different choice, and it magically does. This time, she takes her unborn daughter and runs away, leaving Claude and everyone else behind, before anything can go wrong. I'm like: wut. The whole backstory seems to stupid. It seems that if Claude had just left Sierra's father's servants alone, everything would've been fine and they could've been happy together. Or, at least it's not explicitly stated that that would not be the case. In the first place: why kill the servants? They didn't do anything wrong, other than work for the wrong person. Like, wtf Claude. That's just cold, ruthless and unnecessary. I also don't understand why Sierra needed to run away from him. It makes sense to run from everything else, but she could've been honest with him at least. He answered that he didn't want any kids, when she asked, but that's such a vague reason to just abandon him without a word or explanation. She could've just said: "Well, I do want them. Think you could be persuaded for my sake?" or "If I'm pregnant after our night together, I'm not going to abort. Instead I'll run away and raise the child far from the nobility. Would you want to come with or should I leave without you?" Like, anything. A tiny amount of communication could've gone such a long way. But ofc, without all the drama and misunderstand, we would've been left without a story, Ig...
I Only Came to Find my Dad
Honey, I'm Going on Strike
Paused around ch. 31
The Predator's Fiancée
Elisha is a slave of the Cartier family. When she was young her aristocratic father died and left behind massive debt, and even though she had long been abandoned by him, she was forced to take responsibility. She becomes collateral and lives as a slave of the family she's indebted to. She is abused and assaulted and finally dies in an attempt to escape, only to wake up several years in the past. With the knowledge of her miserable future she decides to escape it by allying herself with the Cartier family's black sheep; General Lucerne, whom she knows plan to take over the family or destroy it if he can't. To solidify their deal, she agrees to marry him and thus their relationship deepens. I am thoroughly tired of premises like this. The setting is a sexist/mysogynistic shit show, that only serves as a backdrop for the toxic romance the story centers. The ML is creepy, forceful, cold and generally unlikeable. His assets are good looks, fortune and status - which, by patriarchal standards, are all men are needed to have to make a good husband - but his personality is shit. Any small kindnesses are highlighted as if the sum of them will somehow make him a good person, when really he barely reaches the minimum standard for what that is. Any scene in which the couple are intimate makes me uncomfortable, bc the FL is clearly afraid and the ML is completely unfazed by this and makes no effort to alleviate her anxiety. I know women are conditioned to like assertive men, but his behaviour is just scary and I'm not here for it. The FL has the blandness of a classic female main character, but one could attribute that to her past abuse. She's very cautious, anxious and nonconfrontational. However she does try to fight back against her fate and abusers. I just don't like that her only option is to marry out of the abuse - especially when the husband gives off toxic vibes. So, 20 chapters was enough for me. I'm done with this.
You're All Dead if You Mess With My Brother