Tag: Romance

Webnovel Review: Perfect Fiance (完美未婚夫)

Webnovel Review: Perfect Fiance (完美未婚夫)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Since this is the first Saturday of the year, I did not want to miss the review. I had stopped reading this short novel when the translator had to take a break halfway through. For the review purposes, I ended up binge reading it today itself.

Personally, I am a bit conflicted about this novel. Should it be a review or a recommendation, I still can’t decide. Let me try penning my thoughts here once and I might change my mind.

This is a very cheesy, very corny, full of fluff, short romance story about two people, Su Jin and Lu Xi. Su Jin transmigrates into a novel she was reading while on an airplane when the airplane gets into an accident. Originally an orphan, Su Jin finds herself in the body of a girl who was switched at birth and was supposed to be a rich young lady. Her original parents in the novel had just acknowledged her as their daughter and thus, for original Su Jin, her wealthy life had just started.

She also finds that she had been betrothed to a young mysterious young master of another influential family by her grandfather some time in the past and now she might have to honor that arrangement. The young master turns out to be Lu Xi, an award winning director of movies. Since Su Jin knew the plot of the novel, she knew that she would become a villain and the girl who was switched at birth had feelings for Lu Xi as well. She had, thus decided to remain far away from the guy.

By twist of fate, Lu Xi actually falls for Su Jin and rejects the other girl much to the surprise of Su Jin. From there on, starts Lu Xi’s chase of Su Jin, trying to break the hard shell she had over her heart.

It is initially revealed that Lu Xi might have connections with Su Jin from her original life which adds a really great mystery element to the plot.

Within 59 chapters, I would not really bother about character development as such. Su Jin starts as an aloof girl who doesn’t want to ruin the plot of the novel she was reading and hence, has the door to her heart closed off. But along the way, she starts depending on Lu Xi. Lu Xi, on the other hand, has been shown your typical handsome, breathtaking cold person who only dotes his lover. Other characters are all really likable and there are no villains in the plot. May be one person in the beginning but I don’t even understand what that one incident’s purpose was.

But this novel does pack a bunch of surprises plotwise. You might find some sci-fi stuff later on. Moreover, it is very good at tying all the loose ends at the end.

The thing I like the most about the novel is how it explores different kinds of love; love at first sight, gradually developed love over lifetimes, childhood love and love that is just not there anymore. I would say, the author has used some profound language to describe some of the most mundane things in life. Plus, translator has done really well in conveying those words.

My only complaint was that I had really gone out of touch with it once it stopped updating. As I read some 30 chapters today, there was not as much thrill as there was when I had just started following it. Not that I’m blaming the translator, life happens to everyone and I understand that. Anyway, I am slowly beginning to get bored of webnovels since they all just keep repeating similar plot lines. This one is definitely a bit different and half a day read, so that’s good.

In the end, I still can’t decide if I like it or not. It has its plus and minuses. I will keep it as a review only.

Conclusion: I’ll probably give it a 8/10 and recommend it to those who don’t really get cringed with cheesy dialogues. I liked the mystery part and how it was unraveled, although it was a bit predictable as well but the sci-fi part was something I could not even imagine in my dreams would be woven into it.

Final feelings: ⊙.☉

Read Here: Perfect Fiance on Meraki Translations

Personal Section: Happy New Year Readers. I am still stuck with weekend work in the new year but hopefully that will be over soon. I will definitely lose my overtime but who cares. I will have normal weekends and I would be able to work on my personal projects.

It had been long since I had some time to myself, without the need of going anywhere. And suddenly finding free time today was both surprising and hilarious in the sense, I had not planned on what to do with it. Nonetheless, I will go to bed early.

Did I tell you guys I became an ordained minister two weeks back and now can sign marriage licenses of couples? If you are in NJ (USA) and are looking for a person to officiate your marriage, contact me, lol. I did it on the request of a very dear friend of mine. I was really honored and elated when he asked me to officiate his marriage. This is for you my dear friend, very many congratulations!

