MAY: Mother's Day, Taemin's Concert, Ear/Nose Surgery Update, New York Trip

This will be a short post, mainly because I already talked about my New York trip lol. This was a short but eventful month!

For Mother's day, we came down to visit the parents. We wanted to order out food for mom, but she said she would rather cook food that she liked lol. So we spent that weekend stuffed to the brim as per usual lol.

The next weekend, Kyle and Shelle's friends came over to hangout. We ordered pho and played Quiplash for a bit. It's been so long since we played games with friends!

Then, they stayed to watch the first half of Taemin's Never Gonna Dance Again Concert in the theater room downstairs with us. This was his last concert before he enlisted to the army. It was so good! I was surprised that he had long hair again, and we spent a good amount of time discussing if it was extensions or he actually grew it out. That's mainly because SHINee just had their group activities not long ago, so how could he have time to grow it out so much?!

Anyway, I had my follow-up appointment with my ENT doctor that following Tuesday. He said that my ear and nose was healing nicely and that I wouldn't have to see him again unless I notice another bump on my ear! I just need to treat my ear and nose well since it'll take a year to fully heal, but yay! No more worries for now lol.

Then, that Friday, I drove over to Archana's place, and we flew to New York! You can read about our trip here and here. It was a fun 10 days full of food and walking lol.

So yeah, this was a fun month :D

Mini Reviews: Misplacement Game, My Artist Is Reborn, Noble Wife Wants No Love

Title: Misplacement Game
Author: Teng Yuan Xin
Chapters: 139 chapters + 1 extra
Publication: 2018
Summary from Novel Updates:

This novel is also named “The game I got is different from yours” | “Game is different, what to do” | “Every time the target is the big BOSS” | “Why is the BOSS of Horror games always the most handsome?” | “They are running for their lives, I am falling in love”… and so on.

The protagonist is a face-con – he likes good-looking people, can’t say no to a pretty visage and is filled with thoughts of love. One day he bonded with a target-capture system where he can travel from world to world and experience love with the most handsome (key point!) target!

The number of players in each game is not set. The protagonist has only one target – the most handsome one. As he falls in love, he realizes… the other players perhaps, maybe, probably… have Horror? Survival? Escape-type games?

3 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

For once, we have a bisexual protagonist! Granted, this is a BL novel, so Xu Ziyue falls for the male lead, but this face-con doesn't discriminate against genders! A beautiful face is a beautiful face!

Even though this is a horror mystery genre, it's really more mystery than horror, so don't let the horror tag scare you off. 

Anyway, I loved the doll arc. It was so cute but so sad. Also, I just want Jin'er to have a happy resolution!

The last arc and ending was pretty surprising. Not a terrible ending but pretty abrupt. Luckily, the extra kind of filled in the gaps of their future.

Title: My Artist Is Reborn
Author: 薄荷貓
Chapters: 184 chapters + 4 extras
Publication: 2017
Summary from Novel Updates:

Shen Huai was abandoned by all his artists and took over the one no one was optimistic about, the unpopular newcomer Ye Cang.

Ye Cang caught fire all over the country. Everyone thought it was due to Shen Huai’s influence. Only Shen Huai knew that his artist was a reborn rockstar.

Later, Shen Huai also signed the reborn “Legendary Film Queen,” the unsurpassed “Golden Supporting Role,” the “Queen of All Love Songs,” and the “Greatest Superstar in the Past Hundred Years.” Thus, he breathed a sigh of relief; he didn’t have to return to inherit billions of dollars.

4 STARS - I REALLY LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

Things that I really liked about this book:

• Cute romance between the main leads
• Romance is not the focus of the book
• Side characters are fully fleshed out and dynamic (I love Song Yimian's growth!)
• Female characters are not villainized (instead, you get beautiful friendships and rivalry)
• Never forgetting the constant struggle for your passion and how it's worth it
• Found family trope
• Unexpected humor sprinkled throughout
• Your Dad's constant infamy

Title: Noble Wife Wants No Love
Author: 公子闻筝
Chapters: 84 chapters + 8 extras
Publication: 2019
Summary from Novel Updates:

Xu Xinyi woke up and had obtained a system, the system told her that she was a second female lead who would have a miserable end and that she has 2 choices, to endure all grievances and change for the better, or to walk the same road as the original and become a vicious woman.

