Buttons

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Books We Didn't Like, But Are Glad We Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
Man, this book pissed me off so much, but I finished it.

This was big no no for me.
I did not hate this book but i could get into it, maybe I wasn't in the mood for it. I might give it a try some other time.
I did not think this book was great. I had to stop reading it because it was super boring.
The main reason why I wanted to read it was because of Rhysand but he wasn't in it. I started liking the book, but then it got boring. There was nothing great about this.
Another Super-overrated book and  every book page or blog I visit, all they talk about is this book  and how great it is, but it isn't. You people need to stop with your false advertisement hahaha.
I hated it so much! This book was Super overrated!

I think because I set up two months worth of posts all at once, it was really hard for me to come up with books for some of these lists! This one I was just drawing a complete blank. Mostly because I am incredibly lazy, and if I am not liking a book, I just don't finish it! So I don't really have anything that I could say I was glad I finished even though I didn't like it. 

K-dramas, however, are a completely different story. I have used quite a few Top Ten Tuesdays to discuss K-dramas that I have absolutely loved. But I have never really utilized a TTT to talk about dramas that I didn't. I figured this was a good chance to do that! 
3 Days

The President of South Korea goes on holiday at a private villa. In the middle of the night, three gunshots are fired, and the president goes missing. His bodyguards, led by elite agent Han Tae Kyung, have three days to find the president and escort him safely back to the Blue House.

Oh, Yoochun. Before he left for his military service, I was a diehard fan. After I Miss You, I was beyond willing to watch anything with him in it, even if it was outside my standard comfort zone. Of which 3 Days definitely was. I usually require at least a minimal romantic aspect to dramas, and this one barely met that requirement. But the story was just not good, and the characters didn't make much sense, nor were they very likable. All in all, this drama was a huge bust for me. Which is incredibly disappointing because Yoochun turned out to be a huge perv, and had a big scandal involving restrooms and prostitutes, and even if he had had a lot of dramas after this one, I probably wouldn't be able to watch them without thinking about what a scumbag he was. Even though he was exonerated from the rape allegations and the women admitted that it was all a scam to blackmail him and that the sex was in fact consensual, I still can't ever look at him the same. 

Just You
Qi Yi is a boss from hell. He is worst than a control freaking dictator. He is the saboteur of office romances. Cheng Liang Liang was tasked by her coworkers to break down the boss' defense and have him lift the anti-office-romance rule.

Taiwanese dramas are usually a big miss for me. It doesn't matter how high budget the drama is, it still is only on par with a very low budget Korean drama, complete with over the top acting you'd find in a daily makjang drama. Of course, I am open to suggestions if you think I am wrong on that point! But Just You definitely didn't disprove it. Aaron Yan is absolutely gorgeous, and I actually didn't hate this drama. But I also didn't love it. The leads were cute together, but overall that plot was kind of stupid and a lot of the obstacles are just irritating. Plus, I have learned that I really hate the Mandarin word for boss. 老板, pronounced lǎobǎn, is just so grating to hear repeated a hundred times an episode at high pitch. 
Cheongdamdong Alice
Han Se Kyung is a young woman with a very positive character. Her motto is "effort will take me as far as I want to go". She wins many designing contests and finally joins a clothing company. But, at work, Han Se Kyung does errands and chores rather than design. Meanwhile, the wife of an upper management employment at the clothing company humiliates Han Se Kyung. The wife is actually a formerhigh school classmate of Han Se Kyung who didn't do better than her in school. This makes Han Se Kyung look back on her life.

Just thinking about this drama makes me angry. I should preface this by saying I hate moon Geun Young with an unholy passion. Her face makes me feel stabby, and I usually avoid anything with her in it. But this looked so cute! I had no idea it was going to be about a manipulative liar who was going to constantly kick the figurative puppy that was the male lead. I would chalk this one up to a total waste of my life, but it did introduce me to Park Shi Hoo, who is ridiculously adorable. Though, as he also had rape allegations made against him almost immediately after this drama, maybe that wasn't a good thing. Even though the charges were dropped and she recanted her statement, it's not that easy to find work after you've been embroiled in a sex scandal. 

Secret Hotel
This drama will be about a woman who runs the wedding planning division of one of the country’s top 1% wedding destination hotels. And while planning perfect weddings for the elite, she’ll be caught in a love triangle between her ex-husband and a new man while a murder at the hotel turns things topsy-turvy.

