Sunday, June 28, 2020

Book Unhaul 22

I looked over my bookshelves at my parents' house again last weekend and found some more books that I didn't want to keep anymore along with a book I read recently and didn't want to keep.


Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
The Golden Ass by Apuleius
101 Corporate Haiku by William Warriner
The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall
Map of Fates by Maggie Hall
Smoke by Ellen Hopkins
Distance Makes the Heart Grow Sick by Cristy C. Road

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Mini Reviews: My Dad is the Galaxy's Prince Charming, The Short Story of ShaoWang, You Boys Play Games Very Well

Author: You Qian
Chapters: 198 chapters
Publication: 2017
Summary from Novel Updates: 
What would you do if your planet ceased to exist after a nap?

Once upon a time, there was a princess…

Scrap that.

Once upon a time, there was a hermit called Yao Si.

She was an orphaned hikikomori who lived a peaceful and mundane life in her cosy little apartment.

Just when she thought she’d live out the rest of her mundane days… she died.

By a strange twist of fate, she was somehow turned into a vampire, even worse, a fifth-generation weakling with no combat ability at all.

Vampires had their own little secret society, cultural feuds, and called themselves bloodlings.

With the threats of another civil war among the bloodlings, Yao Si remained composed.

‘Even if this war of bloodlings rages on again, it will need a miracle to affect me,’ she thought.

So, a miracle occurred…

When she was woken up from a millennnia-long nap, she found that her beautiful mother planet Earth had ceased to exist.

Even the oldest bloodling in the entire universe was now one of her grand [ times infinity] child.

Everyone will have to call her “ancestor” from this moment onwards!

The peasant Yao Si had successfully revolted and taken charge, let’s see who dares to call her a weakling anymore!

“Hey! You, that guy over there!

“Yes, you.

“Come on, let’s fight, if I lose, I will call you ‘dad’!”

So… she has a new dad.

Yao Si “…”

Mu Xuan “…”
4 STARS - I REALLY LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

I wasn't really sure what I was getting into when I read the long description lol. It had vampires, a huge time skip, interstellar setting, action, and lots of comedy!

Yao Si suddenly found out that she became a low-level vampire only to suddenly wake up thousands of years later to find out that vampires are one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and that most vampires are in the thousandth generation. This makes her fifth-generation status so high that she becomes a princess since only one other person is higher than her!

What follows is a bunch of hilarious antics as she learns more about her abilities, the current world, and the people who follow her, including her "dad" Mu Xuan. 

I had a fun time reading this novel. There's action, suspense, intrigue, comedy, and a bunch of foolishly doting characters! Definitely recommend reading it!


Author: Little Ice Cube
Chapters: 58 chapters + 12 extras
Publication: 2019
Summary from Novel Updates: 
The omega school tyrant, legendarily known as “Yan Ge”, Jiang ShaoYan’s heat is approaching. He thought he had no other choice but to seek out an alpha stronger than himself to get him through it, but suddenly an underclassman appeared saying he liked him? Wait, wait, wait, having such weak pheromones yet daring to hit on this Ge? This Wang isn’t that foolish, right?

4 STARS - I REALLY LIKED IT

MY REVIEW:

This is kind of a reverse of your typical a/b/o story. Instead of your typical aggressive alpha, you have a strong and confident omega who rules the school. Instead of your typical weak and submissive omega, you have an obedient and puppy-like alpha.

There are so many misunderstandings in the story, which makes you go crazy because you, as the reader, know better. But it makes sense. These aren't your typical misunderstandings that can usually be avoided if they talked it out. Guess what, they do talk! But they still don't understand each other! Lol it drove me crazy but also made me sad because the male lead kept on getting hurt.

Once they finally got over their misunderstandings, things were exponentially better. They still had things to workout, but it was remarkably better than all of the hurt from the beginning. 

But damn, you really do hate some of the side characters. You'll know who they are as soon as you run across them lol.

Overall, a very good read if you're into a/b/o!


Author: Yi Xiu Luo
Chapters: 83 chapters
Publication: 2018
Summary from Novel Updates: 
When he defeats them, he leaves hospice care: A father’s love is like a mountain! Are your shoulders heavy?

When he is defeated, he leaves backhanded compliments: You boys play games very well~

Ling Meng is a high-ranked casual gamer playing “The Legend of the Galaxy”. Infamous for his poison tongue, he’s known in the forums as Lemon Dad and he carefully cultivates a following of black powder fans over time. The trajectory of his fate completely changes the day he plays a match against the popular god-tier live stream anchor, Mangosteen. A meme created out of his dying words makes him a countrywide laughingstock and he begins to stalk Mangosteen to determine his rival’s weaknesses…to beat him in a match for revenge!

