Top Ten Books from 2019

I think this might be the last sum up list for awhile! Have I remembered everything??? You do still want to know my favorite books from this past year, right?

Top Ten Books I Read in 2019

(no order, blurbs from reviews included)

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate: I was gripped and totally immersed in this story. Great writing moved it right along and had me at every page. I loved it. Even though it was a painful story, it was told in a hopeful way and so it wasn't necessarily a downer. I appreciated that too. Perfect. So glad to have finally read this one!

Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami: There is a big emphasis on books, music and art. I loved that. There was also many profound things that were said where I was like... yeah man. So anyway, in the end, I would say I enjoyed reading this one, but I truly have no idea what it's trying to say! If you've read it and have a theory, do share! Enlighten my small brain! And if you've read others by this author and enjoyed them, let me know which one should be next on my list!

The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee: There are a ton books of  North Koreans telling their stories. And I'm sure they will all be different and yet the same. I really hope that some day the situation changes and that the dreams of all these people will come true and that the two Koreas can be united and families can all be together without fear.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: So it's a great family saga, the type of which I love and haven't read for a long time. So I loved it. Became very attached to all the characters and either rejoiced or yelled at their choices. One of them I had to shut the book for  minute and go... ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? WHY WHY WHY???

It's about family (and found family), and relationships and identity, Korean culture and Japanese culture, and hard work and love and struggles and life and death. So yeah, it's good! I'm so glad to have sort of randomly added this to my books read this year!

Educated by Tara Westover: So, like I keep saying... it's very fascinating and there's so much to think about and talk about, but it's also quite depressing. It's hard to read about the rift between a daughter and her family... even if that family is crazy!

Among all the crazy things, it's a bottom line tribute to learning and how we have an innate desire to learn. And how if we don't go to school, at some point, we crave it. And how some people will do anything to get the education they want so bad.

I'm kinda sad our book club decided not read it because I've been so compelled to talk about it and everyone here is getting sick of me now!! LOL! I'm sure our book club discussion would have been quite interesting.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: Sounds simple in its summary, yeah? But the magic system is crazy awesome. The writing is beautiful and so perfectly descriptive. The characters are amazingly real. There's another traveler who I really felt for... and became so sympathetic for, even though he is a very very bad boy. But the author is able to easily make us care about him. I love that. 

It's a very violent and dark book. As I said on Instagram, the title does not lie. There is very dark stuff going on here. It's creepy and scary and disturbing.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi: Anyway. All that deep stuff aside, the romance is AWESOME! Perfectly swoony. I loved it. I loved the writing (as I've come to expect from this author) and the way she handled this subject. It hit me just right instead in preachy or self-pity-ish... which I very much appreciated. Thank you!

Dry by Neal Shusterman: And wow, but by the end of it I knew it would be awhile before I took my casual drinks of water for granted. And still, nearly a month after reading it, whenever I guzzle a huge tall glass of water I think... wow... this water is AMAZING! I was even having dreams about being thirsty! 

So, I loved it even if there were harsh moments in this story. It was very page turning and nonstop "action" ie. things that happened from second to second to keep you on the edge of your seat. It was fabulous. 

Geekerella by Ashley Poston: Anyway. If you are into retellings. Or cons. Or cosplay. Or Star Trek-like shows. Or cute YA romances. You will enjoy this one.

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett: I loved the setting, the lazy warm breezy California beach town. I think I need to live in a place like this. Seriously. I loved the banter. Banter is the best! I loved this girl (for the most part. She made some questionable choices a couple of times, but yeah.) and her insecurities and her tendency to be an Artful Dodger all of the time. I loved the dude, who appears to be one way, but is really another. I loved the families in this book. Good families are a such an amazing thing in books these days! And of course I loved the classic movie references! So many!

Yeah. I loved it for a fun YA romance. Pretty sure I need to read more by this author.

2019 Year End Number Crunch

Wow, I almost forgot to do the number crunch post! How shocking!


So anyway, here is my reading by the numbers. Also numbers for kdrama and youtubing too. 