Today’s song: Well, since I posted SKZ song last week, I ended up revisiting the whole playlist again and now they are the only artists in my playlist once again. I guess I’ll post another song from them, hopefully I haven’t posted this one before:

Love the lightness of this song ❤

Webnovel Review: Trial Marriage Husband: Need to Work Hard (试婚老公，要给力)

Webnovel Review: Trial Marriage Husband: Need to Work Hard (试婚老公，要给力)

by eastasianlover ♥ 3 Comments

Since I did not have any finished webtoons to review today and I did miss my first week’s post, I am going to change the things a bit and review a webnovel today.

Again, I did not want to review popular stuff. But given that I am being very picky about webnovels these days, I gotta start with the completed ones which I actually followed and finished reading myself. For now, this is the only completed one in my list. So, I’ll go with this.

It’s a story about a couple, Tang Ning and Mo Ting who marry each other because Tang Ning’s fiance cheated on her and Mo Ting’s fiancee never showed up for marriage. Tang Ning proposes Mo Ting to marry her, given their similar circumstances and Mo Ting agrees. Then it’s all about exacting revenges on her family, her fiance, making and eliminating more enemies and striking forever friendships along the way.

From the plot and the title, you would understand that this is a review and not really a recommendation. Having spent countless days, waiting for the chapters to be updated everyday, I can safely say that it was not worth it. Why I even finished it, is beyond me. Although I understand, it’s from the title of the novel itself, but damn that’s suspicious circumstances of marriage.

Would you, in real life, in your right mind, go to the nearest man you find near a marriage bureau coz you overheard them saying that their fiancee never showed up and be like, marry me? Okay, you were heartbroken at that point, you might have taken that step. But would you, in your right mind, just accept the marriage proposal from a random stranger, without any background information just like that? If you said yes to any of the questions, I am judging you very hard right now. 👀

Everything screams generic about this novel. Tang Ning was a model, got cheated by her lover, lost her international career for him, married Mo Ting who happened to be the king of entertainment industry and he launches her to become an actress. She takes on the role of producer and director later and that’s how her character grows. She also has the generic motto of I don’t make the first move. You attack me, I destroy you.

Mo Ting is your usual wife doting husband who grows from CEO of the best entertainment company in China to an actor and a scriptwriter because of his wife. Their friends and family have their own struggles and growth moments. Oh btw, Tang Ning also has a generic family with a step sister who wants to control the Tang business and is defeated by our female lead badly enough to not be able to make a comeback.

Am I happy having have read the whole thing? Nopes. By the end I was feeling like it was same thing being repeated again and again and again. A new enemy would appear, try to harm her or her family or her friends. And then she would make sure they don’t appear in her life again.

Perhaps the only good thing about the whole novel is the portrayal of netizens and how fickle minded they are. How they change their opinions about their idol in a moment and the hardships the people in entertainment industry have to go through, especially because of their so-called fans.

This is also one of the reasons I chose to review this novel. The recent incident with Sulli, Goo Hara and Cha In Ha was just sad. Like however one looks that they don’t really care, somewhere if people keep bashing you for being yourself, then you can’t help but go into deep depression. Poor people, how much they would have been suffering to finally take that step.

Apologies to have deviated from the review. Anyway, it is rather medium length per Chinese webnovels standards with 1274 chapters in total. The original story ends at chapter 1190 and then the story of Mo Ting’s and Tang Ning’s three children continues, which is more refreshing than the main plot tbh. Translation is of great quality and while the releases were happening, the translator was the most punctual of all the translations I have seen so far. I can name only one other translator this punctual.

Conclusion: All in all, I’ll give it 6/10 out of which 4/5 are for translation quality and rest for raising the issue of netizens in the novel and perhaps how it seemed interesting in the beginning.

Final Feelings: ┐(￣ヘ￣)┌

Read Here: Trial Marriage Husband on webnovel
PS: If you want some Spirit Stones (now coins) to begin your Qidian journey, you can sign up with this link: Qidian Referral Link
Or if you’re looking for a code, here is mine: B6UfgVFS

Personal Section: My apartment building had a broken boiler last week and it was just so hard to be using washroom early in the morning in -7 deg C cold. Damn these guys.

