Tuesday, June 15, 2021

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.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

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

Monday, June 7, 2021

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.

Thursday, June 3, 2021

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

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

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)

Friday, May 28, 2021

APRIL: Parental Visit, Stress Hives, Second Covid Shot, Visit the Parents, Surgery Follow-up

April passed by in a blur.

During the first weekend of April, my parents came up to visit. We went out to eat dim sum for the first time in over a year, which was great. There was a new bubble tea place nearby, so we tried a variety of their fruit teas since it was buy 5 get 1 free, and there were six of us lol. The next day, we went grocery shopping at the Asian store with our parents; they hadn't gone shopping up here since last year, so they really stocked up on everything. Then, we bought more bubble tea before the parents headed back home to Warner Robins.

For the past few months, I noticed that I was having an allergic reaction to something because I kept on breaking out into hives all over my body. At first, I thought it was something in my bathroom since I kept on breaking out during and/or after I took a shower at night. Then, I noticed that my shower liner had some mold at the bottom, so I threw it away and replaced it with a new one. I also replaced my loofa and threw out my soap bar since I knew it was over a year old. I also started using a new body wash that came with a body lotion set I bought a couple of months ago. After making all of those changes, I noticed that I stopped breaking out into hives.

However, the hives started coming back after a couple of weeks. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, especially since I kept on breaking out into hives in the middle of my shower. At first, Kyle thought it maybe my shower curtain also contained mold, and we planned to wash it that weekend, but then I realized that I was breaking into hives whenever I was really tired from staying up late or thinking about work too much. 

Then Shelle reminded me that she used to break out into stress hives when she worked at her old job because the workload was too much for just her alone. That was one of the main reasons why she quit her job because management kept on telling her that they were planning on hiring more people to her team so that her workload would be less, but months passed, and they still hadn't hired anyone. After I took a couple more showers, I realized that I would inevitably think about all the things I needed to do for work and started getting anxious. Then, I would start breaking out into hives, so I finally figured out that I have stress hives. Yay... lol. 

Realizing that I have stress hives kind of made things easier. I started trying to get a better work/life balance and to stop working at reasonable hours. I'm trying to go to bed earlier, especially on weekends so that I'm less sleep deprived. 

However, not long after I started trying to prevent my stress hives, Anita (my manager and mentor) told me that she was leaving the company. Then, my hives came back immediately. Luckily, she gave us three weeks before she left, so we spent a lot of time going over the transition period, so that we would be better prepared for when she leaves. I also told her and Irene (my previous and current manager) about my stress hives, so they know that I already have a lot on my plate and are trying to help me from going crazy from my workload lol.

Shelle, Kyle, and I also got our second Covid shot right before driving down and visiting the parents for the weekend. Everyone we talked to told us that they either felt fine or terrible for a couple of days, so we were prepared to feel terrible all weekend with our parents taking care of us lol. Luckily, we mainly were just tired for a day and had mild symptoms. For some reason, I became nauseous whenever I ate too much the next day. Other than that, it wasn't too bad lol.

The following Monday, I had my ear and nose surgery follow-up appointment. I had to do that nasal spray twice a day for a month, and I was ready to find out if I still needed to do the spray. Luckily, my doctor said that both my ear and nose were healing really well, so I didn't need to use the spray anymore!

So yeah, April was a blur of ups and downs. What a rollercoaster lol.

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Mini Reviews: Stuttering Big Boss’s White Moonlight; The Struggles of Being A Mother of Villains; After Being Transported into a Book, I Adopted the Villain

Title: Stuttering Big Boss’s White Moonlight
Author: 南陵一别
Chapters: 68 chapters + 8 extras
Publication: 2020
Summary from Novel Updates:

Cheng Chu always thought that she and Gu Miao would be married only in name. It was a business marriage that looked like a perfect match. Until a car accident happened and Gu Miao protected her firmly. At the last moment of his life, Cheng Chu heard him confess his feelings.

After waking up again, Cheng Chu returned to the high school era. She discovered that the autistic and stuttering boy in the class turned out to be her newlywed husband, the big businessman in the future.

She wants to compensate him well.

* In high school, Cheng Chu was the dream of many boys. Gu Miao stayed hidden in the darkness, knowing that he was unworthy of her, but the delusion in his heart still grew like weeds.

He thought it was a bitter and hopeless crush after all. Until that afternoon, when the bright sunshine flooded the classroom, the girl stood at his desk and asked with a smile: “Will you sit at the same table with me?” *

** ” Mr. Gu Miao, would you like to marry Ms. Cheng Chu? Love her and be loyal to her, no matter if she is poor, sick, or disabled, until death.” the pastor asked on the stage.

But the bridegroom did not answer for a long time.

In the hotel, the clothes are fragrant and the shadows are gathered, and the dazzling crystal lights reflect the dazzling light.

The most prestigious person in the whole city, Mr. Gu, who was usually indifferent and decisive, his eyes reddened, and it took a long time for him to say “I- I- I do.” **

2.5 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW: 

I know that the author uses the weather to describe the tone and atmosphere, but it gets tiring reading about the cold wind or leaves falling all of the time. Seems like it's only winter because that's the best season to describe the characters' moods. 

The plot is very similar to Please Confess to Me and Guide To Raising the Sick Villain, but I prefer those two novels better because they were written less flowery.


Title: The Struggles of Being A Mother of Villains
Author: Da青蛙
Chapters: 122 chapters 
Publication: 2018
Summary from Novel Updates:

After Xiao Yu died, the system said it would give her a second chance at life.

Xiao Yu smiled brightly and accepted the offer. After she transmigrated, she just wanted to point her middle finger at the system.