She chose the second option.

One day Yi Yang couldn’t tolerate it anymore and, at the end of his patience, he demanded a divorce.

Xu Xinyi’s heart felt ecstatic when he put the divorce agreement in front of her but she looked at her husband with a sorrowful, heartbroken look on her face, then she waited for her husband to sign.

—“Hurry up! Sign quickly! I can finally leave this hellhole!”

But Yi Yang, who could suddenly hear Xu Xinyi’s thoughts, threw away the pen and said, “Not signing.”

***

Ever since Yi Yang discovered that he could hear Xu Xingyi’s thoughts, he found that while his wife kept kissing up to him and saying she loved him on the outside, in her heart she would laugh at that and think the complete opposite.

She only loved him on the surface.

“Husband, you are so nice, I love you so much ah~!”

—“I won’t have to be with this arrogant man forever, will I? I am really the most pitiful woman in the whole world!”

Yi Yang “Xu Xinyi !!!!!”

4.5 STARS - I REALLY LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

This was hilarious! I laughed so hard in certain scenes! 

Xu Xinyi's scolding her husband in her mind was hilarious. The amount of times she insulted him or threatened divorce in her mind was too funny. But I was the most impressed by the way she analyzed all of the other women's scheming behaviors. Not only was it enlightening, it was also hilarious. 

I also love the twist in the epilogue. A lot of the extras tied up the endings for most of the side characters, which was nice. I wish the author wrote an ending for Han Xiao because his character and backstory had a lot of potential. 

New York Trip Part 2

Here's the second half of the trip. You can read part 1 here.

Thursday, May 27th: 

• Went to the Charging Bull in the Financial District since it was nearby
• Grabbed delicious chai from Gregory's Coffee. We didn't know how much we loved it and couldn't find it nearby our place D:
• Ate amazing banh mi from Saigon Shack
• Took a confusing walk to SoHo because Archana's phone was drunk and kept on taking us in the wrong direction
• Went dress and shoe shopping because I didn't realize my dress for the wedding was technically white with a lot of blue print on it and because I didn't want to wear my heels since the weather said it was going to rain on Sunday (the wedding was at Central Park)
• We quickly realized that we're not in-person shoppers. We are 100% online shoppers, so we were so tired and cranky dealing with the hot sun and large crowds
• However, we went to Sephora and bought new foundation since we needed it lol
• Found a bingsoo place, but they only sold bingsoos on the weekends, so I got this strawberry matcha drink instead at Lazy Sundaes
• Bought an acai bowl on the way home as a healthy snack and loved it, especially that it's so close to our apartment
• Went to Gotham Comedy Club and had a blast with all six acts
• Finally played Catan: Cities and Knights! We didn't finish until 2:30 AM!

Friday, May 28th: 

• Originally had plans to go to Little Island in the morning, but we stayed inside for most of the morning because we came home so late lol
• Ordered another acai bowl and smoothie from the place nearby
• Met up with some of Archana's other friends for lunch at Emily, another noteworthy pizza place
• Found out that the Friends apartment building was nearby, so we walked there and took pics right before it started raining
• Stopped by and took pics in front of the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop because it was on the way to the subway lol
• Found out that we took the wrong train and discovered that we were one stop away from Central Station, so we took a detour there and explored the place
• Had a pleasant surprise in the dining area and found out that Magnolia's Bakery was there, so we ordered some of their famous banana pudding and a cookie
• Went home and enjoyed our snacks
• Found out that the noise that kept me awake early every morning wasn't our neighbor's pet but one of the windows in the bathroom! The lock was broken, so whenever it was really windy outside, it would push the window open a bit before closing, which caused that slamming noise! Archana stuck a towel in the crack and fixed the problem. What a genius lol
• Ended the night with warm milk and enjoying the view outside our window and laughing at how we were like old ladies, drinking milk on a Friday night in NY lmao but we were exhausted from the week, and it was so cold and rainy that we didn't want to go out