Anyway, another anime season is coming to an end. Most of the anime are ending next week and I am pretty sad. But I am also excited about Haikyuu’s new season coming up in January. Ugh, I wish I had more holidays like all my friends but all I am getting is just the Christmas day and New Year’s day. Anyway, I did manage to complete a lot of big tasks this weekend and am really looking forward to the one day off. Wishing all my readers a very merry Christmas and a warm, safe and happy new year 2020.

In today’s world, it’s very important to have proof of everything, so stay vigilant as well people. And with this, I’ll close out and start preparing for the work I have tomorrow. (Yes, I do work on Sundays!)

Today’s song: I am back with Stray Kids. I don’t know what songs I have already posted though. Let’s see, hopefully this I did not

Webtoon Review: Ecstasy Hearts

Webtoon Review: Ecstasy Hearts

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Well, although the author’s name sounds Korean (SilentMaru), it seems the webtoon is originally English, so no original Korean name this time. It’s a complete webtoon, with 101 chapters and available for free to read on webtoon. Please note that this a review and not really a recommendation. Then, let’s dive into it right away.

Shimizu Anya is the child of world’s best two tennis players. And hence, she carries this weight of expectations around her to be the best in tennis as well. She might not have been as passionate about tennis as her parents might have wanted her to be, but provoking from this kid called Axel Koizumi ignites a fire within her to conquer him and become the best. The guy Axel, on the other hand, seems to be an effortless genius in tennis, who doesn’t need much effort to overpower Anya, much to the chagrin of the girl. And thus starts a journey, of the girl, to show everyone how her genes and hard work can lead to her taking the crown of tennis queen of the world.

I love the art tbh. And it evolved overtime to become even better.

If we go into depth a bit, Anya is your everyday girl and I relate a lot to her, especially as an Asian kid. This excelling in every field in school and developing rivalry with your classmates hits home too hard.

And Axel is that guy who doesn’t seem to be working as hard as you but still winning at life more than you. He has his own past and problems for sure. But, you can’t help but feel jealous. He helps Anya become better overtime. Oh man! This takes me back to my school days.

Again, the backdrop of the story is quite common. To sum it up in one line, it’s just a girl’s one sided rivalry dating back to her childhood days which leads to a lifelong love. Now that we have got that out of the way, let’s talk about the plus points of the webtoon. I just love the art of this one. Aesthetically pleasing, amazing use of colors, as close to real world as it could be. Sometimes can be too shiny but still lovely.

Plot starts great, there is good character development for Anya and Axel both initially. A lot of chapters come with background music on the official website, so that’s a plus too, gives another dimension to the whole thing. For people, who are interested, there are too many pictures to drool over, it’s got that great an art.

Hot dudes everywhere

Too bad, oh, too bad. The author fell ill towards the end of the webtoon. They might have fell ill earlier but I guess the pressure of releasing the chapters each week took a toll and apparently an old injury came to haunt them back. The abrupt ending of the webtoon led to a lot of complaints and frustration from readers.

The plot reduced to a bunch of unfinished story lines, deviating from the tennis arena altogether and just focusing on the relationships between the characters. Which might not be that bad but departing from the whole premise is just, basically, crumbling down the whole thing. None of the characters got their deserved ending (actually any ending), and we readers were left with hundreds and thousands of questions.

However much high rating I wanna give this webtoon, I just cannot bring myself to give it a good rating nor can I bring myself to rate it too poorly. Now that I think about it, I probably actually vested myself into it. So, if you come across this webtoon, and find yourself enjoying it, just tread with caution. I’ll warn you against the disappointment you’re in for.

I just hope, as every other fan, that the author gets well soon and provides us with an alternative ending, may be a season 2? But who knows. For now, it is what it is. The unfortunate thing about this webtoon is, there is no one to blame for. It was great at the beginning. It had unlimited potential to become one of the best webtoons out there. But well, unfortunate things happen, this is life.