READING STATS

TOTAL BOOKS: 41
Total pages: 14,010
Total Re-reads: 3

Authors
Men: 9
Women: 32

For:
ARCS for Review: 3
Supporting Utah Authors: 2?
Book Club: 9
Read Alongs (Kpop Book Club): 5
Beehive Award Long List: 12

From:
Library: 11
On my Kindle: 15
Bought/Owned: 14
Borrowed: 1
Audio: 0

Genres:
YA: 26
Adult: 11
Middle Grade: 2
Picture Book Fairy Tales: 2

From the YA Category:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction: 20
Fantasy: 6

From the MG Category:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction: 1
Fantasy: 1

From the Adult Category:
Historical Fiction: 1  
Fantasy: 3
Literary Fiction: 3
Non Fiction: 3
Classic: 1

Star Ratings:
5 stars: 7
4 stars: 18
3 stars: 14
2 stars: 2
1 star: 0

Observations:

• Fifty for a Goodreads goal was still too much. I'm back down to 45 to try for during 2020.
• YA contemporary/realistic fiction appears to still be a current favorite.
• I'm back on the ARC/Review list for a local publishing company!
• If it's on my Kindle, I'll read it. This needs to be remembered.
• I doubled my Beehive Award long list reading this year! Wah!
• I need to get back to supporting Utah authors. What happened to that endeavor?

KPOP/KDRAMA YOUTUBE STATS

Total Kdramas consumed: 21
5 hearts: 7
4 hearts: 10
3 hearts: 4

Total Videos Uploaded on The Kpop Konverters: 933 (up from 828 last year)
Total Uploaded in 2019:  105 (down from 273)
2.3 million views: 1 
Over 100,000 views:  15 (up from 12)
50,000 to 100,000 views: 22 (up from 14)
10,000 to 50,000 views: 91 (same)
5,000 to 10,000 views:  68 (up from 60)

Subscribers at year end: 27,486 (up from 22,632 last year) 
View count at year end: 11,350,409 (up from 8,729,763 last year)

Observations:

• At this time last year I was worried about the changes coming up for the channel, and my worries are coming true. There is definitely less enthusiasm going on with those involved! But... we aren't dead yet.
• At this time NEXT year, we should have more than 1000 videos uploaded! That's seriously crazy. 

Book Review: The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

Book: The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

A fun story about a kid (a black French Canadian kid, which is a big part of this story) who moves to mid America Texas and has to deal with some pretty interesting culture shock.

He gets a job at a restaurant and starts a friendship with a girl who he thinks is a stereotypical cheerleader, who helps him get the attention of the girl who catches his eye at school.

And can you guess what is actually happening? The cheeleader is deeper than he thought, and the other girl isn't quite as cool as he thought.

It's lots of fun witty banter with this kid, and he writes it all down in his notebook. Which is probably a good thing that no one gets their hands on it. Right? Ha.

Guys, I really enjoyed this book, and it's only been a couple weeks since I finished it, but now I can't think of anything very profound to say! LOL! It's one of those books. Fun to read, but then you quickly forget about it.

Book Review: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Book: Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Genre: YA Dystopian
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I've been wanting to read this one forever, and so for Christmas I ended up getting the whole trilogy. So hopefully by the time I meet Neal Shusterman in April, I will have them all read and can understand everything he has to say about them. And maybe I can even ask him all my questions. Ha.

Anyway. This one is CRAZY! It takes place in a not so distant future, where everything bad about the world has been eliminated. Even death. All people are immortal. However, even this ends up causing a  problem, which is... over population. It is realized that people still need to die. And so certain people who are called Scythes, are appointed (after a rigorous testing period) to be the ones who decide who dies and who lives.

And basically, they become gods, and are treated as such by the people of the world.

This is the story of two kids who are chosen to apprentices to become Scythes. They are not happy about it, but as things go along, they realize that they do actually want this job, as depressing and sad as it is.

As we go along, the story addresses the question of what happens if corrupt people end up as Scythes? What then? And Scythes really have to answer to no one. What then?

It's a scary thought.

Our two kids are brilliant and it's fun to see them grow and change. Their story is truly just starting when this book ends, so I'm excited to continue reading and see what happens next!

Have you read this book yet? What are your thoughts? Did you find it disturbing and fascinating both at the same time?

