Tag Archives: CDrama

TBR Challenge Review: 缚春情 (Bound by Spring Love) by 任欢游

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缚春情 (Bound by Spring Love) by 任欢游
Historical romance webnovel completed on January 21, 2025

Bound by Spring Love book cover; it has the title in calligraphy along the left, and some decorative greenery in golds and grey greens - they look like lotus leafs, and some red lotus flower buds in the right half of the coverThe Jiang and Song families had been on good terms for generations, and Song Wan was betrothed to Jiang Xingjian before she was even born. The two were childhood sweethearts, but she was confined to the inner quarters of the house, and all her learning in her life was merely preparation for becoming a wife in the Jiang family.
The young man, dressed in fine clothes and riding a spirited horse, had lofty ambitions. Before he even reached adulthood, he went to the border to make his mark.
Before his departure, Jiang Xingjian personally put a white jade hairpin in her hair. With just one sentence, “wait for me,” Song Wan’s heart was touched. Even though he died on the battlefield, she insisted on marrying into the Chengyang Marquis’s mansion while hugging his memorial tablet.
She kept the boy hidden in her heart and remained a widow for six years, only to wait for Jiang Xingjian to return to the capital with his beloved.
The young man’s beloved was eccentric in her words and unpredictable with her actions. She made ice and firearms in the summer, helping the Marquis’s mansion rise to prominence.
Song Wan watched as he embraced the girl, showering her with boundless affection. She also watched as he personally snatched the power to manage the household from her hands, all for the sake of winning a smile from his beauty.
No noble family would divorce a woman, so Song Wan abandoned everything and left the Marquis’s mansion, only to be entangled by a rebellious and unruly man.
But Jiang Xingjian suddenly realized his mistake. Jiang Xingjian: Song shi was mine in life and will be mine in death. Even her ghost will be mine.
Shen Qianyu: You go find your dead ghost, I want my A’Wan…

​The prompt for this month was “Vintage” and honestly I (other than going by publication date) don’t know what in cnovel world would be “vintage.” Everything I read is “old school” in that it’s a historical setting. (Look, the escapism is real.) But I felt the book I read just before this last one fits perfectly, because it has a transmigrator as one of the major characters, and she definitely starts out as the antagonist. (I actually felt she was more the actual protagonist of the book, but the author had a premise in mind and insisted on following it despite not really wanting to … I’m also annoyed because I just finished another book by her but this one was … not good.) Anyway, what I felt specifically “vintage” about it, was the setting of the book is an ancient very conservative society. What was interesting also was generally in novels the transmigrator is the protagonist, and their innovations lead to success and winning. But here the transmigrator couldn’t fit in, didn’t understand things, and caused endless trouble. Continue reading →

TBR Challenge Discussion: (Bananapants!) The Double

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Hi friends! So this isn’t a review since the series hasn’t finished airing yet – but like I said in my previous post – I live here now (thanks).

Seriously even if you have no plans of watching this drama YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE TRAILER! IT’S SO GOOD!

The prompt for June is “bananapants” and In a way, the drama is even more bananapants than the book. (Which is a transmigration revenge romance. I’ve heard rumors/people have said transmigration is banned in dramas, someone said because Taoism … but I’m pretty sure that isn’t true because Taoists believe in rebirth/reincarnation, I think? So …) ANYWAY.

In the first episode we have this asshole dude – and his asshole family. She’s this asshole’s wife! His mother and sister (so her mother-in-law and sister-in-law) drug her, and set her up to be found in an “adulterous affair.” In the time and culture that would ruin your life and reputation. (A family might be justified in killing you.) Dude – I call him the “trash ass ex (TAE)” pretends to save her, takes her to a remote mountain, clonks her over the head with a shovel, and buries her alive. *blinks.* I’m also not calling this a spoiler because all this happens in like the first ten minutes of the drama. (I saw someone say technically they’re still married and … my summer child, no. I don’t know who broke you, but if someone tries to murder you by ruining your life and BURIES YOU ALIVE … you’re over. You get to be free now.)

As expected, our heroine makes it out alive, and takes over the identity of another tragic girl. In the book it’s a bit “easier” for her to make a comeback because it’s “just” her soul in an entirely different body. In the drama … heh it’s literally the same person. The girl she “becomes” was abandoned by her family in this remote place for over a decade, with nobody visiting her, so it’s believable they have no idea what she looks like now. If course there are a few loose ends and either the people who notice don’t matter, or they’re addressed later.

We have a poisons expert (loved her character in the book, loathe the actress and the changes in her story line), fake pregnancies, murder – so much murder – illegal salt trades and gold mining, treason, rebellions, fake priests and possessions, along with comedy and sweetness. Great actors too. One of the initial villains – I hated her so much -SO MUCH- and even as I wanted her to die a horrible death I thought “damn she’s good at bringing her character to life.”

 

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I mean come oonnnnn. I do have a few minor complaints but those can be addressed later if I get to it. And as always – you can watch on Youku (which requires a subscription), or Viki (I think if you pay it’s ad free), or Youtube! Which is definitely free!

COME JOIN US! ONE OF US!

I Live Here Now, Thanks (Talking Up The Double)

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Hi all! Since I’ve been convincing people left and right to watch The Double, a currently airing Cdrama, I was like “wait how could I ignore this whole ass site I own?” [I mean >.> answer is “pretty damn easily,” considering *gestures* – BUT ANYWAY.]

I’ve mostly been talking about it on Bluesky which is where I hang out most on the socials now … but I know not everyone is there (JOIN US!) And especially watch The Double!

I mean come ONNNNNN. 😻🤩🥰

You can watch up to episode 11 today … Youku keeps adding them. Live/if you pay for the Youku access the series is up to episode 21 with 2 more to be released at midnight. There will be 40 episodes in total so 😱 we’re more than halfway through! That means you can binge!

If you have Viki you can watch it there too. https://www.viki.com/tv/40573c-the-double

The English subs … *sigh* sadly I’ve noticed a trend where they’re not wrong in dramas, but they’re not right either exactly. Just, you kinda miss a lot. (And 😱😅 sometimes they are straight up wrong – on Viki at least that tends to get fixed. Maybe YouTube too.)

It’s such an excellent story and has fantastic actors! I’ve said watching this makes me want to re-read the book. But my second time around I’d want to wait for the book to be fully translated. Which … if they continue on at the same pace, already taking five years, will take another five. 🫠)