So, there you go.

Conclusion: Great art, awesome characters, cliche story, poor ending. I will rate it 5/10 just because I put so much time into it. In terms of number of chapters though, it is, well short. And I like it that way, so I shouldn’t be complaining much about it.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention but there are too many hot scenes in this one, so I would suggest reading it with discretion.

Final Feelings: ╮(╯ _╰ )╭

Read here: Ecstasy Hearts on Webtoons.com

Personal Section: Nothing much to write here. It has been truly hard to juggle everything with my lack of sleep. But I am finally getting Fridays off, so I have something to celebrate lol.

I’m heading out to my Sunday work after finishing this post real fast. Everyone, let’s look forward to Thanksgiving holidays where it is celebrated.

Tis the season of winter, a chill is running down everywhere, including my relationship with some people. Hope, spring comes soon 😀

Today’s song: Let’s go with this guy, I don’t even know why I chose it:

Webtoon Reco: My Boo (투명한 동거)

Webtoon Reco: My Boo (투명한 동거)

by eastasianlover ♥ 5 Comments
My Boo 1

This week, I am recommending another short-sweet-love and slice of life webtoon from South Korea. It’s been very very long since I finished any manga/ manhwa/ manhua tbh.

I might review Barakamon when its last volume comes out late July. But otherwise, I’ll have to really dig out all the manga I have finished and probably read them again to review. I might actually do that someday but right now life is hectic and I will, perhaps, continue reviewing ongoing webtoons.

Webtoons are the craze these days anyway. Not only Naver’s original webtoons.com have it, but apps like Tapas and Tappy Toon have ever increasing collection. Not to mention, the Chinese webnovels being converted to colored webtoons have taken over the world by storm as well. People who’re already paying to read novels are now also engrossed in their respective webtoons, pouring in more money. *Cough Cough* Qidian is getting richer by the day… *Cough*

My Boo is the love story of a human girl and a ghost guy. When love transcends the boundary of dead and alive, that’s when you get My Boo. It’s not a new concept and I am following another webtoon these days on a similar theme called Ghost Wife.

My Boo 2
I ship ❤

Anyway, the protagonist of this story is a girl names Yuri So who can see the ghosts for some reason. She has had traumatic past with them and tries to avoid them as much as she can. She finds it hard to maintain a balance between her powers and her urge to help when she sees one in distress.

She works as a freelance translator and moves into a new house whose previous owner was our ghost, Jun Ko. He died in the house and is stuck there for past 3 years. First Yuri avoids him and outright rejects him just to not involve herself with him. But slowly she starts understanding him and herself and they become housemates in real sense, ultimately falling in love for each other.

My Boo 3
My Boo 4
I love the dialogue delivery too. Peaceful yet powerful.

What I like the most about this webtoon is how maturely it’s been written. Each chapter starts with a glimpse from Yuri’s past, especially her traumatic experience after which she decided not to involve herself with the ghosts.

It also gives the POV of both Yuri and Jun and how their feelings change for each other. With just 47 episodes, the story is fleshed out so well, I can just feel all the feels again. The emotions in this webtoon are so real and so relate-able, I just can’t. I ended up binge reading it again.

As I said, you can just feel it all with just two characters. Like the whole 47 chapters is majorly with just two characters. OMG, I have whole new level of respect for the author Jeongseo. How can they make something so good with just two characters? You can feel Jun’s helplessness when he can’t save Yuri from falling from stairs or when he can’t drive her to hospital like her ‘human’ friends or when he can’t touch her or when he can’t hold her.

My Boo 5
I feel so helpless just reading this one dialogue, dammit!

Same for Yuri, she can’t save him. She can’t bring him back. She can’t help falling for him either. But fate has something else for them. Their interaction is so fluffy, so awkward initially and turning into sweet moments later. Anyway, I’ll warn beforehand, this webtoon has a bittersweet ending, one which would make you cry and smile at the same time.

