A book I read for my own October reading, from my shelves, since I'm attempting to only read things from my own shelves. And wow, this was very different from what I expected! But I quite enjoyed it anyway!
It's about a girl who is raised in a shady environment in Victorian England. This place appears to be a locksmith shop, but is really employing people to steal things for them, that they pawn or otherwise sale. The lady in this house is into infant farming. Which quite curdled my blood. But yeah. And one of these babies is our girl. But the lady ends up keeping this girl to raise as her own daughter.
One day a dude that also has ties to this house comes in with a plot to scam the lady of a house he's been working at. He thinks they can get our girl to pretend to be her maid, and then they will convince the rich girl to marry him at which point they will put her in a madhouse and run off with all her money. Our girl is convinced to do it and off they go to carry forth with their plans.
But if of course things do NOT go as planned. And then the twists and turns start coming! And they just keep coming after that!
There are some disturbing scenes at the madhouse, and other... interesting.... scenes I was not expecting. But I did very much get wrapped up in the story, even if I didn't fall much for these characters. Despite being a long book, I was quite engaged and reading it at every chance I got.
I must say that this should have been a book on my reading list for Pride Month instead of Spooky Month though...
Anyway, wow. I can't say a whole lot more about it for fear of spoiling everything, so if it sounds intriguing, just go for it!
I figured since I did a quick mini-review wrap up of the books I read through the end of 2021, I'd do the same for the kdramas. Let's get caught up and start "fresh" in 2022! (Already behind, but whatever...)
Hometown Cha Cha Cha ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Likely my favorite drama of the year. So cute and fun and sweet. Starring the adorable Kim Seonho whose character in this one is practically perfect. He plays a dude who is beloved in this small seaside village. When our girl comes from the big city to set up a dentist office, she ruffles the feathers of many and he helps smooth things over. He is intrigued by her, but seems be holding back. This a great small town feel good drama. It reminds me a lot of Gilmore Girls... the town feel anyway... and the fun banter. Click here for the trailer. (This one is on Netflix.)
Squid Game ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Of course we had to get on the bandwagon and see what everyone was talking about. Strange that the "regular" world was freaking out over a KDRAMA! Is this real life??? But I am sad this is the one that caught the world's attention. It's a rough one my friends. VERY rough. But very intriguing and so much to discuss and think about. The ending had me angry, because of course, they left it hanging and there will be a season two. (Not the norm for kdramas.)
It's about a group of people who are so desperate in their real lives for money that they agree to play a set of kid games to win millions of dollars (aka. billions of won.) It's a battle to the death and it's very ruthless and gut wrenching.
The only actor people I knew in this from before was the cop dude (love him!) and the lady who plays the main character's mom (she's in EVERYTHING, no joke) and of course Gong Yoo, the one that plays the slapping game in the beginning to entice our guy to play the games. He might be the most famous Korean actor out there at the moment. But it's been fun to see these other actors get noticed from this show. The old guy just won a big time award.
Curious if any of you non-kdrama people watched this one. Let me know what you thought!
Lots of people were talking about this one and I was curious. Plus I felt drawn by the actor Kang Song. But this is NOT a feel good drama! So much manipulation and miscommunication and just... shallowness of all characters. Kang Song's character seems sweet up front but is really just a player and he made me crazy. Our girl doesn't seem to have a clue and just is... stupid. LOL. It was like watching a train wreck, this one. And there's a sweet sweet second lead who is so perfect, but OF COURSE the second lead NEVER GETS THE GIRL! Here's the trailer and it is also on Netflix.
Lovers of the Red Sky ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Oh my word, what a beautiful drama this one was! It's a historical fantasy where our dude has been cursed and sometimes turns into the terrible god of death. He is blind (both the dude and the god) and wants his eyes back (from our girl.) When he is not possessed by the monster, he is a lovely sweet, quiet shy astronomer working at the palace. And our girl has come to live there as the resident artist. When they meet up again, they realize they are childhood sweethearts. But he is confused because back then it was HER that was blind, and not him.
And thus begins a beautiful love story, with the backdrop of this curse and the fact that she is the solution to breaking it, even if it will be her death to do so.
So good guys. SO GOOD! Beautiful all the way around. Music. Story. Acting. Cinematography. Everything. Here's a trailer for this one. It's on Viki.
