Romance Is a Bonus Book (2019)
A surprisingly appealing romantic story giving spotlight to the uncommon age-reversed roles of the lead couple. But I think this is where its faults also lie. While seemingly cute and innocent enough, the romantic chemistry just wasn't there. Which, for a romance-based story, is a bit of a letdown to say the least.The setup is good, and the show knows when to nail you with the emotional bits and pieces. But the characters do lose the proverbial plot down the stretch and the show loses a bit of its luster that it started off with.
Still, the show offers a warm and fuzzy experience that leaves you with that satisfying feeling; akin to finishing a good book. And to be honest, the romance aspects of the show serve as a nice little bonus.
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Romance is Just A Bonus
As the title says, romance is just a bonus in this show. If you're expecting some cheesy and fluttering romantic scenes, then you won't find a lot here. The romance is quite mature in this show, since this show is about an older woman and younger man couple. The story is quite heartwarming, about a woman who never gives up fighting for her life even with age disadvantage. They create a great couple, who is always there for each other in every hardship. The comedy is also good here. And since the romance is calm and mature, the comedy scenes are more powerful in my opinion. It doesn't appear frequently though, since it's not the main genre.Although the summary above is quite heartwarming, the biggest problem in this show is nothing more special of that. It's just about a woman struggling to find a job for living, then after she finds it she still struggles while doing it, then she finds someone who is willing to be there for her, that's all. It's like the romance show that you can find on TV every week. The soundtracks are somewhat great. I personally like the screenwriting style with book-alike type like what the do at the end of each episode. The visualization of unrealistic thought like when Dan-I dances at the first episode is also seems interesting. However, these styles are not consistently applied and only come occassionally.
Unfortunately, I am kinda dislike the ML character. While chasing Dan-I as well as competing his feeling with Seo-Jun, what Eun-Ho mostly does is nothing. He looks like a coward who just sit down and wait until the universe serves it for him. Dan-I is a super caring mother to her daughter, but after she becomes together with Eun-Ho she suddenly forgets about her daughter. Everything outside this complicated relationship also seems too much, for example the Kang Byeong-Jun mystery. Though some of the additional tropes are more enjoyable.
With 16 episodes on this show, I think it's too long. Maybe it'll be better if it's shorter and more focus to the ML and FL. It's still good for rewatch, but in my opinion there are a lot of better rom-coms than this for rewatch.
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Solid Story
Romance Is a Bonus Book is one of those rare dramas that manage to stay gentle yet engaging. The world of publishing forms a thoughtful backdrop for a story about rebuilding one’s life with persistence and quiet wit. I especially liked the realism of the first episodes, when the heroine hits rock bottom and tries her best to survive and build a solid life again. The leads have natural chemistry, and their scenes together are a pleasure to watch. The pacing dips a little in the middle when her naïveté wears thin, but the story soon finds its rhythm again. Warm, well-acted, and quietly comforting.Was this review helpful to you?
Finally! A relatively realistic Kdrama!
As a mature woman I found myself identifying with many of the female characters as I have been in the same life situations. This made it quite an emotional journey through this series.Thankfully there was little of the typical cringey aspects of fake crying and even faker laughter commonly seen in Kdramas.
I appreciated the whole ensemble getting their own story time.
I know that fashion is subjective but some of the wardrobe worn by the women was a bit out there but I have to wonder whether that is just my age talking or whether it is actually how peoole dress in real life. The male lead fashion was spot on though. Very nice wardrobe for him.
Well done.
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Always keeping these reviews short, and to the point. It was worth watching for me, as it just lightened the mood and was quite the soft drama, with its unique style, and fun to watch how the quick plot unfolded.
Im not a big rewatch guy on these types of shows so dont trust me on that rating for "Rewatch Value".
:)
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Very Little romance in this. Romance is definitely a bonus here
I enjoyed this show for what it was.Pretty decent story about people that love books.
The FL here is absolutely amazing. She went through a lot and she smiled, danced and dabbed? and took everything like a boss. However,the writters really have forgotten that they gave her a kid..
She really was like fk them kids lol. She mentioned her kid like 3 times throughout the whole series. All she focused on was her work and falling for her like a brother boyfriend lol
Speaking of boyfriend, the ML really forced her into liking him as more than a friend or a brother. She really had no interest in him. He really pushed her to it. I don't think they should have been together.
The chemistry wasn't there between them
Maybe it's just age gap but he always comes up as a little kid next to her for some reason lol
I liked the second FL as well. She's very charming and lovable and deserved to be happy after she spent like 3 years crushing over the ML.
The story is more about writers and books rather than the romance part
Because the leads took forever to get together and it wasn't natural at all
Also there's one character here, she hated the FL for no reason just because she was latened, she stole her ideas . I wasn't a fan of her even though around but meh
Plus the forgotten kid story line and sloppy writing, made this drama a very mid drama.
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The storyline was good even though somethings were missing.
Some episodes were really boring to watch and I liked the supporting characters more. It gave me the devil wears Prada vibes. It could have been better. I liked the story overall but there was nothing about her(the main character's daughter and how they are going to keep on living. It felt empty at the end. Also the age gap was a bit too much but they are fully grownup adults so it might not matter. I liked how it also focused on literature than romance or drama. A good healing drama but not my cup of tea. The first 3 or 4 episodes were boring but it slowly turns into comedy and drama. It could have delivered what it wanted to within just 12 or so episodes.Was this review helpful to you?
