Your Ultimate Love Rival

Maybe I'm just a bit of a dummy simpleton, but I found the climax stuff all very confusing to piece together. The author clearly put a lot of thought into it (maybe??!) but the logic of it all goes over my head a bit. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the gist of the story, and all the gorgeous eye-candy throughout. The side stories at the very end really satisfy with happily-ever-after and closure! This made for an amusing read. Very, very pleased that this one at least made it to a neat, complete end.

The art is really cute, and I liked the premise of the FL (Claudia) only wanting to be with the protagonist forever. However, every character is extremely two-dimensional, like their personality consists only of their trope and that's it. The protagonist's (Irene) entire personality is that she's charming, but she really only shows charm and intelligence a handful of times in the first 37 chapters (where I stopped). Otherwise, she's just a cute and innocent little puppy that is super oblivious and can only ask for help. Plus, the pacing is terrible after the first ten chapters or so. A potential plot will be discussed, and then the next chapter will jump to the conclusion of the plot, leaving you feeling like you must have skipped a chapter somewhere. So much time is spent on the characters fawning over Irene, or Irene taking up a whole panel with a 'cute face,' that the story feels like there are holes everywhere. If it weren't for the pretty art, I doubt I would have even gotten that far. I skipped to the end, and it honestly made no difference to my reading experience given the lack of storytelling.

This series is an adaptation of a novel, and once you hear about it it starts making sense. The pacing is perhaps the most noticeable aspect. A great deal of time is actually spent on each period of the story, but individual chapters end up feeling disjointed, like details were skipped out on. This means it won't feel rushed, but it still feels like things happen suddenly or without due explanation. Regardless, it mostly felt like a smooth read except for the moments around the 1st third and the 2nd third, which each felt like they dragged a bit.

What it handles perfectly is the art, and its role as a romance. Despite the length, this one does not make promises it doesn't intend to keep, or drag things out forever without anything ever happening, which is what makes it ultimately a fun read.

Also worthy of note is the protagonist's role as an active participant while also being a non-combatant. A less typical combination.

I also want to credit the characters here in allowing multiple close relationships whilst also being clear as to what crosses the romantic line or not.

Incredible boring middle part. Also, annoying and hateful villains that appear in almost half of every chapter, by chap 60 it's unreadable

I'm here for the art and how hot all the characters are 🥵 I'm still undecided how I feel about the story so far.
Love the relationship between the girls, how the FL helped the original protagonist become independent and self assured, and even the sociopathic antagonists are amusing.
But I also feel like some explanations are missing out need to be further fleshed out, so I'm kind of confused with the progression of the plot and what's going on at times. But I'm also not sure if it's because of the translation, so I want to give it the benefit of the doubt

The art is undoubtedly excellent. The art captures what it needs to be captured, the cuteness, the sly, the anger, the beauty, all of it. I can grasp the story and understand it despite the storytelling. I mean, I get the plot the telling is somewhat confusing. But overall, it was enjoyable..

Ok, so the art is pretty good, like everyone but the MC is so hot lol. They definitely made the story for drawing pretty people, since the story jumps around a lot and feels like it's missing plot/story points. But, it's also because of the translation.. it's not very good at making sense, so I hope there's an official TL soon. ( I still like it tho)

I’ve only read up to ch18
So far there’s fun antagonists, a funny and cute dynamic between og fl and fl, ml is hot and clever, art is pretty (but I wish it was a little darker rather than so bright), story is fun so I would recommend

Edit: okay let me update my review because ehhhh…
I still really enjoy the art and plot but the post time skip ml is just a NO.

dude went into war pale with silver hair and came back years later with black hair and skin colour that’s on the other end of the colour spectrum… it totally seemed colourist to me seeing as the fact he only became darker once he started being possessed by the demon (aka his bad side). Totally didn’t rub me the right way even if he tanned from going to war because he looks like a completely different ethnicity which is a very odd thing of the artist to do imo. I don’t know if I would still recommend reading this