They fight with each other, stream with each other, and even exchange a naked photo with each other.

This is the love story of a lemon and mangosteen.
4 STARS - I REALLY LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

Look, I liked this novel enough that I read it a second time.

It's just so cute and funny, and I love the fact that every character in the novel has a fruit name lol.

This novel is about two popular streamers for a game called "The Legend of the Galaxy" and how they ended up together as watched through their streams and daily interactions. One streamer, also known as Lemon Daddy, is known for his poisonous tongue and hospice care he gives after he defeats others. The other streamer, known as Mango, popular for his playing and breakdown of the game. After a game where Lemon Daddy loses to Mango and leaves some particular hospice care, he finds out that Mango streamed the game, and he instantly became a meme!

This novel is a delight to read, especially when you want something light and funny. The characters are super cute and funny, especially when they interact with each other in the game. 

There's a lot of slang in this book, which can take a while to remember what they all mean. Luckily, there's a lot of footers to help explain everything. 

Why do I like reading esports novels when I don't even play video games? I don't know lol. 

Friday, June 12, 2020

APRIL: Google Hangouts, Dalgona Coffee, Bonus, Stimulus Checks, Parents' Visit

April was a pretty chill month as everyone adjusted to quarantine life lol.

My girlfriends and I had a Google Hangouts call the first Friday to catch up. We got to have a virtual house tour of Shanice and Josh's new apartment in DC. They had just moved there right when Covid hit in March. We also got to see everyone's pets, which is always nice. It was nice to see everyone and joke around lol.

That weekend, while Shelle was inspired to bake French baguettes, I was inspired to try the viral Dalgona coffee trend since I knew we had some instant coffee on hand. This is a popular way to make super fluffy coffee that originated in Korea. You basically mix instant coffee, hot water, and sugar until it becomes a whipped texture like whipped cream. Then, you put it in a cup that's 3/4 full of milk, mix it up, and drink it. A lot of people do mix it by hand, but it takes a lot of time to do that. 

Shelle told me to try our NutriBullet since it's essentially a small blender, but it didn't work. I was also using this Korean instant coffee that we have that also includes milk in it, so we later found out after using a hand mixer that it wouldn't work either way. Luckily, we also had instant espresso from Korea, so it finally worked! It was just way too strong lol. 

The next time we went to the store, we ended up buying some more instant coffee so we could make it again. After we made it again when our parents came up to visit later that month, I realized yet again that I'm not a coffee drinker lol. It's just fun to make it. :D

Nothing much happened during the first couple of weeks in April. However, I got my first bonus from work! Even with Covid happening, our CEO said that our company would still give us our bonuses since they were for our hard work in 2019, which was super nice to hear. Since I was still an intern until May last year, I didn't get the full bonus, but it was still quite a bit of money after taxes, so I was happy.

The same day we got our bonuses, the government's stimulus checks came as well! Since I filed my taxes online, I got the stimulus check as a deposit in my bank account. It was a pleasant shock logging into my bank account that Wednesday and seeing how much money was deposited there. To celebrate my bonus, I offered to pay for dinner that night, but we were all busy with work, so I didn't get to properly celebrate until the weekend when we ordered Japanese food lol.


That weekend, the parents came up to visit. They even brought up a bunch of food to make hotpot lol. Shelle made French baguettes the night before and instead showed the parents how she was making macaroons while I made them Dalgona coffee lol. 

It was a fun weekend. We even watched the new Ip Man 4: The Finale movie that recently came out in our theater room. Dad's been asking to watch it for a while now, but it hadn't come out in DVD until recently. It was a good movie that definitely emphasized racism against the Chinese back in the day, but it also made it hard for me to watch at times.

That's about it. Unlike March, April surprisingly flew by pretty quickly!

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Webnovel Review: You're My Glory by Gu Man

Title:
 You're My Glory
Author: Gu Man
Chapters: 37 chapters + 16 epilogues
Publication: 2017
Summary from Novel Updates: 
Actress Qiao Jing Jing has one month to get her gaming skills up to the level her publicist has claimed she has.

Turns out, her high school crush is an expert.
4 STARS - I REALLY LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

Since I've been reading so many webnovels recently, I thought I'd review some of my recent favs!

