~ Taylor ~ Leave a comment

While thinking of what to post for Friday, Chelsea reminded me that it was K-Drama day! While I have not been watching anything recently, I do have a couple I would like to watch in the near future. I also discovered I needed to update MyDramaList.com with all the shows I added to my Netflix watch list!

Perfume

Seo Yi Do is a top designer. Although he appears to be the perfect man on the outside, his personality leaves something to be desired. On top of that, he has about 52 phobias and 35 allergies.
Min Jae Hee is a middle-aged housewife, who has devoted her life to her family only to see it fall apart before her eyes. She discovers a miracle perfume that makes her look young again.After recovering her youth, she ends up walking the runway in one of Seo Yi Do’s fashion shows and signs with a top modeling agency to become a celebrity. Both of them get a second chance at romance in what is described as a fantasy romantic comedy.

I saw an ad for Perfume on YouTube and instantly asked Chelsea what it was and, like the goddess she is, she knew! So, onto the watch list it went.

I Hear Your Voice

Jang Hye Sung, a bold, sassy, thick-faced, comical, and a materialistic public defender who becomes a lawyer after overcoming poverty and painful memories from her childhood, comes to realization about society and justice after meeting Park Soo Ha, a 19-year-old boy who reads other people’s thoughts and Cha Kwan Woo, an innocent lawyer who lives a disciplined life. Jang Hye Sung is actually Soo Ha’s first love after she gave a decisive testimony on his father’s murder case 10 years ago and Soo Ha promised to protect her from the killer’s threats. Meanwhile, Cha Kwan Woo is Jang Hye Sung’s fellow lawyer, a cheerful and an idealistic former cop even though his character is a bit slow, he is nice and pleasant with a firm idea of his principles and justice. Together they will team up to find the justice in the courtroom and solve the toughest cases with less than 1% chance of winning.

This is a drama that I saw on Netflix and when reading the little synopsis, I knew it was something I could get into. It is definitely on my “next to watch” list.

New/Upcoming Drama Release Radar

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

Since I’ve been on such the drama binge lately, I figured I would share some of my most anticipated new and upcoming drams. I track all of my watching over on My Drama List and do most of my watching on Viki, which I adore! Let’s get in to the dramas

Moment At Eighteen

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To be completely honest, I’m not even really sure what this one is about. BUT the one thing that is going to have my glued to my screen on the 22nd is the fact that this will be Ong Seong Wu’s first main role in a television show post Wanna One’s disbandment, and considering he was my favorite member, I need to support him no matter what he decides to do. From my understanding this show will be a Slice of Life/Coming of Age story about a group of friends and things that they have experienced in their life. Although this isn’t something I typically lean for in my drama watching, I will for certain binge this entire thing as soon as I have subtitles.

Mr. Temporary/Class of Lies

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Hellooooooooo Yoon Gyun Sang. I absolutely fell for this giant in Clean With A Passion For Now and think he portrayed his character in that so amazingly. So of course this has been on my radar for some time, but it’s finally airing now!! There are already 2 episodes out and I know I need to get watching ASAP. This seems to be up there with He Is Psychometric for creepy/suspenseful vibes from what I’m picking up. Our main male lead is an extremely successful lawyer who takes a fall from grace when he takes on a case about a murder at a High School. To redeem his reputation he goes under cover as a temporary teacher to solve the case.

Growing Pain

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This drama honestly snuck up on me. I’ve been waiting for any imformation on this drama since last year when I fell in love with Fiction Guo as Si Tu Feng in the drama Accidentally in Love on Netflix and added this to my list as soon as I saw it. Growing Pains is a Coming of Age story following the lives of a family of four children basically just following them through life. This entire thing has aired which is FORTY episodes so I need to watch this as soon as I can because Fiction is calling my name.

Level Up

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You’ll be surprised to know that I know nothing about the actors or actresses in this one and mainly hyped about the story when it comes to Level Up. It’s a business romance, and honestly that alone will get me. But this one revolves around a dying GAMING business and follows the Chief Development Officer as she teams up with the company director to try and create a game to save the company, and in the mean time creates love. I’m sold, that’s all I can really say when it comes to this one.

Go Go Squid

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Yet another one that I am beyond excited for just from reading the information on this drama. This follows a girl who has built an online persona by posting singing covers, but when it comes to interacting with the famous professional gamer she’s nothing but a hot mess. He’s also the cold heartless male lead that I’m sure I am going to LOVE watching his heart melt. This drama is about at the halfway point, so it could be perfect for binging to catch up to the currently airing episodes.

Lady Midnight Review

~ Taylor ~ Leave a comment

25494343Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre/Subject: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal
Pages: 688
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

“The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.
It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.
Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions.
Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?”

I first started this book in 2016 after it came out because I had just finished The Mortal Instruments and was still knee deep in my obsession with the series and the Shadowhunter world. What I did not expect was to hate Emma the first time meeting her. So, I got 90 pages in and stopped. I was not in the mood for her or her attitude.

Coming back to it now that the trilogy is complete and having finished it on audio, I can say, I hate Emma a little less. While she is still arrogant and annoying, she is a little more tolerable. I did however fall head over heels in love with the Blackthorn family. Julian has been the acting head of their household and the love he has for those children broke my heart, but in a good way.

My main issue with this book is, it was too long. I usually have no issues with the length of Cassie’s books but I feel like this was about 100 pages too long. The beginning was incredibly slow, even in audiobook form. Then I got about 250 pages in and I found myself avoiding the book entirely. Things really started to pick up around the 400 page mark when the ball actually started rolling on the plot and things were happening.

I understand the desire for world building and expanding since this is a new group of characters and a new Institute but having come from the previous books and knowing how the Shadowhunter world works, it just seemed redundant. That being said, the addition to this world and the new information we were given was very interesting and I am curious to see how the rest of this new trilogy goes.

Top Five Wednesday – Roadtrip Reads

~ Taylor ~ Leave a comment

While I no longer tend to listen to audiobooks in the car or read in the car, I do like the idea of an epic fantasy or a quick contemporary to help make the car ride a little less. . . car ridey. Here are five books that I would listen to the audiobook for while on a roadtrip!

5. Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell

All I know about this book is “power, romance, and destiny collide in this sweeping reimagining of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece Les Misérables.” That was all I needed to know and I was sold.

4. Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

The hype around this book is epic and from what I understand it is hit or miss. I started this book physically and I didn’t get very far so my hope is that getting to this book on audio will help.

3. Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

Earlier this morning, like 6am, I finished Lady Midnight which is the first book in The Dark Artifices trilogy on audio. I feel like this trilogy is best listened to, well for me anyways because Cassie just makes the world larger and more complex with every book.

2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

This is the start of a diverse fantasy series and I am all about it. Epic fantasies have been my cup of tea for a while now and I know that this is a favorite among the book community so I would love to listen to see what the hype is all about!

And coming in at Number One. . .
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This is a book that swept the nation when it was released last year. I somehow, have yet to read it. So, if the desire were to strike, this is a definite choice to a roadtrip audiobook.

When you go on roadtrips, what do you listen to? Is it a playlist or an audiobook? If it is a playlist, what kind of music is on it? If it is an audiobook, what kind of audiobook is it? Let me know in the comments what your preference for a long roadtrip would be!

~ Taylor ~ Leave a comment

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I want to share with you what I plan on reading for this week!

Audio:

Lady Midnight
I am currently working on this hunker of a book on audio and it is definitely helping me get through it faster than the last time I tried reading this book. It is the first of The Dark Artifices trilogy in the Shadowhunters realm. I am currently on page 343 and that puts me about half way through. I am hoping to finish this book by the end of the week so I can move to my next audiobook.

Physical:

Three Sides of a Heart
I started working on this anthology a couple days ago because I feel like I don’t want to read anything. Luckily, this is a collection of short stories so I can jump back and forth reading which ever story I want. At this point, I have read the stories by Katie Cotugno, Renee Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir. That is three of sixteen. I am currently reading the story by Rae Carson. I hope to read a couple of these stories a night until I finish it.

Faking It
I think this is a companion novel to a book I read last year, Losing It. I know that these are fast reads so I think I can get through this in a shift at work or at least get a good chunk and finish it at home after.

Red, White, and Royal Blue
I have been trying to get to this book this whole month and hopefully this month I am finally able to so do. I have heard that this is a fast read and that is good! Fast, easy reads are exactly what I need right now. Even if I start it this week, I can finish it early next week!

What are you planning to read this week? Do you plan your weekly reading or just kind of roll with it? Let me know down in the comments!

Comeback: A K-Pop Novel Review

~ Taylor ~ Leave a comment
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Comeback: A K-Pop Novel by Lyn Ashwood and Rachel Wood
Publication Date: June 8, 2019
Publisher: Ashwood&Rose
Genre/Subject: Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 309 on Kindle
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Emery Jung is living his dream. Known by his stage name M, he is loved by millions of fans around the world as a member of the rising K-pop group NEON, but all fame comes with a cost, especially when one slip up can have viral consequences. 

Alana Kim is trying to forget. After a tragic loss sends her spiraling, she escapes to her family in Korea, abandoning her love of music along the way. However, her plans are derailed when she literally runs into M, the famous K-pop idol. 

When their paths collide, Emery and Alana must work together to prevent a scandal from ruining NEON’s success, sparking a journey of friendship, love, and healing. Unfortunately, fame and love aren’t easily compatible, especially in the world of K-pop.

Lyn and Rachel noticed I was a fan of Kpop and asked if I wanted to read their book! I was sent a copy of this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review. Of course I agreed. It mixed two of my favorite things. Kpop and reading, so how could I say no?

The book switches between Emery, or M, and Alana’s points of view and we meet Emery first. He is backstage at a music network in Seoul, South Korea as he prepares with his group, NEON, for their latest comeback when he turns around and knocks into someone getting tea all over his white pants. That someone he knocked into was “A” a girl he met a couple summers ago at Han River.

As the book progresses, we learn that “A” is Alana and there is a lot that poor Alana is dealing with. The first and largest issue being PTSD after the tragic loss of Alex, her brother. Alana has cut music out of her life because of this loss and while she works in the K-pop industry, she avoids anything involving her one time favorite group, NEON.

Emery and Alana have a love story that deals a lot with Alana’s guilt of losing her brother, Emery’s pressure from the fame of NEON, and their attempts to not fall in love with each other. I really enjoyed this book and while the ending was too abrupt for me, Comeback was a fast read and was an enjoyable inside look of the industry that has taken over my life these last few months.

~ Taylor ~ Leave a comment

One of the things Chelsea and I discussed doing on this blog when we were still in the planning stages were weekly updates on what we were listening to! So, here are the top 5 to 10 songs that I have had stuck on repeat for the last week.

Chelsea and I are seeing Pentagon in September and while they are one of her Ult groups, they are still relatively new to me. The first come back I was here for was Sha La La. I fell in love with them since. This is an older song and I have been obsessed with it since I really listened to the song earlier this week.

VIXX fucks me up. Every single time. The first time I met Chelsea in May, one of the things she did was show me this video. Recently it came on shuffle for me while we were playing Minecraft together and it fucked me up all over again. I’ve been listening to them for the last few days because I’m still trying to learn them. I only know my bias, Ravi, and want to know them all!

E – X – O . . . aka my latest obsession. I recently stated that Call Me Baby is my favorite EXO song and every time I hear it, I am reminded why I feel that way about the song. SO GOOD. Plus, I always find myself doing the “call me baby” dance during the chorus. Much like Vixx, I am trying to learn the guys because I only really know Chanyeol because he is, of course, my bias.

This song has actually been on repeat since May because I love it so much. SHINee is an older group and this is an older song so I don’t think I would have known about them had it not been for Chelsea. I. Am. Obsessed! with this song.

This. Thumbnail. Monsta X knows me so well. Anyways, Chelsea and I are seeing Monsta X in 17 days from today and we are both praying that this song is going to be added to the setlist. RIP if that is the case. This is a single that the guys released late last month and I have been listening to it pretty much every day since because their English is killing me. 17 days needs to fly by so I can see them IN PERSON.

Lastly, this song is everything to me right now. Stray Kids is literally my number three group so when this was getting released I died a little. Firstly, I want Chan to take a nap. Secondly, he was not kidding when he mentioned the EDM direction they were going for this trilogy. Side Effects is so fucking good, I cannot stress that enough. Felix’s deep ass voice fits it so well that it makes my heart so freaking happy. Also, thank you to my OG SKZ bias, Felix for teaching me “my head hurts” in Korean.

What songs have you been listening to recently? Kpop or not, I want to know! Let me know down below!

Weekly Drama Round Up

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

Hey guys! So I’m really not sure what I’m going to be calling this, but I figured I would share some of the dramas (and varietys) I’ve watched this past week and discuss a little bit about them. If this is something that you like I will try to keep up with it!

Suspicious Partner
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This show focuses on a girl (Bong Hee) going through law school to become an attorney and ends up being falsely accused of murder. She is prosecuted by our male lead who’s main goal in life is to be a ruthless prosecutor, but when he finds evidence that leads him to believe she is innocent, he ends up revoking the indictment. Flash forward a few years Bon Hee is now a not so successful public defender who is still looking for someone who was a witness to the real murder, causing the murderer to begin targeting her.

I’ve just finished episode 19 of 40 and I’m really invested in the show. The romance between the two main leads is such a slow burn it’s killing me, but their moments are so precious together, I cannot wait for something to happen. I also like the story of the murderer and trying to see what is going on with that mystery and what will happen next. So far, this is a highly recommended drama from me!

The 100 season 3
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The 100 in Korea is a bit different than The 100 that we are used to over here in the states. This show focuses on a music group and gives them 100 hours to prepare a completely idol made concert. This season is following the boy group Imfact. As of this morning I will be seeing these boys in August and getting to meet them, so I decided I needed to do some research and watch up on them. I am absolutely falling in love with this group and going to die when I get to sit in from of Jeup and LeeSang (The boys on each end)

Fall In Love With Me
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Honestly, Taylor and I both watched the first episode of this together, and I cannot even fully begin to tell you what is supposed to be going on. I know this follows an advertising mogul who decides to take a break from the business and goes undercover to help out a smaller advertising firm. Like I said, we only watched the first episode and talk about CHEESEY. We weren’t really pulled in so we went back to our old faithful Love O2O and rewatched a few of those episodes instead. If you’ve watching this, and it gets better or worse, please let me know. Because I honestly am curious to know if I should drop this or not, since I’ve never dropped a drama before!

Top Five Wednesday – Summer Reads

~ Taylor ~ Leave a comment

Summer officially began June 21st and man oh man, is it hot here in Indiana. What is better in the summer than a cool room and a good book? While I have a huge TBR, here are five books I want to get to before fall comes up in September. I took this prompt from Top Five Wednesday and tweaked it a little!

5. Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

This is a book that is EVERYWHERE right now! It is getting so much love and so much attention. I think this has already been optioned for either a movie or a television adaptation and this was in the works before the book was even released! I want to see what the hype is about and if the hype is worth it or if it falls short.

4. A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

So, this book is the third in a quartet. When Reaper came out, I just HAD to have it but I am still yet to read it after getting it shortly after it was released a little over a year ago. Since I devoured An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night, I am ready to dive back into this world and have my heart broken.

3. Legendary by Stephanie Garber

About two years ago, I was walking through a grocery store listening to Caraval, the first book in this trilogy. I was nearing the end so when I realized what was going on in the novel, I had to stop in the middle of the cereal isle just to finish the audiobook. I think there were tears but at this point, all I remember is dying to get my hands on Legendary. I finally got the book in my hands thanks to a dear friend but have I read it yet? You guess it. Nope. So, by the end of the summer, I actually hope to complete Legendary and the final book in the trilogy, Finale.

2. Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard

Last year I was listening to the audiobook of Truthwitch on my way to work (it was an hour and a half drive) and was just blown away by the story. In February of this year, I was training for my new job and while doing so, I was listening to Windwitch. When Bloodwitch was announced I instantly preordered it because I had to have my hands on the next installment of this series. I honestly cannot wait to get to this book and I am hoping it will be very soon.

Finally, the number one book I want to read before summer ends is. . .

Siren’s Fury by Mary Weber

This. Book. It is the second in a trilogy and after reading the first, Storm Siren, it was instantly one of my favorites and it made Mary Weber one of my favorite authors of all time. I started this last year but I have yet to make much more progress so, by the end of the summer, this trilogy will be completed.

What are some of the books you want to finish before the end of the summer season? Let me know in the comments below!