Book Review: My Life As An Internet Novel (Volume 1)

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The Details

Media Type: Manhwa (Digital)
Title: My Life As An Internet Novel
Author(s): Yu Han-ryeo
Illustrator: A Hyeon
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Pages/Length: 272; Paperback
Release Date: October 14, 2025
Source: NetGalley

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What happens when you’re thrown into a fictional world…not as the main character, but as the main character’s best friend? This Korean manhwa puts a twist on romance and proves that falling in love is more than just a trope.

Every internet novel has the usual cast: a gorgeous heroine, handsome boys vying for her attention, and a unremarkable best friend at the heroine’s side. Dani, an ordinary student and avid reader, is all too familiar with these tropes. But she never imagined that one day she’d wake up in one herself!

But how did she get here?

Her new fictional world is complete with a beautiful best friend named Yeoryung, and four impossibly good-looking boys who all happen to be in her class…and are possibly love interests. Love interests that weren’t originally meant for her.

Dani knows that nothing good will happen to her as the side character, so she is determined to stay out of the way! But what happens when this fictional world ends up leading Dani to the first real friends she’s ever known? With no idea how to get back home, Dani decides she’ll just have to play her part—no matter what plot twists come her way.

The Review

There is nothing I love more than a good old story about reincarnation to, or transportation to, a character’s favorite fictional world. Watching them navigate all the tropes, acknowledge the pitfalls and silliness, man it’s like candy for me. So although I wasn’t a reader of My Life As An Internet Novel as a webtoon before seeing this for review, I snatched it up anyway because I was certain I would love it. Spoiler alert: I absolutely did.

As the synopsis explains, Dani wakes up for her first day of school only to realize that she’s now the best friend (aka sidekick) in an internet novel! Her new fictional world comes complete with all the things that you expect. A gorgeous best friend, who of course has no idea how beautiful she is. A school day that sets the characters up to be around one another all the time. And, obviously, a class full of stunning guys who are potentially vying for the main character’s attention. Or… are they?

Ah, this first volume was so much fun! What I liked most about it, besides the aforementioned awareness of our sidekick main character, was that it’s so open-ended. There are so many twists, and turns, by the end of this volume I still had absolutely no idea who our main character boy was. Who was even close to winning the hand of the beautiful main character? Your guess is as good as mine. I even suspected it might have been our sidekick herself headed that direction. Let me tell you, that had me squealing in delight. I love when I can’t figure out an ending. All that does it make me want more, more, MORE.

The art style in this manhwa is also just deliciously vibrant and punchy. Every page is so much fun to devour and, true to form, the characters have wonderful facial expressions that really push forward their personalities. If you’re going to have a story where all the main boy characters are supposed to be “different” from one another (for potential dating purposes of course), it makes sense that they would each act differently on the page. The writing does a good job of portraying them as well, but the illustrations are really what bring everything about this story to life.

Long story short. I’m hooked and I will eagerly be anticipating the next volume.