Top Ten Kdramas of 2019

Oh my word, the fourth year of kdrama obsession and IT IS NOT GETTING OLD YET! I love these shows so much. They fulfill something that I can't get anywhere else. I love it so much. The only way for you to understand is it just watch one, once and for all! Some of you have, and you get it, right? But it's so hard to articulate!

Anyway, here's my kdrama year end wrap up for 2019.

Dramas watched: 21

Five Hearts: 7
Four Hearts: 10
Three Hearts: 4

Aired this year: 15
Aired before this year: 6

New-to-me favorite actors:

Hyun Bin
Kang Tae Oh
Kang Ha Neul
Yeo Jin Goo (he wins with three of his dramas on my list this year!)
Kim Jae Wook
Park Jin Young
Yoo Ah In


And my top ten dramas for 2019 in no particular order (and with links to my review and a little blurb from that review):

Encounter: It's a simple story, which in kdramas is quite rare, about a guy and girl falling in love. Yes. That's pretty much it. The girl has a family that is giving her grief, so the whole conflict is.... is she strong enough to stand up to them and finally, once and for all, be happy? Oh, and there's the little conflict that she is much older than him. We call that a noona romance and it's awesome.

He Is Psychometric: And then we found out more backstory of the dude who saved him from the fire and his now his guardian and basically big brother. And that backstory is heart wrenching! And his character is the one in the drama where you just want to sob and sob and sob, and hug him like crazy. AH!! Always so much emotional trauma!



Her Private Life: And THEN, they suddenly realize they are actually extremely attracted to each other......And it's a fabulous love story from there and I loved it! It's just so much fun! And these characters are the best. Loved loved loved.

The Crowned Clown: This one is about a really awful terrible young king (mostly he is terrible because of lots of things gone wrong in his life and he has resorted to drugs to numb all his feels) who really has no grip on reality. He thinks everyone is out to get him (and in fact there have been several assassination attempts) and so when his helper dude (secretary? I can't remember what his official title is, but he becomes a favorite very well loved character) finds a dude in the city, a jester/clown in fact, that looks JUST LIKE HIM, he drags that kid to the palace and they force him to dress up like the king and become the king, while the true king hides and waits for the danger to pass.  Well, yes, of course Jin Goo is playing both parts and the way he can go from this ruthless scary king to this fun lovable clown is amazing.

Hotel del Luna: It has a bit a of a Beauty and the Beast vibe because there is a tree that represents her soul, and when this new manager shows up, the tree is suddenly blossoming. And the idea is that when it blossoms and then the leaves fall again, she will be ready to move on... finally. There is much lovely bantering between these two. They seem ill-matched of course, but the dude, a very soft hearted and calm and sweet kid, manages to soften her extreme harshness. It's awesome. The fun ghost stories (of guests at the hotel), the past stories of our main characters, the beautiful special effects, the amazing acting and the amazing music all make this one of the best dramas of the year. Such a fun one to watch.

Moment of 18: Anyway. We learn about the struggles and the crazy home life (crazy parents) for several of these students, including the bullies. And so then we can sympathize with them all. We root for the romances... all of them. And hope each kid figures out how to succeed. The best part of this drama was the amazing teacher character! What a champion for the kids he is! Brought me to tears several times. He is the best! So much fun, and if only all kids could have a teacher like him, yeah? He made the show.

Tale of Nokdu: He is adorable. And our girl is adorable. And even our villain is adorable. I freaking fell in love with the villain, dang it.  It's a beautiful drama with beautiful people, and beautiful scenery and beautiful music and a story, while maybe not so beautiful, is in the end... beautiful. I loved it.







Absolute Boyfriend: Well, of course our robot is SO FREAKING ADORABLE, that our girl is very quickly smitten. And meanwhile her own love life is going down the drain and so she rebounds to Mr. Robot. There are some very funny moments, and yes of course, Jin Goo is amazing in this role and so so cute. The storyline does have some sad moments too, as always, especially when it starts to be come apparent that there will not be a happy ending.

