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[cantalooprat]

putting this here in case someday i wonder what happened to this blank period of no new reads: trapped in blue lock jail

i rly didn't expect the deadly combo of BM vs ubers ending and hiori's light novel chapters to subdue my desire to read danmei and spark the interest in yaoi bait again like i havent touched pixiv in ages and wow am i glad my jp skills haven't deteriorated

[cantalooprat]

Strawberry Pop Pop Pop

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What I Liked

omegaverse lmao im such a sucker

cute soft shou and doting older gong this is why childhood friend romance with older gong is justice!!! protective older gong who's always been there to watch over the cute younger shou!!!

i love nesting behavior in my omegaverse nesting behavior is so adorable

the backstory is like actually surprisingly depressing and vaguely dogbloody

What I Disliked

the lack of mention of the main cp in stars run to him like its hella weird that they didnt get a single mention or screentime at all while the 2 cp here got some side plots there

damn they just blanked the entire first time mating + permanent marking process

Notes

prob gna be the last danmei i read in a while... actually i alrd finished reading this like 3 weeks ago? but then my laptop broke down and i couldnt write the review, then i got sucked into blue lock bc BM vs ubers was finally ending n i was like Hell Yea time to reread the entire NEL

[cantalooprat]

Stars Run to Him

What I Liked

i love omegaverse

has a nesting scene i love nesting scenes

lin yuxing is like. so pitiful. but at the same time he does have his dignity n doesn't think any less of himself. i love that he and gu zhongyi make each other better, once he realizes that he is in love he's willing to take steps forward and rely on his alpha and know that he's not alone! he can be loved and also love others! he's deserving of good things! he's also smart i like that he figured out the regression himself and how he was so glad to have his a-yi and big bro back. an especially cute point is how he keeps regretting leaving his scarf behind at his aunt's place lmao like it's such a nice little detail that adds to his character

gu zhongyi is the classic sweet alpha, a regressor who gets the second chance to get everything right this time around. ngl i thought that he was the one who orchestrated the flower "prank" in the beginning but im glad it wasn't actually him. as a regressor he has his "i gotta act on my own" moments but for the most part he pampers and communicates with lin yuxing well and they have such a cute relationship im so soft

the side chars n all their side ships... i love how su li is lin yuxing's ride or die bro lmao when he and gu nuan crashed gu zhongyi's apartment out of worry i was like yeah that's what a bestie should do! but at the same time they all have their own lives outside the main ship yknow. so that was quite a nice touch

lin yuheng's story is also p fuckin sad n also like. idk. i have some mixed feelings abt it but it makes him more human. he and liao yan should've been a couple too, that would've been cute :( a shy alpha and a brash confident omega.

lmao lin yuxing's whole story w the aunt n uncle felt like one huge r/amitheasshole post

all in all it was sufficiently sweet, solid read. nothing particularly special but it's also not like... toxic ig.

What I Disliked

poor liao yan tho, he rly got the short end of the stick

su li and his bf needed more extras ngl

[cantalooprat]

His Marriage Partner is Scheming

What I Liked

ngl a transmigration story doesn't have to hit this hard wtf

one of those novels that's actually p different from what i expected. mb sort of reverse "evil star general" which had a funny summary n i thought it was one of those "deceptive" meme summary heart-crushing plot but it was actually as lighthearted as implied. here it has a deceptively lighthearted, seemingly perfunctory, not-at-all different from other transmigration stories, but it's quite unlike the "usual kind" of transmigration stories which... damn i hate saying it like "she's not like other girls" but this wn really is different.

author actually wrote abt it in the last ch author notes, how this wn has a narrative style that isn't often used in webnovels these days n i get it. this novel is p insane. the beginning is laced with an undercurrent of melancholy at a seemingly bleak inevitable future, then it slowly, quietly blooms into a warm love story. the narrative is oftentimes vague and ambiguous, sometimes veering into seemingly irrelevant territory but dear lord it all ties together at the end, heartbreakingly so.

