Book Review: Switching Gears by Chantele Sedgwick

Book: Switching Gears by Chantele Sedgwick

Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I bought this at the writing conference I went to a few weeks ago, especially since it was written by the author in charge of the conference and someone I connected with years ago through blogging. Also, this is a companion book to her book I read awhile back called Love, Lucas. That one was about the sister of boy who died from cancer. This one was about the girlfriend of the same boy.

Well, they never actually were officially boyfriend/girlfriend, but she lived next door to him for years and loved him forever. They only confessed just before he died. Sadness. And so this story picks up a few months later and she is still dealing with his death and his loss.

So she immerses herself into her love and hobby of mountain bike racing. There's a new-ish boy (it's been about a year since he moved in) that has bugged her since he arrived and who actually took over her position as captain of the bike team. She does not like him.

Which means, of course, that they will connect! And so that's the love story. He's had his eye on her since the beginning but she has been annoyed by him. All that changes of course, and he is not what she thought he was. It's a blast to read/watch unfold.

Meanwhile, she has her family life situation to deal with too, which is that her mom is suffering from early onset Alzheimers. More sadness. Yes.

But despite all this sadness, I totally enjoyed this book. Fast and easy to read. Lovely romance. Cute characters. Fun look at mountain biking, which... why would anyone do this? CRAZY! Anyway, these books remind me of Kasie West sort of books and you all know how I feel about those!

Great job Chantele! Okay... so what's next??/

BTS Wins Top Social Artist at the BBMAs

Jimin, Jin, Rapmonster, J-Hope, Jungkook, Suga, V

So, after three weeks of voting online for them... 100 times each day on the BBMA website, and 100 times on Twitter (okay so I was pretty lousy at the Twitter voting, but I tried!) BTS won the Top Social Artist at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night, beating out Justin Bieber who has won for six years in a row previously!

What was the vote count? I don't know the exact final but it was like 300 million for BTS and 20 million for Justin, with the other nominees getting.... way less than that.

It goes without saying that we, the fans of BTS, the fans of any kpop group, were over the top HYPED about this. We were dying for them to perform, but alas, they weren't on the line up. But they did get invited to come and accept the award and so they did and it was awesome and perfect and wonderful.

And now, as expected, the whole music world here is wondering who they are. (Want to know who they are in my words? Here's my post from awhile back!!!) And I'm dying to tell the world. And yet, at the same time, I'm dying to NOT share them. I want to keep them to myself and have them be my own little secret. Let the world sit back and just not know what they are missing. Especially if they are going to be judgmental and racist. (Which is actually happening I hear, after this win, but thankfully, I haven't seen it and I truly hope I can stay away from that crap.) If people feel that way about them, then let's just keep them safe and hidden away!

Anyway, I just wanted to celebrate here and say... look at them, see how awesome they are! If you are interested in seeing our reaction to them getting the award, of course we filmed it.




And if you, like the rest of the music world, want to know more... just ask. Please. And... maybe I'll send you link or two. :)

But I'll send you out with a quick taste for what they're like. Here's some clips of some of their most popular songs:

The Kpop Konverters One Year Channel Anniversary!

One year ago we created our kpop youtube channel. We went into it a bit nervous and embarrassed and shy and wary and feeling pretty weird about it. But one year later we are so so SO glad we jumped in and just did what we wanted to do. It's been a blast. And just like with book blogging, we ended up meeting and connecting with some really awesome people we would have never found otherwise.

To celebrate our one year birthday, we created another favorite moments and sort of a channel trailer to include stuff from all this past year. This will give you an idea of how crazy much fun we're having doing this silly channel and just embracing the passion. Watch and let me know what you think!






We are also trying to push to a goal of 10,000 subscribers, which totally blows me away! We are so close! So...if you have any sort of inkling to subscribe and see what we come up with next, do it now! :)

KDrama Review: Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Drama: Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Genre: Romantic comedy
Starring: Park Hyung Sik, Park Bo Young, Jisoo
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

So I wasn't going to watch this one at first because I hated the title and it seemed to similar to the one I recently watched called Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. What's the obsession with physically strong girls? I have no idea.

But guys. Park Hyung Sik is in it and there is no way one can pass up on him. No way. I recently gushed about him in the review for Hwarang where he is the second male lead. And now, with this one, he is the MAIN lead and it's the best thing ever.

The story is about this girl who has massive physical strength which by some sort of magic has been granted to the women in her family line. But it's taken away if they use it for their own gain. She is just sort of arriving at a place where she is learning to deal with this talent, but hasn't quite embraced it.

Well, so she defends herself against some pretty awful thugs, which brings her to the attention of this dude who is, of course, the CEO of a game making company. It just so happens that her dream is to create and market a game. So when the CEO realizes how strong she is, he hires her for his body guard since for some reason he feels his life is in danger. She balks at the idea at first, but figures its a way to get her foot in the door. And besides, she thinks he's gay because that's the story he's telling because everyone thinks it's weird that he hires a woman bodyguard.

