I honestly wanted to like this because the cover art looked nice, but couldn't help but agree with everything gloriousmangalover mentioned. The protagonist has such an annoying immature personality for someone who is supposed to be 26 years old that it becomes hard to sympathize with her, and after enough chapters I just stopped caring about the story entirely. The dialogue is very weird and choppy a lot of the time too, making me wonder if it was badly translated or just badly written or something? I feel bad for saying this, but overall it just felt like a very teenager-ish off-brand version of the webtoon I Love Yoo in my opinion.

I can't put my finger on it, but something's up with the story that makes this weird. Probably the unrealistic storyline: no, you can't "order" a boyfriend online, no "good" guy with self-respect would do that as a job. But anyway, I still read all of it and I do appreciate this webtoon, especially the author's note at the end, haha.

The meaning behind the name "Romantic Marbling" doesn't get revealed til basically the last chapter. I also finished this whole series in one sitting, so it's a short enough read. Although jumpy, I still think it's readable and overall alright.

Also, kudos to the very detailed summary below! I do agree with some of the points, but IMO it's a bit overly critical. All of these comments are just opinions anyway, so take it with a grain of salt. 🙂

... Last updated on May 1st, 2019, 1:02am

I expected this series to be trash after I read the first few chapters. After all, I'm not fond of idiot protagonists who lack self awareness & critical thinking skills, and I dislike stale, sexist kdrama & shoujo tropes. Manhandling, kabedons, a**hole flower boys, rude love interests, "evil" Miss Perfect rival, hot-tempered/dense/naive/painfully average/clumsy heroines...? No thanks.

What saved this series for me was the surprising self reflection that came in later chapters, the unexpectedly genre-savvy trope subversions, and the greyness of it all (in terms of who was in the right/wrong).

With the help of other characters who were honest/blunt about her mistakes/character flaws, the heroine acknowledges her failings, struggles to move past them, and do better. She proves to be much less naive and dense than I'd feared, though still clumsy/avg/hot-tempered.
The male lead wasn't as much of an arrogant jacka** as I had initially pegged him as, and he was much more honest about his emotions than I had expected someone of his stereotypical profile to be. The "bad guys" or the antagonists (the ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend) were portrayed in an unexpectedly mature way as the story progressed, with no sugarcoating or excessive demonizing. Yes, they made terrible mistakes, and yes, they were selfish. But they had depth, and they were capable of recognizing their flaws.

Still wouldn't call this an Excellent story, but it's not bad.

I accept it. I love that thing that most people say they hate: cliche plots. But what I actually love is when an author use a cliche but the story is so well done, so unique, or the characters are so intersting by themself, that you cannot but praise the execution.

Sadly, this isn't one of those cases. What this actually has: a special snowflake as main character, that doesn't want to change, that's too annoying, too stuborn, with a bad personality; an ex boyfriend who seems like a total idiot but he might have his reasons; a blonde guy that we all know he's going to fall for her, and I don't get why...

Despite my complains, its one of those storys that Im going to read while I wait my series. So, yes, I recommend it when you can't find something better. Give it a try.

... Last updated on July 27th, 2017, 9:34pm