And the next best thing about the webtoon is art. Realistic, simple, cute and just amazing. I wish I could draw like that. There is also a 3-D effect about it. The author has real understanding of angles and perspective. Since Jun can pass through objects, most of the scenes need to be presented from unusual angles and I personally feel that Jeongseo-nim has done an excellent job regarding that.

I don’t really have anything negative to talk about. I loved the webtoon to the core.

Conclusion: Giving this like 110/10, highly highly recommended from me. It’s max 2 hours read and is so very engrossing. It has a rating of 9.77 at webtoons.com!!! So, it’s just not me lol. Also, forgot to mention earlier, it also has cute cats. Now I want a boo of my own.

Final feelings: (❤ω❤)

Read here: My Boo on Webtoon for free

Personal Front: I had a very rude awakening this week. So, I was telling some juniors of mine how since they’re in college, they should not be wasting time like how I did and they really have golden opportunity right now and of course I was rambling on and on. It’s actually become a habit to be lecturing those people because I thought I cared and didn’t want them to repeat the mistakes I did but well. And one of them really opened my eyes.

So, if I, as a person who’s like perhaps 6 years senior to those kids, tell them stuff like this, I am acting like their parents and lecturing but if another person who’s just 1-2 years senior to them says exact same thing, they listen. I realized two things then and there: the power of peers vs. anyone else and plight of parents.

We listen to our peers because we think that they relate more to us and understand us better while blaming our parents for generation gap yada yada. I do admit that parents’ way of telling us about adulting might not be the nicest and their advice might not really be suitable for the current economy and circumstances and times etc., but we can always mold their advice to suit ourselves. I guess I would be paying more attention to my parents’ teachings and try to understand them more from now on. Thanks for the valuable lesson whoever the person was.

In other news, I might have to update my last review for the Golden Eyes because the plot went downhill way too fast. After 18th episode, I am so frustrated but I cannot drop it because I have seen further trailers and they’re yet to tell the secret behind the power. Aarrghh, such decisions in life, I tell ya!

Today’s Song: I don’t remember if I have posted this song before but I am back to listening to this song since I have been watching Lay’s drama:

Anime Reco: Chouyaku Hyakkuninisshu Uta Koi (超訳百人一首 うた恋い)

Anime Reco: Chouyaku Hyakkuninisshu Uta Koi (超訳百人一首 うた恋い)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Oh God! I started this post in 2014. Can you imagine? It’s a five year old post basically. Never got to complete it!

I am pretty sure it’s just another anime which never found the fame it deserves. Why? Of course because it’s a slice of life anime. Like I seriously don’t understand why that whole genre is so underappreciated. Please someone, solve this mystery for me.

Anyway, who wants a Japanese history lesson? Chouyaku Hyakkuninisshu Uta Koi, also called as Uta Koi, is a fun spin on the famous Japanese Hundred Poems (Hyakunin Ishhu) which are used for the famous Japanese card game Karuta. If you don’t recognize the name of the game, think the anime Chihayafuru.

Uta Koi 5
Is what Fujiwara no Teika said

And do you know who this anime features? The different poets of some of these 100 poems and the one who created the anthology – Fujiwara no Teika. Fujiwara no Teika tells the stories behind the poems, who wrote them, in what context and how.

Interestingly, they have chosen only the love poems for the anime (uta koi). But the hilarious take on these stories, especially our narrator Fujiwara no Teika makes the anime very lighthearted. Now that I am writing the review, I feel like watching it again. It might give me a new perspective on the anime and brush up my memory a bit, before I finish this review. Be right back.

All right, I am back after the first marathon of 2019. It was nice to refresh my memory of the anime. So, yeah. I love its OSTs. The opening and ending sounded so nice after so long. Passionate, Fiery, Historical.

Some people might be put off by the animation. It is inconsistent, the characters have very thick outer lines and when the characters walk, you can see that it’s the pattern of their clothes that moves rather than the character itself perhaps. So, people who have grown up watching the advanced development in current animation scenario, might not appreciate it that much.

But if you can overlook that part, this anime has much to offer. Apart from history lessons and the comedy, there are of course small heart breaking and lovely romance stories. Not to mention the wallpaper worthy backgrounds.

