Inori

Ordinary office worker Ohashi Rei wakes up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. To her delight, the first person to greet her is also her favorite character, Claire Francois—the main antagonist of the story! Now, Rei is determined to romance Claire instead of the game’s male leads. But how will her villainous ladylove react to this new courtship?!

I'm in Love with the Villainess (Light Novel) Vol. 1

carly smallbird

I feel like this one started to pick up once things start going off the rails for Rae—when her attempts to keep tight control of the narrative she's familiar with start to slip out of her hands. There's also some nice subtle tension with Rae just being fully convinced that the best she can do is to be there to support the woman she loves, rather than hoping to be loved in return—I kind of wish the narrative dwelled on that a little more, because it's an interesting thread.

The main weakness, I think, is that the narrative tends to over-explain itself and tends to stifle emotional moments that way. By the end of the book it's definitely getting better, and I know this was originally published as a serial webnovel, so I expect the following books to improve.

I'm in Love with the Villainess (Light Novel) Vol. 1

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