TV Review: What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?

                                     What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? Review

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim is about how Kim Mi so the hyper competent secretary to the workaholic slightly narcissistic vice chairman  Lee Young joon has decided to quit her job after working for Young joon for the last nine years since she has been able to have a life for herself while working for him since she always had to be on call in case he needed her. Young joon doesn't want Mi so to quit because he has come to depend on her both as a secretary and as someone he depends upon emotionally even though he is oblivious to this fact even while he's offering to marry her in a desperate attempt to prevent her from leaving him. Mi so agrees to stay at her job until she finishes training in her replacement and sees through an opening of an art center that they have been working on together, Young joon decides to use this time to convince her to stay at her job by offering her money, trying to be a better boss and offering to date her so that she wouldn't have to quit in order to start dating.

As the series goes on Young joon realize that the reason he's so desperate for Mi so to stay is because he has romantic feelings for her which leads to him trying woo her because he actually wants to date her and Mi so it seems also have feelings for him but she a little less sure of it a relationship between the two of them could work out. There's a plot thread through out the series that deals with Mi so trying to find a boy that was with her when she was kidnapped for a few days when she was really little who turns out to be Young joon but because of some family issues Young joon's family is pretending that his brother was the one that was kidnapped instead of him despite Young joon having both physical and emotional scars from ordeal where his brother does not. The lies about Young joon and his brother leads to Mi so and the brother briefly connecting and almost dating but in the end Mi so decides that Young joon is the one wants before she even figures out the truth behind the switch.

This series also has several other romantic subplots that revolve around other works at the company such as a relationship that develops between Mi so's replacement secretary Kim Ji a and one of the hardest workers in the company Go Gwi nam who pretends to be wealthier than he is which Ji a figures out and because of her keeping his secret the two become closer until they fall for each other. There's also the relationship between Bong Se ra and Yang Cheol which is very cute since they have contrasting personalities with Se ra being quite loud and attention grabbing and Cheol being quiet and more subtle in his affection.

Overall I really loved this series it was really sweet and cute the leads were great both together and a part and made a terrific couple. This series was a lot of fun to watch and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys romcoms. Please tell me your thoughts on the series in the comment section below.

Book Review: Holding Up the Universe

                                                  Holding Up the Universe Review

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven who also wrote All the Bright Places which was one of my favorite books I read last year and this book is about Libby Stout who was once the fattest teen in America who is returning to school for the first time in years after loosing some of the weight and Jack Masselin who is a fairly popular and he has face blindness which he keeps a secret from everyone in his life. Shortly after Libby goes back to school Jack ends up grabbing her because he feared that one of his friends would do something worse if he didn't and Libby punches him which lands both of them in detention for a few weeks. Jack ends up telling Libby about his face blindness and he tells her he's sorry and the two of them quickly become friends.

After being friends for sometime Libby ends up encouraging Jack to actually go to see a doctor about his face blindness and Jack encourages Libby to make her own choices about whether or not she wants to get tested for the condition that ended up killing her mom. Jack and Libby end up confiding in each other more than they do anyone else and the two of them end up developing romantic feelings for each other which leads to them starting to date. While Libby and Jack enjoy being with each other they find that social pressures and their own insecurities to be something that prevents them from being completely comfortable in their relationship with each other.

Overall I really liked this book it had two great main characters that you felt for and understood where they were coming from even when you didn't like the choices that they made. I really loved the relationship that developed between Jack and Libby and I liked how they were able to be honesty with each other and encourage the other to be braver. I also felt like this book was just as well written as the author's previous book and I can't wait to read her next book once it comes out. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section below.

Favorite Songs From Every Show Nominated for Best Musical Tony Award: Top 5 Songs From South Pacific

This is part of my series of posts about my favorite songs from Musicals that were nominated for the Best Musical Tony award and in this post South Pacific which won the award in 1950 while being the only musical that was nominated that year. South Pacific is a show that is much more book based than Kiss Me, Kate was which I think probably makes the show as a whole a lot stronger since there's so much more going on in this show. This show is one that has a lot going on with it being set in the South Pacific during World War II and dealing with matters of race rather directly. One thing I feel like I should note is that while I loved Mary Martin's voice who played Nellie I find that I didn't like Ezio Pinza's voice who played Emile which is something that is reflected in my song choices.


