This review may contain spoilers
It starts off compelling, but loses steam, lacking anything interesting to focus on
Fresh off watching strong recent performances for Lee Jong Suk in "Big Mouth" and Wi Ha Joon in "Little Women", I decided to check out Romance is a Bonus Book, curious as to some of their characters they played in their previous works. I figured it couldn't hurt to watch RIABB since both of them were in it and I was looking for some lighter fare to watch.Boy was that a mistake. I'll try to keep the plot points at a high-level, if you're still curious to watch this.
The show starts off fine enough. Dan-Yi's journey of rediscovering herself as a working woman after spending time away to be a housewife is relatable and admirable. We can appreciate her struggle, her sorrow and what a bad situation she finds herself in. Especially in Asia, where women are still expected to be the sole the caretaker of the house. This is all good. She is determined to find a new path in her life, work through the garbage tasks given to her at her new job and find new love.
Once the story turns the corner to her relationship with the male lead, the story goes all downhill. I don't know who comes up with these ideals that if you wait for someone for over *checks notes* "TWENTY, TWENTY years" that somehow you will be rewarded with an opportunity to shack up with them. It's almost bizarre how his character basically ignores her problems initially and swoops into the save the day later on.
Why would a man so perfect be single? He was waiting his whole life for the girl that got hit by a car for him? Sure, even if I accept that backstory as plausible, he basically says every girl he dated after she got married didn't work out because it wasn't her? I'm supposed to believe that too? It's no wonder why everyone has this made up fantasy in their heads that there is only ONE person in the entire world for them.
In addition, we also given our sad sack second placers to complete the love triangles with Wi Ha Joon and Eugene Jung, who in typical fashion, are generally far more compelling then the lead couple. I probably would have had more fun with the series had they focused a little more on these two, rather than all the middling side stores of the less important characters they added in for some reason. Did we need all the screen time for Park Gyu Young (who was actually kind of funny at times), Kang Gi Doong, Jo Han Chul and friends?
It's just time wasted that could have been better spent elsewhere. When the main couple's relationship advances, why is there no talk of the daughter? What happened to her? She was so important to Dan-Yi initially. Is the ML going to be her father? Is there no such thing as co-parenting with the ex-husband? Where even is she? Dealing with these actual issues would have been much better than the made-up issues they came up with to pad the run time.
The last few episodes were a drag and made no sense. They sure went to a lot of trouble to make-up issues for Dan-Yi just to have an magical ass-pull fix to remedy the situation that didn't even need to happen in the first place. What for? Because they really had nothing left to tell. Wi Ha Joon's closing arc is not worth noting either. It was a weak attempt to play at emotion to close the story.
In the end, they gave everyone a happy ending. Was anything learned? Not really. The book closes with a happily ever after. I don't think you'll be happy after watching it though.
Suggestion: PASS
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PLOT: I thought it would solely about the romance(and how it blooms), but it was so much more than that. This drama (in my opinion) is about growing as a person, finding yourself even when people say you are too old for that. For me, the publishing house was the real star of this drama and the staff of it was the perfect “backdrop” for our heroes to grow. I loved how books were the center of some plots and the big “plot twist”.
THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN OUR MAIN COUPLE: I felt like Lee Jong Suk who played Cha Eun Ho was much more confident and relaxed, then Lee Na-young who played Kang Dan-i, when they acted the love scenes. But despise that the chemistry was good, I “believed” in this couple and that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
OUR SECOND LOVE INTEREST: Wi Ha-Joon who played Ji Seo Joon is our second love interest and weirdly the “only” love interest that is going somewhere for like the first 5/6 episodes, it was unexpected, to say the least. I liked him sometimes more than our main love interest.
HOW IT ENDS: The ending wasn’t rushed and I appreciate it, but was it satisfying? Yes and No. All the plot wholes we did see resolved in the last episode but I don’t know, didn’t feel satisfied with the ending. Felt like something was missing.