Chicago Typewriter: But yeah. I loved it. I love the time jumps, I loved the intensity of the stuff in the 30s. Our characters are freedom fighters, fighting to win back independence. And it's really quite painful to see what they went through. I loved the character development and how our main dude went from a very self centered dude, to extremely compassionate and loving. I loved the book love that is shown (again, with the book love! I do seem to be getting a lot of that lately!) and the painfulness of the writing process. That was great!

My ID is Gangnam Beauty: But I am happy to report that I loved his acting and thought he was totally adorable. He plays a character that who has cut himself off emotionally from everyone, and thus the stiffness. In other words, he nails this gig! And then, when he starts to loosen up... you feel it. Those last few episodes when he starts letting his smiles out are absolutely lovely. I laughed out loud a lot at this one. Some of the silly situations they get themselves in and the awkwardness they deal with is the best.

Honorable Mention: Memories of the Alhambra : But basically, we have this crazy game, the romance developing, mysteries to solve, magic, epic musical score, sweeping beautiful magical cinematography, amazing acting, scary villains, sword fights, history and present day all mixed up together, suspense edge of your seat-ness.... all in the backdrop of Granada Spain.





Part of the allure of kdramas is the amazing music that is used in each one of them. Every single one has an entire movie score to with it. Here I have compiled ten of my favorite songs from the kdramas this year.

Kdramas are coming fast and furiously to Netflix. It's time you check them out!

Kdrama Review: Memories of the Alhambra

Drama: Memories of the Alhambra
Genre: Romantic Thriller Fantasy
Starring: Hyun Bin, Park Shin Hye
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This is a drama from last year or the year before I think, and everyone was talking about it, but I heard mixed reviews, so I was a little scared to go for it. But we decided to watch it as a family for our holiday "binge" watch (one episode a night for the full two weeks) and let me just say, it's not good to listen to "what everyone is saying" all the time. Because this drama was amazing, and even if most didn't like the final 10 seconds of the drama perhaps, it shouldn't make or break the rest of the show.

Know what I mean?

That's all to say, I'm really glad I finally watched it.

It's about this sort of obnoxious rich CEO dude who runs a company that makes contact lenses that when you put them in your eyes, you are put right into a virtual reality game.... a game that you play out on the street that feels so REAL you can't hardly even believe it.

He goes to Granada Spain to track down the kid who created this game, who calls him frantically in the middle of the night about something terrible that's happening. Our CEO dude goes, and plans to make a deal with the kid to buy the game, but he cannot find this kid. The kid mysteriously has disappeared.

Instead, he finds the family of this kid, (particularly his sister) and in investigating the game (in order to buy it) he ends up getting all wrapped up in it himself, and he ends up fighting (through the game) his former friend, now turned rival.

The game gets really messed up from here, and pretty much takes over the CEOs life and pretty much tries to kill him, over and over and over again.

And of course our girl gets involved, and things will never be the same for her again either.

Wow, it's WAY too complicated to sum up nicely!

But basically, we have this crazy game, the romance developing, mysteries to solve, magic, epic musical score, sweeping beautiful magical cinematography, amazing acting, scary villains, sword fights, history and present day all mixed up together, suspense edge of your seat-ness.... all in the backdrop of Granada Spain. Some parts they move back to Korea, but much of this is filmed in Granada, which is very unusual.

I really enjoyed it a lot!

It's on Netflix. Here's the trailer:

 


 And the song with more clips:

 

Favorite Books of the Decade 2010-2019

So I thought it would be fun to look back over my favorites lists from the past ten years and pick out my most absolute favorites from those lists and create an all time favorite list from this past decade. Impossible? Probably, but I didn't really stress and just went with my gut feeling when I looked at lists and here's what I've come up with!

(These are not in any particular order, because that WOULD be impossible!)

Adult Books
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

YA Books
The Queen of Atolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Winter by Marissa Meyer
Deacon Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher
Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia



Well? Do we share any favorites? What would be on your decade favorites list?

Songs That Defined My Decade 2010-2019

While we are talking about favorite songs, I decided it would be fun to look back and figure out what songs defined my decade... 2010 to 2019. And so, I made a video. Because what is a list of music without the audio to go with, you know?

Some artists I loved these past ten years that are featured on this video include:

• Muse
• Adele
• OneRepublic
• Maroon 5
• Josh Groban
• Silversun Pickups
• MIKA
• Kendji Girac
• Adam Lambert
• ....just to name a few.

