Sunday 5 January 2020

| MOST AWAITED BOOKS OF 2020 |

I cannot believe I didn't make a most awaited books list last year! What the hell was I doing with my life back then???

  1. Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire (January 7, 2020)
  2. Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Seed (February 4, 2020)
  3. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare (March 3, 2020)
  4. Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi (April 7, 2020)
  5. The Betrothed by Kiera Cass (May 5, 2020)
  6. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (May 19, 2020)
  7. The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare (September 1, 2020)
  8. Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab (September 1, 2020)
  9. The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan (September 29, 2020)
  10. The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab (October 6, 2020)

| K-DRAMAS I WATCHED IN 2019 |

I'm impressed with the amount of K-Dramas I watched. I managed to finish 15 K-Dramas. I hope I get to finish more in 2020! <3

This list is ranked by my most favorite to least liked.

  1. Signal (9.5/10)
    • I don't usually like K-Dramas with little or no romance at all, but this one I enjoyed a lot. The plot was quite intriguing to see unfold - there were many twists and turns. 
  2. Her Private Life (9.5/10)
    • I love this K-Drama a lot. It was such a refreshing and entertaining K-Drama to watch. The story was quite straightforward. There were shocking twists, but you wouldn't felt stressed by it. 
    • I love the relationship that blossomed between Deok-Mi and Ryan. It was very entertaining and fun to watch. They were quite adorable together. 
    • I love the friendship between Sun-Joo, Eun-Ki, and Deok-Mi. They were like siblings, and it was quite fun to watch. 
    • I love the character development that happened for Cindy. She was annoying in the beginning, but I grew to love her by the end. 
    • I love all the side stories that this showed. The side characters were very entertaining to watch. 
    • I have a huge crush on Kim Jae-Wook.
  3. What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (9/10)
    • I enjoyed watching this K-Drama a lot. There wasn't much of a plot, but finding out about the past between Mi-so and Young-Joon intrigued me a lot. I like the twists and turns that the story went to. I love the relationship that blossomed between them. They were very adorable to watch, even though there were times that they were quite cringe-y.  
  4. Angel's Last Mission (9/10)
    • I loved this K-Drama a lot. The story was very intriguing to see. I didn't expect most of the things to happen, and many were quite heartbreaking. This is probably the only K-Drama that made me cry in the first episode. 
    • So many terrible things happened to Yeon-seo, so you wouldn't blame her for being skeptical about life. I'm glad that Dan came into her life. He was a literal guardian angel to her. I love the way their relationship developed. She found someone who wouldn't back down from an argument with her, and who would protect her from the evil people around her. They were very precious together. It was heartbreaking to find out about the past they shared. 
    • Kang-woo was kind of an annoying character in the beginning. He seemed quite creepy, to be honest, and I'm glad that he changed course. He just became someone who Yeon-Seo can rely on. 
    • I hated what happened to Hu. He was so supportive of Dan, and it broke my heart so much when he vanished. 
  5. Fated to Love You (8.8/10)
    • I enjoyed watching the romance that developed in this K-Drama, but it was heartbreaking watching them struggle to cope with their situation. You can see how much they loved each other, but many things cannot be solved by love. They had many misunderstandings that could have been solved if they just talked to each other, but we know that that's not how K-Drama works. I cried a lot while watching this. 
    • I felt bad for Lee Gun a lot because he loved Mi-young a lot, but he doesn't want to burden her anymore. 
    • I'm glad that Mi-young had Daniel during her rough times, but I felt bad for him because we know from the start that she wouldn't choose him even if things didn't work out with Lee Gun. It would be unfair to him because deep down Mi-young knows, who she truly loves. 
  6. Kill Me, Heal Me (8.8/10)
    • I enjoyed watching this K-Drama. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride. There were many down moments, but there were several fun ones. I loved how the story unfolded, and I honestly didn't see the main twist happening. My god, it was heartbreaking. It was fun to watch a K-Drama where the first and the second lead was technically the same person. 
    • I love the chemistry between all three of the main characters. 
    • Ri-on was such a precious character. I'm glad that Ri-jin had him. 
    • I love the relationship between Cha and Ri-jin. They were so adorable together, and the way that Ri-jin handled, and confronted his different personalities were heartbreaking. 
    • Ji-Sung is such an amazing actor. He was able to portray several different characters with different personalities, and I'm very proud of him.  
  7. My Girl (8.3/10)
    • I enjoyed watching this K-Drama. It put me in a roller-coaster of emotion. It was very funny in the beginning, but halfway it broke my heart a lot. Gong-chan and Yoo-rin were adorable together, and I wished there were more scenes of them enjoying their relationship - the approved one.
  8. Strangers from Hell (8/10)
