Kdrama Review: Love in Contract

Drama: Love in Contract

Genre: romcom

Starring: Park Min Young, Kim Jae Young, Go Kyung Pyo

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤

Another drama that took me months to watch. Not sure if this is a function of the drama, or my mood and life. But anyway, I finally finished it!

This one is about a girl who marries for her job. She has been married like 13 or times or something. She does it for when a guy needs a wife for some event or something. Or to show off to his family, or, as is the case with the guy in the drama... just someone to eat dinner with. When the job is over, she gets divorced and moves on. 

Well, with our guy she has been eating dinner with him for like five years, and finally, as the drama opens, she decides she is sick of this job and she is going to retire and move on to something else. So she has to tell him that they are over. But then she realizes, she is sad to tell him and that she wants to keep eating dinner with him, as they have been all these years. 

So, what to do?

In the meantime, we learn her back story and what brought to do such a job. And a new dude moves into the apartment where her "husband" lives and he ends up truly liking her and talks her into not retiring and being HIS wife too. 

And then things get really messy. 

It was cute and fun in parts, but very long and boring in other parts. The last few episodes were really really draggy... ugh. Usually the last episodes of a drama are so fast paced and crazy that you can't stop and you end up watching them all at once. But these last ones took me a month to get to. Sadness. 

The dude who played the second male lead was someone I hadn't seen in anything before and I really enjoyed his acting. Hopefully I will find him in something else again some day. 

New dude: Kim Jaeyoung

Anyway, so yeah. I mostly enjoyed it and it was a fun premise, but really lagged around way too much.

Here's a trailer:

And a song:

The Bookworm Tag

 

I was tagged by Kami at Kami's Library Thoughts for this fun Bookworm Tag! Be sure to go check out her answers to the questions she had. 

But here are my questions:

1.  What was the last book your read?

The Silence of Bones by June Hur

2.  Did you like it?

It was not really what I was hoping. So while it was okay, it also wasn't my favorite.

3.  Who is your favorite Author?

It's still Markus Zusak as it has been for years now.

4.  What book do you wish had a sequel?

Ugh, I can't think of something! Everything already has a sequel!

5.  What is your favorite movie adaptation?

I really loved the Holes adaptation. Have you seen it? It's awesome.

6.  What is your favorite place to read?

Just on the couch in my living room. Or in bed.

7.  What book do you wish was required reading in school?

Well, now that I'm thinking about it... how about The Book Thief? I'm wondering if some teachers are already requiring it. 

8.  What is your quirkiest reading habit?

I can't really think of one... hmmm...do I have a quirky reading habit? I'll have to ponder...

9.  What do you use as a bookmark?

A bookmark, often a souvenir one that I've acquired at some fun place. One that I'm currently using I bought from the Mayan people selling them at Chichén Itzá.

10.  Besides reading, what other hobby/hobbies do you have?

Editing videos, quilting, kpop, concerts, writing 

Hey if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged! Take some of the questions I answered and some that Kami answered, and make your own personal list!

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Bookish People I'd Like to Meet

 

Oh this is a fun one today! (Be sure to check out everyone else's posts here!) Who do I want to meet? Real or fictional? Or both?  Hmmm......

I'm so sad he never managed to come to the library like he was supposed to do. Now I don't know if I'll ever get the chance! AH! But I guess you never know. Maybe some day!

I would really love to someday meet my author friends Terri Osburn and Trish Milburn! We talk about it all the time, but not sure how or when it will ever happen!

Since I'm reading Oathbringer right now and am back into that crazy world, I think I'd like to meet Kaladin perhaps. Although it would be so very scary!

I would love to meet Nichola Yoon and her husband David Yoon, both who write awesome books.

Okay, I wouldn't mind meeting Mr. Darcy. 

I think it would be very interesting to meet J. R.R. Tolkien (can I list dead authors?) and all his main characters but especially Samwise. 