this story is a secret shared by a pair of accomplices, a paper bag full of sugar-fried chestnuts, strangely shaped strawberries, a bouquet of roses for a bass player, an umbrella-less kiss at a rainy night, a bridge built by an old man for his wife, golden sunlight filtering through a green-colored glass, strawberry-flavored rose and cactus-flavored vanilla and hydrangea-flavored blueberry---it is an eternity hidden within fleeting moments, the extraordinarily ordinary story of a sanctimonious capitalist and a dentist who was good at coaxing people.

author also mentioned in the author notes that novels r like a game in which there r 3 participants: the recorded people (the "protagonist"), the person recording (the "writer"), and the person flipping through the records (the "reader") and i was just like. hello orv my old friend.

both leads are highly rational people working together with each other to avoid their inevitable doom, with a dynamic that actually lowkey reminds me of teio's duotang... rly far away isn't it, but they give me that sort of vibe. accomplices drifting in that line between unreserved trust and a distance between their hearts at first, having tacit understanding but knowing that there's a line they "shouldn't cross". but when they do cross it, it's beautiful like a rose in full bloom.

he qiao and chi xueyan

their love story is so... dear lord. "love was a game that gave brilliant meaning to ordinary memories" is the best way to encapsulate it. i love how chi xueyan was falling first but then he qiao drew a line and then chi xueyan just tried his best being like "oh. he doesn't like me back. then we'll just be friends!" but then he qiao started to fall and had to try his best to chase chi xueyan lmao. but even all this takes on a very bittersweet note considering what actually happened in their previous timeline.

also love the four "iterations" of their lives: the main story, the high school au, the happy end au, and the original timeline (which made me cry wtf it didnt have to hit that hard)

i cried at he xiao's "conclusion" and the "backstory" of the "transmigration" spoiler this isn't transmigration it's regression and the beauty of it is that the "transmigrator" himself is an unreliable narrator.

i can't talk enough abt the narrative style it's almost like a fever dream. this isn't the type of story to be speed-read, it has to be savored and one has to remember details because there are constant callbacks and seemingly open-ended details that end up as closed loops and it's so incredibly beautiful. it's extremely introspective, told from the point of view of someone who "likes interesting things" and finds the most beautiful moments in his mundane daily life.

What I Disliked

damn idk nothing?? mb the clearly edited mtl lmao ok to be serious i feel like this novel can either sound poetic and beautiful or pretentious af, depending on the reader's taste.

Notes

one of my most unexpected finds of 2023

will buy in jj this novel is Worth It

i want to erase my memories of this novel and reread it

rly quite insane how 57+12 ch managed to pack so much it's an extremely dense story. idk if i'll ever reread in full bc it's actually an unexpectedly heavy read in the sense that one should activate all senses + brain to fully compute the story but it really is beautiful.

this story also reminds me of eill's finale in a different way compared to hfa, but at the core it's a song about happiness that comes from an ordinary love in extraordinary circumstances, so...

it's 02:40 and im typing this

[cantalooprat]

qjj is getting licensed which is a v lovely! amazing! 7s even got lianyin on board as the tler which means the quality is v likely to be top tier

at the same time the tl is getting taken down in 2 days n i have completely forgotten where i left off lmao why didnt i finish this earlier again... its prob bc of songyu LMAO

[cantalooprat]

Withdrawal

What I Liked

u see, childhood friend romance is one kind of flavor but childhood friend romance where the gong is the one older by some years and has looked after the shou for basically all his life Just Hits Different. there's the familiarity of "there's no one who knows you better than me, since back then, until forever", the sweet-and-sour-ness of "i love him but i don't want to taint him", the sheer protectiveness, it's so sweet and this wn encapsulates all of them!!!!!

cute shou i love cute shou i love cute coquettish clingy shou who will blink up at the gong and whine for a kiss and more

and ofc in this kind of situation the gong has to be REPRESSED HORNY or else it won't be complete

sweet sweet sweet

damn the extra 1 is so. its enough to be one of those one shot short n sweet stories. at the same time im so weak towards stories that bring them to their old age so i like. teared up at this extra. i almost wished it was placed at the v end instead lmao that would've just sweetly hurt even more

the parents r cool. the grandpa is too. i'm sad for his love story n i can only hope that he n his beloved can meet again in their next lives.