Saturday, May 29th: 

• Went to get my first facial and got suckered into getting the microdermabrasion package, so my face felt so smooth and amazing afterwards! My skin really needed it since I noticed my pores were really clogged after the first couple of days in NY
• Ordered banh mi from Saigon Shack again for brunch because Archana was still thinking about their amazing vegetarian banh mi lol
• Went on a hunt to find jackets since NY was a lot colder than we originally thought. Before we left, the lowest was supposed to be 68 degrees, but it was supposed to be 50 degrees the day of the wedding, so we didn't want to freeze lol
• Went to SuperDry, TJ Maxx, and headed towards Target to find any jacket, which was harder than we thought since it was technically spring in NY, and everything was light and summery
• Found the Pakistan Tea House that I was interested in going to if we had time on the way to Target. Found out it was really a restaurant because they only had two chai options lol. Either way, the chai was SO GOOD, especially because it was so cold outside that it immediately warmed us up :D
• Target was a bust, so we went back to SoHo because we knew there was a The North Face shop there that we passed before
• Finally found the jackets we were looking for and immediately put it on (I was just wearing my light rain jacket this whole time while Archana was wearing an oversized hoodie lol)
• Explored The Oculus since it was one of the stops on the way home
• Rested for an hour and tried our new makeup before going to the Color Factory and having a blast there! There were so many fun rooms to explore and take pics in! The ball pit was definitely the best part since you got to rest and play around in the pit for as long as you want lol
• Went to Chinatown to find this latte place that was known for its cute latte art only to find out that they lied and closed an hour earlier than what they put on Google Maps!
• However, we didn't need to use Google Maps to get home anymore because we knew the way back by then. That's how often we walked to Chinatown and back lol
• Went home and whined down with a warm cup of milk again lol

Sunday, May 30th: 

• Ordered bagels, packed a little bit, and got ready for the wedding!
• Took an Uber to Central Park and had the genius idea to only bring one umbrella, so we were both freezing and walking carefully through all of the puddles in the rain
• Luckily, the new location was under one of the tunnels, so a bunch of passerby's were also in the background lol
• Participated in the wedding and met a bunch of new people
• Took a lot of pics before deciding to have a late lunch with a large group at Ippudo, a popular ramen shop with good vegetarian options since almost half of the group were vegetarian lol

• While waiting for the food, we decided to make up questions for the wedding shoe game where the bride and groom have to hold both of each other's shoes and raise the shoe who they think is the one that best fits the question asked. We tried to come up with not boring, typically questions which was really hard when we were put on the spot at lunch lol
• Went home, changed, and rested for a little bit before going to the after party. I had to put more bandaids on my ankles because my sandals got wet and rubbed against them too much during the wedding earlier. Why am I so delicate??
• Went to the after party at a bar with all you can eat and drink
• Nishita hosted the wedding shoe game and made it interactive by having all of the other couples and guests ask the bride and groom questions, and every time they got different answers, they would have to take shots. If they got the same answers, everyone else had to take shots lol. In between questions, I had the thought that they looked so happy and immediately thought, "now, how do I make this controversial for the game?" Lol, so I asked them who was the happiest tonight thinking I would trip them up, but they both chose Saatvik! 
• Anyway, I had a good time talking to everyone and getting to know them some more before we left around 11:30 saying it was because we had a 9:30 AM flight lol. Our flight was at 11:30 AM but we had wanted to leave early anyway since we were peopled out and tired.
• Went back home and packed some more

Monday, May 31st: 

• Got up early at 6:30 to decide if we wanted to be cheap and take a long ride on the subway or be expensive and take a short Uber ride. We decided to be cheap since thought we could make it since it was only two stops from the airport
• Took the subway and only messed up once by missing our first stop because we weren't paying attention lol
• Landed back in Atlanta and took an Uber back to Archana's place
• Archana made chai and we chatted for a bit before I went home

What an eventful trip! This was also the longest trip I've ever been on, so I think we burned ourselves out at the beginning trying to do everything because we're so used to trying to cram our schedules full on short vacations. We really spent those next few days working remotely trying to recover from that weekend lol. 

