B.A. in English...now what?

[surwitch]

the mighty nein — Can't we give ourselves one more chance? Why can't we give love that one more chance?

song: Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure

reblogs hightly appreciated! ‪‪❤︎‬‪

love is just something so important guys. such a cool thing - love.

[vexahlias-bow]

Essek:

[shellyb04]

Are You the One (2024)

Are You the One (Cdrama)

Liu Mian Tang loses her memory and upon awakening believes Cui Xing Zhou to be her husband. Cui Xing Zhou is after the bandit lord Lu Wen, and it's well known that Liu Mian Tang is Lu Wen's concubine. Hoping to lure the bandit out, Xing Zhou pretends to be Mian Tang's husband and begins to have feelings for her. But can something that began with deception actually wind up happily?

8.5/10

This is a really good story full of cute domesticity. But for me, that is undercut by the fact that she actually believes she's married. And that takes entirely too long. For me, the show drags in a few places, but the story is enjoyable. I love the twists of this story and Liu Mian Tang is absolutely brilliant. My favorite character is actually one of the side characters who becomes Empress. She is the sweetest. I find some of the acting in the ML a bit lacking on occasion and that's what knocks it down from a 9.

[angelofdumpsterfires]

how i feel about all the changes in s3

[shellyb04]

You are My Secret (2024)

You Are My Secret (Cdrama)

Former classmates reunite and decide to marry as they both want a stable marriage. Then, he gets reassigned and becomes her boss at a bank that doesn't allow interoffice relationships. So they must keep their relationship a secret from almost everyone.

8.5/10

This is a great drama. The secondary characters are fantastic and developed and the chemistry of the leads is wonderful. My one negative would be the third couple. Their story felt largely unnecessary and was rather shallowly developed. I understood where the relationship was going very quickly and their story just felt inevitable and plodding. Whereas the other two couples and their familial relationships just worked like magic. This is a fluffy sweet show, although one episode did have me ugly cry. Overall, I adored this, just maybe leave the 3rd couple out next time.

[shellyb04]

Perfect Marriage Revenge (2023)

Perfect Marriage Revenge (Kdrama)

Starts off very Cinderella-esque. Newly married woman is derided by her adoptive family, finds out her husband only married her to get closer to her sister, and her mother pins a series of art forgeries on her. Her stepmother then has her killed after a car crash. Then she wakes up on the day she was supposed to pick out her wedding dress. She hatches a plan to get revenge on her family by instead marrying the man her sister wanted. But will this contract marriage lead to more?

9/10

This has the same vibe as Marry my Husband but with a bit more drama the whole way through. I love the main couple and this one does not hesitate with the skinship. I love watching her take her revenge and also find out the truth about her life.

[shellyb04]

My Sweet Mobster (2024)

My Sweet Mobster (Kdrama)

Eun Ha is a online children's entertainment creator. Seo Ji Wan is a former mobster now running a legitimate meat processing company. When their paths cross, will it be love or will prosecutor Jang Hyun Woo get in the way?

10/10

This is a mostly light fun show about a man trying to get out of a life he never really wanted and the woman who (after a bit) sees the good in him. Ji Wan's employees and housemates are wonderful, and grow on you throughout the show. The love triangle is not overdone. I will say some stuff toward the end had me in tears. I love that even when he tries to do the noble idiocy thing, Eun Ha knows exactly what he's doing and is able to call him on it. The side couple is fun as well, if a bit rushed. All in all, this is a wonderful rom-com about not judging someone on their first appearance.

[shellyb04]

My Lovely Liar (2023)

My Lovely Liar (Kdrama)

Woman can hear when people lie and it has made it impossible for her to trust people. She gets entangled with her new neighbor when she doesn't hear him lie.

7/10

Enjoyable. The chemistry of the leads is good, but it is a bit drawn out in places.

[twinklestarss]

Critical Role Cast at the premier of season 3 of The Legend Of Vox Machina

[shellyb04]

Marry My Husband (2024)

Marry My Husband (Kdrama)

Ji-won is killed by her husband on the day she finds out he's having an affair with her best friend. She wakes up 10 years in the past and is determined that this time, her fate will belong to someone else.

9.5/10

This story is great. I love the "rules" of fate that go through this drama. The main characters are wonderful and it is so much fun to hate the villains, especially as you see how Ji-won was treated. Really recommend this one!

[shellyb04]

The Princess Royal (2024)

The Princess Royal (Cdrama)

Princess Pingyue and her husband Pei Wenxuan have been married for 20 years, but for most of those, the marriage has been in name only. On the night Pingyue dies, she awakens in the time before her marriage and it is quickly revealed that her husband is back too. Can the two thwart their problems from last time and fix their relationship or will the political strife in the kingdom tear them apart yet again?

9/10 The first 30 episodes of this 40 episode drama are quite good. I love the back and forth between the Princess and her Prince Consort. They are switched from the typical and she is cold and logical while he is more emotional (although still supremely smart). The pair work quite well onscreen and I love the scenes where they finally begin to sort through their marriage and what went wrong. My only real complaint (which seems to be a common one for this drama) is that the SML gets a lot of screen time in the last quarter of the drama, more than is necessary IMO.

The Princess having to put her trust in her husband after being taught her whole life that love is weakness is one of the best parts in the whole show. I know some people didn't like the way it was played, but I found it totally understandable. Overall, really enjoyable drama!