What I Disliked

rly don't do looking for this hoping for some sort of char development. shou is sweet silly n spoiled n gong enables him. nothing that quite annoys me per se but it's also like... it's good that it's short bc this sort of story can rly overstay its welcome if it gets too long.

[cantalooprat]

devoured a couple of manhwa over the last few days

whispers through the willows

i was desperate for more omegaverse

the alpha is So Green Flag holy shit it was to the point where i was thinking ???? i thought kr tops were toxic????? he's so so so good, he's smart n he loves his omega dearly but he's not brainless!

omega is the cute n obedient but traumatized type, he's brave for trying to open up and saving the alpha who saved him!

mutual salvation!!!

plot is also interesting there's a lot of politicking and the protags aren't super op, so the tension is v v real

papapa scenes r hot af. alpha's thing is HUGE in general this author's tops r all HUGE

the new recruit

same author as above

finally an office romance involving a boss n his subordinate that doesn't seem icky or reeks of power harassment

ml is actually so... not op lmao he's strong in his own way but he's also just another corpo slave who has to work around the rules instead of solving everything with One Phone Call

also hot af papapa scenes. esp the extra. that was so. mmm.

you get me going

also same author as above

i rly like this author's stuff it's all super god-tier couples

has a toxic ex that's just so??? why r u here... go away

Real enemies to lovers

love how respectful the top is. love when he panicked when the bottom was abt to go on another blind date. love the rescue scene

omega complex

real mutual pining childhood friends

second ml sorry u nvr had a chance

heat period papapa? kisses n cuddles? more pls...

they're both kinda. silly n at fault. it's like it's neither of their fault but at the same time it is n the beginning chapters rly make me nghrhghhgh but it's worth it!!! they're so cute... they're adorable.

again

p standard regression entertainment setting. feels strangely familiar and danmei-like

cute ig? has change the gong trope which is always fun.

[cantalooprat]

kind of craving the trope where shou used to be "bullied" by someone who actually likes him but suffers from the "constantly bothers the person he likes" syndrome

then later he meets his gong who Knows that the "childhood bully" actually likes the shou n the gong gets all protective when he meets the childhood bully bc he's like my love rival senses r tingling

[cantalooprat]

sometimes i like to wonder abt what makes erha stand out so much like is it just. the pinnacle of danmei soap opera

[cantalooprat]

Before It Shrivels

What I Liked

pure dogblood lmao ok so the tl had this Really Serious Note abt how the shou is like. this victim of abuse. n for some reason i was like oh so its a Serious Story abt healing. but then. but then in came the unexpected accidental pregnancy, then the scene of abuse where the scum gong accidentally killed the fetus, then i was like, omg its so dogblood! but for some reason the Dogblood™️ didn't fully register until the part where the shou got kidnapped n the scum gong almost died trying to save him

scum gong was hella dumb man i mean nature nurture whatever but like he rly didnt deserve the shou after all that. get ditched.

dogblood is fun as long as it's not taken seriously

What I Disliked

damn ok so i was like. calculating the age gap between the shou n the gong right, n then i was like uh 9 yrs?? ok. not the worst i've seen. but then. i was like "bro is a stalker💀" then "bro essentially watched him grow up💀💀💀" n i was like. ok authornim. if u say this is touching. ok.