Dali and Cocky Prince ❤ ❤ ❤
I watched this one simply to see Kim Minjae in a fun romcom. The last one he was in his character was so sober and aloof. But this one... totally the opposite and I LOVE LOVED LOVED seeing him in this kind of role. So funny. He's a lowborn dude who has made his way in the world by sheer grit, while she has inherited it all through her families art gallery. When the art gallery goes bankrupt, she ends up owing him money. And he is very snotty (cocky, yes?) about it, but then, he realizes there is much more to her and to the story than he ever imagined. And here's the trailer for this one. It's on Viki.
Wild Idol ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
While not considered a kdrama, I'm listing it here anyway because I watched it on my kdrama streaming thing and because it was on Korean TV so... it works for me.
This was an idol reality survival show where 45 guys competed to be in a kpop band. They quickly narrowed it down to 16 guys and then we proceeded to fall in love with all them as we watched them compete in several missions. Some physical, some musical, some visual... all while "out in the wild." They were all amazing and so talented. The final episode was live on a stage and it was awesome to see how well they all cleaned up. They were narrowed down to 7 guys who now make up a band called T.A.N who will be debuting soon. So excited for them. Most of them had been in other groups that were struggling, and so they are desperate for their big break. Seriously though, if you love music competition shows, try this one for something really fun and different. I can't find a trailer, but here's the music video all 45 did before they started to be eliminated. This one is on Viki.
Happiness ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
My draw to this one was again, the actor, Park Hyungsik, who has just come back from his military service. Love him in everything he's done so far, so I figured this one would be no exception. He plays a cop who ends up in a marriage of convenience with his long time friend... they had to get married in order to qualify for the housing she wanted so bad. In the meantime, a virus has broken out and this virus causes people to go crazy and bite other people. Yes... zombies. Once they get settled in their new apartment... the virus breaks out there and they are put on a lockdown. So the story is basically them dealing with this and dealing with the crazy people who live in the building. It's fantastic. Not a lot of romance in this one, though they do have moments...but it's more a character driven, people study. With a side of zombies. Really good. Here's the trailer. It's on Viki.
Lots of great shows this past year! My addiction continues! Can't wait to see what this next year brings! I am so behind and trying catch up on them all, plus keep up with the new ones. It's pretty impossible, but fun to try!
While we are on the subject of kdramas, maybe you'd be interested in the compilation I did of all my favorite OSTs (songs from kdramas) from the year. You might recognize some of these ones being featured! (But some of the ones featured I haven't even seen yet!! AH!)
I was in a bit of a drama slump, so decided I need some Seo In Guk in my life again, and this was the last drama of his I hadn't yet seen, so the choice was obvious. It' called both Hello Monster, and I Remember You. And it's a bit of a heart wrenching thing.
Our main dude comes back to Korea because of an email hinting at something he's been trying to find for years... namely, his brother. When they were kids, we learn that their dad was murdered by a very bad serial murderer dude who's path they had all crossed. (This bad dude played BRILLIANTLY by D.O. from EXO... the younger version anyway.) And the brother, who was like only 8 or something, disappeared that night.
Now it's years later, and suddenly our guy is getting the vibe that maybe his brother is still out there somewhere. And yeah. Of course he is. Meanwhile, he ends up helping a fabulous team of cops who investigate murders, and falls for the girl on that team. Only, he is very aloof about it of course. (Ah, I wanted more swoony SIG romance moments, but this drama is not about that I guess...)
Instead, it's about this brother relationship, and once everything gets figured out.. .it's as I said, heart wrenching! This song from the drama and these clips will demonstrate well what I mean:
The brother is played by Park Bo Gum, who is another very famous and top notch actor in the kdrama world. And it was fun to see him in this role, something quite a bit different from what I've seen him do previously. Man, he is good!
Anyway, and all the side characters are fantastic so yeah. It's a good one! I just wanted more romance of course. But it has everything else for sure.
Genre: crime suspense Starring: Park Jinyoung, Kim Kwon, Shin Ye Eun Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
People were raving about this one, so I watched it. The first episode I thought, eh... another crime one? I get tired of the crime ones sometimes, but I continued and loved it of course.
It was fun to get to know Jinyoung as an actor. He's from a very popular kpop group called Got7 and he never really stood out to me in that group, I was always paying attention to other members. But that is no more. Let's just say he stands out now! :)
He plays a dude who can touch people and see their memories... or touch objects and see what's happened to that thing. So the people in his life are hoping he can sharpen those skills and help them in their jobs. They are cops and prosecutors and etc, so he could come in handy.
Meanwhile, he meets a girl... and soon figures out their pasts are connected. (As always!!) And every episode we got more of what happened with them. It's a fire where he loses both of his parents... and it remains an unsolved case to the present day... but during the drama other cases crop up that seems to be connected to the fire event, and so the case is reopened.
