Title: How to Win My Husband Over

Author/Story: Spice&Kitty

Artist: Siru

Rating: Mature

Genre: transmigration/isekai, romance, drama, abuse recovery, villainess, romantic historical fantasy

Hosted On: Tapas

Official Link(s): English

Official Summary:

I thought I’d finally escaped my hellish life when I died in an airplane crash, but I fell into another nightmare when I awoke as Rudbeckia de Borgia, a minor villain from a historical novel destined to die at the hands of her husband, Iske van Omerta. Surviving with the dysfunctional Borgia family is hard enough, but now I have to marry the man who will kill me! Still, it’s okay, I just have to convince Iske, his family, and all his countrymen that I’m completely harmless! How hard can that be?

My Thoughts:

One of the wilder things about Korean webtoons is the volume of Borgias that are present in them?

I have read a very large amount of romantic fantasy webtoons/novels and one of the things that never stops taking me out is the way that if you throw a knife, you’re probably going to hit a member of the Borgia family. I understand why, they’re incredibly useful tools when it comes to portraying the truth of a corrupt religious nobility.  Across this series in particular, it’s really clear that they are serving up this 1-2 punch of a viciously corrupt royal and religious dynasty that seeks to control the world around them.

The world of How to Win My Husband Over isn’t our world. There are dragons, demons, and other mysterious supernatural beings that the main characters have complicated controversial relationships with. And yet, we also have the Borgia family. Right down to the rumors of incest between Cesare Borgia and his younger sister, here Rudbeckia.

I grew up with Cantarella and those two live action shows about the Borgia family, so none of this is a super shock to me. In fact, part of what got me into doing two history degrees in my youth was the allure of these incredibly perverse and corrupt family dynamics across history and the role that corruption has played in the Catholic Church primarily.

So, honestly, starting How to Win My Husband Over was kind of like returning to my roots.

This series is a transmigration novel where the main character dies in a plane crash and awakens in a fantasy novel that is unlike anything she’s ever lived in her life. The thing is, that her burdens from her previous life (where she was the abused daughter of a wealthy family as well) come along for the ride in her new life. Rudbeckia de Borgia is a traumatized young woman who has been abused by her family and her husbands – yes, multiple – over the past couple of years. Her life is truly horrible and when she’s married off to Iske van Omerta, the heir to a northern throne at odds with her family, she expects the worst especially because that man is the character who kills her character in the original novel. However, the relationship that develops is incredibly tender and fragile. Iske is not the nicest guy at first, but he comes to understand Rudbeckia and care for her in a way that no one in the country expected.

I really love this series because of the slow burn romance. Iske and Rudbeckia are trying to find a common ground and build a family together despite the obstacles in the way. They fall for each other in fits and starts, miscommunications abounding as they try to figure out a way to live together… and despite that, it is heartening. Not frustrating. Because they really do feel like a team trying to cast aside the trauma of their previous selves to come together and be better together. And that’s just nice to experience.

Also, honestly, a huge high point is that Iske is really bad at wearing a shirt so his tits are OUT and open for business in most of his scenes so even when you’re sad (and you will be sad often), his boobs are there to cheer you up. The narrative can’t break you when you can lean on the cushion of his pecs when you take the hit!

We’re currently on hiatus, I believe, so let’s chat. What do you want for Iske and Rudbeckia? What similar series are you reading? Do y’all have any coins left across these different webtoon platforms??