1. I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair: This song about Nellie saying that she's going to end her relationship with Emile since she believes that he isn't as serious about their relationship as she is one that I find to be delightful both because of her beautiful voice and because it's actually quite good relationship advice to end a relationship if you believe that you and your man have different priorities and it also shows that ending a relationship can be viewed as a good thing.
 2. A Cockeyed Optimist: This is another song that shows off Mary Martin's beautiful voice and it establishes Nellie's character by her telling us that she's optimist which she doesn't view as a bad thing but pretty much everyone around her does. I especially love the line that she's Stuck like a dope with a thing called hope and I can't get it out of my heart, this song does a good job at making me like her character right away.
3. A Wonderful Guy: This song is a love song sang by Nellie shortly after she almost ended her relationship with Emile but have now instead decided to marry him. In this song Nellie addresses how it's a bit silly of her to be so in love and so sappy about it but she is both of those things and she wants to share that fact with everyone around her right now since she's just so in love and so happy about it which is just such a sweet song to listen to.
4. Younger Than Springtime: This song sang by Cable about how he is falling in love Liat a young local island girl is one that is incredibly sweet and is great song that shows they emotion of someone falling in love at first sight which is something I find very romantic in musicals.
5. You've Got to Be Carefully Taught: This song sang by Cable about how people are taught be to hate be taught to people for being different than you are and that these viewpoints are ones that often comes from ones parents makes this song one that shares the show's messages about race which was something that wasn't often talked about so directly like this at the time which I think makes this song an important one.

Book Review: Vampire Academy: Frostbite

                                                                Frostbite Review

Frostbite is the second book in the Vampire Academy series and in this book Rose along with Dimitri is one of the first people to encounter a massacre of a prominent Mori family that was being protected by a legendary guardian who also have been killed. This event is something that puts Rose world in more danger that it usually is since it shows that the Strigoi is becoming more of a threat since they are now working in groups with each other and with humans. In this book Rose also has to deal with her almost always absent mother coming to the academy since the mori that she is a guardian for wanted to visit their own child which is something Rose's mother isn't all too interested in doing herself.

This book is one that I feel like is mostly made up of a bunch of smaller plots that build the world and the characters but doesn't really add up to all that much in terms of a many plot for the series yet although it is clearly building towards one in the future. One of the main things Rose deals with in this book his her attraction to Dimitri and how she feels insecure about how he sees her as someone childish since he's so much older than her which makes her jealous of women who are Dimitri's age and she also tries to date her good friend Mason in order to try and get rid of her feelings for Dimitri. Another thing that is going on in this book is Lissa taking meds that keep her sane but keep her from practicing her spirit magic which makes her a bit unhappy. There's also the introduction of the character Adrian Ivashkov who is an older Mori who is a bit of a bad boy and also seems to have spirit magic. There's also a subplot about the Mori's learning to use their magic to fight rather than constantly relay on the guardians to keep them safe from the Strigois.

Overall I really did enjoy this book maybe not as much as the first one since there was a little less focus on Rose and Lissa's friendship and a lot less of Lissa and Christian's relationship which are my two favorite relationships in the series. This book was enjoyable but it's a bit hard to really define what happened in this book because it was a bunch of little things that really made up most of the book with big events happening towards the beginning and end of the book. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section below.

Book Review: Vampire Academy

                                                      Vampire Academy Review

Vampire Academy is about how Rose Hathaway, a dhampir(a half human, half vampire- protects moroi) and Lissa Dragomir(a royal moroi vampire) have returned to St.Vladimir's Academy after they have ran away a year ago since Rose believed that staying at the academy was no longer safe for Lissa since she has developed healing powers. This book is mostly about Rose and Lissa dealing with being back at the academy after their long absence which is something that has made them the subject of much gossip since leaving the academy and living among humans is something that is simply never done. Rose decides that it would be best for her and Lissa to keep a low profile which Lissa is fine with at first since she doesn't like being a center of attention but is a bit harder for Rose who loves attention, a good party and has trouble keeping out of fights due to her short temper.

A low profile is something that is made nearly impossible for Lissa to maintain after she keeps finding the bodies of dead animals left in her bed back at school which is something that terrifies Lissa and worries Rose because she believes this means someone knows about Lissa's healing abilities. After a rumor is started about Rose letting guys suck her blood Lissa decides that she has to protect her by getting in with the popular group which she does by using compulsion that works on dhampirs and morois alike but also takes a toil on Lissa's mental health which worries Rose a lot but she is unable to stop her from using it.

There are romantic subplots for both Rose and Lissa in this book with Rose falling for an older guardian who works as her instructor named Dimitri who makes it clear that nothing can ever happen between them since he's so much older than her and because guarding their moroi's will always have to come first which means there's no room for romance in their lives. Lissa ends up bonding with Christian Ozera who is an outcast at the academy since his entire family decided to turn into strigoi(bad vampires who are stronger than morois and dhampirs) and then were killed when he was very young. Since both Lissa and Christian are last surviving members of their families and now that Lissa doesn't feel like she fits in with anyone else(expect for Rose) at the academy the two of them connect and develop romantic feelings for each other very quickly.