Jinyoung is adorable with the dog in this one!
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!
Kim Kwon who's character is in need of lots of hugs whether he knows it or not.
So yeah. Another great one. Jinyoung was amazing. Did I say that already? And hopefully he can do more soon. Geez these triple threat guys... they are everywhere! How can some people be born with so much talent. It's so not fair.
The romance is cute for a bit, but then takes a back seat to the mystery story.
Here's a trailer:
And the song sung by two of Jinyoung's Got7 band members:
Drama: Come and Hug Me Genre: Crime drama Starring: Jang Ki Yong, Jin Ki Joo, Heo Joon Ho, Nam Da Reum Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
This is a hard one to rate for me. It was very hard to watch, and yet I really enjoyed the actors and they did an amazing job and it ended uplifting enough for me to feel satisfied so... yeah. But, man it was hard!
This one is about a serial killer and how it pretty much ruins the lives of not only his victims' survivors, but everyone in his family. It's painful.
We get to know main couple when they are kids. The girl's family moves in and the two of them are drawn to each other instantly. But we find out that the boy's dad is pretty evil, and in fact, is murdering people and guess who his next victims end up being... the girl's parents. So over the course of the drama, we get flashbacks to the night this happened and how involved these two were, and how traumatic it was for them.
Our boy, now grown up and a top notch police officer, is dealing with feelings of... does he inherit these tendencies? Does he have evil inside of him? Well, we as viewers know that he is the sweetest thing ever, but he has to have a couple of tests in order to prove to himself that he is indeed safe from the same fate.
The kids... and this boy is in EVERYTHING! I can't wait for him to be his own main lead star soon!
He is amazing. They were both awesome in this drama.
It's such a painful internal struggle, and this actor, who I haven't seen in anything else yet.... was amazing and perfect.
The dad was extremely creepy and awful, as is the reporter who is determined to gain somehow by this awful story, which is what sets things in motion again these many years later, when she is publishing a book she helped this dude to write. It gets our couple together again, which is awesome, but people are expecting to gain from their doomed love story too, which is not awesome.
The other struggling brother.
The other interesting part of this story is the other brother, who does seem to have inherited the killing instincts, and we tend to hate him from the get go... that is, until he goes through his own internal struggle to decide if he actually does have evil or not. It's very satisfying to watch his transformation. And another stellar acting performance.
But guys, it was a little too violent and sad for me and I just wanted it over! So much tears and crying and so much violence and killing and.... I will never look at hammer the same way again! But, as i said on Twitter, I have now learned a new Korean word... 망치 mangchi. Hammer!!!
The end had me in literal sobbing tears as the whole "come and hug me" phrase took on a whole new meaning. But it was good. And I'm so happy that it had an ending that I could deal with after all that stress of hammers!
A tiny short trailer, but the hammer is featured!!
Drama: The Smile Has Left Your Eyes Genre: romance suspense/crime Starring: Seo In Guk, Jung So Min, Park Sung Woong Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Well, and so everyone was talking about this drama. And I tried to wait until it was done airing, but couldn't, so I started it when it still had about 4 episodes (two weeks) to go. I had just come off the high of seeing Seo In Guk in Shopping King Louis and was ready to jump right into another one of his dramas.
And boy was it very much character whiplash. In Louis he was cute and naive and childlike and sweet and innocent and so so very smiley. In this one the character is angsty, sad, a little mean, angry, hurting, and... the smiles are rare. The smirks, however are not. Oh, man, the smirks.
So this one starts out with a murder that our cop dude is trying to solve. Also, at the same time, there's an art show with a girl who happened to be friends with the murdered girl. At the art show, the paths of the art girl and our main lead girl and our main lead guy all cross paths. Our guy is working the bar at the show. He instantly hooks up with the art girl. (which is strange for the main lead to be loving on someone right off the bat that is NOT the main lead girl!) And our girl has a not so great first impression of our guy.
Oh, and our girl is the brother of the cop guy. And the cop guy starts to suspect our guy, after awhile and a few strange things, of the murder. We are getting vibes that our guy is not the best guy in the world. What a playboy first of all. And he is really, oh man... almost creepy.
But then of course, as our girl starts to get to know him through random encounters, she is extremely intrigued, even though he makes her crazy. And thus, we the audience also start to see him in a new light.
And, as always, we are getting the back stories of everyone and we know that something very strange and sad has happened, that probably ties all these characters together.