Gotta write a poem now!

I personally dig historical stuff, so I am going to totally recommend this anime to anyone and everyone. But I still reckon that this anime might be more for a seasoned anime watcher rather than newbies although I watched it in my 2nd year of anime watching and have had it in my hard drive since then.

Conclusion: I give this anime 11/10 just for the sounds and the comic history. I wish all my history lessons were this hilarious. Highly recommended for my readers. I actually picked up the translated version of the Pillow Book in my undergrad after I finished watching this anime. But that could just be me.

Final feelings: Σ>―(〃°ω°〃)♡→

Watch here: Watch Uta Koi on CrunchyRoll for free

Personal Front: This week I celebrated my birthday and I had my two friends drive to Pittsburgh from far far away. These are the two friends whom I have given a shout out many times before on my blog. But I especially want to thank them this time. I can’t express anymore how much I love and cherish them. Words fall short when I want to tell them that. I just wish all the happiness in the world for my two buddies. ❤

Apart from that, I and my roommates went to an expensive restaurant to celebrate my birthday. The food was amazing though. Overall, this week had been full of fun and sleepless nights lol. I am using this weekend to finally complete my sleep so that I can recharge myself.

I also bade farewell to a lovely junior of mine yesterday. She’s shifting to California and was the last person I knew from my department. Seems like all my personal connections from my department at CMU are gone far away now. How I wish I could leave the city too. But I am actually very excited for the work I am doing currently. So, all is well. 😀

Today’s song: What to do, what to do, what to do indeed? An anime club friend of mine got me addicted to this LOONA’s newly released song. I got goosebumps the first time I saw the MV. Here it is:

Webtoon Recommendation: Super Secret (슈퍼 시크릿)

Webtoon Recommendation: Super Secret (슈퍼 시크릿)

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment
Super Secret Webtoon

This post was supposed to be the first post of 2019 but I somehow ended up reviewing a webnovel first. So, although I had written this post in the first week of January, I had to change the whole intro again, (basically write everything again). Oh well. I have moved some parts of my intro to the personal section of the post, if anyone’s interested

Anyway, today I bring this super cute 4-panel webtoon for you guys. Completed just a month back, it’s one of my favorite webtoons, kind of. I feel so happy for the characters. But damn, I’ll miss my Wednesday update every week.

Written by author by the name of “eon”, it is a rather short webtoon with 144 chapters only and a webtoon rating of 9.82!! So I guess it comes highly recommended from webtoon readers?

It is a heartwarming slice of life romcom (interesting combo tbh but I am seeing this combo popping up again and again these days) about a clumsy girl called Emma Ji whose parents live abroad and her childhood friend Ryan Nam who has been taking care of her, performing all duties of a mom, a dad and her best friend.

Super Secret funny 2
Lol, Emma admits it herself

As *two childhood friends who fall in love with each other but the girl doesn’t have a clue* cliche as it sounds, what sets it apart from other stories like this is that Ryan and his family have a secret. They’re supernatural beings. Ryan himself is a werewolf, his two sisters are witch and a nine tailed fox (Trust me, it’s not a spoiler! It is just a secret for Emma, not the readers XD XD). These guys helping Emma with her normal life while trying to keep their super secret a secret from everyone including Emma and her friends create real hilarious situations.

More than that, you really feel for Ryan. He is hopelessly in love with her. While our airhead Emma tries to just live her life, she’s totally obvious to Ryan’s or her own feelings. Added to the mix are problems that arise from Ryan’s secret, since in this universe, humans are not allowed to know about the existence of the supernatural beings.

There are of course ways to evade that rule but it involves so many complications that it often poses danger to Emma and her other hooman friends. Her friends also get involved with other super beings.