[cantalooprat]

After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General

What I Liked

love the dynamic of teasing coquettish gong who openly lavishes his love towards his shou and the cold calculating ready-to-die-after-i-achieve-my-goals shou whose entire heart melts for his gong who tethers him to this world of red dust

the summary was funny but somehow i expected this to be qjj-lite as in super serious bc i'm too used to be "tricked" by wack summaries that turns out to crush my entire heart (like hfa) but it turned out to be funny and i was like shocked_pikachu_face.jpeg

all the mysteries r tied up well, the story was paced nicely and is a fun light read overall. full of actual plot that's not just fluffy romance but also the romance is very sweet! the way they grow to trust each other and have that unreserved trust turn into love is so sweet!

i esp love the subversion of zhao yelan deciding not to die like. it was gearing up for Angst. n then he decided no i won't leave yan mingting and i won't let him leave me and he decided to live with yan mingting and i'm so soft when that happened sigh

also more for personal bias but i love the whole "leaving the hustle and bustle of society" sort of ending, where they just travel the world with each other (and xiao gao) by their side

xiao gao and housekeeper qin r rly cute lmao all the side chars were fun actually

interestingly author sort of touches on different ways of how women could be strong and the unique portrayals of each lady who partook in the plot, i appreciated that too

the fake death extra was a fun spin. i vastly preferred how it turned out in the main story but it's also a nice what if sort of situation

What I Disliked

kinda sad that zhong yuehong disappeared after her plotline is done :(

Notes

glad i picked this up just as it almost ended lmao like today i saw that the fake death extras weren't tled n i was like oh no i guess ill come back later but it turns out the toc just wasn't updated so everything's done! so sweet! wishing yan mingting and zhao yelan a long life filled with bliss!

[cantalooprat]

Zi Fei Yu (A Child is not a Fish?)

What I Liked

sth different from lin ang si---usually (in stories written not by lin ang si bc her gong type is the sweet doting type) u have the overbearing manipulative possessive gong but here it's the shou who's overbearing manipulative possessive. and when the gong is like that, usually one would worry abt the shou, right? but here, what if the gong doesn't care? the gong knows about all of the shou's bad parts and falls in love with him anyway.

lowkey appreciate how utterly unapologetic ji leyu is. his moral compass is literally just his family. whoever as much as touches them will pay and ji leyu will make sure of it. in contrast, lin fei who seems like he doesn't care much abt anything is the one who makes sure ji leyu doesn't like. end up going to jail.

the au extra of the og ji leyu and lin fei was actually so so good. rly love the way lin ang si contrasts these two. ji leyu who's more flamboyant who actually wants to die but at the same time can't bring himself to die bc his life is given to him by his family, and lin fei who seems like he doesn't care abt anything but is actually curious abt the world, and eventually becomes ji leyu's tether to the mortal world. in a way, they're rly made for each other.

the emotional line nvr fails!!! the separation they had during their uni first year... how ji leyu wanted to give lin fei his last moments of freedom before he can't help his possessiveness but lin fei ends up the one always chasing after him bc he can't bear ji leyu being in pain... they both love each other so so much.

the moment i realized lin fei is actually also gone off the deep end is when the og female protag tried to warn him abt ji leyu and his first thought is how do i silence this girl like damn they really r meant for each other

What I Disliked

lin ang si's protagonist halo is usually super strong but its even more apparent here. ngl i rly disliked the whole "feiyu r the best children ever!!!! all other children pale in comparison!!!!!" this is worst seen in the variety show extra. i feel like this is the first time i rly felt like the extra was a drag and didn't add anything substantial?

also ig to a certain extent how all of ji leyu's near-crime retaliations r swept under the rug as "it's the other party's fault for provoking him/his family first so he can retaliate all he wants!" altho this one is somewhat of a mixed bag bc i understand it's meant to contrast how he becomes more lawful after he grows up (well. less lawful and more understands where lin fei is coming from.)

rather minor but the way everyone seems to fully accept that these guys raised as bros just suddenly started to kiss is quite. uh. i'm surprised no one is like... disturbed. but ok. i guess i'll just have to attribute it to the protagonist halo and ignore it.

Notes

i feel like i need to read sth w plot now. i have heartburns

[cantalooprat]

lin ang si's extras r basically the size of a short wn alrd... 40-50 ch... 100 ch...

[cantalooprat]

tried reading dont try to corrupt me but it's a little... hm. mb i'm not in the mood for slow burn or light romance? so i'm rereading more lin ang si...