I have compiled the video by year (year I was into it, not necessarily year the song came out), so you can see the changes in the phases of music I was loving over the years. 

Anyway, check it out to see if it brings back song memories for you too!

Favorite Songs from 2019

Curious to know what songs I loved this year? I made a video! Here it is!





Yes, it's all kpop, but there's some ENGLISH kpop... if that's a thing. Which actually, it has been a thing this year, and will grow to be a bigger thing in the years to come . Many kpop artists are doing English songs. And while it sort of bugs me, it sort of is cool too, because dang, they can make songs in English just as good as they do in Korean. Imagine that!

Anyway, kpop fan or not, there are some really awesome songs on my top 30 list! :)

December 2019 Reading Recap

December  Book Club!!

I finished the year off with three more books read in December:


Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen: When two kids get together accidentally on a train ride and the train breaks down... adventure ensues.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: A beautiful story based on a Russian folktale.

The Undoing of Thistle Tate by Katelyn Detweiler: What does Thistle do when her secret that she is NOT really the author of the famous Marigold books get leaked?


Favorites: Eh, they were all enjoyable. The Bear and the Train Wreck each got 4 stars, so I guess they tie for favorites of the month!

Goals for January:

• Get going on the Scythe Neal Shusterman series in preparation for his appearance in April in which I get to sit by him and open his books for signing... LOL! At least, that's the plan last I heard. We'll see if it happens.
• Finish off reading for the Beehive long list! I have one more on my kindle as of this writing. But I think the deadline is looming...
• Re-read The Name of the Wind for book club... but this ain't happening sadly. I will just have to go look at blog posts to remember how much I loved this book.
• Read Evan Hansen before the musical happens in a month or so.

Stay tuned for year end lists. I still plan on doing them! This first part of January has been INSANE, so... blogging has not happened. But. I'm here.

Book Review: The Undoing of Thistle Tate by Katelyn Detweiler

Book: The Undoing of Thistle Tate by Katelyn Detweiler
Genre: YA
Rating: ★ ★ ★

This one started out promising. The premise is that our girl, ThistleTate, is posing as the author of her dad's books. In other words, her dad is a struggling author, but when they both of them came up with this book idea, he decided to submit them under her name, and bam. I was accepted and became a huge huge hit.

So now Thistle is famous for the books her dad actually wrote and has to deal with that.

Interesting yeah?

And just as the book starts, she moves from friend zone to more than friend zone with her very very best boy next door dude... and I was liking that... but then...

...a new dude appears on the scene. One who is a huge fan of her books. And has no idea about the big secret. The dude next door of course has known all along. And he gets very very jealous of this new dude.

Anyway. It was okay, this book. But it sort of fell flat for me mostly because I just didn't connect as I should have to these characters. I think I was rooting for the first guy and she did him wrong. And made me kinda mad. 

And I just didn't really care about what all went down in the end. So... yeah. Sadness. But. I mean. It wasn't bad, just you know. Okay.

Book Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Book: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★


This is a beautiful fairy tale fantasy based on Russian folklore and stories. Beautifully told with beautiful imagery. I really enjoyed it and became very immersed in it all.

To summarize, it's about a girl who is born to a noble family who lives far from the city up in the cold harsh northern forest. Her mom has magic, and when she is born, her mom knows this daughter will carry on that magic. But the mom doesn't live through the birth.

So then we watch this girl get older and deal with all the things that are different about her and have all the town people look at her like she is a witch.

The mythical but not so mythical being, the winter king, finds her and claims her for his own. He is a fascinating mysterious person and therein lies my only frustration with this book. I wanted SO  MUCH MORE with him. And it was just getting good with that when it ended! I wanted a sort of Beauty and the Beast type of thing going on and it just didn't quite get there... but it HINTED so many times. So I was left feeling a little ... wanting.

Maybe there will be more of him in the next books? But I think someone said no... so I can't decide now if I should keep reading them, or not.

Suggestions?

Anyway. If you love darkish creepyish fairy tales, this one is for you!