Jisoo as the high school friend on the left
Park Bo Young as Strong Woman Do Bong Soon
Park Hyung Sik as the CEO Ahn Minhyuk, on the right

Anyway. He pretty much loves her from the beginning, which is the cutest thing because... he is just SO DANG CUTE! But she is brushes it all off, because first she thinks he's gay and second, she is totally in love with her high school friend.

And so it goes from there.

There are a bunch of side stories that are just totally off the wall bizarre. And one of them, about a serial killer, is downright disturbing. But they all tie together in the end, sort of. But I was in it for the cute romance which was totally worth watching all those weird side stories for! Also, beware the cheese factor. This one plays it up as high as it can go! So it's better if you are in the mood for such  thing! But again... who cares because... Park Hyung Sik.

Here's an example of the cute stuff I'm talking about...




And now it's over and I'm missing them so bad! And here's hoping Hyung Sik has another drama soon! And here's hoping it's awhile before he disappears into that military service which sucks up every actor and idol eventually! Ah. I hate that!

Anyway, I loved him in Hwarang, but this one shot him up nearly to the top of my favorites list and he's giving poor Lee Min Ho a pretty good bit of competition!

(Reminder, if you want to try watching it, click on the title link above!)

Here's a funny trailer:




And of course we need a song that Hyung Sik sings for this drama:

Book Review: The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

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...

Our BTS Experience!! (BTS Wings Tour in Anaheim April 1, 2017)

Well, I know you are all dying to know how the big anticipated event turned out. I've been saving telling you until I had videos to show. And finally, the videos are all done!

This concert was everything we imagined it to be. These boys are awesome. Beautiful, talented, amazingly... awesome. We really can't find the right adjective to describe them, or how they make us feel. (I'm talking in the plural here for all of our group that went... six of us, plus a few more we met up with!)

It was a fabulous day and fabulous weekend. We spent lots of time in lines, and we didn't even care because the lines were pretty much as fun as everything else, just talking to everyone else there that was as crazy as us!

We stood in line for three hours to get buy merch. And then later two more hours to get through security to get into the concert. Then after an hour of sitting inside waiting for it to start, we stood for 2 1/2 more hours during the concert! It was an exhausting day both physically AND emotionally!

And it was the best day ever!

Here's the video we made of the preconcert excitment, including driving to California, going out to eat with our Twitter friends, and interviewing poeple in the merch line:




 Actually, we have a video of just the interviews which you can find here if you are interested.

 And then the second part of our experience is the concert itself. We ended up filming more on our phones than we thought we would. "Real" cameras weren't allowed and we decided not to risk it, so we didn't even bring them in. So, all we have is the crappy stuff we got on our phones. Here's what is was like... which is mostly a lot of screaming. A LOT of screaming. And crying at the end when it was over.


 


Afterwards we meet up with our friends again, at midnight, at IHOP and just gushed. We filmed a bit of it and here it is:
(This also includes Megs and Ryn talking on their drive home.)

 

 Guys. I don't know. Really, this was so much fun I can't even describe it. I wish I could find something to compare it to so that you would all understand! Anyway, here's hoping for future weekends of such joy! I can't wait to see who we get to see next!!

(P.S. If any of you book bloggers read this, and/or watch this, you might be familiar with fellow former book blogger Penelope from The Reading Fever, who has joined me (surpassed me I would even say) in the fanatic fandom that is kpop and BTS. Look for her in these videos... she's there with us!)

Kdrama Review: My Shy Boss

Drama: My Shy Boss
Genre: Romantic comedy/drama
Starring: Yeon Woo Jin, Park Hye Soo
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

I'm getting behind in the reviewing of the drama watching. And now I can't hardly remember what happened in this one!

I started watching this one because it looked so cute. And lighthearted and fluffy, but then the opening shot is of a girl jumping off a building and committing suicide. So scratch the whole lighthearted bit!

Turns out this suicide, which happened three years before the events of the drama itself, shaped the future of several of our characters and all those characters come together as the drama unfolds. 

We have the Shy Boss, a very introverted dude who is the boss of this PR company and he does stuff behind the scenes, but his foster brother is the one who is the face of the company and does all the public things. 


And then we have the girl, who's sister was the one who committed suicide and she the sister actually actually happened to be the secretary of the shy boss and so she, our girl, comes to work for the company to get revenge on the boss, since she blames him for what happened.

The shy boss.
He actually reminded me a lot of Ji Chang Wook... maybe because of the hood.
Also because of the smile that transforms him.

Well, of course, we gradually learn what happened and how everything is a really big mess and how it's messed up everyone involved. And of course the whole drama is everyone figuring out this mess and overcoming.

So, not lighthearted at all. And yet.. the interaction between the boss and the girl is really a lot of fun and he is such a good actor and does this shy dude so well that you totally believe it. I loved those parts! I loved seeing his transformation as he learns to get over this problem too. 

And also, it has some of the best kissing on any drama I've watched so far. Wow. Just. Wow.

Shower kisses.

So that's basically it for this one! I totally enjoyed it expected! 

Here's the long but fun trailer:




 And of course the cute song by the cute kpop star (Sanduel from B1A4) set to the cute scenes, because you know this is what it's really all about: