janchei-reads

[janchei-reads]

Toymaker Tria's Tyrant Problem (Season 1) by SETE and

Synopsis:

As the ordinary owner of a toy workshop, Tria spent her days struggling to pay off a mountain of debt with the help of Shadie, her trusty shadow friend. Luckily for her, a mysterious, half-dead client shows up one day, offering a jaw-dropping amount of money to make an expensive toy. Despite being wary of the man and his circumstances, Tria accepts the commission. But it doesn’t take long for her to realize that this dictatorial client is just one of the many tyrants that will plague her shop…

My thoughts:

With little romance so far, Season 1 of Toymaker Tria's Tyrant Problem is one of the best Manhwa reads I've had in a while.

Tria is a great female lead: she knows what she wants (peace and quiet) and how to achieve it (quit her job). Sadly, neither is possible because of the ridiculous high debt her father left her, so now she has to work herself to the bone to pay it off. The problem? Most of the children she makes toys for have very dangerous fathers. Who are also all single. And the children aren't just children, no: they are regressor's, reincarnator's, got isekai'd and so on. Of course Tria doesn't know that, which leads to some really funny situations, especially with Alicia, the adopted daughter of the Master of Magic Tower.

I really liked the story so far, mostly because Tria is very grounded in what she does. She's not an overly nice or naive person. She has flaws and dreams and opinions. It helps that her design is very cool! I love that she's a short haired female lead, we need more of those!!

Funfact: the Artist, SETE, worked on I'm the Soldier's Ex-Girlfriend, which was also a fun enough read.

I finished reading Seaaon 1 on July 24th, 2025.

Art:

Tria

Alicia and her Father

Aria and her Uncle

[janchei-reads]

You are Obsessing over the Wrong Person, Lord of the Tower! (Season 2) by Dadong and Yujeu

Synopsis:

"A bad fall awakened Selina Elsner to the truth… she’s been reborn into a novel! It also gave her a cruel realization—she’s a no-name side character! She barely even had any lines! As if that’s not bad enough, Louis Bloomberg, the evil lord of the magic tower, fancies her! He’s a sorcerer so powerful that his magic speaks darkness in his mind! But one touch from Selina and all the voices would go away! Is that why he’s obsessing over her instead of the real main character of the novel?"

My thoughts:

Uh. This was certainly a second season.

While Season 2 neatly starts where Season 1 ends, most of it felt incredibly off. Louis had much less of a personality, there was very little Bella (I hate that the girls friendship got pushed to the side in favour for romance) and even less Mikael (he... existed... I guess...?).

I don't know, really. I liked the first season well enough, but especially the ending of season two felt very rushed. There were consequences, yes, but it didn't feel like there were any!

I think that season two ended at Chapter 84, with the story now being kind of wrapped up.

I finished reading this Manhwa on July 22nd, 2025.

Other Seasons:

Season 1

Season 2

Art:

This is about all the good content of this Season btw

[janchei-reads]

A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay

Synopsis:

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they're ex-serial killers.

They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to kill. Not many power couples know how to get away with murder.

Then Hazel fell pregnant and they gave it all up for life in the suburbs; dinner parties instead of body disposal.

But recently Hazel has started to feel that itch again. When she kills someone behind Fox's back and brings the police to their door, she must do anything she can to protect her family.

This could save their marriage - unless it kills them first.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed reading this book much more than I thought I would.

Fox and Haze are having a crisis: after more than ten years of marriage with a daughter of two years, they are on the verge of... well, something. And it isn't something good. They are fighting all the time, they don't have sex, they are roommates at best - and especially Haze doesn't want that. She lives her daughter Bibi to death, but she wants the life back she had before Bibi was born: full of glamour, full of parties, full of money! Oh, and death. So much death. Because Haze and Fox aren't your regular couple with marriage troubles, they are serial killers with marriage troubles!

I liked both Haze and Fox, but I didn't like the writing style. It might have been the translation, but both of them felt very same-y with only Haze cursing a lot more than Fox does. Usually I drop books with writing styles I don't like, but with this one I couldn't. The style didn't grow on me or anything like that, the story was just so engaging that I couldn't bring myself to stop reading altogether. I spend a little over a week reading, which is kind of long for a roighly 350 pages read, but oh well. I finished it! And it was worth it! The story wrapped up nicely, even if it was a bit of a cliché ending.

As I said, I liked Fox and Haze, but I also enjoyed the side characters a lot. Jenny, Haze's mom-friend and her son Felix were great, Helga, the nanny, is hilarious. She has a tazer and thinks that Haze and Fox are bith having an affair, but she's not there to judge. Or spy for one of them. She's been hired to take care of Bibi, not for petty drama, and she won't let herself get dragged into some drama!

There's not much to say without revealing too much. The book is an okay read. I don't think I will ever revisit Haze and Fox, but I would absolutely read a second book with them (without rereading this one lol).

I finished this book on July 22nd, 2025.

[janchei-reads]

You are Obsessing over the Wrong Person, Lord of the Tower! (Season 1) by Dadong and Yujeu

Synopsis:

"A bad fall awakened Selina Elsner to the truth… she’s been reborn into a novel! It also gave her a cruel realization—she’s a no-name side character! She barely even had any lines! As if that’s not bad enough, Louis Bloomberg, the evil lord of the magic tower, fancies her! He’s a sorcerer so powerful that his magic speaks darkness in his mind! But one touch from Selina and all the voices would go away! Is that why he’s obsessing over her instead of the real main character of the novel?"

My thoughts:

This story started out like most other Isekai Manhwa: the FL remembers her past life, she realises that she's in a book and tries to change the plot. FL reincarnated into Celina Elsner, a character who isn't really part of the plot. A few months before she regained her memories of her past life she befriended one of the original Villains of the Story, Bella and now she is kind of stuck with her.

My suspicion about the FL being nothing really special were true. Yes, she is funny, but she is also the typical Manhwa-Heroine: adored by everyone but her enemies, very kind and packed with a sad backstory. Her design is somewhat refreshing (I am a sucker for her hair colour it's so so pretty), her choices are mostly what I expected them to be.

The ML though. Holy moly. He is a cunt. A little shit. He has a shit eating grin, he does stuff soleley to annoy others and he enjoys seeing others squirm from being uncomfortable around him. What sounds very bad is mostly played for jokes - and it works. It is clear Louis is very dangerous, but he's also just a little shit that enjoys to be annoying. 70% of everything he does or says is done with the intention to be the most annoying person around. I love him. He's so funny. I'd hate to be around him in real life, but since I don't have to be he is my #2 favourite character of this Manhwa.

My #1 is Bella though, the OG!Villain and cousin of Louis. She has a beautiful Design, her character is just unhinged enough to be funny but not annoying and her reactions to everything arround her are gold. She's the true MVP of the Manhwa in my eyes. I am dead serious when I say I need a whole story just centered around her. Her screentime is slowly dwindling and I need my girl!

With Bella comes Mikail, her Twin Brother, who is also totally unhinged. He is more in touch with reality than his sister and cousin at times while on others he is so far removed from normal thinking I'm not sure how he was raised. He's funny and competent (most of the time). He's also a real cutie - I want more of him, too! I appreciate that there is no strange love triangle with him, Louis and Celina so far and I can only pray that it stays like this. The Love Triangles need to stop.

This Manhwa's big strength is the family dynamic between the twins, their Cousin Louis and the Duchess. After Louis parents died he was adopted by the duchess, who is Louis' blood-related aunt, and the twins were raised alongside Louis as siblings. Their dynamic is great. They have hero qualms about calling each other out on their BS, they have wach others back while also annoying each other endlessly. When Celina is alao basically adopted into the family (because of course her adoptive family is shit) she both kind of fits in and doesn't. I felt her not fitting in perfectly realistic enough. Nit in a bad way, it did feel natural for her to act like she does most of the time.

This Manhwa is more on the Comedy than Drama side so far, which I appreciate. Most of what is going on is not anything that can be taken serious anyways. I kind of fear that this will change with the second Season, but we will see about that.

The first season ends at 40 Chapters, so it isn't overly long. The pacing is... there, I guess and the worldbuilding isn't really worthy to be mentioned. The story is very normal so far, too, but the characters are so unique I just can't stop reading!

I finished Season 1 on July 21st, 2025.

Other Season's:

Season 1

Season 2

Art:

Celina, the FL

Louis, the ML. Look at him. He's an asshole - but a funny one!

Bella, my beloved, with her brother Mikael and Celina.

Mikael, Bella's Twin brother. He's not a normal person despite of how gentle he looks here lol

[janchei-reads]

Spellbound Four: Demon Magic and a Martini

Synopsis:

"When I first landed a bartending job at the local guild, I didn't know a thing about magic. These days, I'm practically an expert on the different magical classes, but there's one nobody ever talks about: Demonica.

Turns out they have a good reason for that.

My guild is strictly hellion-free, but some people will risk life and soul to control the biggest bullies on the mythic playground. And now a demon has been loosed in the city.

My three best friends are determined to slay it, but even badass combat mages are critically out-magicked. And that's not all. The monster they're tracking—it's not hiding. It's not fleeing. It's not leaving a trail of corpses everywhere it goes. The demon is hunting too.

And in a city full of mythics, it's searching for deadlier prey.

If we can’t unravel the demon’s sinister motivations, more innocent people will die, but finding the answers means digging into dark secrets…and learning truths I never wanted to know."

My thoughts:

This might just be my favorite book of the Spellbound-Series so far!

Tori was on her best behaviour and only drooled over her friends about three times (instead of everytime when they stepped into the room she was in).

This book was all about Ezra and what kind of magic he actually uses. It was kind of obvious that he wasn't "just" an aero-mage and that he had something to do with magic, but that doesn't mean the plot twist wasn't well executed. It actually means Marie did a good job at gibing just enough clues for the reader to piece everything together!

I liked the even more fast paced story and how Tori finally decided to not close her eyes about all the strange things surrounding Ezra anymore. I did miss Twiggy a bit, though. And Zak. They both grew on me during the last two books and I hope that they will be in future installments of the series!

I also liked the newly introduced character Robin Page, who will be the main character of the four-parts spin-off series to the Spellbound Books, Guild Codex: Demonized. The moment she appeared on the page I knew I'd love her and when she casually called for back-up after doing what she did... she's a keeper!

I'm a bit sad that I now have to wait for a while before reading the next book, but such is life. And I do have lots of other books to read. All of the Nalini Singh books. All lf Kim Harrisons. Both would be a re-read though, so this will have to wait until I have some freetime, since most of the books I read are for my job. The next one will probably a Thriller. Or I cave and re-read Kim Harrison after all.

I finished this book on June 15th, 2025.

Other Spellbound books:

Three Mages and a Margarita

Dark Arts and a Daiquiri

Two Witches and a Whiskey

Demon Magic and a Martini

The Alchemist and an Amaretto

Druid Vices and Vodka

Spin-Off Books - Guild Codex: Demonized

A Cookie for a Demon

[janchei-reads]

Novel Haven: Levels of Love by Anabelle Stehl

Synopsis:

"Sie dürfen nicht verlieren - schon gar nicht ihr Herz

Zwei Konkurrenten

Lara vs. Luca.

Unsicher vs. Selbstsicher.

Cosy Game gegen Horror Game.

Sie könnten nicht unterschiedlicher sein und verarbeiten doch beide ihre ganz eigenen Ängste in ihren Spielen.

Ein Wettbewerb

Die GameChanger-Convention ist ihre Chance auf Anerkennung, Sichtbarkeit - und das dringend benötigte Preisgeld."

Unzählige Gefühle

Hinter der Fassade aus Ehrgeiz und Konkurrenz sehnen sich Lara und Luca nach jemandem, der sie auch abseits der Bildschirme versteht. Sie könnten perfekt füreinander sein - doch am Ende kann nur einer gewinnen und seinen Traum verwirklichen ..."

My thoughts:

This book was bad.

I got it because it looked cute (the sprayed edges, hello??) and sounded interesting (cozy games? Horror Games? Devs falling in love?? Hell yeah!) but it was so bland and badly written I don't know what to say.

The female lead, Lara, is supposed to be 25. She is one of the programmers of Novel Haven, the title giving game, and when her boss gets sick right before an important event she has to jump in and present the game to a jury for aome funding. Lara does a horrible job but the game is soooo good that they make it to the second round anyways.

The male lead, Luca, is also a developer, but he works on a horror-game, Desolate Dread (I wish I was making this up). He might be the only character with an actual character. Not a very good one, but oh well. He also works for a big Studio, Bytes and Bits, while Lara works for an Indie Studio, PixelPulse.

The two of them meet in their way to the convention. It's instant love (of course), but of course they can't be together. They are rivals! Or something. They still fall in love with relatively little drama, with only one thing stabding in their way: trauma. Because both are traumatized. Lara was trapped in a burning house as a child which made her voice all hoarse and gave her burning scars on her arms (conveniently on a place that doesn't make her any "less" attractive, because, scars aside, she is only described as beautiful!) and Luca was part of a terror attack as a student. He is deeply ashamed of not having done anything to stop it, so now he doesn't go to therapy and codes a horror game instead.

As one does.

But his horror game is special, you see, for it has.... story!!! And it's about mental health!! And! And! It's not a shooter!!!

Silent Hill says high. Slender Man says hi. Resident Evil says -

Anyways. I don't think the author ever played a horror-game in all of her life.

The drama of the book is that Sophia, Lara's Boss, kind of stole the idea for the game. She did have it on her own, she developed it on her own, but she started doing so on company time at another studio. I would be sorry for her if there waan't the fact that she was in her mid-twenties already and really should have known better. Sophia asks "Who even reads their contracts?" and I'm sorry my woman, if you work in an industry with NDA's you do read your contracts! Because of NDA's!!! And stuff like this, I guess.

The whole thing blows over, of course, because the Bytes and Bit's CEO, Hank, is blackmailed to take his allegations back.

The book is all about "Sexism in gaming" and how that is bad (it is!) but it doesn't feel like it's really important in-universe. Everyone seems to agree that sexism is bad, except for that one guy no one likes. The book is also about overcoming trauma, which is nice, but also misplaced. The book is advertised as a cosy read with no drama and then there's a terror attack and a burned down house. Thanks for nothing?!

Since the books seems to be beloved on instagram and other social media, this is all probably on me though. Maybe I'm just nit made for "pure" romance books or the whole New Adult genre. Or maybe it's because it's always the samw horny female lead living through the same bland story sligjtly shifted to the left

Who said that??

I don't recommend reading this book, sorry. Save your time, read something else!

I finished reading this book July 12th, 2025.

[janchei-reads]

Spellbound Three: Two Witches and a Whiskey

Synopsis:

Three months ago, I landed a job as a bartender. But not at a bar—at a guild. Yeah, the magic kind.I'm not a badass mage like my three smokin' hot best friends. I'm not a sorcerer or an alchemist, or even a wussy witch. I'm just a human, slinging drinks like a pro and keeping my non-magical nose out of mythic business. Seriously, I know my limits.So why am I currently standing in a black-magic ritual circle across from a fae lord?Somewhere behind me, my three mage friends are battling for their lives. Somewhere near my feet is the rogue witch I just knocked out with a stolen spell. And I have about five seconds to convince this very angry sea god not to shmoosh me like a bug.I'm pretty sure this wasn't in the job description.

My thoughts:

After Dark Arts and a Daiquiri, which was set away from the Guild, Two Witches and a Whiskey is back at the Crow and Hammer.

I liked this book a lot more than the first two - and I liked both! - probably because Tori finally learned to keep her mouth shut once in a while. I know she's supposed to be whitty and funny with all of her sarcasm, but she is also a bit exhausting. Her being exhausted for most of this book made it easier for her to finally take a step back and look at things properly.

Mainly that her relationship with Aaron isn't working out. Which is great because her drooling over her friends is actually the most annoying part about the books. I get it, they are hot! Now, stop being a creep and start being a friend!

Zak, my favorite Druid, is back for this book and he is just as fun as he was in the last one. Ezra being not quite human got teased some more, Kai's family got explained a bit and Tori has a bit of a fallout with her brother over... well. Things. I can't say anything without spoiling the end, which was an interesting twist, though not one I enjoyed a whole lot.

Anyways!

It was still a great book, even though way too short for my taste. I still have one more book lf the series to read before I will have to wait for the next release in october. I'm not sure if I will read the next Spellbound book next or continue with one of the other three books I want to read.

I finished this book on July 10th, 2025.

Other Spellbound books:

Three Mages and a Margarita

Dark Arts and a Daiquiri

Two Witches and a Whiskey

Demon Magic and a Martini

The Alchemist and an Amaretto

Druid Vices and Vodka

[janchei-reads]

Spellbound 2: Dark Arts and a Daiquiri by Annette Marie

Synopsis:

"When I found myself facing down the scariest black-magic felon in the city, practically daring him to abduct me, I had to wonder exactly how I ended up here.

It all started when I accidentally landed a job as a bartender—but not at a bar. At a guild, populated by mages, sorcerers, alchemists, witches, and psychics. Good thing this lame-o human is adaptable, right?

Then my favorite guild members—three sexy, powerful, and intermittently charming mages—asked for my help. Did they want access to my encyclopedic knowledge of cocktails? Oh no. They wanted to wrap me up in a pretty ribbon and plunk me in the crosshairs of a murderous rogue to lure him out of hiding.

So that's what we did. And that's why I'm here. About to be kidnapped. Oh, and our grand plan for safely capturing said murderous rogue? Yeah, that completely fell apart about two minutes ago.

Why did I agree to this again?"

My thoughts:

This book was much less on the cozy side than the last. There was much nore action and thrill, Tori was even more of a loudmouth.

I liked the new characters introduced in this book, the Druid (TM) and Nadine, but I would have liked to see more of the already existing characters. The cast is relatively big (at least 10 named characters from the guild, Tori and her brother) and they have yet to have a time to shine.

The Plot of the book was simple but well executed: save the kidnapped teenager but get kidnapped yourself in the process, so now save yourself and the teenager. The more I read of the story, the characters and how it was written the more I was reminded of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan/The Hollow Series. Tori is a bit of a wallmart Rachel, down to her having done martial arts and having an older brother. Excdot Rachel is a Witch and can take care of herself while Tori is a bit of an idiot who really shouldn't be in the situations she always gets in.

Much like the first book, this one was on the shorter side as well. I would love twice the length, for more character growth and maybe a bit more time for the plot to breathe, but oh well.

Dark Arts and a Daiquiri was a fun read and I'll start the next book of the series soon!

I finished reading this book on July 10th, 2025.

Other Spellbound books:

Three Mages and a Margarita

Dark Arts and a Daiquiri

Two Witches and a Whiskey

Demon Magic and a Martini

The Alchemist and an Amaretto

Druid Vices and Vodka

[janchei-reads]

Angels Blood by Nalini Singh

Synopsis:

"Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux is hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael. But this time, it’s not a wayward vamp she has to track. It’s an archangel gone bad.

The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other—and pull her to the razor’s edge of passion. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break."

My thoughts:

This was a re-read of a book I read about... oof. 12 years ago? It was about as cringe as I remember - but not in a bad way.

First of all, I read all the books of this series already, some of them more often than not. The first book isn't my favorite, but it's way up the list, thanks to nostalgia.

I probably like Elena way more than I should soleley because she has a complicated love/hate relationship with her father. I can relate to that - my father isn't the nicest person either and while he isn't as shitty as Jeffrey Devereaux, I can relate to her struggles a lot.

The story was very basic and I skipped the sex scenes (I'm just not interested in reading smut, sorry). The worldbuilding was okay, but since I know the world and the people living in it already I think there is a lot more that could have been explored.

Anyways.

The Cover. It's so ugly. The german, UK and american version are all horrible. They are all so very 2010 it's not even fun anymore.

I finished reading this book on July 7th, 2025.

More books of the Guild Hunter series:

0.5. Angel's Judgement

01. Angel's Blood

1.5. Angel's Dance

02. Archngel's Kiss

2.5. Angel's Pawn

03. Archangel's Consort

3. 5. Anhel's Wolf

04. Archngel's Blade

05. Archangel's Storm

06. Archangel's Legion

07. Archangel's Shadow

08. Archangel's Enigma

09. Archangel's Heart

10. Archangel's Viper

11. Archangel's Prophecy

12. Archangel's War

13. Archangel's Sun

14. Archangel's Light

15. Archangel's Resurrection

16. Archangel's Lineage

17. Archangel's Ascension

[janchei-reads]

A Perfect Ending Plan of the Villain in a Fairy Tale by Yangyang

Synopsis:

"Once upon a time, