tv show review

Book (+ SHOW) Recommendation: Shadow & Bone

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Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo is the YA enemies to (could’ve-been) lovers excellence that we’ve all been craving for years!

Ok, please forgive me, but I’m going to give a synopsis in a very chaotic fangirl-fashion!

Ready?

Here we go!

Alina Starkov is a solider in the Ravkan First Army. As a low ranking map-maker Alina really only has one mission – don’t die! That, and “don’t let your best friend know that you’re secretly in love with him.” Then, her unit is selected to make the dreaded journey across The Fold – the swath of impenetrable darkness that has torn her country in two for centuries.

Turns out Alina has special powers – which means that she can summon the light, banish the darkness, and wear cool colors now. Thanks to that, her unit survives The Fold, but uh-oh, she’s in trouble now. Immediately, people are trying to kill her, sway her over to their side, and (in the case of the show) kidnap her!

A whole lot of stuff happens with her best-guy-friend ignoring her letters (only he wasn’t), the enigmatic alluring Black General showing more than casual interest (much, much more!) in her, political intrigue, fancy food and balls, and (in the case of the show) hectic heisting!

If you’re a fan of Fantasy, or YA, or My Chemical Romance, then hunny you’re gonna love Shadow & Bone!

The book is brilliant – but if for some reason you don’t like reading – then you can hop on over to Netflix and watch the first season of Shadow & Bone, which has THE BEST casting for ANY young adult book to movie adaptation that I’ve EVER SEEN!

Seriously, most YA book-to-movie adaptation castings are – downright awful! Sure, sometimes you get 1 or 2 perfectly casted characters (but, to quote disney’s John Smith, “can’t think of any right now!”), but that’s it. With the exceptions of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, most castings are just “not it!”. (That’s right, I’m looking at you Twilight!)

Not only did all of the actors LOOK like the characters, they all ACTED like them too!

On the typewriter ranking system, I give the book Shadow & Bone 4.7 out of 5, and the show (for casting alone!) 5 out of 5!

Subscribe for more recommendations and reviews! Also, leave a comment and let me know if you would like to see more of something else or the other. 🙂

Drama Recommendation: W – Two Worlds Apart

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Another 2016 masterpiece, W: Two Worlds Apart is an MBC romantic fantasy drama starring Han Hyo Joo and Lee Jong Suk.

Oh Yeon Joo (played by Han Hyo Joo) is a promising young doctor. Kang Cheol (played by Lee Jong Suk) is a crime fighting CEO. One night Kang Cheol is stabbed and Oh Yeon Joo saves his life. There’s just one problem – Kang Cheol isn’t real!

He’s a comic book character in a popular manhwa series that her father, Oh Sung Moo (played by Kim Eui Sung), created. And yet, he’s alive. He breathes. He bleeds.

Is he the horrific abomination that her father fears he is? A monster that must be killed at all costs? Or is he just a man? A man on a mission to figure out the meaning of his life.

All Kang Cheol knows is that there have been strange things happening to him – cars with no drivers trying to run him off the road, a man with no face trying to kill him, and a mysterious young lady who somehow manages to keep showing up just in time to save him.

To top it all off, she has intimate knowledge about him – knows things about him that he’s never said out loud to another soul before. She’s mysterious, has no identity, cannot be hurt, and holds what Kang Cheol calls “the key to his life”.

But, if Oh Yeon Joo tells Kang Cheol the truth – what in the world(s) will happen?

Honestly, this show is so amazing!

I love it so much! It’s beautifully shot, wonderfully casted/acted, has a perfect soundtrack, and is the story that every author has found themselves crafting at some point or other. Cause, let’s face it, we’ve all reached that point as a writer where we’ve felt like our characters were REAL. Well, this show deals with that thought in a very literal sense.

What would you do if your characters WERE REAL?

How would you react?

Would you befriend them? Fall in love with them? Fear them? Hate them? Try to kill them?

I would love it so much if my characters turned out to be real!! And I would be absolutely terrified too!! Oh my goodness, could you imagine? All of the good characters (swoon!), but all of the bad characters too (yikes!)?

W: Two Worlds Apart can be found on Viki.com, and this drama can be viewed (with commercial breaks) as part of Viki’s free service!! How awesome is that??? Seriously, there’s no reason not to watch this show!

On the newly minted ranking system (the FaWPoV 5 out of 5 typewriters system), W: Two Worlds Apart gets a resounding 7 typewriters out of 5!!! (You read that right! That’s a full 2 typewriters over the limit! That’s how good it is!)👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Thank you for reading, Happy Watching! 😄💕

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Drama Recommendation: Kairos

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It’s the best – a one in a millions masterpiece!

A 2020 MBC Korean drama starring Shin Sung Rok and Lee Se Young, Kairos will have you jumping out of your seat, hiding behind your hands, running around your living room and generally freaking out with every single episode.

It follows Kim Seo Jin (Shin Sung Rok), an upper-class uptight workaholic, and Han Ae Ri (Lee Se Young), a lower-class hardworking daughter who is saving up money for her mother’s medical expenses.

One night Kim Seo Jin’s daughter is kidnapped.

While waiting desperately for a ransom call, Kim Seo Jin gets a phone call from Han Ae Ri, who insists that the phone that she’s just called is hers and he’s taken it. He informs her that it’s his, he just got this number within the last month, and hangs up. After a few more annoying calls and texts from Han Ae Ri, always at 10:33 PM, Kim Seo Jin sends her the missing poster for his daughter. As the time continues to pass Kim Seo Jin falls into despair, until Han Ae Ri informs him that, while the date on his poster is incorrect, she’s seen his daughter.

They try to meet up – but mutually no show – or so they think. That is when Kim Seo Jin discovers a faded copy of the missing poster for his daughter, with the date scratched off and re-written in to being one month earlier.

Then, Han Ae Ri’s mother goes missing.

In her desperation and confusion, Han Ae Ri calls her deceased father’s phone number – only to have it answered by Kim Seo Jin – one month in the future.

Kim Seo Jin has figured it out – they’re separated in time, one month apart, and are somehow able to communicate for 1 minute everyday at 10:33 PM.

Finally, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, a way to undo the past, and save both Kim Seo Jin’s daughter and Han Ae Ri’s mother. But, the journey also uncovers some long buried truths that may contain some deadly consequences.

This show is sooooo good!

Genuinely, if you love time travel, but even if you don’t, then you will love this show!

Not only is the story tightly paced and the plot phenomenal – the acting is seriously out of this world!

I first got to know Shin Sung Rok as the evil brother from My Love From The Star, and had seen him in many different types of roles since then. After his performance in The Last Empress, I knew that all I needed was to know that he was in the show to know that it was going to be a hit! He brings the pain, the confusion, the fear, the desperation, and the layers that only few actors can truly deliver.

Then, we have Lee Se Young, who’s been acting since she was a child and has only gotten better and better with time! This role felt like such a different role from those that she usually plays, there was no comedy or silliness or any of that – it was just pure focused desperation. I loved it!

After seeing this show, I discovered that the two had acted before in a delightful little Rom-Com called Trot Lovers. A truly, entirely different kind of show all around. 🤣 A good one, but for entirely different reasons.

I don’t know what else to say, except to say that – if you like action, drama, thriller, time travel, mystery, or just well-written, superbly-acted, perfectly-toned tv shows – then you definitely need to add Kairos to your watchlist!!

You can find Kairos over on Viki.com. You will have to sign-up to watch this show as it is not one of their free ones, but trust me it is well worth the cost!

Don’t forget to subscribe and comment below letting me know if you’ve seen Kairos, or what other shows I should watch/recommend.