Waiting On Wednesday: Seoulmates ~ Susan Lee

 This week, my pick is:

Seoulmates ~ Susan Lee

Expected publication: September 20, 2022

Summary From Goodreads:

Her ex-boyfriend wants her back. Her former best friend is in town. When did Hannah’s life become a K-drama?

Hannah Cho had the next year all planned out—the perfect summer with her boyfriend, Nate, and then a fun senior year with their friends.

But then Nate does what everyone else in Hannah’s life seems to do—he leaves her, claiming they have nothing in common. He and all her friends are newly obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas, and Hannah is not. After years of trying to embrace the American part and shunning the Korean side of her Korean American identity to fit in, Hannah finds that’s exactly what now has her on the outs.

But someone who does know K-dramas—so well that he’s actually starring in one—is Jacob Kim, Hannah’s former best friend, whom she hasn’t seen in years. He’s desperate for a break from the fame, so a family trip back to San Diego might be just what he needs…that is, if he and Hannah can figure out what went wrong when they last parted and navigate the new feelings developing between them.

 Why I Can't Wait:

I have been so excited for this one for such a long time. I've been basically watching nothing but Asian Rom/Com/Dramas for so so long, and I am always excited for books, that I hope will give me that same kind of warm and fuzzy feeling.

**WOW was originally created by Jill at Breaking The Spine

Meteor Garden vs F4: Thailand

Hi, hi, hello!

I've not actually read Boys Over Flower. Nor have I watched the K-Drama. I HAVE, however:

1. Watched Meteor Garden (2018) in its entirety

2. Watched F4: Thailand

3. Read Boys Over Flowers Season 2

But anyways... Imma go through and compare the two shows that I HAVE watched and talk about which take I liked better... probably. I might forget and this will be the only time you get to hear me talking about it.

And, like, obviously that means there's going to be spoilers (for the BOF s2 Manga as well) so please stop reading if you haven't finished watching these shows and are planning to do so. Also, I'm paraphrasing and might possibly getting the little details wrong, but I've slept a lot since finishing watching them, so...

Episode 6 of Meteor Garden (2018)

Episode 4 of F4: Thailand

OKAY, so there's a part where our main boy Si/Thyme try and convince our main girl Shancai/Gorya to go on an outing, and at first they're both like nah bro, no thanks... and then they end up going shopping and lots of time passes and it starts raining and the girls are like, surely he isn't waiting for me?

And then all of a sudden they decide to go check, just in case. And lo and behold HE'S THERE! Here's a short youtube/TikTok clip that I found that shows the two scenes side by side. Hopefully it actually plays:

But this clip cuts off before you see his reaction to seeing her after waiting and waiting and waiting in the rain and not being able to get in touch with her on the phone.

So in F4: Thailand (which is the people in the top half of the clip, in case you're wondering) Thyme turns around and sees Gorya and the look he gives her comes off as being relieved (which I think he might be, just a little at least?) and she starts walking towards him and holds the umbrella out so it's covering both of them, and then what does Thyme do? He goes *WHAP*, and knocks the umbrella out of her hand and they start arguing/yelling at each other and playfully? knocking each other around... which is actually kind of funny and admittedly endearing.

Now we're going to jump to Meteor Garden. Shancai walks up behind him and when he notices her, he turns around... and throws his arms around her. *SWOON* and then Si talks about how long he'd been waiting there and Shancai's like "I never said I would come" and Si is like "you lost you don't have a choice lol" and then he notices that the jacket she's wearing has a tag on it still and is like "aww you bought new clothes for our date. What? It only cost 799 Yuan? That's so cheap!" (sidebar: 799 Yuan is approximately 119.50 US dollars, which is EXPENSIVE in my book, but he's a gazillionaire so I guess that would be cheap)

So then they start squabbling and Shancai asks him why he stayed and didn't go home, and Si tells her it was because he couldn't get ahold of her and was worried that she did come and couldn't find him or that she had an accident, so he HAD to wait to make sure.

The winner for this one, in my mind at least, Is 100%, without a doubt, Meteor Garden's Shancai and Si. When I watched it I gave a little squeal of delight plus a happy dance, because I thought it was so cute!

Here's another sidebar for you: In the Boys Over Flowers Season Two MANGA, there's also a scene where she's supposed to meet him somewhere and it starts raining, BUT! And big, major spoilers here, she NEVER SHOWS UP. AT ALL. Yikes.

Review: The Noh Family ~ Grace K. Shim

 

 

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.


Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 384
Running Time: 10h:4m
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Publication Date: May 3, 2022
 

Okay okay okay, this played out exactly like a K-Drama in my head. And that was obviously done on purpose and the whole point of the book, and I kind of adored that aspect of it.

I loved the whole premise of this book and how it was giving me Cinderella and The Four Knights Vibes (ish. vibes ISH) even though it was really nothing at all like that. I loved all the mentions and references that I actually understood!

One thing I didn't understand was just how naive Chloe was... or I guess, it was the fact that she was just so eager and willing to trust people she didn't know. AT ALL. Over her mother. Yes there were things that her mother did that could have been handled better, but to trust complete strangers... yikes. Also there were so so so many red flags. I would have been suspicious of what was going on from the start, especially because things were way too fabulous... I was ESPECIALLY suspicious of halmeoni. It's the matriarch/patriarch of the family that you almost always have to watch  out for.

It ended so abruptly, and I don't feel like anything was resolved. It left me feeling more lost than ever. I'm hoping that means that there's going to be a second book that gives us more resolutions.

It sounds like I disliked this book doesn't it? That's not the case, but some things just stood out more to me so that's what I decided to talk about.

Review: My Summer in Seoul ~ Rachel Van Dyken

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.


Format I Used: E-book
Pages: 480
My Rating: 4.75 stars
Publication Date: December 14, 2021

As always, spoilers ahead, so please read on with caution.

Okay, it took me far too long to actually start and finish this book. But that's because I literally only have been reading manga and LISTENING to audiobooks, and this is neither of those things. Alas...

Did I enjoy this and am going to give it an absolute favorite stamp of approval, based on how this book made me feel overall? Yes.

Were there some things that made me a little bit annoyed? Also yes.

Reading this felt like reading one of my cute fluffy shojo reverse harem mangas (you know the ones that feel like a reverse harem, but the MC is so wholly into and ends up with only ONE of the guys, so it's not ACTUALLY a RH) So that gets it bonus points

One thing that I didn't really care for was the fact that Lucas was the love interest. Mostly because he was so hostile to her, and pretended that he couldn't speak/understand English so he didn't have any conversations with her until we were already halfway through the book. (but that's also probably because I am always somehow falling for the second "love interest" which is always the wrong choice.) It just felt weird to me.

And I was so confused for a while too, because the person on the cover is clearly Lucas, but then the only one who was having anything to do with her was Rae

I liked the friendships that Grace ended up having with all of the guys. It was so sweet. Especially Jay/Kai/Sookie. There were so many times that those three specifically (and extra specifically Sookie) were there for Grace when she was having a breakdown (after they got over their distrust/initial dislike)

Although there were so many times I was facepalming because of something she did. After the first time I found out ONE of them could speak English perfectly after pretending not to be able to, I would have been suspicious of every single one of them and watched my mouth.

Sookie was probably my favorite. He was so sweet! Like, I want a friend like him.

This literally felt like I was watching a K-Drama. It was over the top at times, and there was tragedy and drama, but that's okay because it all worked out in the end.

Also, Grace cried/tears filled her eyes SO. MANY. TIMES. Like seriously. I don't know anyone who cries that much.

 

Did It Make Me Cry? No