Super secret funny
Like you’re ever gonna do it >.>

What I really like about the webtoon is the art, which is super cute and fluffy despite being based majorly on humans (super beings in the form of humans, but you get my point, right?). And the author has really not bound the story and characters by any boundaries in the sense that even Ryan’s family contains all kind of beings, which is interesting in terms of procreation (Can you think of a Frankenstein and a Korean spirit/ Goddess with children who are nine tailed fox, witch and a werewolf? Unless they’re all adopted? No information there). I mean, it’s fine, don’t wanna go into nitty gritty stuff.

I also liked the comedy part. It’s not laugh out loud kind of comedy but just funny. You feel good reading it. I wouldn’t comment on character development because it’s not really a plot driven webtoon. I mean there is an overarching theme of how Emma discovers Ryan’s secret and their feelings for each other. But it’s not like you get to see people grow beyond their flaws and stuff.

Super secret 5
From the author’s postscript…

What I don’t like about the webtoon is that it wasn’t originally supposed to be this long. Near the end, there was a lot of stuff in the plot which seemed unnecessary to me, and the author admits it in the last chapter. They had planned it only for 50 chapters but it went on to become almost 100 chapters more. They’re not unbearable and I won’t know how it would feel to binge read it. Perhaps it would make more sense reading it all together?

But somewhere I did get lost in the plot. It seemed to be like every Korean drama where a point comes and you just want to skip to the end. It was not possible for me because I was obviously following it while it was publishing and reading one chapter per week.

Super secret funny 3
Uh, I might be slave to this cutesy art too XD

Conclusion: Personally, despite my reservations about the unnecessary additions of characters and plot to keep the editors happy and just for the sake of it, I really like it. In my weekly schedule, for months, this was the only webtoon that I followed that updated on Wednesday (I have started 2 new webtoons now, so Wednesdays don’t seem empty anymore). And I really looked forward to it every week.

So, I would still recommend my readers to give it a try. It’s not that long that you would feel that you’ve invested too much time reading it anyway.

Final feelings: (o˘◡˘o)

Read here: Super Secret on Webtoons.com

Personal Front: Well, as I mentioned earlier, this post was to go up in mid-Jan as I came back from India to US after a vacay of 3 weeks. I was feeling a bit of non-belonging-ness to either US or India, although I have lived some 23 years in India and 2.5 years in US (time indeed flies!!).

Like you know, I have mentioned this before but I don’t really get attached to places. Not my undergrad college, not Thailand, not my previous place of work, not here. And Pittsburgh is actually the place where I have spent 3rd longest time of my life at one place. It all seems very interesting to me.

Anyway, there is nothing much to tell on personal front otherwise. I am 1/5th through this book called “Common Stocks, Uncommon Profits” and I am loving it so far, more so because I finished those 60+ pages in 2 hours, thanks to an online friend.

I asked her to work for an hour on some project without getting distracted and being accountable to each other for the work we decided upon. It actually feels good to be accomplishing something like that. I see myself using this technique of productivity more often in the future.

Today’s song: Somehow got hooked to Taemin’s new song. Although I don’t like how changed he looks with regards to body (too thin and a bit shorter compared to before? I feel like he doesn’t have bones in his body anymore!), I am loving the sound. It feels okay putting on repeat and listening at length, plus the lyrics are so narcissist, that it inspires some confidence in otherwise under-confident me (Today I realized that the meaning of the song could be quite sensual as well):

Disclaimer: All the images used here are property of author eon and webtoons.com and have directly been taken from the website. Nothing belongs to me or the blog.

Webnovel Review: Bringing the Nation’s Husband Home (国民老公带回家)

Webnovel Review: Bringing the Nation’s Husband Home (国民老公带回家)

by eastasianlover ♥ 5 Comments

I know, weird choice for starting webnovel reviews. But it’s the only Chinese webnovel that I have ever finished. So, I thought let’s begin with this. Please note, it’s a review and not a recommendation. I personally wouldn’t read any novels from the author of this particular novel including this one. But well, there are a lot of people who really like this kind of stuff.

Anyway. Written by Ye Fei Ye and serialized and translated by webnovel.com (Qidian), this romance fiction contains 973 chapters in total.