And finally I just want to meet all the bloggers I've interacted with over the years, and now my new Booktuber friends too! 

Who do you want to meet??? 

Books I Read in February 2023

 I read four books this past month, same as I did in January! Maybe this is my magic number? Whatever it is I feel like it should be more!

Here's what I read in February:

The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak by Brian Katcher: a fun cute YA romcom that has us going on an adventure with Ana and Zak when they spend the night at a comic con trying to track down Ana's brother. They've all just done the quiz team competition and are at the hotel when Ana's brother decides to take of on his own. Zak is dying to be at the convention too, so he jumps at the chance to help Ana find him. And then all the crazy stuff that happens that night... LOL! It's... yeah... crazy! This was a fun and easy book to read, and I really enjoyed it. I'm giving it  ★ ★ ★ on Goodreads.

How to Be Interesting: An Instruction Manual by Jessica Hagy: This was a quick for fun non-fiction that fulfilled a couple of my challenge prompts. It had fun illustrations and lots of awesome ideas on how to not only BE interesting, but to make life itself interesting. I had fun going through it and hopefully some of the stuff will stick and I'll remember it for future use. Ha! I'm also giving this one ★ ★ ★ on Goodreads.

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty: This was book club's read this month. It's told in several points of view from many different characters, all of them have something to do with two sisters, who 70 years prior to the events of the book, found an abandoned baby. They kept the baby and raised her (the characters are mostly her family) but never figured out the mystery of her parents disappearance. The whole thing has become a bit of a tourist attraction that all the family is involved in. The even celebrate the event every year, but it seems this year might be the last anniversary. I enjoyed this one too, but felt angry at some of the characters and their situations, uncomfortably so I would say. The rating for this one will be  ★ ★ ★ on Goodreads.

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir: After reading the first one in this series last month, I had to go straight away to this second book. It follows our characters Laia and Elias on their to break Laia's brother out of prison. And they are being hunted by Helene, who was... is?... Elias' best friend. Things are complicated to say the least. Lots of magic and fighting and torture and all the things! I'm totally invested, but it's so intense I need to give it a little break before moving on! This one gets  ★ ★ ★ ★ on Goodreads!

I also started Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson this month, but expect it to be a year-long read! So stay tuned for updates on that! Other goals for March:

• read The Silence of Bones for book club
• finish the Leo Tolstoy short story project
• read something (or two) from the shelves

My goals are pretty slim this month. We'll see how it goes I guess!

I did a video on the booktube channel about all this too if you want to watch/listen to me talk about these books instead!

The Sunday Post: Just Catching Up!

                        The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

LISTENING:

I am absolutely head over heels in love with this song:(There's no mv because it's a b-side.)

And the whole album is what I've been playing non stop for a month now. 

And I managed to get tickets to see these guys (TXT) in May! YES!!

WATCHING

I started a really cute, sweet, simple high school kdrama called A Love so Beautiful. 

I'm also watching two competition Kpop music shows: Boys Planet and Peak Time. Both are being pretty intense and quite enjoyable to watch. Rooting for everyone to make it, lol! I haven't found any English things to be interested in for awhile now. Suggestions?

READING:

Just finished up The Last Anniversary for book club and have started the second book from The Ember in the Ashes series called A Torch in the Night. 

I've also started Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, and my plan is to read just a bit every day and finish it by the end of the year... and vlog the journey. Hopefully someone might be interested in that!

WRITING:

I've been quite a bit of time researching how to send queries. Yeah. This is not easy, this part. Writing the book is a cinch compared to this...

But I now have a list of about 30 to start with. That's something!  I don't expect anything to happen, I just want to say I've done it. I've tried. You know?

BLOGGING:

I reviewed my January books

I officially announced my challenges

I listed some new-to-me authors

YOUTUBING:

On the kpop one:

I highlighted my favorite songs in January

I vlogged our concert experience from a few weekends ago!