    • I found this K-Drama quite entertaining. Some of the episodes felt slow, but they were always creepy. I didn't see the ending coming, so I was happy with it. 
    • Each of the actors was amazing in their respective roles. They each had their level of disturbingness. Some made me more uncomfortable than others. 
    • Lee Dong-Wok was amazing in his role. I was shocked by how creepy he was in his role. 
  9. When the Camellia Blooms (8/10)
    • I enjoyed watching this K-Drama, but I felt confused when I was watching it because I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a suspense thriller or a romantic comedy. It felt weird that it was both. I like the mysterious atmosphere it had in the beginning, but somewhere down the road, it became kind of cheerful. Still, it was entertaining to watch. I just wished that it had a lesser number of episodes because the ending of the serial killer felt kind of disappointing. 
    • I like the romance that bloomed between Dong-Baek, and Yong-Sik. They were very adorable together, but there were times that they reached the cringe level. 
    • Jong-Ryeol's side story was quite annoying, to be honest. I get that he just wants to redeem himself, but he honestly doesn't seem to care that he's just disrupting Dong-Baek's life, and his son's. He seems selfish. 
    • I found Kyu-Tae, and Ja-Young's relationship adorable. I'm glad that they got back together again. 
    • Hyang-Mi's story was very heartbreaking. I kind of disliked her in the beginning, but as we find out more about her I couldn't help, but get sad for her. 
    • I love the bond that the residents of Ongsan had. I was happy when they finally accepted Dong-Baek into their fold and tried to protect her, however, they can.
  10. The Last Empress (7.8/10)
    • I honestly cannot believe that I finished watching a 26-episode K-Drama. The story was full of twists and turns, which was quite entertaining. Some twists were absurd, but it was a fun addition to the story. The ending could have been better, though. 
    • I enjoyed seeing Sunny's character develop from such a weak person to someone who tried to fight the oppression happening inside their household. It was something new for me, especially since Jang Na Ra's character is usually on the weaker side. 
    • Shin Sung-Rok's performance as the feeble-minded emperor was amazing. He was able to show a sadistic side, but you will still feel pity for him because you know how he grew up, especially once he realized how much he wronged Sunny. 
    • Yoo-ra's character was impressive. She was like a cockroach who just wouldn't die. I disliked her in the first half of the K-Drama, but she redeemed herself in the end once we find out what she went through, and she tried to help Sunny. 
    • Shin Eun-Kyung was amazing as the evil Empress. I hated her so much. She was such an unredeemable character. 
    • I loved the Grand Empress Dowager. It broke my heart so much when she died, especially after seeing Sunny's reaction to her death. I still find the reason for her death stupid, though. 
    • I liked the relationship that blossomed between Sunny and Wang-sik, but in my heart, I knew that I still wanted Sunny to end up with Lee Hyuk.
    • I hated what happened with Wang-Sik. It was so stupid. They could have made a better ending for his character. 
  11. My Absolute Boyfriend (7.5/10)
    • I loved the manga of Absolute Boyfriend, so I was excited about this. I wasn't expecting anything, so I wasn't disappointed. I mostly enjoyed what they did to the story. There were parts that I think were better than the manga, especially how the characters met and were involved with each other. The only thing that made me mad was the addition of Diana. She was just an annoying character who I wanted to slap. She didn't deserve to be redeemed. Also, I prefer the second lead to the first lead. 
  12. Hotel Del Luna (7.5/10)
    • I was intrigued by the story of this K-Drama. I disliked that it had slow pacing in the beginning. It took many episodes before Man-wol's past was shown properly. I enjoyed watching it, but I felt like something was lacking. I prefer that Man-wol ended up with Chung-myung instead of Chan-sung because I dislike Yeo Jin-goo as the lead character. Still, I enjoyed watching the bond that the different employees of Hotel Del Luna had. My heart broke at the end, but it somewhat felt anticlimactic.  
  13. When Time Stops (6/10)
    • The story was very intriguing. It had a lot of potentials, but the execution was poor. The first few episodes felt slow, then the main conflict just suddenly appeared, and then you were suddenly bombarded with different information about the past.
    • The romance was cute, but the development of their relationship felt rushed. 
    • The bond between the residents of the apartment complex was adorable. 
  14. W: Two Worlds (5/10)
    • I was quite intrigued by the plot, but I didn't like the direction it went. There were too many twists and turns that turned the story into something crazy. 
    • The lead characters were adorable together, but there were moments where I felt like their relationship was forced. 
    • I didn't agree with Yeon-Joo's life choices, and she still makes me angry. 
  15. Touch Your Heart (3/10)
    • I thought I would enjoy this a lot because the main couple is Lee Dong-Wook and Yoo In-Na, boy I was wrong. There was no actual plot, and most of the side characters and romances lacked chemistry. This should have ended way before episode sixteen. 

| BOOKS I READ IN 2020 |

I managed to finish my Goodreads reading challenge this year. Hooray! I re-read 15 books, but still, I managed to read 30 (8 are manga). Als...