Anyway, once these two decide that they do in fact love each other, then the romance is absolutely perfect. So much kissing and hugging and all. And he is suddenly smiling a lot and believe me, when this actor smiles... IT'S OVER! AH!!!
But of course, we knew that stuff is going to go down to ruin it all.
And now I will get to the spoilery part so read no further if you happen to think that you might want to watch this one... if you know you won't and don't care... well then... carry on:
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!
So as I said I finished the last few episodes as they were aired and so experienced the trauma that is this drama with everyone else watching it. That was kinda fun! LOL! But a lot of people who did get spoiled are saying they refuse to watch it now because guys, THIS IS NOT A HAPPY ENDING. This is a very very tragic ending. A shocking WTH ending. A disturbing and terrible ending.
But that ending lasts for ONE MINUTE... the very last minute of the entire drama. If you want to watch the drama without that ending... just hurry and quickly turn it off as soon as he says... "No, I want to live." AHHHH!!!
Because the whole rest of the drama is SO WORTH IT! Believe me. Everything about it is fascinating. The characters, the music, the angst, the romance, the crime solving, the back story. Everything.
Sigh.
It's frustrating.
SPOILERS OVER!!!!
But can I just say this has thrown me into a full on Seo In Guk obsession. Like, I can't believe I waited this long to watch his stuff. He's so intriguing. Like, I have no words to describe this actor. He is just really cool.
Seo In Guk smiling
And I think I'm about to start another drama that stars him... so... here we go!
Oh, P.S Hongbin from VIXX is in this one, but it was so fast and small you barely even notice it! But still, it was fun seeing him act. I need to watch the other dramas he's in.
Also I loved the soundtrack for this one. Like not the OSTs (songs) but the instrumental soundtrack. So haunting. (It's on Spotify, yes!)
Here's a tiny little trailer:
And the lovely song with some kissy huggy clips. :)
Well, and so. I loved this one. A lot. A lot a lot.
And because I just made this compilation today, you get that too. Here is five songs by Seo In Guk, because he started as a singer... and still does sing, but now is more known for his acting I think because. Dang. But his singing too... dang. Just... dang all around.
Drama: Lawless Lawyer Genre: courtroom drama and suspense Starring: Lee Joon Gi, Seo Ye Ji, Lee Hye Young Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤
So I watched this one purely for the leading guy. (He is mostly known for starring in Scarlet Heart.) The subject and story ended up not that interesting to me. It's ALL about revenge. The bad guys (which happens to be the judge and the mayor of this little town) killed the lawyer's mom back when he was just 10 years old. And he is raging mad still, as one would be. And he is out to get them... using the law. Even though he'd rather just beat them to death, literally. Because he could actually do that.
And our leading girl's back story is all mixed up in his back story also. She is also a lawyer but gets suspended for slugging the judge (or the prosecutor?) and yeah. So she ends up partnering with our guy and together, along with their quirky crazy team of thug helpers, work to take down the powers that lead this town.
It's really quite awesome. But as I said, I sort of got bored with the actual story after awhile, but it was too late and I was invested enough to see it through. I also had issues with the villains. They were just SO BAD that I couldn't stand it when they were on screen and they had A LOT of screen time. I really enjoy the dramas where I feel more sympathetic to the villains you know? And when I'm all wrapped up in their stories as much as the main characters. It makes things a lot more interesting. These guys were just awful.
Our lawyer and his smirk with a couple of his thug helpers
But our dude.. just watching him swagger throughout this story is so much fun. He definitely has a something about him. He's just.. so... COOL! There is a lot of violence and fighting, which is sometimes like "YES GET IT BOYS!" and sometimes too violent and I had to hide my eyes.
The bad judge lady
There was romance for about 2 minutes, and then that was over and forgotten about. So if you are in the mood for pretty much no romance and a lot of fighting and a strong no nonsense female lead and some courtroom antics, you'll enjoy this one I bet.
This book was our October/Halloween-y book for book club this month. We'll be discussing it tonight and it should be interesting since I'm getting vibes that there is a variety of opinion. As for me, I thought it was awesome and suspenseful and thought provoking.
It's about a dude who is happy in his life, and yet, he wonders, in the back of his mind what would have happened had he chosen a different path. The other road, if you will. Well, and so he gets to find out and it's not a good thing.
He gets abducted one night and when he wakes up, he realizes he's in a different world, a different reality. And in fact, it's the reality of the very thing he's been wondering...what would things be like if he had chosen differently.
And now all he wants to do is to get back to his family, and his world.
It's not easy.