It’s the story about two people, very pretty Qiao Anhao and the most handsome guy of the nation, Lu Jinnian, who fell in love with each other on a rainy afternoon in their school days. However, they never got to confess about their feelings to each other. They chase each other in school and in professional world (both are in entertainment industry), never letting their true feelings out.

Through a series of misunderstandings and circumstances, Qiao Anhao gets married to Lu Jinnian but they keep thinking that the other person has a third party in their hearts. The story follows both of them, their families and friends and how finally, they get to realize that they are made for each other.

Now, it is fine till here. But any person with a brain would question how it can take 900+ chapters for two people, who by the way, are married to each other since the beginning of the novel, to understand that they actually like each other? Like, I really applaud this author to stretch the story so much just based on a simple misunderstanding.

The characters say one thing and hold back the important stuff, thinking it internally. What’s the use? A novel that could have been a great story and could have finished in like 100 chapters became an almost 1000 chapter novel. Indians will sympathize, but it beats Ekta Kapoor’s dramas.

Apparently, most of the novels from this particular author are like this. Not to mention the angst and rapey vibes of all novels (I personally haven’t read those but the synopsis of all of them screams the same thing) . Like the guy cannot talk about his real feelings yet he takes out his frustration of the girl not liking him back (do remember that it is all in his mind) through raping her time and again.

And the girl? Of course she doesn’t voice her opinion because she is content with the fact that she has the guy’s body at least, if not heart (again, it’s all in her mind). More than anything, you as a reader feel so frustrated that you just want to hold their heads and let them talk.

*Kiss Talk* This is how, you, as a reader, are going to feel at every point in the novel. Trust me!

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not really hating on the novel or the author (actually I am). I have immense respect for her. She fleshes out back stories of each and every character really neatly. Some cliches are unavoidable, like evil mother/ mother-in-law, clingy people who have main characters as their love interest and stuff.

But puh-lease. You both characters belong to rich background, just use your resources and for God’s sake, no for readers’ sake, just talk OMG!!! And please be done away with the guy forcing himself on the girl. It doesn’t even qualify for a smut, nor does it for what the fans of webnovels like to call it, snu-snu. *Alright rant over*

As is usual for a romance webnovel like this, there are a lot of faceslaps as well, satisfying ones at that. But they are not really able to climb over the high wall called frustration that one as a reader faces. Plus, all the characters barring Lu Jinnian’s step brother are really after tearing the couple apart. Like I don’t really know what’s going on in their mind. If you understand that two people are in love, why not just leave them alone.

I agree with some of the comments on NovelUpdates that state that the female lead is such a hollow character. Yeah, if you’re reading this review and you’ve reached here, you would say why did I even write this review. No, it was by no means to rant my feelings out. I read this novel like almost a year back. I just need to tell people that despite its popularity on Qidian, it’s not what you would want to start.

Conclusion: I would rate this novel as 1/5, just for the detailed writing and giving justice to most of the characters without a lot of loose ends. I would highly recommend people to stay away from it. It has no relation with reality at all and I personally think this might be the only love story (I don’t know about others by Ye Fei Ye) worse than Twilight.

Final feelings about the novel: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

More Info: This novel also has an ongoing webcomic on Qidian itself and a Chinese drama called Pretty Man (I started it only to drop it at 2nd episode I think although it starred one of my favorite actors Dylan Xiong).

Read here: Bringing The Nation’s Husband Home on webnovel.com (Readers discretion is advised).

Personal Front: I celebrated my New Years at home which I visited after 1.5 years. It was a good vacation and I have been recharged. As I said in my last post, I have been focusing on myself and my learning lately and I feel much more positive than before. I guess meditating works after all. Once again, shout out to my friend who told me about a particular app for meditation

Anyway, nothing else has been happening and life is still going on and time is still flying by. Which reminds me, why is everyone on internet saying that January passed by very slow and it felt like years? Like people, 2019 started just yesterday and one whole month has gone by in a blink of an eye. Is it just me?

Today’s Song: I am back to podcast game and not really listening to songs these days but this particular one has stuck with me since I am following this anime this season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hZ4_Kh_1Lw