Summing It Up: February 2017

Hello, happy March!

I’m not at all surprised that the shortest month of the year flew by so quickly. How were your Februaries?

Personally, I fell in a blogging slump last month. I actually have nearly 10 draft posts (all are reviews and one is a book haul) and I am hopelessly behind with getting to the comments on my blog and visiting others. I truly miss talking to you guys… School has just kept me occupied. I’m also still applying for internships, which has contributed to my busyness. (And I imagine if I do end up getting a second job, my life will only become more hectic.) However, my spring break is next week. So I’m hoping to catch up with everything then!

Also, you might will notice that in this post I shall be omitting the “events” section particularly because I’ve simply had a boring February. School was my main priority and consequently my non-academic life was pretty stagnant. (I did read some books and, finally, started a few dramas though.)

Anyhow, let’s get into the fun stuff, yes?

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– What I Read –

Chihayafuru (full manga series) (reread) | A Court of Thorns and Roses | A Court of Mist and Fury | By Your Side | Gilded Cage (DNF)

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– February Blog Posts –

• Summing It Up: January 2017 [Wrap Up/Favorites]
• RoseBlood [Book Review] 2.5 Stars
• Gilded Cage [Book Review*] DNF
• Wintersong [Book Review] 4 Stars

*This review can only be found on my Goodreads; I don’t have plans on crossposting it on Xingsings. (I don’t publish DNF reviews on this blog.)

I seldom put down a book and mark it as DNF. (I’ve actually only DNFed about five titles in my entire life.) The main reason why I’ve always done this is because I’m someone who doesn’t want to miss out if a book does end up improving. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to start DNFing books without hesitation henceforth. Because there’s just plenty of good books out there and I shouldn’t force myself on ones that I’m not enjoying. Haha, sorry for the tangent/rant. I thought I’d just put this out there.

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– Favorites –

It wasn’t a secret that I was utterly obsessed with A Court of Mist and Fury in February. Normally, I don’t really enjoy New Adult books despite that I’m part of the targeted age group for them. Graphic sex scenes just aren’t my cup of tea to read. (Unteachable, my first NA read, sort of scarred me.) But, strangely, I didn’t seem to mind with this ACoTaR sequel. Possibly, because I went into this series bracing myself for the explicit scenes. And I liked that this wasn’t just a contemporary romance; the fantasy/paranormal elements with the fae were engaging and fun. Plus, I have to give it to everyone that warned me of Rhysand’s charm. He is indeed so dreamy. /heart eyes/

Still trying to cope with all my feels from #ACOMAF. (Don't mind the dry cuticles. 😅) @SJMaas 🌟💙🖤 pic.twitter.com/epglRWLkeN

— Summer Lynn Nguyen (@xingsings) February 10, 2017

I was really proud of my A Court of Mist and Fury and Rhysand inspired nails so I think I shared it on every platform I could. On Twitter (as seen above) and Instagram. As some of you guys know my part time job is at a nail salon so I did do my nails myself. The inspiration behind the designs was from this image I found on Google, which depicts the tattoos Rhys has on his knees, the reminders that he will bow down before no one and nothing but his crown. (I was actually so obsessed that I used this very picture for my Instagram profile picture for a while, lol.)

Now, the rest of the favorites from February were actually gifts!

Cherry (@_forevermint on Instagram) sent me a card and chocolates for Valentine’s day. How sweet is that? Anyway, she’s such a lovely person and is one of my closer friends from the blogosphere. I’m really happy I was able to meet and get to know her last year. (We have a lot in common in regards to other interests outside books; we have identical taste in anime and Asian dramas it seems, haha.)

This is so unexpected but my friend, Savindi (another close friend I met through blogging; she used to be a book blogger at The Streetlight Reader), spoiled me with more gifts (she already got me so much for my birthday in January). The first item was a lovely letter and a signed copy of Dragon Springs Road. I am excited to read this especially after learning that Savindi loved it.

And then Savindi also surprised me with a package of Beauty and the Beast bookmarks from NerdyGrlDesigns! I’ve never bought from this seller but her work is so adorable. Ugh, Savindi is always gifting me with the best things. She spoils me with way too much! (Cruel Beauty is just in this photo because it’s a BatB retelling I recently bought for myself; I was going to use this picture for a book haul, too, so. Haha.)

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– Video Favorites –

If you saw last month’s favorites, you’d know that I’ve been more than obsessed with Day6. I seriously think they’re one of my top favorite Korean bands (up there with Exo and Lunafly). I love the lyrics for “You Were Beautiful” and that the MV explains the story from Day6’s debut track and video, “Congratulations.” I seriously got chills each time I listened to this before bed. I know it’s a breakup song, but every time I heard it it reminded me of the old friendships I shared with friends I’ve long since stopped talking to. T.T

I discovered this song through one of Cherry’s Youtube videos. And, gah, I’ve been in love with it ever since.

Is it just me or has there been a lot of goblin stuff out lately? First with Wintersong then Goblin, the K-drama, and now this song? Anyway, this track has been a favorite in my exercise playlist. It’s standard K-pop in that it’s super catchy, but I also love the charismatic dance concept. (Also, I didn’t realize how derpy this thumbnail was until now, lol.)

Favorite instrumental goes to… Smyang Piano’s short Studio Ghibli and BTS mashup. No one can convince me that this isn’t beautiful.

I’m not a religious viewer of We Got Married (because I don’t consistently watch any reality TV shows to be honest) but I’ve been watching it again since the addition of the Gong Myung and Jung Hye Sung couple; they are too adorable. Anyway, I found this track because it was the bgm playing in one of the recent episodes.

