I did not end up finishing this volume as I really did not mesh with the story and just could not waste the time finishing it. Thank you for the opportunity!

I think this is the first I’ve read reincarnation! It was cute and I loved the Cinderella vibes mixed with fantasy. Volume one gave a lot of info about the characters & was easy to follow. I look forward to the next volumes!

Thank you NetGalley for providing the e-arc for me to read! I loved the story and the art style! I cannot wait for a sequel and hope the characters growth is as good as I imagine it will be!

First a BIG Thanks to NetGaley, the Author and the Publisher for this ARC.

It reminded me a bit of a combo between Cinderella and the Prince and the Pauper.
The FMC was shunned and poor, living a peaceful and kind life in the woods on her own until she gets reincarnated and starts living as a duke's eldest and prettiest, sweetest but shunned, humiliated and sort of enslaved daughter.
The story is sweet and soft, with a dark lurking at the edges. It is funny and I adore the FMC love for food. It's just perfect.
I'm really looking forward as to where the story is going and would like to read more.

the boy i loved became the jaded emperor is cute, sweet and wholesome. in this first volume, there’s minimal romance as it focuses on introducing the two main characters, alexei and eleonora.

within the first couple of chapters, we meet “ham”, a prince who was banished by an evil stepmother into a forest occupied by dangerous magical beasts and “pie”, a woman who created a home within the forest after she left her village at the age of twelve due to her grotesque features. “pie” discovers “ham” and decides to care for the prince, creating a newfound bond between them that makes a lasting impression. when alexei’s imperial knights eventually find him in the forest, the events following this moment transform alexei from a once kind, sweet prince into a cold, jaded emperor.

fast forward to the future we meet eleonora, a stunning noble woman, known as the ‘silent beauty’ as she's been urged to avoid conversation due to her unusual and uncouth accent. we find out that eleonora’s “pie”, the woman of the forest who has been reincarnated and has somehow retained her accent from her last life. in a second chance encounter, “ham” and “pie” reunite at the emperor’s ball—a ball that has been held for alexei to find a wife—and have a meet-cute situation over a conversation regarding pies. i'm curious to see where this meet-cute situation leads and how the romance between alexei and eleonora continues to blossom!

Ich war wirklich begeistert von dem Zeichenstil. Ich tu mir bei Mangas wirklich schwer, wenn mir die Zeichnungen nicht gefallen, egal wie toll die Story ist. Aber hier hat beides einfach gepasst. Mir haben wie gesagt die Zeichnungen sehr gut gefallen, vor allem die Bunny-Einhörner, die sind einfach so niedlich, aber auch alles andere. Und auch die Story hat mir wirklich sehr gut gefallen und ich bin sehr gespannt, wie es weitergehen wird und freue mich bereits auf Band 2. Es hat bisschen was von Cinderella, ich denke aber, dass es sich schnell in eine andere Richtung entwickeln wird. Ich mag auch beide Hauptcharaktäre, Ham und Pie, sehr gerne und ich freue mich, dass sie sich nach dem traurigen Tod von Pie unter diesen Umständen wiedergetroffen haben.

The Boy I Loved Became the Jaded Emperor surprised me and this one is actually only two books long. But I should've known, since it's josei and they just tend to be better. When Prince Alexei was a kid, he was saved by this weird looking creature he started to call Pie. Pie then called the little boy Ham and they had wonderful time in the woods together. But, soon Alexei's past as a royal caught up to him and Pie died. This made Alexei begrudged and mostly a nasty soon-to-be emperor except the creature has been born again, now as the daughter of a duke. This may seem cliched, but in reality it isn't. The prejudiced world is interesting and the creature is actually wise and understanding - even as a young woman. The best part is being inside Pie's head now and at least this first part isn't fluffy, which is great.

The art looks good and works well with the story. Sadly so the cover looks like your basic love manga when this isn't. I hope the latter part will be as wonderful as this and show that there can be different kinds of manga series even in this genre.

This was really weird. Idk what the authors intentions were, but it came off really creepy. How old was the woman supposed to be when she met the boy for the first time? Either way, she was older than him and referred to herself as a mother to the animals in the forest, and kept referring to him as her “little ham”. It would be a really cute and fun story if it wasn’t for this creepy ick factor making me feel uncomfortable about it. I also hate that it didn’t conclude in this volume. I want to know what happens. I want to know the ending. But it just left off on the biggest cliffhanger and I hate that so much because I just sat through this whole thing for what feels like no reason now. Idk. I’m so conflicted about this. I wish I knew the author’s intentions so I could judge this one better. I guess I’ll do 3 stars so represent that I’m on the fence with this one until I have more information about the author.

There are some definite issues with the premise of this one. It's a reincarnation story, more similar to the BL novel series You Can Have My Back than any isekai title in that one-half of the main couple dies and is reincarnated swiftly afterward in the same nation. The person in question originally went by the name of Pie – yes, like the food. She was a nonstandard human who fled her village at age twelve after being ostracized for her odd, saggy green skin, never having been given a name, and that means she's in the right place to save six-year-old Prince Alexei when his stepmother attempts to have him killed. But then three years later, Pie is killed by the royal knights, and, blessed with Alexei's powerful magic, she quickly is reborn as Eleonora, daughter of the Purpleus dukedom…but with her atrocious lower class accent intact. As far as reasons for a character to embark on a Cinderella storyline go, that one feels fairly lame.