Kdrama Review: My First First Love

Drama: My First First Love
Genre: Romantic comedy
Starring: Ji Soo, Jung Chae Yeon, Jung Jin Young, Kang Tae Oh
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

I watched this one, not only because everyone said it was fun, but because it had Kang Tae Oh in it who I had just fallen for (as the villain) in Tale of Nokdu. I wanted to see him in another role. And wow, but this one could not have been so different from the Nokdu one! Wow! Was this the same guy even????

Anyway, it also had two other favorites, Ji Soo and Jinyoung who I've loved from other things. So it was fun all the way around with regard to the cast.

It's about a rich kid who moves away from his family into an empty house they just so happen to have, and when a bunch of his friends get down on their luck, they all end up living at his house. Including the girl who has been his best friend for 20 years. The girl who is JUST HIS FRIEND. The girl who he is not at ALL attracted to or anything....

And he, our guy, is so excited because he is just getting into a relationship with a girl he thinks is the best, and he doesn't want to mess it up. And another of his friends (not on that ended up living with him, but still, he comes around a lot) is suddenly into the the best friend girl. And that suddenly bugs him, he does not know why.

Cute JiSoo with his best friend.

And so it begins... all the relationship craziness... and this kids all trying to make their own way, and solve their problems and deal with their crazy parents, and figure out who it is they REALLY love.

It's great. JiSoo is so different from the other roles I've seen him in... which have been quite serious. This one he was very fun and flirty and cute and silly and goofy and perfect. It was to seen Jinyoung in a different sort of role too. But he was as sweet and shy and cute as expected. Tae Oh was CRAZY silly in this one and totally different from his emo scary ruthless dude in Tale of Nokdu. Gah. He's so much fun. WHAT ELSE CAN I WATCH WITH HIM???

Kang Tae Oh... so adorable in this.

Anyway, it was great for a fun college kid romantic comedy. So much fun.

The trailer from Netflix:



And the love song with cute clips:

Book Review: Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen

Book: Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen

Genre:YA romance
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Ok yeah, I kinda loved this one. Two kids end up sitting by each other on a train. One is headed to see her dad get remarried and she feels like she is betraying her mom. She's pretty upset by the whole thing and is in a lousy mood. Mostly because she kinda wants this new family. Because it feels like a family and etc..

Our boy is headed home to try and win his ex girlfriend back. And he's absolutely adorable about it. Dang I liked him from the get go. 

And so they start talking, and it's going okay. They bond over books and such. But they kinda also drive each other crazy. 

And then the train gets stalled. And they decide to get off and try to walk to the town that's close, they think, and hop on a bus and continue on with their plans. Our boy convinces our girl he is not a serial killer and she decides what the heck and off they go.

Well, and so. Let the adventures begin. 

And then of course, before you know it, they are suddenly more than strangers that have just met on the train.

Yeah. I kinda loved it.

Kdrama Review: Tale of Nokdu

Drama: Tale of Nokdu

Genre: Historical romance
Starring: Jang Dong Yoon, Kim So Hyun, Kang Tae Oh
Rating:  ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


A fabulous historical drama about a kid who is trying to take revenge for a group of assassins that came and attacked his family's peaceful island village. He learns they are all women, living in a compound only for women (for widows). When he tries to go in, he is run out. Only women allowed. So he ends up dressing up like a widowed young woman, and infiltrates their compound.

And ends up working with them, bonding with them, and falling in love with one of them.

And he also ends up finding out who he REALLY is and then things get very very complicated.

He is adorable. And our girl is adorable. And even our villain is adorable. I freaking fell in love with the villain, dang it.

Our girl learns fairly quickly that he's a guy, and so she manages to keep his secret by posing as a mother daughter team, and also it helps to allow them to fall in love without stress... well. With stress, but you know. Less stress.

It's a beautiful drama with beautiful people, and beautiful scenery and beautiful music and a story, while maybe not so beautiful, is in the end... beautiful.

I loved it.

He makes quite the cute girl, our Jang Dong Yoon. But I preferred him as a guy for sure. :)

But this sympathetic yet ruthless villain really messed with me. Way to go Kang Tae Oh!

Some funny trailer clips:

 


And some more dramatic moments of the drama with the song that I absolutely loved from the soundtrack. So so good.