I also realized that traveling with a friend is different from traveling with family and your significant other. Granted, it's because everyone has different travel/vacation styles, but Archana and I were really good travel buddies who complemented each other well. Archana likes suggesting a bunch of places and things to do to maximize our time here while I like to only choose a couple of places (usually food lol) as the key highlights for the day so that we have time to relax and can change plans if need be. And if we were cranky, it wasn't at each other like how we can be with family lol. It was usually because of the weather or being hangry lol.

I'm glad I went on this trip with Archana. It was really fun and made me realize a lot of stuff about myself and traveling. Oh yeah, did I mention that the only reason I went was because Archana realized that two of her exes and their significant others were going to be at the wedding, and she didn't want to go alone? Especially since one of those exes kept on calling her and telling her that he regretted their breakup even though he was living with his currently girlfriend? What a weirdo. I didn't have a chance to talk to him at the wedding or at the after party, so I don't really have much of an impression other than he was pretty outspoken and tall lol.

Webnovel Review: My Husband is Suffering from a Terminal Illness by Can’t Play Chess

Title: My Husband is Suffering from a Terminal Illness
Author: Can’t Play Chess
Chapters: 171 chapters + 4 extras
Publication: 2019
Summary from Novel Updates:

Xie Yang has spent many years in the apocalypse and is tired and worn out. Then he transmigrated into a simple and superficial novel about the entertainment circle.

The protagonist of the novel was handsome, smart and reborn. The female protagonist of the novel was beautiful, inspirational and had a golden finger. Some male and female roles were also beautiful and had a deep background. If he casually transmigrated into one of them then he could close his eyes and enjoy himself. However, he didn’t transmigrate into any of them and instead became the hidden husband of the biggest villain in the novel, the male protagonist’s uncle.

He was called a husband but it was more similar to a babysitter. This was because the biggest villain in the novel was a terminally ill patient with a terrible personality and a sick brain (really sick). They got married for the sake of happiness.

Xie Yang: It doesn’t matter if you are the male lead, the female lead or the villain, whoever dares to stop me from living a comfortable life will die.

4.5 STARS - I REALLY LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

This was so good! I stayed up until 6AM reading this the first night I started this novel because it was so entertaining. 

If you like entertainment novels with lots of dog blood, face slapping, and humor, then this book is definitely for you. There's so many scandals and rumors and melon eaters that it can get tiring if you're not into that genre lol.

I went into this novel with no expectations, so I had a fun time reading about Xie Yang teasing his always tsundere husband and watching Xie Yang competently getting revenge and face slapping his opponents. He just wanted to live a comfortable, peaceful life, but he has to change his future or else he'll end up with the same fate as the original body in the novel. This led to him inevitably changing the fates of the people around him as well, including his terminally ill husband Qiu Xing. 

I loved reading their interactions and how they liked to antagonize each other at first before their feelings changed, and then it turned into teasing instead. There's so much dog food to make up for all of the dog blood drama lmao. 

I don't think Xie Yang changed much throughout the novel, but Qiu Xing's gradual change was so sweet and heartwarming. Qiu Xing was a terminally ill man burdened with his family's problems and was all but resigned for his inevitable death. He was a domineering president in all aspects of life but became a timid coward in the face of love and the premise of actually getting better. How could you NOT love him?! And Xie Yang was such a satisfying character to read about. He was so smart and competent but full of sharp barbs because he lived in an apocalypse before, and he's unapologetic about his personality, especially in front of Qiu Xing. 

The whole system aspect was really interesting. I liked that it also had its own backstory and its history with the female protagonist was unexpected but interesting. 

The ending was also so good! I loved the lead up to the wedding and the comparison photo at the end.

New York Trip Part 1

This trip with Archana was really fun, but it also told me how delicate I've become from spending the past year and half just staying inside lol. I definitely need to exercise more and need to remember to use sunscreen more. 

Anyway, I had to split this post into two because it was getting way too long!