This is by the same author who wrote A Slight Smile is Very Charming, which was adapted into a cdrama called Love 020. I've read a couple of her other works before, too, and liked them, so I had high expectations for this book when I found out that it was recently finished being translated. And I was not wrong; I really enjoyed this book!

First of all, even though I don't play mobile games like the one described in the book, I was still really invested in the training arc! It was still exciting and interesting learning about different characters and how to play them. The banter between the main characters as they played also made the setting cute and playful.

The novel is set up around the game competition, so of course it had to be interesting. I was ready to see her put her newly acquired skills to use, and it was so exciting! I was glued to the screen reading everything and could not stop reading until around 4 in the morning because it was so good! Her banter with the MC and her teammates were also hilarious.

The main characters really sold it though. Qiao Jingjing is confident but classy. She's also silly and likes to take aesthetic photos and likes to make petty revenge and go on diets when necessary for her job. It's hard to find a realistic portrayal of someone, let alone a celebrity, like this. Meanwhile, Yu Tu is super smart and driven, but because he didn't follow the obvious rich path, people looked down on him. After a while, he becomes indecisive over his career path because one path is his passion but the other is financial stability, and it's not until he reunites with Qiao Jingjing that he slowly decides on his future. I also really liked how he has many instances where he feels inferior to Qiao Jingjing and isn't sure if he deserves to be with her because that's also realistic and rare to find in webnovels where the male lead has a weakness like this.

The extras were really good, too! They definitely give you a lot of closure and cute excerpts of their interactions while dating.

Overall, I really enjoyed it!

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Books I Want to Read This Month

I broke my record and didn't read any physical books last month. :( I'll try to do better this month!
  1. Beastlands vol. 1 by Curtis Clow & Jo Mi-Gyeong
  2. Beastlands vol. 2 by Curtis Clow & Jo Mi-Gyeong
  3. On Love by Alain de Botton
  4. Fuck Happiness: How Women Are Ditching the Cult of Positivity and Choosing Radical Joy by Ariel Gore
  5. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
  6. The Bride was a Boy by Chii
  7. The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace
  8. The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins
  9. Uncaged Wildflower by Jennae Cecilia
  10. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
  11. becoming. by Renaada Williams
  12. beyond rock bottom. by Kara Petrovic
  13. Love Looks Pretty on You by Lang Leav
  14. The Consumption of Magic by T.J. Klune
  15. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Monday, June 1, 2020

May in Retrospect

I've, yet again, read way too many webnovels this month lol. As a result, I'm gonna start doing webnovel reviews and mini reviews about some of my favorite books I've read recently. It's been a long time since I've done any type of book review on here, but I guess this is what quarantine does to a person lol.

I also finished watching Hospital Playlist! That last episode though! I'm so glad they already announced a second season, because I NEED IT. But now what am I supposed to look forward to watch every week? D:

I read:
  • You Boys Play Games Very Well by Yi Xiu Luo
  • Love Stops Rumors by Xiao Chen
  • The Aphrodisiac-Carrying Man by Yi Xiu Luo
  • I Refuse to be a Supporting Character by Jiang Li Yuan
  • Rebirth on the Doors to the Civil Affairs Bureau by Grumpy Crab
  • Marry First, Love Later by Jiuqian Sheng
  • A Lifetime of Peace and Care by Dan Er Man Hua
  • Transmigrating to Become the Boss's Little Fairy by Chun Dao Han
  • Life After Marriage by 下弦の咒
  • He's Mine, No Objections Allowed by 酱子贝
  • It's Not Easy Being a Master by Jin Xi Gui Nian
  • Transmigrated into a School Idol and Forced to Do Business by Yu Wu Xiao Tian Bing
  • Fox Demon Usurping The Throne Daily by Lu Tianyi
  • Stone Age Husband Raising Journal by Jue Jue
  • As the Demon King, I Am Very Distressed Because the Hero Is Too Weak 1.0 by 梨钳
  • Please Respect the Occupation ‘Evil Spirit’ by 吕天逸
  • My Teammates Are All Crazy by Hu Sheng You Meng
  • I'm Not Human by Jiuyi
  • The King's Game by Jiuyi
  • I Have Amnesia, Don't Be Noisy! by Lu He Qian Ye
  • My Roommate Probably Is Not an Omega by Ablfish

I watched:

  • Never Have I Ever (2020)
  • Captain Marvel (2019)
  • Mr. Right (2015)
  • The Foreigner (2017)
  • Wu Assassins (2019)
  • Hospital Playlist (2020)