Overall I really liked this book it had good characters, an interesting and while the book felt a bit light on actually plot I felt like this worked well with introducing us to the world and the characters. I really loved the friendship that Rose and Lissa share with each other and I also really enjoyed the romance between Lissa and Christian as well. Also an unpopular opinion I have is that I think that movie actually did do a pretty good job at adapting this book. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section below.

Favorite Songs From Every Show Nominated for Best Musical Tony Award: Top 5 Songs From Kiss Me, Kate

I have Wanted to listen to the cast recordings to all the Best Musical winners for along time now so I thought making a series of post listing my favorite songs from each show was a good way to go about doing this and I've decided to expand it to every nominated for Best Musical because a lot of the more recent show I love have been nominated but haven't won the award. While for this show I'm only doing my top five songs for other shows later on I will have a longer list both because the number of songs are larger for some shows and I tend to love the more recent musicals a lot more.

Kiss Me, Kate is a musical that I have never seen before but I did read the plot summary before listening to the original cast recording, so I have a somewhat limited knowledge on the plot and characters so I'm mostly judging this show on just the cast recording. This show won the Tony for Best Musical in 1949 and since no other musical was nominated that year I have assume that it winning was well deserved. Overall I found the recording enjoyable enough and I found a number of the songs to be quite catchy but it's still not a show that I'm dying to go out and see.

1. We Open in Venice: This song is what I believe is the opening of the show within the show which a musical version of Taming of the Shrew and this song is one that I enjoyed listening to right away and I found that the longer the song went on the more I enjoyed it. This song is super catchy and while it can be quite repetitive this was a trait that I found worked for this song because the repetitive lyrics just made me want to sing along with the song and I also liked that there were a few jokes mixed in with the song as well.
2. Another Op'nin, Another Show: This song was a really fun and catchy number to open up the show with and it gets you excited about seeing the show even though it really doesn't tell much of anything about the show that you're going to watching.
3. Too Darn Hot: This one of the three songs that I have heard of from this show before listening to the show and I can see why I have heard of it. This song is one that has a really good beat to it and it's one of the songs that feel like is suppose to be a dance number because listening to it makes me want to dance which I think is a good thing. This song is also one of the few songs in the show that I feel like the song is building up some kind of intensity as it goes on which is also a good thing to have happen while listening to songs from a musical.
4. Tom, Dick or Harry: This is another one of the few songs from the show that I have heard of before I listened to the show and I can understand why since it's one of the best of the show and super catchy. I found that the part with the girl playing Bianca in the play singing was a lot better than the parts where the male suitors were singing while they're parts weren't bad they weren't as good as hers and if it weren't for them this song would've been higher up on my list.
5. I Hate Men: While I overall really did enjoy this song and that the actress was a good singer I have to admit that one of the reasons this song made it on the list has to do with my hatred for the male characters in Taming of the Shrew and since this sang by Katherine in the show within the show it speaks to my hatred for those characters a bit. I also really enjoy the slyly calling men dogs by comparing them to Lassie.

 

Book Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend

                                                 The Fill-In Boyfriend Review

The Fill-In Boyfriend is about a popular high school senior named Gia Montgomery who is dumped by her college boyfriend who her friends haven't met yet in the parking lot before prom. Gia feels like she can't bare to face her friends without a date since Jules the newest girl in her group of friends has been implying that Gia has been lying about her boyfriend since she first mentioned him and now Gia believes that her other friends will believe that she's a liar too so when Gia sees a boy sitting his car after dropping his sister off at prom she begs him to pretend to be her boyfriend. The boy reluctantly agrees and it turns out that he's pretty good at acting so they're able to trick her friends into thinking he's her boyfriend.

After awhile Gia ends up repaying the fake dating favor for the boy whose name is Hayden by pretending she's his girlfriend at his ex's graduation party after Hayden's sister pretty much forced them into going together because she didn't want Hayden to get back with his ex who cheated on him with his best friend. While pretending to be each other's boyfriend and girlfriend Gia and Hayden end up connecting with each other and developing a real friendship with each other and it is also quite obvious from early on that the two of them are attracted to each other so it's really no surprise when their fake relationships start to develop into a real one.

I overall really enjoyed this book it was a fun read and I really loved the romance between the main characters and I liked how they felt like they could be more honest with each other than they could be with their friends from the start. I really enjoyed that Gia's plot about not being able to be honest with her friends didn't end in the way I thought it would because it wasn't just that Gia screwed up her friendship by lying to them but also that Gia's lifelong friends were eager to force her to be friends with Jules who clearly hated Gia and played her friends against her so I'm glad that Gia's friends weren't made out be faultless in the end. Another small plot thread I liked was Gia becoming friends with Hayden's sister even though she's not the kind of person Gia usually hangs out with. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section below.