On the Booktube one:

I started going through every book in my home library. There's currently three parts, all the YA section. Click here for part one to get started! I've posted a bunch of other stuff, so be sure to go take a look!

And that's about all that's been going on around here! I hope you are all doing awesome!

Books I Read in January 2023

Welcome to my new format for "reviewing" books! I'm just going to do the monthly wrap up and report on my books read then, all in one post with mini reviews. Okay? Okay!

Here's what I read in January:

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle: I really loved this one about a girl with massive ADHD and a boy on the autistic spectrum. They get together in a pretty funny and then connect through their mutual love for a book called The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise. And they use those quotes in their texts to each other and it's adorable. They both have lots of issues to deal with and it seems like there's no way they can figure out how to be together.  It's a really cute and fun story with not your typical characters. 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman: This one we read for book club in January. This author is quickly becoming a book club favorite and ends up on our lists quite often these days! It's a fun story narrated by a nearly 8 year old girl as she watches all the crazy things going on in her apartment building. She is also dealing with the death of her grandma... her crazy grandma who has sent in on a sort of treasure hunt after she's gone. And our girl ends up realizing that all the people in the apartment building have a connection. It's awesome just as all his books are, with amazing character development. He can capture people like no else!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: This is the book I read from my own stacks this month. A book that has been waiting for me since 2016... because I remember buying it at Powell's bookstore when we were on a trip that year! Anyway, I loved it and it gets to be my first 5 star read of the year! What a story that totally sucks you and keeps you on the edge the whole time! Our girl ends up posing as a sly and spying on the household of the commander of the school that trains soldiers to fight and suppress her people. She needs to get information so she can save her brother from horrendous jail and torture. Our guy is one of these highly trained soldiers and he has just graduated from this school. And he wants to escape. But if he's caught they will kill him. And of course their two desires somehow come together in all the crazy unexpected ways! AHH! It's all so intense!  I immediately got book 2 from the library and I hope to fit it in during February. 

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson: This was a sort of Booktube read along, though I haven't really succeeded in connecting with anyone reading it yet! LOL! It's a great historical fantasy (is that what you call it... magic in the 1800's but not with steampunk sort of devices). Our girl has been raised in a great library with intentions of running that library someday, but an incident happens that sends her off to be questioned by the sorcerers and magic is so very much frowned upon by the librarians. Bad bad stuff. But when she meets a certain sorcerer, she begins to wonder if everything she has been taught is right. Because he... and the demon that gives him his magic... are pretty cool after all. And then after they become friends they have to save the world! Fun stuff, and so beautifully written. 

February Plans:

• Read The Last Anniversary for bookclub
• Read the 2nd Ember in the Ashes book!
• Read Siddhartha, or that Leo Tolstoy short story thing for a challenge
• Read a king/queen book for the British Forced Phase
• That's all I'm thinking of at this point!

2023 Challenges!

 I'm participating in three reading prompt type challenges this year. They are:

Popsugar (find that one here)

This is a popular one through the bookish community. I even found a Facebook group where people give tons of suggestions for all these prompts. So fun to see what people are coming up with!

Pioneer Book (the local used bookstore, you can find that one here)

This is one I've tried in the past, but is quite a difficult one. The thing that makes this one unique is that you have to read something from their various displays in the store. But it's fun to go support the store and find something to buy from these displays. I bought three there the other day. 

Orem Library (the local library)

I've taking all the lists and made a huge spreadsheet so I can easily see which prompts are similar from all the lists. I will use the same book across the three different challenges, but not the same book within one challenge, if that makes sense. Anyway, I'm only 4 books into this year, but doing okay making them all work for a challenge!

I'm also still doing the #ReadWhatYouOwnChallenge, trying to read 15 of my own books before I buy any other books. I've had to fudge a bit on this one, but I'm about half way done now. I will be glad to get the 15 books read, and after that I'll continue to read off my own shelf, but without the no buying restriction!

What fun challenges are you all doing this year?