I love that , a book has been beautifully used as a metaphor to describe a person. The storytelling has an artistic aspect and flows almost fluidly. There is a good balance of romance, humor and all other elements to give the story a full body. The casting is really well done and the actors really lived their characters onscreen. The only thing i have complaints about is the last part of the drama, which could have been better. But overall, its a light watch with great life lessons, and more importantly , for me it substantiated my believe in books and why i should keep reading.
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I LOVED the characters so much. They were sooooo cute and adorable. The story was also so interesting that it got me hooked. The kdrama gave relaxing vibes. I don't know how to explain it hahahaha .
There were a lot of funny moments and I love how strong the female lead is . She depends on herself so much and she doesn't think of quitting at all.
I recoomend this so much and I hope anyone who watches it loves it as much as I did .
I will definetly rewatch it soon.
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Fangirling over Jun Sook all the way ❤️
Can Lee Jun Sook get any cuter!!! Seems impossible, but with Jun Sook, cuteness knows no bounds❤️??Besides the story is heartfelt and the narrative style is beautiful and the characters are warm and aspirational, but in a real way. The show also manages to highlight the pitfalls of patriarchy without being preachy. The female lead was really likable and her optimism was inspiring. The second leads also capture your heart. It's impossible to dislike anyone in the show (besides 1), it's amazing people all round.
All in all, a great watch!!❤️
PS: Also rooting for the second leads' to become a couple ❤️
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It's alright I guess
Alright I finally finished Romance is A Bonus book and it's surprising how long it took me. Initially I started watching this and the plot with Dani facing employment troubles had me hooked. The first few episodes I was crying during her job hunts and invested in her plight However as the drama went it started to kind of drag for me. In the sense that I stated using another drama as motivation to finish this one (before it was Extraordinary Attorney Woo and now it's Hometown Cha Cha Cha).It was nice learning about the inner workings of publishing's and witnessing the company's passion for their work. Though like others have said in the comments, I found the later half to be more mundane and slice of life like. Sure I wanted to see some other character's relationships, but nothing else in the story really kept me hooked. Thus I don't see much rewatch value in this drama. It was cute with the whole book analogy thing, but that's it.
One thing that rubbed me the wrong way (and another review highlighted this too) is the fact her daughter wasn't mentioned/ shown. Only at the end she vaguely mentions worrying about when she'll return to Seoul when she graduates and Eun-ho says they can worry later. Like I think you should tell your daughter O _________O
Anyway if you want something light to watch after the first 8 episodes or so, this would be it.
The moon is beautiful.
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A beautiful drama of resiliency, friendship, second chances, love, and family.
I'm honestly surprised by how much I liked this drama. I have put off watching this for so long since I've read several reviews saying this is disappointing so I never felt like it was the right time to watch. But one random day of missing seeing Lee Jong Suk in a drama, I finally decided to give this a try and I didn't regret every second I spent watching this. It was actually a beautiful drama of resiliency, friendship, second chances, love, and family.The top reason why I loved this is the book references. As a huge bookworm, it's definitely a big plus for me! The story was mainly set in a publishing company and it was absolutely nice to see and witness the process of creating books from the first manuscript until it reach the bookshelves.
Most of the characters were really well written, especially the side characters. I loved how they weren't just bland characters inserted to complement the leads, each of the characters were given a distinguishing personality and their own storyline, even.
More than the leads, my favorite character was actually Song Hae Rin. She's an editor who works with the leads and she's just a literal angel. I love how she isn't written as the typical second lead who falls for the male lead then decides to make things hard for the female lead just to get back at her. She's a passionate, goal-driven, warm-hearted person and I just love her so much.
Meanwhile, I do love the relationship between the leads and how they transitioned from long-time friends to lovers. It gradually and slowly developed so for me, nothing felt forced. Knowing and understanding their history, everything felt natural to me, like things were just meant to happen. I loved how mature and domestic their relationship is. It felt so stable and seeing them just felt peaceful. Individually though, their characters aren't that remarkable.
Kang Dan-i, the female lead, was introduced so strongly. She made me cry in the first episode, in fact. A divorcee and a single mother trying to regain her place in the world no matter how much the world rejects her. In the latter episodes though, this image wasn't maintained when she got too caught up with the romance. She doesn't even remember to mention or call her child. That detail really annoyed me. Cha Eun Ho, Lee Jong Suk's character, as swoon-worthy as he is, didn't really live to his full potential. He was veiled with mystery with so much potential in the beginning but I'm not very satisfied with how everything unfolded. I felt like it could've been so much better. We didn't even get a scene of him in his full elements as a writer. I wanted to see his character in his writing process so bad. Instead, he was just referred to as a bestselling author, receiving the highest royalties from their publishing company. Although when picturing it in general, the development of the characters of the support roles kinda make up for it.
The acting was phenomenal, though. Even small scenes of support roles with filler scenarios make me tear up because it was executed so well.
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