I decided to read this on a whim, since I have a ridiculous soft spot for villainess stories, even when they turn out to be horrible, but this series really exceeded my expectations and then some. In fact, it probably ranks among some of the best villainess stories I've read -- and I've read a lot!
In general, I tend to find romance in these villainess stories to be supremely lacking. Namely because the typical "cold brooding male lead who's only nice to the female lead" isn't the type of trope (or character) I like. And I find that these relationships tend to overpower the overarching plot of the story, making it all about the romance, which I'm not really into. Meanwhile, Ginger and the Cursed Prince is basically the exact opposite of all that. It starts with romance from the get-go, and the romantic relationship is really the focal point here. In a lesser story, I would've found that a bit boring, but here it really works -- and it works because the romantic relationship here is actually done really well!
Ginger starts as a bit of a divisive heroine. She's not a true "villainess", more like the small-time third-wheel rival that often appears in shoujo romances, but one of the things I really like in this story is that the author lets her be herself without judgment. Ginger is very, very into cheesy romantic scenarios, and yes, the second-hand embarrassment is very strong here -- hence the divisiveness -- but she really grows on you as a character, especially because, while she's occasionally teased for her fantasies, she's never looked down upon for having them. And letting a female protagonist be as embarrassing and as horny as she wants to be is a rare, rare thing, even in shoujo romances, that it's refreshing to see here.
It also helps that she and Izana have a lot of fun chemistry together, and they're not the typical "stoic hero and his not-like-other-girls love interest". Izana does start off cold and walled-off, sure, but the whole point of the narrative is for him to open up and trust other people, and the underlying message of the story is incredibly sweet and wholesome. It's a very good subversion of some common romance tropes, and watching these two interact in the series is always a delight.
The only criticism I have is Lerazie... Or, more accurately, how she's written. While I mentioned above that the author is good at subverting some common romance tropes, Lerazie is, unfortunately, played relatively straight as the female love rival. She's evil and conniving for seemingly very little reason. I honestly don't understand why she's so insistent on having Izana's love especially after she learned...
...that Izana literally kills her because he doesn't trust her at the end of their time together. Does she think he won't kill her if she acts appropriately? Or is she just willing to die in order to get what she wants? We don't know, because unfortunately the author doesn't seem even the least bit interested in Lerazie's thought processes here.
It's really a shame, because I don't mind villainous villains, but I would've definitely liked for the author to have spent a little bit more time fleshing Lerazie out as an actual villain instead of just leaving her so... shallow and one-note. It feels even stranger because, while Ginger dislikes Lerazie, she in no way hates Lerazie in the same way that Lerazie seems to hate her, which makes Lerazie's reactions to Ginger even more baffling. It's unfortunate because, while Lerazie's presence is important for plot purposes, her appearances tend to be frustrating and tedious to read about, simply because she isn't a very interesting person.
But, yeah, in general, this series as a whole is still miles above a lot of other villainess stories of its ilk. It might not be as purely good as, say, Beware the Villainess, but it's certainly up there! Definitely worth a read if you can get past the initial secondhand embarrassment. It is, admittedly, a bit of a challenge there.
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