About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series If You Give Me Flowers, I'll Give You Myself.
Trigger Warning: Violence and deadly illness may be discussed as it appears in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Haewon has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and with a prognosis of only six months, the possibilities for her future are severely limited. While she is working at a museum in Mongolia, a job she truly loves, her dream is out in the field. She longs to find a flower that no one has discovered and name it herself so she will always be remembered even after she has passed. As a final push to achieve her dream before she dies, she quits her jobs and sets out for the rural parts of Mongolia, donating all her funds after she purchases a Jeep to get across the rough terrain.
However, not long after leaving, she receives a letter from the hospital where she was first diagnosed. Her former coworker, Dr. Lee, intercepts the letter and discovers that she was misdiagnosed. He has no clue where she has gone, though. Even so, spurred by his love for her, he takes off after her, letter in hand.
Meanwhile, Haewon ends up with her Jeep and all her belongings stolen. Thankfully, she is rescued by the mysterious Eunseong, who has settled out in the deep fields of Mongolia for reasons unknown. Since she cannot continue on her quest without his help and feels sorry for her predicament, Eunseong hesitantly agrees to allow her to stay under the agreement that if she does locate the undiscovered flower, she will let him name it. While he isn’t interested in this prize, it isn’t long before he quickly takes an interest in her, and that interest soon blooms into love.
Review:
This might be my favorite art style of all time. It is unique but still maintains the quality throughout, which we love to see here. I took screenshots of specific panels and found myself looking back on them from time to time because some of them were just that pretty to look at. So if you are picky about art like I am, you won’t be disappointed by this one. I can promise you that.
But what’s even better is that the quality doesn’t stop at just the art – the story itself is also lovely and relatively unique among all of the manhwa I have read thus far. The opening conflict of Haewon’s misdiagnosis is actually fairly short-lived when you look at the length of the manhwa overall, but this quickly leads into the next issue as Haewon must return to Korea to confirm the misdiagnosis, which then leads to more sad and sweet struggles and misunderstandings as Haewon and Eunseong go through a long-distance relationship.
I also like that the love triangle is not a primary focus. I find love triangles sometimes to overstay their welcome, but it’s emphasized pretty early on that Haewon has no genuine interest in him as a romantic partner. As most secondary leads go, Dr. Lee is decent, though he doesn’t get much of a chance as a secondary lead. Eunseong is undoubtedly the leading man, but I am not complaining at all, as he is a great one.
And just for those like me who love epilogues or side stories after the main story is over, this one has one, and it is absolutely adorable. We get to see a large swath of time after the main story, highlighting the ending couple’s lives post-finale. It is delightful and honestly makes it worth reading the entirety of the manhwa to get some of that sweet romantic goodness.
The one thing I could probably pick on about this is the sharp jump from standard romantic misunderstandings and drama to suddenly dealing with murder plots and arson. That jump felt a little crazy to me, and the desperation of Eunseong’s brothers just felt a bit unbelievable and unnecessary to me. I wish we had seen more build-up or backstory on them to help explain their desperation, but even with that, this manhwa is still as close to perfection as it gets (in my humble opinion, that is).
Results:
I absolutely love this manhwa. It is probably now in my top three in terms of favorite manhwa of all time. I will recommend this to anyone who has not delved into manhwa and is interested to see what it is all about. Beautiful art, lovely story, just enough melodrama to keep it interesting, a satisfying ending, and a wonderful epilogue/side story to keep the reader’s heart racing. If you love romance and manhwa, I can’t recommend this enough. It is a must-read.
Have you read If You Give Me Flowers, I'll Give You Myself? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!