[shellyb04]

My Happy Divorced Life (2023)

My Happy Divorced Life (Jdrama)

Thirty-five year old woman gets a divorce from her cheating husband. Then, meets a new 22 year old male coworker. She teaches him the ropes at their fashion publication and the two begin a romance. But does one of her celebrity clients harbor feelings for her as well?

6.5/10

The idea behind the show about finding confidence and age just being a number is fairly well portrayed. The show is enjoyable with a few weird spots. As a woman in her late 30s, it did feel odd to imagine dating a fresh faced college graduate. But they both came off immature enough that it worked. It was fine, but overall, a bit forgettable.

[shellyb04]

The Princess Bodyguard's Love (2023)

The Princess Bodyguard's Love (jdramaz) Meika's parents are forcing her to get married right out of high school to fulfill her family duty. To avoid an arranged marriage, she asks her bodyguard to marry her instead. She tells him it will be a marriage on paper only. They will both be free to have affairs and flings. But her new husband has other plans.

8/10

I actually mostly enjoyed this Jdrama. The first seven episodes went largely how I expected. Turns out that her bodyguard now husband was already in love with her and intends to make their marriage real...which takes basically no time at all. The two have their ups and downs, but Kou is a remarkable supportive husband overall. Then, we learn of Kou's childhood love. She died, but the tragedy gets worse and we see Kou's backstory in episode 8 of this 10 ep drama. The backstory and everything after shifts the drama entirely. The 8th episode by itself was almost hard to watch as it depicted some very real and very horrible things. Take the trigger warnings on the eps seriously. It's not overly gory, but it is...intense. We go from really sweet, mush to a dark and intense backstory that (to me) came out of no where. We knew he had a sad childhood in an orphanage, but I didn't expect to see it actually depicted. I actually really liked the ending, even though I didn't expect to after the 8th and 9th eps. My only real complaint (other than the quickness of the story which is a jdrama staple) is that I wish the lead actress could cry a bit better. Sometimes her crying looked happy. *shrug*

Like I said, overall, enjoyable but watch out for that genre shift.

[shellyb04]

Lovely Runner (2024)

Lovely Runner (Kdrama)

When her favorite celebrity dies suddenly, Im Sol finds herself back in the past 15 years, when they were both still in high school. Can she save him from his future fate?

10/10

The time travel aspect of this feels very unique. I love seeing how she has changed things. The show also did a really fun thing where they would cut a scene and then show you the rest of what happened later on. The main characters were absolutely fantastic. The fact that the same actors were able to play 19 and 32 is crazy, but it worked. I had a feeling when I started this show and was sobbing less than 10 minutes in that this was going to be special and it completely was. It's hard to talk about this without spoiling it, but it is definitely one I will watch again. I think the only two small (tiny) nitpicks that I had with the show are: a lot of the comedy stuff with Sun Jae's dad felt forced and unnecessary and there were a LOT of flashbacks throughout and I didn't feel like all of them were necessary. But those are tiny nitpicks in this wonderful show. I laughed, cried, screamed, and gasped. All the other characters were great, but I would single out Im Sol's grandmother as a special actress. Her shifts in character were so beautiful and painfully real at times. Overall, this is a must watch show.

[shellyb04]

The Secret Romantic Guesthouse (2023)

The Secret Romantic Guesthouse (Kdrama)

A noble girl turns her home into a guesthouse for scholars. The scholars who live there bring their complications, as does the girl. Through a series of events, the group begins to look for the lost prince Lee Seol, who went on the run 13 years ago.

9/10

It's an excellent story and the mystery had me guessing for a little while. The love story at the center is sweet and the show has fun with breaking certain stereotypes. I loved the ending and the beginning, but I found the middle to be a bit slow. I felt like it could have been 16 or 17 eps instead of 18 if they'd cut off some the middle that didn't go anywhere. The secondary characters were amazing. I was almost in tears several times because of them. This is probably one of my favorite historical K-dramas.

[shellyb04]

When I Fly Toward You (2023)

When I Fly Towards You (Cdrama)

This drama follows a group of high school students, focusing mostly on Su Zai Zai and Zheng Lu Ran, as they navigate life.

8.5/10

This is an excellent slice-of-life drama. The first 16ish episodes all take place in one year with the last episodes zooming through the rest of school, college, and early career. All of the characters here are a joy. Every one of the supporting characters have their own stories that don't feel like a drag on the main plot. Some side characters just totally disappear (I would really like to know what happened with the ML's family) and certain plot points never totally pay off. But overall, very sweet and a GREAT slice of life, cozy drama.

[shellyb04]

Destined With You (2023)

Destined With You (Kdrama)

A lawyer thinks that a civil servant is the key to curing his disease. There's also past lives, stalkers, and magic spells in the mix.

8.5/10

I really liked this. The main couple has great chemistry and made me feel. The side plots were okay, but didn't drag me in. I felt like a few points toward the end could have been shortened and cleaned up. My biggest complaint is that sometimes the main characters would just go stupid. "Oh, my boyfriend and my neighbor have both warned me I have a stalker and not to go out alone. I think I'll go to the woods and tell no one!" Things like that happen several times and made me want to choke the characters. I felt like there were better ways to get to those plot points that didn't make the characters seem like idiot. Overall, I enjoyed it, but the character stupidity was a lot. So basically this was a like, but not a love.