[cantalooprat]

After My Ex-Boyfriend’s White Moonlight Proposed to Me

What I Liked

a sweet healing sort of story, the shou is like a bird aimlessly flying about and the gong is the one who provides a safe, warm home for him

ngl i loved how they're both such utter weirdos, the beginning rly highlights their temperament as artists and how they just click. i wish they explored that a bit more, bc it was super fun how the shou just gets what the gong was trying to express with his niche art films

has a kind of overbearing protective gong and quiet shy tsundere shou. usually i rly dislike the controlling gong type but here the shou actually feels relieved that the gong is so driven and is perfectly happy to go with the flow, like the gong is exactly what he needs so i thought their relationship is rly comfortable and nice

the extras were cute... the rabbit au and the college au...

everything was more or less explained by the end i guess? the shou's past, the shou's mother's paranoia... like it doesn't excuse her terrible treatment but it does give a justification. n the shou's father... like they're both. terrible parents. n the shou honestly deserves better. but i also kind of see where they're coming from even when i think it's terrible, so i appreciated the author explaining them but also the gong still condemns them and the shou doesn't care abt them anymore, which is what they deserve.

the rabbit n blue whale imagery is super cute

lowkey felt a little like hybw if gu zhuoyan was actually there for zhuang fanxin's healing

What I Disliked

clickbait title much lmao ig its true but at the same time i didn't expect such a heavy story coming into it

also mentioned this under likes but i wish they went a bit deeper into the artistic connection the main cp shares

hmm they did explain it with the gong not wanting to dig into the shou's scars, but somewhere deep inside i wish the shou would open up to the gong abt his past and source of trauma instead of the gong having to dig it out of the ppl around the shou. mb both of them w the psychologist or sth.

Notes

it was...mostly ok. i like it. but it's just mostly ok.

[cantalooprat]

sort of? dnf? so it's not a proper entry but. second marriage with the alliance marshal

i have never been so blueballed by a 100ish ch wn before

it was like ch40sth n they still haven't done anything!!!!!

the cats were hella cute i wish the cats got more screentime

damn when i read omegaverse i want like shamelessness with all the package ok, not just harmless bed-sharing

feelsespeciallybadman especially after coming from lin ang si wn which r full of dog food enough to drown a single dog

[cantalooprat]

I am the Father of the Villain

What I Liked

lin ang si's emotional line rly nvr misses. all of the parents, the kids, and the parent-kid relationships are so so so precious. lin luoqing who didn't really have a family originally, who found his family while trying to survive and avoid the terrible ending suffered by the original host; lin fei, cold and calm and so painfully straightforward, who only wants a sanctuary to where he could be anchored; ji yuxiao who lost his beloved brother and sister-in-law, living for ji leyu and to avenge his unjustly killed family members; ji leyu, who hides his demonic thoughts under an angelic face, who just wants to protect the only family he has left.

the theme of secrets that intertwine with the plot---lin luoqing's secret as a transmigrator, ji yuxiao's revenge plot, ji leyu's demonic side, and then there's lin fei... pure, sweet lin fei.

ji yuxiao and lin luoqing's relationship is sweet but it's p standard lin ang si. in comparison, lin fei and ji leyu make a much more compelling ship even from childhood. sometimes love is finding out all of someone's bad secrets and still coaxing them anyway. sometimes love is the willingness to share those bad secrets while trusting that the other party will always be there.

ji yuxiao's revenge went hard lmao i was like good god so the jis are the crazy ones and the lins are the sane ones...

when lin luoqing confessed to lin fei that he was a transmigrator but that only led lin fei so start calling him dad. yeah. that was like peak lin ang si, rly one of my fav moments in the story. the way she writes love is really so filled with sincerity, as if it's a diamond that shines brilliantly.

What I Disliked

the romance was kinda sudden and rushed?? i feel like they suddenly fell in love n i was like ???? that fast??? shouldnt u be more sus???

too much protagonist halo tbh yes yes the ji-lin family can do no wrong they are the best i know i know

Notes

230726 clockin in at ch239, with a good 100ish more ch to go, i'll go and edit this when i'm done reading