Friday, May 21st:

• I went over to Archana's place early to eat breakfast and help remind her what to pack since she had only started packing the night before lol
• We only found out that morning that the AirBnb we rented out had roommates, and our point of contact was a guy named Peter. We were just like, "well, we already screwed up lmao"
• After much time, we landed in New York
• Took around an hour via AirTrain and subway to get to our AirBnb in the Financial District
• Peter was supposed to meet up with us at the Starbucks next door to help us check in, but he couldn't get off work on time, so he sent us a video on how to get to our room
• We walked around in the opposite direction for a while before figuring out the building was right next to Starbucks lol
• Followed instructions and found out that we actually had three potential roommates since the apartment had four rooms. One room was empty though
• We really loved our room though! There were so many windows. We never got tired of the view!
• Went out to meet Saatvik and Albus, the upcoming groom and his dog, for dinner at the Fish Market
• Then, walked around and got ice cream at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. I got the Earl Gray flavor, which was really good!

Saturday, May 22nd: 

• God, this day felt like at least a whole weekend in itself. We did so much!
• Don't know why, but for the first week here, I kept on waking up at 5:30 every morning, so I could always catch the sunrise but was tired for the second half of the day lol
• Had a coffee and quick breakfast from the food truck around the corner of our building
• Traveled all the way to Central Park before deciding to get cookies from Levain Bakery first since I thought the original store was nearby. It wasn't lol
• We walked 1.5 miles all the way to Harlem for the nearest bakery before heading back to Central Park to rest for a bit and eat the cookies. I was already tired for the rest of the day lol
• Took the subway to Saatvik and B's apartment to take Albus on a walk
• Went to Alice's Tea Cup for a tea break even though we should have went somewhere for lunch first lol
• Took got lost and ended up taking three buses trying to get to Little Island
• Archana ordered some food from The Halal Kitchen food truck near a bus stop for lunch later on the island

• Finally get to the island only to find out that it's only free to go in the morning and that you have to book reservations for anytime after noon. Also, the guys at the front said that the evenings were already booked until June 14th when we got there -__-"
• Luckily, there were a bunch of benches with views of the boardwalk nearby, so we rested and ate our lunch nearby
• Walked to the Chelsea Market nearby
• Explored the stores and had tahini ice cream again
• Finally went back to the apartment to rest for a few hours
• Then, went back out and walked to Chinatown 15 minutes away to get vegetarian dim sum for the first time in my life. It wasn't bad. Just too bready
• Explored Chinatown 
• Bought fruit tea at some Taiwanese fruit tea shop. Unfortunately, it was the end of the night, and they ran out of mango, so I couldn't order the mango drink I really wanted to try
• Went home and passed out from exhaustion

Sunday, May 23rd:

• We learned our lesson from yesterday and tried to take more breaks so we wouldn't be so exhausted throughout the day
• Took an Uber to Brooklyn to get breakfast at Frankel's Delicatessen & Appetizing, which is famous for it's bagels, so we could save energy for the day
• Found out that we had to order online, so we walked around the area waiting for our order
• Ate breakfast at the park nearby and chilled in the grass for a while
• Went to the Dumbo - Manhattan Bridge View to take tourist pictures of the Manhattan Bridge
• Walked to the beach nearby and took lots of pictures 
• Inadvertently found Jane's Carousel and took more pictures in the hot sunlight lol
• Tried to find some famous graffiti in the tunnels and found a cool flea market instead
• Walked everywhere trying to find the famous graffiti spots before giving up lol
• Then, we found one of the graffiti spots!
• On the way to Grimaldi's Pizza, we found another graffiti spot lmao
• Found out that Grimaldi was closed during the dead hour and wouldn't be open again until 5pm, so we tried going to Julianna's Pizza which was also equally famous and right next door. Julianna's was also closed and wouldn't be open until 4pm though

