- #1
It's a very long read, but I loved reading this. I like that the FL had to start from scratch with her reputation, body figure and economic standing, but using her cooking, medical, fighting and business skills, she slowly climbed to improve her standing for herself and expanding family. I found the novel to be hilarious and light-hearted, a good break from my reading stories with stoic or dumb FLs and black-bellied MLs. Sometimes you just want a good-feel read and almost every chapter, I had a good laugh. E.g. I thought the opening was hilarious when her bandit father and brother were looking to kidnap a last-minute substitute groom for the FL, they chose the injured ML because his hips looked good for bearing children (lol). Under the guise that FL was never "stood up" at her wedding in exchange for the ML hiding from his enemies while he recuperated his health, the adventures unfold. I liked that the ML, who was popular and coveted, had developed feelings for FL when she was portly but discovered she was very talented and he liked her personality, later he was really supportive of her and loyal. I also liked that some of her former rivals and even some enemies, soon became her friends instead. I thought most of the characters were interesting and there are a lot of subplots to keep track of, but I didn't mind because I wanted those characters who were introduced to have closure or happy endings.