Taeyeon has proven that she can pull off the cute and sexy concepts, but the one I prefer the most is the casual, girl next door. As a viewer and listener, these type of music videos are more relatable for me. As for the song itself, “Fine” sort of reminds of “I,” which is my favorite song from all her solo tracks. I’ve never experienced heartbreak myself, but I love listening to breakup songs such as this one. (Clearly, since I also mentioned the earlier song, “You Were Beautiful.”)

I’ve been overly obsessed with this choreography for months now but I kept forgetting to add it on the previous favorites, so here it is! Yoojung always dances with such grace and I like that she (unlike most of the 1 Million Dance Studio choreographers) delivers different and varied routines each time. Don’t get me wrong, I love the other instructors, but a lot of the moves in their choreos can be a bit repetitive. Whereas, Yoojung is usually refreshing to watch since she likes trying different things.

I’ll share my thoughts on Three Lives, Three Worlds in the next section of this post but I’ve been replaying this gorgeous piece over and over because of my feels from that drama.

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– What I’ve Been Watching –

It feels nice to admit that I started watching a few dramas again. Aside from reading and the occasional blogging, it was nice to do something mindless and easy.

Happy Marriage – 3.5/10 [Skim Completed]

(Sorry about the film poster. I couldn’t find a proper one. And apparently this was originally a shoujo manga, not that I’m surprised.) Happy Marriage would make a good guilty pleasure watch for those that like the forced marriage trope. As expected, for me it was just incredibly cliché and predictable. The female protagonist’s character annoyed me (a lot). She was depicted as a naive and innocent girl but really I just found her to be plain dense. However, like I said, Happy Marriage could be a good pick-me-up if this is the type of series a viewer is in the mood for. The episodes are short and there aren’t many episodes in the one season so it’s not a huge waste of time if you do decide to commit. But, overall, this was just subpar at best.

Scum’s Wish – ?/10 [Dropped]

Scum’s Wish is so weird and twisted… and not my cup of tea. (I originally saw the title in Japanese, if I realized it was called Scum’s Wish I probably wouldn’t have bothered giving it a try at all.) It recycles the friends with benefits storyline (but in high school, to my horror) except that the two individuals involved sort of fantasize about their unrequited love interests when they’re with each other. Because the main couple are involved in a purely physical relationship, the romance is mature. There are sex scenes. I don’t really enjoy watching these romances to begin with… so it didn’t help that I soon took note that every single character in this drama was absolutely miserable. (One of them being a complete nuthead. Akane Minagawa is arguably an interesting character but she’s an antagonist I don’t really care to find more about.) All viewers can do is pity them. Though I did like that there’s an LGBTQ+ represented storyline in here, but sadly that storyline hasn’t gone anywhere yet (and I’m not sure if it’ll ever go anywhere by the looks of the other party’s reaction). Anyway, I’m dropping this one at episode 4 because it’s not one that interests me.

Three Lives, Three Worlds – ?/10 [Currently Watching] 

I believe this series goes by a number of titles including Eternal Love and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. I think I prefer Three Lives, Three Worlds the most out of the three because the storyline is exactly that: a love that spans three lives and withstands three worlds. I am genuinely loving this one quite a lot. I don’t think it (or any Chinese drama for that matter) will reach Nirvana in Fire level but I do like this one even more than I did Princess Weiyoung, which is saying a lot because I kind of fangirled over that one as well. Possibly, because I find Mark Chao to be very good looking (way more than Luo Jin), but I’m pleasantly surprised by how convincing his acting is. He does a perfect job channeling Ye Hua’s character. (And omg, don’t even get me started on Ye Hua. He might just take the spot as my favorite fictional male in a drama of all time. His character is that wonderful. Though, it’s kind of hard figuring out if I’m falling for Mark Chao or Ye Hua. LOL. But that’s besides the point.) Yang Mi is still pretty as always but I’ve always thought she lacked in portraying the fictional characters’ emotions. As for the romance, I SHIP IT SO HARD. /flails/ My favorite arc so far is definitely the third one. I kind of hated the second arc because of how Su Su was portrayed. I know she’s supposed to be a clueless mortal but it irritated me how dense her character was written. But I’m glad the intelligent and logical Bai Qian is back and this final arc has me swooning to no end. (There’s also another couple in this series that takes up a considerable amount of spotlight, Dong Hua and Feng Jiu. I adore their scenes together but the angst is reaching the sky and I’m at the point where I feel like flipping tables.) However, after I had started watching this I learned that the novel this is based on is a plagiarized work from what was originally a BL love story. Apparently, in China LGBTQ+ romances (if they’re the center romance) cannot be broadcast on the cable channels so that’s why the producers went with To the Sky Kingdom by Tang Qi Gong Zi and not Da Feng Gua Guo‘s Peach Blossom Debt, a yaoi romance. Saying I’m upset about this is putting it lightly but I’m going to try to continue enjoying this drama anyway despite this disappointing fact. Anyhow, as everyone probably knows by now Asian historical fiction/wuxia are my favorites and this romantic fantasy is proving to be phenomenal so far. I have a good hunch that this’ll be rated highly if the ending also delivers; I’m seriously considering creating a drama series review because I clearly have so much material to fangirl over. We will see!

A trailer (with no spoilers):

A trailer (that is still spoiler free but includes more scenes):

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We’ve reached the end of another month and another monthly recap. Thank you so much for tuning in. And don’t forget to let me know if we’re fangirling (or fanboying) over the same things. (My promises are sort of moot at this point, but I’m going to truly make an effort to reply to comments on Summing It Up posts faster because I love spazzing over the same things as other people, haha.) Anyhow, have an awesome March, friends! 🙂

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