Ostensibly, this is a story about Pie/Eleonora and Alexei (who went by the name of Ham while he was with Pie) finding each other and getting married. It's a bit questionable, however, when Pie was very much Ham's parental figure for those three years in the forest, or at the very least an older sister. Their love was strong but platonic, and now that she's eighteen and he's twenty-seven, the story wants to change that. (It doesn't hurt that she's exquisitely beautiful.) There's something just a little awkward about the set-up, and even though I do want to see them reunited, I'm not comfortable with the reunion taking on a romantic edge. Still, it's hard to argue with the fact that losing Pie had a terrible effect on Alexei; he's become cold and angry, taking a minister's statement that Pie died because Alexei didn't have enough power to heart. And that's not the only terrible experience the poor man's had: before her death, his mother “blessed” him with the ability to return to life after being killed, and before he met Pie he'd died and come back at least three times. That's the kind of experience that can mess someone up, and the story does appear to want to acknowledge it, even if developing it doesn't seem to be on the table.

Issues with the premise aside, this isn't a bad book. It ends on enough of a cliffhanger that I want to read volume two, although I admit to thinking that the original light novel is probably a better version of the story in terms of information and the fact that obvious narration works better in prose than comic form, in my opinion. The art is beautiful, too, so if you can get past Pie and Ham's relationship and how it turns into Eleonora's and Alexei's, this is a nice read.

The first part of the story had me intrigued, and I think it was a good setup or introduction for the series. Other than that, I find the art style really cute.

I think my only problem is that the storytelling is quite underwhelming for my taste? It didn't really capture my fun or enjoyment bar, especially the 2nd half.

Overall, I think it was okay. I think I'll continue this one.

Thank you, Kodansha Comics, for the e-arc.

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Date Released: September 24, 2024
Date Read and Reviewed: November 7, 2024
Ratings: 3⭐️

Thank you to Kodansha Comics and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this manga. This is an intriguing story that is similar to a lot of other reincarnated stories. However, there's a more fairy tale aspect involved that makes it unique, although it has a tiny bit of an Odiepus Rex complex that makes it a tad gross. I am though, curious to see what happens next. Because of these points, I have to give this a 4 out of 5 stars.

I want to like this, but it just feels kind of cringe for a mother-like figure reincarnation into a potential love interest for the character they had previously been maternal toward.

Generally cute, but I found it hard to keep track of the timelines and some of the characters. Still, I liked it enough that I'll pick up the next volume from the library if it's available.

Two and a half stars rounded down.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this manga

This was a very cute read, it was enjoyable but not enough for me to continue, but I am happy I read it

If u want a story about love, found family and also being a Prince who is just playing the cards his been dealt with a cinderlla vibe to it then this might be up ur alley

It's been a while since I was so captivated with a manga, but this one managed to stay in my mind for days.

I love a good mix of fantasy and romance, especially when it's not only focused on the romantic aspect, and this manga, with it's strong theme about friendship and how it can shape you life (along betrayal) was just great for me.

I really want to see what's gonna happen next and how will they react when they will find out the true identities of each other

It was a cute and quick read. I enjoyed the premise of the manga. I loved seeing Alexie and Pie's friendship and their reunion in Pie's next life. The artwork is stunning.

Wow this was so sad at times. Like Pie did not deserve to be treated as she was by the knights. And I get why Ham (the emperor) is jaded but I hope he and Eleanora are able figure out they know each other.

A great start to a romance manga! I love that our female MC has been reincarnated and remembers everything from her previous life as an ugly frog-looking human, but "Ham" of course does not recognize her. Meanwhile he's become ice cold, and I love reading as our heroine slowly (or sometimes quickly) crumbles his walls and worms her way into his heart. Excited for volume 2!

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

This was a cute and funny manga with a heart warming elements. I’d love to see this series animated as it reminded me of anime like sugar apple fairy tale and 7th reincarnation. The art was beautiful and the characters were funny! I’d recommend this.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
2 stars

This was a strange one. It had a lot of webtoon vibes (reincarnation, dark and brooding love interest, that kinda stuff). The art is very pretty, and the country-speak sticking with the protagonist after her rebirth is pretty funny. The "jaded emperor" love interest (Alexei) definitely has some very attractive art. Once the story got going, I enjoyed myself. Probably my biggest gripe, and why it wasn't a 3 star instead of a 2, is the strange ick-factor to the romance. Eleonora's original life was as Pie, who found Alexei (Ham, as she knew him) when he was 6 and she was somewhere over 12. It's never said how much older than 12 she is, but probably at least a couple of years. 3 years pass while they know each other, so he's 9 and she's probably close to 18. She dies, comes back, and the present takes place while she's 18 and he's 27. Now, she still has her memories, and she's lamenting the loss of her precious Ham, and it feels like she loves him already. This is all just so weird because she was an older teen and he was a *child* in her first life. It just feels weird and blah and I'm not a fan of the choice here. Without that, it would have been a cute, fun little romance manga.