It didn’t mention that the original host was nearly paralyzed.

It didn’t mention that the original host was a mother.

It didn’t even mention anything about the original host’s child being not only a villain……but the female villain and the male villain being both her children.

Lying on the hospital bed, as she looked at the little boy in front of her, Xiao Yu’s face was plastered with confusion.

The system: How dare I mention this!

2 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW: 

It's only been a few days since I finished reading this novel, and I already forgot that I read this book. It's not that memorable after you finish reading it. Overall, the book was pretty entertaining because shameless Xiao Yu's arguments were funny, but that's about it. 


Title: After Being Transported into a Book, I Adopted the Villain
Author: 甜腻小米粥
Chapters: 86 chapters + 2 extras
Publication: 2019
Summary from Novel Updates:

When Shen Yu woke up, he had accidentally gone into a ridiculous dog-blood novel.

In the novel, he is an unfortunate cannon fodder character:

– dead father and mother

– his fiancée had run away

– he is disabled (in a wheelchair)

– he lives a lonely life in a 20,000-square foot mansion.

Later, in order to compete for the female lead, he died under the opposition.

In order to save his life, Shen Yu had to stay as far away as possible from the leading and supporting roles and concentrate on enjoying the luxury life.

As a result, one day, the servant brought a 10-year-old villain with bruised eyes: “Sir, this is the orphan of Tang’s family.”

Shen Yu: “…”

Shen Yu decided to adopt the small villains and change his fate.

Ten Years Later.

The villain pushed Shen Yu to the corner: “Who is that woman?”

Shen Yu: “… Who do you say?”

The villain: “The woman who seduced you at last night’s banquet!”

Shen Yu: “…”

The villain: “Hehe, I’m going to kill her.”

Shen Yu: “My son… That’s the female lead you forgot by the lake…”

2.5 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW: 

At first, it was interesting reading about Shen Yu raising Tang Li and trying to prevent him from turning into a villain. However, the middle of the book starts getting frustrating because of Shen Yu. 

In the beginning, he was scared of his destined ending, but at least he was proactive and tried to teach Tang Li to be a better person. But after the book's plot starts rolling, Shen Yu becomes a straight up passive coward. He's too scared of his potential future, but he keeps on choking up and not clarifying anything. He's afraid of loneliness, but he doesn't ask for help. He's too afraid to ask about anything because he's afraid of hearing people's answers. He just passively waits for things to happen until Tang Li comes for him. It was so frustrating to read and got boring after a while. 

Also, the Yi Heng part was so dissatisfying. It seemed like he was going to play a bigger part in the story near the end because of how he was introduced in the beginning, but he's basically just a cameo near the end of the story. I felt like there was a lot of wasted potential for that plot point.

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Shows I'm Currently Watching: Treasure Map, Kingdom: Legendary War, Road to Kingdom, Going Seventeen 2021

Whoops, it's been over a year since I've made one of these posts! This post is all about online shows I've been watching recently.

Treasure Map

TMap started up again! Shelle and I have been looking forward to the new season since the first season was so good. And the season started off strong with them filming a super cringy drama lmao. I loved it and how they reacted in the BTS episode afterwards lol. We're actually like a month behind on the episodes because it's been busy keeping up with all of our shows in between everything else lol.


Kingdom: Legendary War

I've been excited about Kingdom for the past few months once I found out that Stray Kids and Ateez were going to be contestants along with DBSK being the hosts. Even though there were a lot of scandals with the contestants leading up to the premiere (I'm still sad that Hyunjin couldn't participate), the show really lived up to its hype! Shelle and I wait every week to watch each new episode. The stages are so creative, the music remixes are dope, and the members are so talented! I was surprised at how much I remembered and loved BTOB's songs and its members, and now, Shelle and I became lowkey Ikonics because of Bobby (he's adorable!) and how the whole group is so chill lol.

These are some of my favorite stages so far. Ateez really came through and worked their hardest to improve their rankings. I freaking love the story and props they used! Those break dancers were a nice twist, too. Ateez really owns the prirate theme lol. Also, I never knew that I needed Hongjoong in rimless glasses with a gentlemanly scum/pirate look, but I am here for it.

Ikon put their own spin on Ateez's song, Inception, and they blew it out of the water! I loved the Inception theme and the group dance part was so cool! The stage movement in the beginning was so nice! Also, Bobby's move at the end after the ending fairy part was funny and 100% a Bobby move lol.

Stray Kids combined two of their songs, God's Menu and Side Effects, and it was amazing! The stage was dark and creepy and fit the mood so well. I thought the members used the stage really well. And the dance, especially the part where a bunch of people are underneath the blanket, was ingenious! I loved Felix's part. That deep voice paired with that cute face... the contrast is too big lol.

Shelle and I even downloaded the app so we could vote for our favorite teams lol. The show's almost over. I'm so sad! :(


Road to Kingdom

This is actually the prequel to Kingdom: Legendary War, where the winning group got to participate in Kingdom. Even though we knew the winner was The Boyz, Shelle and I wanted to watch the show since we were really impressed with the performances in Kingdom: Legendary War. We've watched the first few episodes so far, and I'm liking the groups and performances. They really used the stage dimensions well.


Going Seventeen 2021

After almost two months of delays/hiatus, GoSe is back! I'm still disappointed that they moved their release days from Monday to Wednesday. I really liked how I started off my work week with GoSe in the evening. Now, I kind of forget that new episodes come out on Wednesdays until I see the YouTube notification on my phone. Either way, I'm loving the episodes so far. The members are hilarious as always.