• I was tired and cranky because we had walked all over Brooklyn in the direct sunlight, and my left ankle hurt because the back of my shoe had rubbed it so much that it became an open wound
• Archana offered to walk to the nearest  CVS and get me bandaids while I sat in the shade nearby
• Since it was nearing 4, Archana called and said I should line up for Julianna's so that we can sit in the shade and eat when she comes back, so I waited in the bright, hot ass sun for 15 minutes while they start seating people only to find out that they only seat people if the whole party was there. So I waited for nothing!
• I called Archana and told her the the news. She said she was almost at the checkout. Apparently, a lot of people had lined up before her to get the vaccine, which took a long time. 
• After lots of struggles, we finally were seated inside the restaurant and ordered a delicious pizza and finished the whole thing because we were determined not to have leftovers lol
• Walked uphill to somewhere with another great view of ocean and rested for a bit
• Throughout the day, I noticed that I kept on getting more small, red itchy spots on my legs, so I tried to figure out what it was
• I think it was heat hives since we've been walking around New York in 80 degree weather for the past two days, and I also didn't wear sunscreen, which probably made it react faster more since my legs don't normally see the light of day often lol. Needless to say, I was ready to go home
• On the way to the subway, we stopped at Jacques Torres Chocolate store. Archana got a frozen hot chocolate, which we renamed it to Death by Chocolate, since it was so thick and decadent. I got a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream. 
• It was dinner time, so there weren't anybody in the store with us except the two workers, so we chatted with them for a bit. The guy getting my ice cream was like, You're not from New York, are you?" When we said no, he was like, "I knew it! You're too nice to be from New York" lol
• After that we finally went home and rested. Although we had pizza pretty late for lunch but early for dinner, we were so full of chocolate and tired that we didn't eat dinner lol
• Met our final roommate who was a Chinese exchange student who came to NY for job interviews and touristy things with her friend who was coming the next day. She also accidentally locked herself out of her room and spent the night on the couch because Peter couldn't come back that night to unlock her door

Monday, May 24th: 

• Woke up too early again and saw an amazing sunrise. Also couldn't go back to sleep because I kept on hearing this noise like something hitting a cage, so I thought our roommate might have let their pet out in the living room
• We worked remotely, so we stayed in for the morning except for when Archana went out to get coffee
• We walked to the Financial District to get Indian food from a food truck
• Also got suckered into buying a smoothie on the way back since I felt like I was lacking in fruits since we came to NY lol
• After work, we went to Saatvik and B's place to meet up with another friend, Suhas
• Albus took us on a walk to near the Hudson River and learned that he likes to eat poop lol
• We ordered by CHLOE.'s for delivery for dinner on the way back so I could try their famous vegetarian beet ketchup, but they didn't include it in the order, so everyone else was upset lmao
• Learned how to play Cover Your Assets and won the first round unexpectedly!

Tuesday, May 25th: 

• Worked remotely again
• Walked to Joe's to grab their famous pizza. Archana's neighbor's boyfriend kept on raving about how Joe's pizza was the best pizza, and we happened to walk past it on the way to our AirBnb, so we knew it was nearby. It was delicious lol
• Stopped by Dunkin Donut's on the way back because Archana wanted coffee, and I wanted to try one of their new drinks
• Archana wanted to go to the MoMa Design store, so we went over there after work
• Walked around trying to find this famous cheesecake place called Eileen's Special Cheesecake, and I found out that it was next to Champion Pizza, which was the great pizza place Brian and I were recommended last time we went to NY together!
• After eating the delicious mini cheesecakes at a park nearby, we walked around trying to find a ramen shop after realizing that we were in Little Italy and not in the mood for Italian food lol
• We ended up going to Chinatown trying to find this specific ramen shop, but it was combined with another restaurant location and looked empty, so we gave up on eating there. 
• I found a Chinese hand-pulled noodle place with great reviews nearby instead, so we went their for dinner. It was amazing!
• Walked around to find the Instagram famous taiyaki ice cream place and shared an ice cream for dessert
• Walked home and relaxed for the night

Wednesday, May 26th: 