I wanted so much to love this drama. I don't think I suffered from inflated expectations, even though Yoo In Na is one of my favorite actresses. This drama was just an absolute mess. The characters were mostly ridiculous. I think Yoo In Na cried in every single episode, sometimes several times an episode. Now, I don't mind a good damsel in distress every once in a while, I don't mind characters who have weaknesses. But that is all Yoo In Na's character was, weak. She was indecisive and allowed herself to be pulled in two different directions constantly. And I mean that quite literally. On more than one occasion, both boys each had a hand and was telling the other to let go. I was just hoping that she would tell them both to go take a flying leap since she wasn't a toy for them to argue over, but she never did. 
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge
Blessed with good looks, Takano Kyohei, a college student, is always suffering from the unreasonable behavior of customers who want him and the sexual harassment of his store manager. Because of his hot temper, he loses his head on this occasion and is fired from his part-time job. Then one day, the glamorous owner, Ms. Nakahara proposes, "I'll give you free board-and-lodging if you can turn my niece, Sunako, into a lady!"Kyohei and Toyama Yukinojo, Oda Takenaga and Morii Ranmaru, the other guys living together in the same boarding house, are enthusiastic, but the person who appears before the four of them is a spooky girl whose hair covers her face and who loves horror and vampires. And so, their tumultuous communal life begins.

This was only my third Asian drama ever. I started with Full House (Korean), then Boys Over Flowers (Korean), and then somehow managed to find this one. Theoretically, it sounds like everything I would love in a drama. Reverse harems are totally my thing, I won't lie. But every Jdrama I have seen has been like watching live action anime, and that's never good. This one had a ridiculous plot, bad acting and horrible hair. Like seriously, the worst wigs ever. 

18 comments:

  1. OMG,,, regarding with the Kdramas I TOTALLY agree. I hated all of them too. What's your favorite Kdrama... I've watched plenty but Im still open for recommendations. :) :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad that I'm not the only one who had a hard time with these dramas! It's really hard to pick a favorite. If you are into Kdramas, you have probably seen my favorites since they are failry popular, and therefore hard to miss: I Miss You, Queen In Hyun's Man, The Master's Sun and I Hear Your Voice. Some dramas that I seriously loved that seem to be underrated: Hogu's Love, King of Dramas, Weightlifting Fairy, Mask and Twenty Again.

      Are you on MDL? If so, send me a friend request! :)
      https://mydramalist.com/dramalist/allyson

      Delete
  2. Glad I'm not the only one who didn't like Red Rising :P I found it rather dry but I can understand how sometimes one's mood affects their reading experience, that has happened with me many times, anyway thanks for stopping by and happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh noooo! Not ACOTAR and Divergent! Although I do wonder if I'd still enjoy Divergent if I read it today...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great list! I ended up DNFing Divergent, I couldn't get into it at all, and unfortunately I've never been able to get into Sarah J. Maas's work either.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ahh, I love Sarah J. Maas. Although, I like the ACOTAR series, I prefer her Throne of Glass series. I have a few of those books on my TBR list though. eek!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an interesting list! I have grown bored of reading Sarah J Maas. I liked it initially, but it no longer works for me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love how you guys did a book list and a Kdrama list - so unique! I liked Divergent well enough (although it didn't live up to the hype), but the next two books were pretty poor.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aww, too bad you didn't enjoy ACOTAR! Each their own opinion though. :)
    I liked ACOTAR, but I liked ACOMAF waaaay more, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I wasn't that keen on ACOTAR, I liked the second one way more.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/15/top-ten-tuesday-159/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ooh I remember seeing Nightshade and liking that cover. Good to know the cover is maybe the best part lol? And I thought Divergent wasn't bad but I could never finish the trilogy...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I read ACOTAR and Divergent, and I liked both. If I were to complain, it would be about the last book in the Divergent series. Sort of boring and I just didn't agree with some of the things that happened in that book.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mariela, I tried to finish Nightshade and just couldn’t. It sucked!
    Allyson, if you could link me to your post on k-dramas you loved, that would be awesome! I’m a huge k-drama fan and am curious if you’ve watched any I haven’t.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here are the links you asked for :) I also included a link to my MDL watch list, which has the full list of everything I've seen. Are you on MDL? Definitely send me a friend request if you are :) I apologize in advance for how long the blog posts about K-dramas are. I tend to go on and on when I am talking about things I like.

      MDL Watch List

      Part One

      Part Two

      Part Three

      Part Four

      K-drama Villains

      Delete
    2. I’ve actually never heard of MDL, but that’s a great way to keep track of what I’ve watched. I’ll definitely make an account and friend you. Thanks for the links!!!

      Delete
  13. Despite all the hype for Sarah J. Maas and her books, they probably aren't going to be books I'll read. I feel bad about this since once upon a time I was SUPER curious about her TOG books plus I own most of those, but there are too many other books to discover! :)

    Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland, as always. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Firelight is at its best forgettable. I say this because I just looked it up because it sounded familiar and it turns out I read it. Can't remember a thing though.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh my goodness, SAME with Red Rising! So I paused for a year or so and tried again and... so bored. I wish I hadn't bothered with ACOTAR in hindsight too, but alas. And I have not read any K-dramas, but I should! I mean, obviously not these, but still :D Great picks!!

    ReplyDelete