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Nothing happens here
It's amazing how creative one can be to produce 16 hours of drama that contributes to nothingness.Noooo chemistry in this romcom.
The problem is that k dramas have such excellent serials that even if one is mediocre, it leads to disappointment.
The office setting is boring, the interactions between colleagues is mundane, yawwnnn.
The FL character was different and interesting, but instead of playing on those strengths they focused on mediocre traits.
Just did not click.
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Wholesome and gorgeous
This is my first 10 across the board! Such a special series.I adored it, plain and simple. It was really sweet, really wholesome; it has top tier acting, an incredible OST, as well as really unique characters and pairings. I don't normally vibe with love triangles/squares but this was done so well I had absolutely no issue with it here. It also has some absolutely hilarious moments. I can't give you a single reason why you might not enjoy it.
I'm very new to K-dramas but wow... "Romance Is A Bonus Book" was one hell of a way to start getting into them. I'm not about to forget this one anytime soon. It was also my introduction to Lee Jong Suk and, yes, I've fallen for him hard. Jealous Eun Ho was a highlight for me. Eun Ho just in general is going onto my favourite characters' list in my brain, he's so soft and gentle, but also really funny and confident. And his outfits! Anyway, everyone is a gem in this. I could easily see "Romance Is A Bonus Book" becoming a comfort show for me in the future.
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Generic and forgettable
This is not a show that will change your life. This is background filler until you find the next drama to obsess over. This is the equivalent of junk food that doesn’t really even taste good, empty calories and a dissatisfaction of having eaten something bad you thought might taste better. Trite and by the end I was waiting for it to be over. There’s nothing overall that I hated about it but I really did not love it and it felt like a chore to watch. The secondary characters were far more interesting than the main ones.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I started watching Romance is a bonus book Not only because of LJS, but also I’m interested in books and reading.So from a readers point of view I was satisfied with the office part that was shown. The drama managed to give a quick tour of what goes in a publishing house, enough to make someone interested to work in a publishing house.
However the problem I found with this drama was, Dani, the female lead is supposed to be a divorce with a kid, who’s studying abroad, the story would have been much better if they showed the kid at least in the last few episodes, how the kid will adapt to the male lead, and if the male lead is up to being a good and responsible father to the daughter. That is the only reason I gave it 7.5 or I would go with the majority and rate it 8/10 , because of this I found the ending a bit unsettling.
The acting was ok this is my first time seeing the female lead and I don’t think her character is complicated so her acting was good and fair, LJS brought his cute charm with him as always and his good acting is a given .
Overall I would recommend it if your looking for something light hearted and soft.
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Wonderfully satisfying
Not sure if it's just me, but I'm just not gelling with a lot of the current crop of kdramas and so over the past few months, I've been watching older dramas (2016-2019) and found myself falling in love with the genre each time.So Romance is a Bonus Book was on the list and it was it's time last week.
Long story short, I absolutely loved it - the characters, the relationships, the story, were all great. On top of that, I felt that all the secondary characters got enough screen time and a complete story arc to leave you feeling really satisfied at the end of it.
Our main leads had a great story and our protagonist (Kang Dan-i played by Lee Na Young) had such a relatable story of a single mother trying to get back into the workplace after taking time out due to looking after her child and the difficulties that caused. The prejudice she faced to try and get work was really interesting.
Definitely give it a go if you haven't watched it already - it really is lovely and a really satisfying watch. The romance is good and not without the classic triangles - or maybe a quadrangle in this case - that we know and love. It has enough of the Kdrama fantasy without being fantastical and while there may be a few knight in shining armour moments with the mail lead relationship but it's wholesome based on their lifelong friendship, it's more about a strong independent woman and what she needs to do to succeed and provide for her child.
Negatives? Very few. The soundtrack is nice but ok - I'm nitpicking here :)
Go watch it.