• Worked remotely for the last day
• Archana only had one morning call, so she went out to get coffee and breakfast and ran into so many struggles because the coffee cart around the corner wasn't there and the nearby places didn't have anything she wanted
• Spent the whole day ordering food from Uber Eats to feel better about her frustration lol
• Archana ordered her hometown's Masala chai and a snack that she grew up eating from Kolkata Chai, Co.
• Ordered some mochi donuts, Vietnamese coffee cream puffs, and a drink from this place, Alimama Tea, we passed by the night before right when they were closing. Found out that they had glitter in almost all of their food, so we had a galaxy combination lol
• Went to Saatvik and B's place to meet some more of their friends who taught us how to place the Catan expansion Cities and Knights. Poor Popli spent probably 1.5 hours explaining it to us before we called it a night since it was getting late, so we made plans to play it the next day instead

Book Review: I Just Want to Freeload on Your Luck by Ming Gui Zai Jiu

Title: I Just Want to Freeload on Your Luck
Author: Ming Gui Zai Jiu
Chapters: 75 chapters
Publication: 2020
Summary from Novel Updates:

Despite having found Mingxi, the Zhao family continued to favor the fake daughter, saying that Mingxi was not as kind nor as graceful as Zhao Yuan.

Mingxi didn’t mind. She continued to work hard to please her family although they would always say that she was trying to rob their attention away from Zhao Yuan.

Until she died because of a terminal illness.

It was then that she realized that Zhao Yuan was the actual lady blessed by luck while she was merely this novel’s evil supporting character with a tragic ending.

Zhao Mingxi who was given a second chance at life was bitterly disappointed. She no longer cared about her family. Screw her family and her fiancé. She immediately packed her bags and left home, off to complete the task given by the system named ‘Becoming Friends With Popular and Valuable Characters’.

After she left, the house suddenly became cold and quiet.

By right they should feel at ease, but–

Her parents, her indifferent elder brother, her brash younger brother, Shen Liyao who was used to her pursuits were all successively feeling… unused to it?

3 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

The beginning was pretty stiff and amateurish as the author introduces the main characters and Mingxi's situation with her family. It's obvious that the author wanted to immediately showcase how Mingxi's family favors Zhao Yuan, but it came out more deliberate and forceful. Luckily, the writing gets better after a couple of chapters. 

I love Mingxi's decisiveness and how she didn't care about getting revenge. She just wanted to drop her disappointing family and live for herself after she got a second chance of life. Such an obvious change in attitude left her family and fiancé reeling, and it takes them a long time to realize her impact on them and their impact on her. 

That's probably the best revenge Mingxi could have anyway. She doesn't care about them anymore, but now they care about her, but she doesn't even give them the time of day. 

Fu Yangxi was hilarious! He's such a tsundere! He keeps on trying to maintain a "cool guy" image but he's so easily embarrassed and happy that someone likes him for him instead of his reputation or money. He's got his own issues, but he's so sweet and sincere and stupid lmao. I loved Mingxi and Fu Yangxi's initial misunderstandings and how their relationship developed. 

There wasn't many annoying characters, and the plot was enjoyable and entertaining. The plot twist was unexpected, and Zhao Yuan's gradual change was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

Weekly Haul 137

My preorders from RightStuf arrived!

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! vol. 5 by Satoru Yamaguchi & Nami Hidaka

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! vol. 6 by Satoru Yamaguchi & Nami Hidaka

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! vol. 7 by Satoru Yamaguchi & Nami Hidaka

Spy x Family vol. 4 by Tatsuy Endo

The Way of the House Husband vol. 5 by Kousuke Oono

Sasaki Miyano vol. 1 by Shou Harusono

Sasaki Miyano vol. 2 by Shou Harusono

Yona of the Dawn vol. 28 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Yona of the Dawn vol. 29 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Book Review: The Villains I Raised All Died by Mo Shu Bai

Title: The Villains I Raised All Died
Author: Mo Shu Bai
Chapters: 158 chapters + 7 extras
Publication: N/A
Summary from Novel Updates:

Ye Chen’s mission was to correct the villain’s three views and thus saving the world.

She bled for the villains, she blocked swords for the villains, she raises those villains to be fat and plump, three views upright.

Who would’ve thought —

The villains she raised, Are! All! Dead!