I thought it was a great page turning and twisty story. And it made you really think about all the different decisions you make in life and how things would be if you chose other things. And how we should love and appreciate the life we're in at the moment. Because what if you woke up one and it was all gone. It's like everyone's classic worse nightmare.
I thought it was great. It's been awhile since a book held my attention like this one. I'd been looking forward to reading for quite some time. I'm glad it lived up to the anticipation.
Drama: Suspicious Partner (Love in Trouble) Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Romantic Comedy Starring: Ji Chang Wook,Nam Ji hyun, Choi Tae joon, Kwon Nara Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
This is the last drama our favorite Chang Wook will be in before he leaves to do his military service. In fact, I think he'll be leaving in a just a few days/weeks from now. Sadness.
And, he was amazing and fun and awesome in this one just like in all the others! He plays an prosecuting attorney who is struggling to prove himself. One day he happens to meet a crazy girl who he helps out in a strange situation and plans to never see again, but then she suddenly ends up being accused of murder and he happens to be prosecuting her.
His attorney look!
Well. And so, I can't really tell you what happens from there, but their paths continue to cross again and again. She is pretty smitten with him (because of course who wouldn't be) but he thinks she is just plain annoying.
But, murders continue to happen and they decide that together, they are going to solve all these cases. And she ends up working for him because he starts his own practice (she's a defense attorney of course!) and then when she loses her place of abode, he lets her live at his place.
Yeah. Then things start to get a little tense!
More of the boyfriend look now.
Oh, and she defends a dude who is so freaking creepy! And it turns out he suddenly becomes important in all those cases they are investigating. And then... things really get interesting.
Dong Ha plays the creepy (but awesome) villain.
Such a fun show... all the way around. For the romantic chemistry and banter. For the most awesome creepy villain who blew me away with his acting and caused a ton of suspense. For the sad back stories. For the fun quirky side characters. For the tragic side stories. All of it.
Most of all though, it's the best because of Ji Chang Wook, who I've raved on and on about before. But yeah. He knows his stuff. And he knows how to be a leading romantic dude like no other. He's just, pretty perfect.
This one appears light on the face of it, but like most dramas, the deep stuff gets pretty deep and the suspense and edge of your seat-ness of the story comes up and gets you from no where. I love it.
Book: The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer Genre: Suspense/Thriller Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆☆
It's been so long I can't even remember my normal method for doing book reviews! But let me just say, I finished a book LAST NIGHT and I'm already here to review it! I'm so excited!
So when I saw that my two Jenny/Jenni friends were going to read this book together as a sort of small impromptu read along, I jumped on board because that extra little "let's read this together" motivation I knew would help me.
And it really did.... and it was nice to complain about the stuff bothering me as I went!
So what was bothering me you might wonder. Well, wow. The beginning was rough because all it is, is this girl being OVER THE TOP paranoid about everyone trying to kill her. And much too much detailed description about the methods and means she is using to stay alive. I had to skim the detail. I mean building up that suspense is good, but I don't need to know every instrument and every kind of chemical she has stashed and every wire in her house and how it's placed, and etc etc etc.
Finally, around almost page 100 things started happening and we get to the story. I'm still not exactly sure why she fears for her life, but anyway, she, "the chemist", uses drugs to torture people. And she ends up getting a job that she hopes will end this whole running for her life gig. She is wary, but she is hopeful.
So she gets this new guy she needs to get info from (she's been told he plans to wipe out lots of people with his own biological warfare stint) and proceeds to torture him. This is where I was like, please. Are you kidding me? I don't want to read this!
But thankfully it didn't last long because, then she falls in love with him. BAM. Just like that! And then stuff happens then suddenly she not only has to save herself, but him also. And things get pretty crazy and intense from there.
Well, so that romance. I was totally expecting some good romance being as it was Stephenie Meyer and all. But yeah, for me, it was... not... um... shall we say... REAL enough... intense enough? I just wasn't feeling the sparks and the build up and the anticipation and I don't know how to describe it. It just seemed to happen too fast and too sudden. And while I'm okay with instalove/attraction I still like a little build up and anticipation. I didn't feel any of that.
But they grew on me and by the end I believed them, that they really were into each other.
The end was quite intense and breath holding. There were some details again that made my mind glaze over, but it wasn't too long and drawn out this time. So, yeah. It was good!
Bottom Line: After a bit of a slow start and despite the disappointing romance, I actually quite enjoyed this story and found myself engaged and turning pages just like the old days! And thanks to Jenni for gathering us together to read it!
Should we make bets on how long it will be before I review another book? Here's hoping not two months...
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