Kdrama Review: Come and Hug Me

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!!





And clips of the happy cute moments:

Book Review: The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby

Book: The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★


I really enjoyed some parts, and was quite bored in other parts. How to rate? But in the end, I could find lots to talk about regarding this book. Probably because I have arguments! LOL! Sigh.

So it's about a girl who made big plans with her cousin that is the same age as her. But they grow apart when she (our girl Mari) decides to do different things with her life. And then when her cousin dies suddenly, Mari feels like her own life is meaningless and she decides to fulfill a big dream of her cousin's, namely, hiking the John Muir trail from Yosemite to Mount Whitney.

So, it's great as far as our girl finding herself and becoming more fulfilled and happy. She felt her life before was fake, but in hiking this trail she grounds herself again. I enjoyed the parts where she finds friends and there is interaction and etc. But the introspection parts when she is alone and just staring at a beautiful view and suddenly life is great.. I just... I mean.. I get that beautiful views and hiking can make people feel good, but...

My problems happen when I think that people think that there are certain activities more worthy than others. And hiking is one of them. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT HIKING?????? Why can't a person find themselves and feel fulfilled oh, say, sitting in front of a computer blogging about books and discussing the love of books with others? Just for starters...

I guess people feel like getting OUTSIDE and doing something PHYSICAL trumps pretty much every other endeavor out there. I see it all the time and I always want to argue about it.

So in my mind, I think the fact that she fulfills the dream of her cousin by doing the hike is cool. But the fact that she has to dump her entire other life in order to do it, is stupid. She can do both. She can do her creative instagramming without being fake. She can hike AND youtube... both. Know what I mean?

Also, is it realistic that she can at the drop of a hat, just up and do this hike?  And she doesn't even call her mom and say what she's up to?  Like I found that to be so maddening. Every now and then she was like... oh man, I should call my mom. But.... I really don't feel like it now... so... maybe later. Let me just keep going on this 200 plus mile hike that's going to take many weeks that I just ran out the door to do without telling anyone and... I'll call later. UGH!!!

Okay. I ranted. It happened. I hope you enjoyed it.

Meanwhile, I guess we all need to get out and hike or something. And then life will be so much better! But ALSO, let's not be fake in what ever endeavor we DO end up doing, right? Let's embrace it and be REAL and just enjoy life no matter what we choose to do.

2018 Year End Number Crunch

Here is my reading by the numbers. Also a little about the kdrama and youtubing too. 

READING STATS

TOTAL BOOKS: 42
Total pages: 12,777
Total Re-reads: 1


Authors
Men: 9
Women: 33


For:
ARCS for Review: 1
Supporting Utah Authors: 8
Book Club: 5
Read Alongs: 2
Beehive Award Long List: 5
AML Middle Grade Awards: 5

From:
Library: 14
On my Kindle: 3
Bought/Owned: 22
Borrowed: 2
Audio: 1

Genres:
YA: 23
Adult: 9
Middle Grade: 8
Picture Book Fairy Tales: 2


From the YA Category:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction: 12
Fantasy: 6
Science Fiction:3
Historical Fiction: 1
Non-Fiction Memoir: 1

From the MG Category:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction: 6
Fantasy: 2

From the Adult Category:
Romance: 3 
Science Fiction Short Story: 1
Literary Fiction: 5


Star Ratings:
5 stars: 8
4 stars: 21
3 stars: 11
2 stars: 1
1 star: 1

Observations:

• My reading numbers were quite a bit better than last year. I reached my Goodreads goal of 40. For next year I have upped it again to 50. 
• I still mourn the passing of classics from my reading.
• Also fantasy. But I did manage a bit of that again this year!
• I was happy to read an ARC again! That was like a blast from the past...
• I think I gave my first 1 star review. Y'all should be proud.
• I feel like I read more on the Kindle, but that's how the numbers shook out! Maybe I can do better and make better use of that device this next year.
• I love reading for award long lists! I read some awesome MGs this year because of that.
• Happy that Utah authors make a pretty good appearance on my list. 
• I have lots of things I want to read, so I will not be dropping the habit anytime soon.

KPOP/KDRAMA YOUTUBE STATS

Total Kdramas consumed: 22
5 hearts: 8
4 hearts: 11
3 hearts: 3

Total Videos Uploaded on The Kpop Konverters: 828 (up from 501 last year)
Total Uploaded in 2018:  273 (down from 339)
Almost 2,000,000 views: 1 
Over 100,000 views:  12 (up from 8)
50,000 to 100,000 views: 14 (up from 6)
10,000 to 50,000 views: 91 (up from 58)
5,000 to 10,000 views:  60 (up from 37)

Subscribers at year end: 22,632 (up from 14,518 last year) 
View count at year end: 8,729,763 (up from 4,521,990 last year)

Observations:

• It's very fun to see the growth of the channel by comparing these numbers. I'm worried about what will happen this year. Here's hoping we don't see a huge drop in the numbers by this time next year!
• Good thing we have that one popular video that is about to 2 million views! This is what is sustaining our channel right now! If only we could think up another video that would be so popular!