The System recalled painfully: “This won’t do. Host, you can no longer be so good towards the villains. Otherwise, they would fall in love with you. It would create too much of a shock to them when you run away after you finish teasing them.”

Ye Chen nodded.

The next world…

System: “AHHHHHH, Host, what are you doing! Stop! Don’t treat them so well!!!”

Ye Chen pulled the knife out of her body and looked at the shocked man in front of her with a gentle smile.

At the same time, she burst into tears like a violent storm in her heart: “T T Sorry, as a face-judger, I couldn’t control myself when I looked at this face.”

The female lead is a scumbag that was heartless but pretends to hold deep affections. The male lead is an unreasonably true loyal dog and male god.

5 STARS - I LOVED IT

MY REVIEW: 

Why do I only read summaries and not look at the tags??? I didn't know that this was novel had the tragedy tag, so I was unprepared, especially with the first arc! 

The summary, Ye Chen's system, and Ye Chen's stupidity in the beginning of the arc tricks you into thinking that it's just a comedy. Then, the villain falls for her, and everything becomes extremely sad.  Ye Chen realized that she fell for the villain in the first arc, and this led to her having to control her feelings for the rest of her transmigrations, which led to a lot more heartbreak D: 

So many lies and misunderstandings occurred in the first few arcs as Ye Chen realized that she accidentally made the villain fall for her while she's just trying to accomplish her task and not let the villain blacken. Meanwhile, the villains all end up falling for her because she's so nice and sincere to them only to end up heartbroken when she leaves them.

I loved the twist in the middle. It made the rest of the arcs way more interesting and hilarious, especially the green hat emperor arc. God, I laughed and teared up so much in that arc because of all of the misunderstandings. 

I highly recommend this book. It's got comedy, romance, action, heartbreak, and multiple genres to keep you interested. However, at its core, this book is about two people who fell in love with each other for several lifetimes. Although the title seems like it'll be a bad ending, the book has a happy ending.

Books I Want to Read This Month

Even with a reading challenge last month, I still didn't read anything off of this list lol. I'll try to do better this month! :)

1. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
2. The Girl Who Kept Winter by Giao Chi
3. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
4. Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal
5. Sasaki and Miyano vol. 1 by Shou Harusono
6. Sasaki and Miyano vol. 2 by Shou Harusono
7. The Way of the House Husband vol. 1 by Kousuke Oono
8. The Way of the House Husband vol. 2 by Kousuke Oono
9. The Way of the House Husband vol. 3 by Kousuke Oono
10. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 12 by Fujino Omori
11. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 13 by Fujino Omori
12. My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! vol. 1 by Satoru Yamaguchi & Nami Hidaka
13. My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! vol. 2 by Satoru Yamaguchi & Nami Hidaka
14. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
15. Euphoria by F.S. Yousaf

May in Retrospect

After reading so many BL books last month, I got back into reading MTL BG romances on Wattpad, which is why some of the titles don't have any authors. The posters didn't always include the author name in the summary, so I had no way of trying to find any additional info because everything was machine translated...

I read: 

• Back to the Apocalypse by Ye Yo
• Sect Master and Psycho by Bian Xiang
• Villain’s Sick Beauty Sister by 雾下菘
• If I don't do it, I will die by 龟缩世界
• As a Fine Female Partner, I Beg to Break Up Every Day 
• 70's Little Days of a Female Military Doctor by 林阿律
• The Paranoid Villain is Sister Control by 雪默
• Protect You in the Last Days by 西大秦
• After I was Forced by the Male Protagonist into a Fine Division by 暮烟杳杳
• I Got Bitten After Transmigrating into a Pseudo-Beta by Lu Wei Mu
• Cannon Fodder Ex-wife Dressed as Shoufu by 不吃糖包
• Everyday I Get Up To See The Villain Stealing The Show by Zhong Xiaosheng
• Dressed as a Female Partner by 落墨易桉
• Dressed as Protagonist's Mother
• The Little Mermaid Was Dressed as a Sister With Two Treasures by Peach Branches Pill

I watched: 

• Mortal Kombat (2021)