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Slow, lovely drama
This drama made me think of lazy days curled up with a good book, which was appropriate because it was based on people that make books. I tend to love the stories that have to do with books, because Korean filmmakers always do such a good job of displaying and showcasing books. They incorporate books into the set design in such a special way. The publishing company that the people worked with was beautiful and each of the characters brought something special to the table.WRITING: I thought the writing was good. There was some lagging toward the end of the show, mainly because there wasn't big conflict throughout the whole show. We got to see a lot of insights into the characters' daily lives, which I can understand might bore some people, but I loved learning more about each of the characters and what made them the way they were. The book analogies and references woven throughout the story were wonderful, and I loved the way the writers were saying that each of us is like a book and we're waiting for that special person to come along and take the time to read us and learn about us. The passion of the employees of the publishing company was a treat to see, they loved what they were creating, and getting one of their books published was such a terrific achievement, it could almost be equated with having a child. I loved the photos/pictures at the end of each episode that had captions giving voice to Dani-i and Eun Ho's thoughts of each other.
ACTING: Lee Jong Suk (as Cha Eun Ho) was, as always excellent. His look and his voice were perfect for this role. He was a stalwart friend and had hidden feelings that he was afraid to voice. There were a lot of times in the drama that he was doing voice-over work, and he's got the absolute best voice for it. His character was calm and gentle. He cries beautifully. Lee Na Young (as Kang Dan-i) was good as well. I'd have to say it took me some time to warm up to her character, because she was a hot mess. Actually, all of the actors were very good and this felt more like an ensemble show because of the screen time that everyone got.
OST: Beautiful music interwoven throughout.
CINEMATOGRAPHY/COSTUMING: Beautifully filmed. I thought the scenes toward the end of the drama, when two of the main characters were standing by a lake, were especially well done. Both of them in well-fitting black clothes against the darkness of the water and the brown/fall tones of the trees surrounding the lake - very effective for the mood being created at the time. Lee Jong Suk knows how to wear clothes, that's for sure. The costume designers did a good job with wardrobe in this drama, except for the ridiculous pink, red, and gray camouflage trench coat that Jong Suk wore - it was very distracting.
CHEMISTRY: The main couple were cute together, but I'd say that the chemistry for them was more like old friends than anything else. They had a couple of good kisses and a sexual relationship was implied. I just loved the chemistry between all the actors when they were working together.
REWATCH: I must admit that I watched it three times before reviewing it, so I'd say YUP.
So, in my opinion, this is a good show to watch if you want low angst and a slow storyline. A story that will let you get to know the characters and to root for them. Now I want a job at a publishing company!
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No Chemistry
The show does a great job of showing the harsh reality of being a stay at home mom who is returning to the workforce. I like how the friendships between the women on the show are portrayed. But that is about it. The leads just had no chemistry, they were not believable as a couple. The age gap was not a big deal, these are both adults in their 30s who have known each other for a while, so I don't see any need for pearl clutching as far as that goes.The FL wears her age well but the show goes out of their way to make her frumpy and plain, I guess because she is a mom. The character is too naïve for a 39 year old woman with a past career who has experienced some things. Her awful wardrobe was a real disappointment, especially contrasted against the ML's who was almost always dressed as if he walked straight out of a fashion magazine. She was always slouching in gigantic clothing or in clothing that was too old for her. There was just something very off-putting about her, so the romantic interactions made me cringe.
I have seen some complaints that they didn't show Dan-i talking/worrying about her daughter enough--you know, because once a woman has kids, we are only allowed to exist and act as mothers and never care about anything else. The premise of the show is that the FL is breaking out of her stay at home mom, mistreated wife role. Her daughter is safely at boarding school. This is about Dan-i getting her life back on track and that is what the show focuses on. If it was supposed to be a show about her as a mother, that would be the plot of the story. It is safe to assume that in the moments we don't see, she is interacting with and worrying about her child. I am glad they don't focus on that, because I don't care about that. Nobody needs yet another show where women are only seen as an appendage to somebody else - mother, wife, secretary, etc. Women who are mothers should be portrayed as people who have thoughts not pertaining to their children and who are allowed to exist outside of their children.
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