Book Review: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

Book: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This is the story of three kids who find out that they are biological siblings. Two of them, the sisters, were adopted to different families, but the brother bounced from foster home to foster home all his 17 years.

The story starts out with one of the sisters, Grace, having a baby herself and giving it up for adoption. This instigates her desire to find her siblings and her birth mom. But when she does find her siblings, they have no desire to help her search for their birth mom.

But they do all become friends. And we learn all the different things they are dealing with. Alcoholic mom, gay relationships, bi-racial issues, going back to school after giving birth, parents who are divorcing, foster parents who want to adopt you.. etc. Basically, everything crazy thing a kid could deal with. It was overwhelming at times.

But I bonded with them all and began quickly to care what happened, especially with the brother who seemed to be hurting the most.

In the end, I was sobbing...so despite the fact that I sometimes get frustrated with authors packing everything single hot button topic thing into a book... I was moved and touched. But yeah, I've said it before, anything to do with mom/dad/parent/kid emotions... I will break down... and this was pretty much ALL about that.

If you are love adoption stories, this one is for you!

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

Book: The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Genre: YA magical realism
Rating: ★ ★ ★

This is the story about a girl who's mom suffered from pretty severe depression and when the story begins, we know she has just committed suicide. Our girl is now trying to deal with it all. She is feeling very guilty because she was hanging at her friend's house the moment it happened and in fact, was kissing said friend for the first time, something she had dreamed about for years. She thinks it wouldn't have happened had she been home.

And so now the mom is appearing to the girl as a big red bird and is encouraging her to go visit her grandparents. Well, it just so happens that our girl has never met these grandparents, and that the mom was estranged from them her whole life.

The grandparents live in Taiwan and so her dad takes her there and they meet. During her visit, she learns, through magical means, the backstory of her mom... her dad... and her grandparents. She also remembers the progression of the crush she has had on her friend over the years... so we get that little bit of romance too.

It's a beautifully written story, full of magic and memories, Chinese culture and romance. It addresses the trauma of depression and suicide in a straight forward and tasteful way. It's all quite heart wrenching really.

The colors come in, if you are curious, because she and her friend see emotion as color and are talking about what color they are feeling all the time. Color plays a very important role in this story.

I totally enjoyed it. I did find some parts a bit long and descriptive and my patience was tested a few times. I really enjoyed all the back stories... the present day story of dealing with the suicide and getting to know the grandparents was where it drug out a bit for me. But in the end, I totally enjoyed it.

My Top Ten Kdramas of 2018

Here are my favorite dramas I watched this year. Turns out that five of them are new ones (aired this year in 2018) and five are old ones (aired 2017 or before.) What a nice balance eh?

First some numbers:

Dramas watched: 22

Five Hearts: 8
Four Hearts: 11
Three Hearts: 3

Aired this year: 11
Aired before this year: 11

New-to-me favorite actors:
Seo In Guk
Lee Min Ki
Lee Hong Gi
Lee Joon Gi
Lee Jun Ho
Park Bo Gum
Yang Se Jong
Lee Seung Gi
Yoo Seung Ho

WAH SO MANY!!!

Favorite Dramas From 2018:

30 But 17 (Still 17) This drama is very funny and had me LOLing so many times. Plus it's heart wrenching and the dude who plays our guy is one of the best criers EVER! And he gets to do this a lot! And the nephew dude is just... so perfect! Basically, I fell in love with every character on this show. There is not a bad dude. The bad thing in this drama is inner conflicts. Anyway. I loved it. The girl is a violin player so there is a lot of classic music as a backdrop. And the nephew is on a rowing team, so there's a lot of that too. And there's a cute dog and a funny chicken. And the maid is also hilarious with her own tragic back story. So many good things. And beautiful characters. It was a perfect.

I Am Not a Robot:  And of course, he is so charming that she falls in love with him but there is no way she can ever let him know that  SHE IS NOT A ROBOT! AH!! But.. just tell him already!!!  No, it's not that simple.  Anyway, things get very complicated from there and yeah... it's awesome.  I loved loved loved it. I pretty much just want to watch it all over again. 




Just Between Lovers: Our dude's character grows from an angry young man, to a loving guy... mostly. He has found people in his life that have taken care of him over the years and part (a lot actually) of what makes this drama so awesome is those relationships. One with an older grandma lady, one with his landlord lady and her mentally disabled but bright and beautiful son. And one with a "lady of the evening" who he saved back in the day and so she has taken him under her wing and she is now like an older sister to him. He also has his true sister who he is struggling to help and provide for as she is going to medical school.

Meanwhile, our girl has all her family issues to deal with too. Many after effects of what happened with the mall event as pulled them apart and made them live a lonely life.

Together, they help each other deal with things, and they learn and grow and love and heal.

Are You Human Too? The premise here is that our guy is a robot... his genius mom made him because her human son was kidnapped from her when he was about 10 years old by his grandpa (her father in law) and she was never able to get him back. So he was raised by this crazy powerful guy and so she, because she could, made a robot replacement.
The robot is nice, mannerly, kind, rule abiding, sweet, compassionate and etc. The human is... arrogant, mean, ruthless, playboyish, snotty, greedy, and etc. They are as different as can be.One day, the human son is trying to track down his mom, but he is being followed by a hitman hired by the bad guy and is nearly killed. The robot son witnesses this and is freaked out. The mom rescues the human son and begins to nurse him back to health.Meanwhile, she asks the robot son to step into his place in the corporate crazy world so that the bad guys don't know what happened, and so that the human son doesn't lose his place to inherit the company.

Yeah.
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes 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





Favorite Older Dramas:

Because This is My First Life: The issues addressed? Well, of course, much is said about the nature of love and marriage. About pleasing your parents or doing whatever the heck you want to anyway. Much is said about gender roles and women's rights and feminism and all that. Much is said about traditional vs. non. Much is said about family, love, friendship, relationships, emotions, feelings, etc. So.. I loved it. 

Scarlet Heart: It's an epic sweeping royal family saga that is beautiful in all the ways it interprets this story! Like everything is just... beautiful. I don't know how else to describe it! There is some cheesiness here and there. And some convenience things. But yeah.. it's an amazing production.

There is one prince that is hard to ignore right from the beginning. And he rises to the top for our girl after awhile. He is the scary, angsty, hurt, vulnerable, pained, tortured anti hero of which I love to love from all my books and movies. He is a good bad guy, or a bad good guy. Not sure which. The lines are very blurry and I love it.





Moonlight Drawn By Clouds: It's a great one for a fun, but not confusing, historical drama. Park Bo Gum is adorable. As is all the rest of them. The music is dramatic and epic, the love songs beautiful. Everything! I loved it.





Shopping King Louis So. They end up helping each other out... trying to navigate the city and modern life when neither one of them knows anything... and they don't have any money. And so it goes from there! And it's very cute and funny and heartwarming and all that. I loved it. It is a bit over the top silly at times. But you know. Who cares. So much fun!




Falling In Love With Soon Jung (Falling for Innocence) Well. Next thing we know the detective gets run down by our dude with issues and is rushed to the hospital where he dies.... sad. At the same time, our ruthless CEO dude collapses from heart failure and is rushed to the hospital.... and ends up getting the heart transplant he needs... from the detective dude. And he doesn't die. Yeah. So when he wakes up, he starts changing. And he is drawn to the secretary and she to him. And things get weird and complicated.

Kdrama Review: King of High School

Drama: King of High School
Genre: Romantic comedy
Starring: Seo In Guk, Lee Ha Na, Lee Soo Hyuk
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


This drama was recommended to me more than a year ago or so. I added it to the list, but hadn't ever gotten around to it until now. And so thanks to my current Seo In Guk obsession, it was bumped up! And thus I watched my third Seo In Guk drama in a row. Have I got my fill yet? I highly doubt it.

This was a fun drama about a high school kid who has an older brother who for some reason can't come home and go to his job like normal. Well, and so since the two brothers look so much alike, he asks his little high schooler brother to take his place at work. The younger brother loves his older brother so much that even though he is like... what the heck and how can I EVEN do that... he jumps into this other life.

So he goes to school in the morning and after roll call, he jumps out the window and runs to join the corporate world of work. And he somehow pulls it off. And it's pretty funny at times!  He is also a star hockey player on the high school team, so he has to figure out how to get back to practices and games and retreats. LOL.

First impression. LOL

Meanwhile, there's a secretary at work who is a little different... she has a very childlike demeanor and so of course she and our high schooler CEO begin to bond. And then fall in love. Our boy of course knows that she is ten years older than him, but he gets over it pretty fast. Our girl, of course, has no clue.

Until she figures it all out. And then...what will she do???? It also doesn't help that her younger sister happens to be the high school girl that has a major crush on our dude!

Still, this romance is adorable. In the kdrama world, we call this a Noona Romance... noona being the word boys will call their older sisters. But is also a word they call any girl older than them that they are close to. And oftentimes it's very fun to watch a noona romance. This one being one of them. So cute. 

Best kissing actor in all of kdrama? Pretty much.

And of course Seo In Guk shines once again. His character in this one is very much like his Shopping King Louis dude. Fun and smiley and silly and childlike. I just love it. 

This was a great one for mostly fun and fluff. And I decided to end my drama watching year on this note and have taken a bit of a Christmas break to read. But just today, I started another one. And it's not going to be fluffy....

Anyway, here's a funny cute trailer that gives a pretty good feel for this drama without even any words!






And here is Seo In Guk himself singing a beautiful song from the drama: