January 2023 Comebacks Pt 2

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

I know that I made a post about my most anticipated comebacks of the month, and also that the month is almost over, but there have been some announced or dropped that I really want to talk about, so I’m going to!

January 17th

I have yet to listen to this, but I am so glad C9 finally gave them a comeback. It is at the top of my list to check out because Cignature is so cute and they always do such a good job with their performances, I just know this had to be a good comeback too

January 20th

Hello, it’s Twice, what’s not to love???

January 23rd

While technically a Japanese release, who can not be excited about OOO comebacks. Like YASSSS Slut it up boys

January 25th

XG LADIESSSSSS I really love their concept and was so hyped that they were dropping another single. I wish they could get a full album though because I just know these girls would devour it.

January 27th

The newest addition to my children, but having 2 former members of Spectrum makes them a little more special to me than it normally would. They just dropped this single and MV and it’s so fun and light and really perfect let’s just be honest

January 28th

Honestly, this release is the ENTIRE reason I wanted to make another post. I am writing this on Friday which is just before the release when I tell you I am so hype I don’t think you can fully understand. My all time favorite band, while the two oldest members are currently enlisted, are dropping not their first comeback but SECOND comeback while the members have been gone, yet still have all members in the comeback. Not only is it full members on the album IT’S AN ENTIRE ENGLISH ALBU. ALL OF MY FAVORITE SONGS NOW IN ENGLISH??? When Younghoon and Kanghyun come back from the military so help me RBW if you do not give these boys a North American tour I will be knocking at your door. I would give so much to be able to see them perform live.

January 30th

BOM are finally debuting as 8Turn and not only am I excited since I’ve been following them during their rookie era, this debut title track actually sounds really good. I hope it turns out to be fully good when we get to hear the whole thing. I have some really high hopes.

And another debut this date that I am really looking forward to. I know BXB wasn’t announced that long ago, but having former TRCNG members in this group I will fully be supporting them as much as I can. TRCNG sits really close to my heart even though I wasn’t a stan during the time they were active, but being a For X and being with Omega X while they are going through their abuse trials with their company, I want to be able to help support the former members of TRCNG since it seems they went through something similar but were unable to get the proper justice from their company.

Chelsea’s Currently Watching

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

Another post I haven’t done in a very long time. A wrap up of what is currently on my watch list, which sometimes can be very long. Since I’m trying to participate in more watching challenges on MyDramaList I figure talking about them here will also help to push me to watch them more. Some of these I recently started, while some of these I feel like I have been trying to finish for a VERY long time.

Yes, I was watching Alchemy of Souls, Yes it was before the second season started, actually probably before it was even popular enough for them to decide to do the second season, and yes I still have yet to finish the original season yet. Usually I am not one for historical dramas, but I think the magical element is what is able to keep me so hooked on this one. I was more than halfway done so it would not take much for me to finish this, but then I would have the whole second season to watch as well. I will go back to this soon because I originally started for Minhyun so I of course will continue for him as well, even if he is the doomed second male lead.

The last time I did one of these posts I mentioned Dawon, one of the loves of my life. So of course naturally I would watch the show that was his acting debut., Doom At Your Service Problem is, because I love him so much and enjoy his acting so much I just keep rewinding any portion that he is in and watch it over and over again. This makes it very hard to actually get anything watched and takes a lot of time! But I have head just so many great things about this drama, as well as Dawon’s acting, that I really need to go back and sit down and finish this one out as well. I’m not that far in so I have a whole lot of the story to get to on this one.

The hype on Attorney Woo was SO STRONG. To be completely honest I do not know why I fell off and haven’t finished this one yet, because I really was enjoying it. I can totally understand why it blew up and so many people watched it. It’s another that I am more than halfway done with so just a couple episodes and I could finally add it to my finished list!

I honestly think I started this drama because I got it confused with the one that Kang Daniel was supposed to be in, but I got so far that I really got in to the plot and it was kind of too late to turn around. Plus, B1A4 Jinyoung is like super handsome so it’s still a win for male leads. But I know that I had just left off at the point where the plot was really starting to develop and it was getting a little more complicated. So thankfully, when I go back in to finish watching I won’t have too much to try and remember to actually be able to fully get back in to the storyline

Now this drama, this is a TikTok made me watch it drama. I kept seeing clips about one of the main couples from this show and I just had to go and watch it for myself. Finding it was kind of hard because it was “cancelled” in Korea so they have aired it in a different country instead and don’t plan to put it on any sites that a typical Korean drama would be on, which is a shame but I understand with how serious school bullying is there. It just blows my mind that the actor that has been brought to light as a bully portrayed someone in this dram while also touching on serious subjects of bullying as well. When that episode happened my mind wanted to explode because I was so shocked that it could touch on that subject and the actress had no thoughts that uh oh my past might come to haunt me. I hopefully can end up finishing this one soon.

To be honest I did not go in to this drama thinking it would be something I would enjoy. I purely started watching this drama for two reasons. One, it kept showing up on my main page on Netflix so it was always staring at me just begging me to watch it. Two, Lee Min Ho. I mean, need I say more? He’s such.a highly loved actor and I honestly don’t think I have watched anything else with him as an actor in it, so why not the drama that keeps begging to be watched on my Netflix. I was at about the halfway point of this one, but I feel like if I remember correctly it was starting to get a little boring, and that’s an issue I have a lot of the time. So hopefully when I return to this one to finish it I don’t find it boring and can really make it to the end of the show.

Finally! Something that I am actually actively watching. This is something that I am watching with one of my good friends right now, and we have been watching an episode and then discussing it afterwards together. So far we are really enjoying it and the concept is pretty interesting since it hasn’t really been done before. This may just be my first Rowoon drama that I actually finish! Honestly though, his character so far is annoying as well and I would be so fed up with him if he acted like that in the real world

Stacking The Shelves

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

It has been such a long time where I have gone in to a Barnes and Noble and bought more than one book or non kpop albums and I think that is something that should be shared. This mainly was because I am now currently on vacation with my mom and needed things to read while on said vacation. Because this is the time when I get to read the most. Of course I also had to get a kpop album as well so I added that to the post and shared the pulls as well. I am super excited to try and read as much as I can in the next week and a half!

Lunar Love – Lauren Kung Jessen
Love, Lists & Fancy Ships – Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Highly Suspicious and unfairly cute – Talia Hibbert
A Magic Steeped in Poison – Judy I Lin
A Venom Dark and Sweet – Judy I Lin

January 2023 Comebacks & Debuts!

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

I am so excited for a new year for new starts and new comebacks. These are the ones that I am most looking forward to this month and you will most likely see something related to them in the coming month from me. I may come back and edit this as more things are announced as well. I didn’t realize we didn’t have that many announcements out, I’ve been a little behind on keeping track of new releases.

January 4th

Astro Moonbin & Sanha Madness
So I am writing this early so this hasn’t come out for me yet, because I am scheduling this to come out on the day of this release SO I HOPE YOU HAVE WATCHED IT. Astro never disappoints and that goes for their units as well. I know this is going to be one that I listen to over and over again, I hope that I can find some b-sides that I like as well

To be fair, I am kind of nervous for this one. Nine has been my bias for OOO since Savannah so this is going to be very dangerous for me. Especially since Mill came in the picture and wrecked his way on to my bias list and they are the ones that have been paired together for this Underground Idol project. It’s gonna be a great release though and I am very much looking forward to it.

January 9th

SF9 Puzzle
It feels so surreal to have a comeback after having finally gotten to see them perform live. It was always a dream of mine to see them perform and now we are having a comeback just one short month after their US tour. I hope they do very well with this comeback, and we have Rowoon back with this one as well. I’m sure he wont participate in Fansigns but I hope they can have more then the 3/4 stages they did for Scream & Trauma because they are robbed every comeback and FNC treats them terribly

January 16th

MY GIRL. I am seriously so proud of everything she has been doing and all of her hard work. I love her so much, and this teaser is so original. I wonder if it’s going to be more similar to her b-sides from the last album then the two prior title tracks? Also! I did buy her season’s greetings and I cannot wait to get it, maybe I’ll post some unboxing photos on here, it’s fruit themed and she is the most precious so I am stoked to get it!

January 2023 TBR

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

I have a few different goals this year for my reading. My first goal is I joined a reading challenge on Goodreads for a different genre each month of the year. Something else I would like to do would be to read older ARCs that I had been approved for and never read. I’d also like to read some more graphic novels, because I think I would like to watch more anime. The final challenge of the year for myself is my best friend Cheyenne and I are going to try and buddy read some things this year, to help motivate the other to continue to read. So keeping that in mind, here is my January 2023 TBR!

Crazy For Young Adult Books
January Mental Health Issue Challenge
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The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart

Finish Something off my
:”Currently Reading”
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Renegades by Marissa Meyer

New To Me 2023
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Lia & Beckett’s Abracadabra by Amy Noelle Parks

2 Old ARCs
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Coming Up For Air by Miranda Kenneally
Bonjour Shanghai by Isabelle Lafleche

A 2023 ARC
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How to Win a Breakup by Farah Heron

New To Me ARC
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The Songs You’ve Never Heard by Becky Jerams & Ellie Wyatt

Cheyenne Buddy Read
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The Girl Who Fell beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

2 Graphic Novels
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Demon Slayer
Deko-Boko Sugar Days

Most Played K-pop Songs of 2022

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

Happy New Year!
Here we are yet again, a new year and me trying to blog yet again. 
I like to think I have higher hopes this year
but I think we will just have to see how it goes
For 2023. I want to focus on self care and happiness
I want to do more things that make me happy
So what better way to document and track them then through my blog

I use an app called Last.Fm
It lets me track my plays across multiple platforms
and gives me reports of my listening
I listened to songs a total of 10,618 times with a variety of 1,719 tracks
So here are the top 10 most listened to songs of mine from the year of 2022

10. Don Quixote – Seventeen
91 plays

9. Play Dumb – Omega X
94 plays

8. Dangerous – E’Last
94 plays

7. What’s Goin On – Omega X
96 plays

6. Jtrap – JWiiver
94 plays

5. X-Ray – Ghost9
104 plays

4. JikJin – Treasure
108 plays

3. Control – Ghost9
111 plays

2. Creature – E’Last
139 plays

1. Love Me Like – Omega X
162 plays

I think it’s pretty safe to say which groups are my ult groups based on what made the top 10. I’ll also be working on a new Top 100 releases of 2022 for Youtube this month as well!

Current Library Loans

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

A few weeks ago I decided to upgrade my very beat up kindle and bought myself a new kindle paperwhite, which I am absolutely in love with. To combat spending a bunch of money on books though, I have been using my library cards a lot recently and thought I would share what I currently have out on loan at this moment!

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Love Decoded by Jennifer Yen
Fools in Love: Fresh Twist on Romantic Tales
A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin
Crush by Tracy Wolff
The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa

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The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra
The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart
You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

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The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian
You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score

As you can see, there has been a lot of influence from booktok, as well as just browsing the new releases. I hope I can get to all of these because I am really excited for each one, and I have been reading a lot more recently now that I have my new kindle.

CIX in Chicago

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

I am kind of disappointed in myself for forgetting to vlog either concert I went to this week, but honestly it was probably for the best. A week ago I got to see CIX in Chicago, and while the boys did an amazing job, the concert experience was just very lacking. I was able to get gold which allowed us to have soundcheck, if you ever have the chance to do a soundcheck for Kpop groups DO IT. So we got to the venue about 3 hours early to line up and check in and vibe for banners and freebies, which we got none of. I’m not sure if people just were not Fix and didn’t have anything or if they just didn’t want to come down the gold line. I love collecting the fan banners so I am a little sad about that. But for soundcheck when you go in the venue you are instructed to keep your phones put up and just enjoy the experience. If you have your phone out, they probably will kick you out, its just a time to see the artists and enjoy. The problem with this soundcheck was that once we were inside, we had priority entry, so we were packed in the venue for TWO HOURS with no seats before the show was scheduled to even start. It was very hot and super tiring to be unable to really move or anything for that long. The concert though was so amazing, the performances were fire, and seeing Cinema with my own eyes was something I always wanted. But Chicago Fix, or just fans at the show, can the next time the boys come we all decide not to push each other?? While waiting for encore I almost had a panic attack because I was being pressed on from every side and felt like I couldn’t breathe and at that point I was so ready to go home. I really hope that if they get to come back to Chicago they get a seated venue or C9 does something a little better with the whole concert experience. All in all though I am so grateful to have been able to see one of my ult groups finally, after having their original tour cancelled and my ticket refunded back in 2020. So here are some of my favorite photos I took that night!

Review: These Deadly Games by Diana Urban

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

54653678These Deadly Games by Diana Urban
Publication Date: February 1st 2022
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre|Subject: Young Adult | Thriller | Mystery
Pages: 352
Rating: ★★★★☆

Let’s play a game.

You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. If you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.

Are you ready?

When Crystal Donavan gets a message on a mysterious app with a video of her little sister gagged and bound, she agrees to play the kidnapper’s game. At first, they make her complete bizarre tasks: steal a test and stuff it in a locker, bake brownies, make a prank call.

But then Crystal realizes each task is meant to hurt—and kill—her friends, one by one. But if she refuses to play, the kidnapper will kill her sister. Is someone trying to take her team out of the running for a gaming tournament? Or have they uncovered a secret from their past, and wants them to pay for what they did…

As Crystal makes the impossible choices between her friends and her sister, she must uncover the truth and find a way to outplay the kidnapper… before it’s too late.

I feel like I have so many thoughts to organize after reading this one. To be honest it has been some time since I read something defined as a thriller/mystery so I was going in to this with very empty expectations, since I can’t remember the last time I read something like this to base any expectations off of. I am going to do my best to summarize my thoughts without giving any spoiler though, as it is a mystery, and to be honest I didn’t figure out who the culprit was until shortly before our main character did herself. Although I did have an ever growing list!

I’ve also been very out of touch with the bookish community, so I had to hype going in to this either. I found it on my recently added from my library and decided to check it out through Libby to read on my new Kindle. I have to admit, the synopsis seems a lot less sinister than everything that is actually going on in this book. The characters are an easily believable group of friends, but thanks to frequent flashbacks set throughout the novel, we get a good look at how the dynamics of the group were formed, and why things are the way they are.

I’m very mixed with how I feel about the pacing of the novel. While things kick off pretty quickly in the book, I felt that so much had already happened by the 50% mark I was dying to know who was behind everything that was happening and what was the reasoning. To me, that first half of the novel was so detail focused that towards the end of the book we were lacking the same detail and some plot points felt rushed to me. Especially the very end. While there were brief explanations given for things that happened off page, I was still confused as to how these conclusions came to be and disappointed we didn’t get to see them happen to better see the evolution of the plot.

I have been trying to get back in to touch with the booktube community and found something that BooksAndLala mentioned that sticks out to me about These Deadly Games that I think is what helped keep my interest the whole time and me being unable to put the book down. This would be the use of Red Herrings. While a lot of them weren’t blatant and in your face, they did help to guide you to create your own scenarios and conclusions to what was going on, without giving enough away to make you think you had the culprit at the same time. I didn’t have an idea of who it could be until shortly before Crystal uncovered it herself, and the way it happened was still a surprise to me as I read what was happening. This definitely kept me speeding through the book because I was dying (figuratively and unlike our friends in the novel) to figure out who it was and if my hunches were correct.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, so much so I finished it in just 2 days. While there were things I didn’t like, that ended up lowering my rating to 4/5 stars, I still really enjoyed the book overall and would recommend it to someone else wanting a face paced mystery thriller. With the way the ending was left I would hope for a sequel, but if one does eventually come it would likely require a reread because I’m not sure how many details I would be able to recall while reading another novel in this same world with any remaining characters.

April 2022 Stuck On Repeat

~ A Very Bookish Girl ~ Leave a comment

I used to make youtube videos featuring my most played music every month, but it’s been difficult to download what I need working on hotel wifi while traveling for work. So, I decided I’ll make a monthly post here posting my top 10 most played songs from the month before, until I can figure out this whole SOR video situation.

Here are the top 10 songs I spent the most time listening to in April!

10. Maniac – Stray Kids

9. Love Me Like – Omega X

8. Jtrap – Jwiiver

7. Control – Ghost9

6. JikJin – Treasure

5. Wasted Youth – NINE.i

4. Daze Days – NINE.i

3. Beauty Inside – NINE.i

2. X-Ray – Ghost9

1. Parallel Universe – NINE.i

A lot of new music from rookie groups, but they are all so talented! This was an amazing month for releases! What were some of your most listened to songs?

~Chelsea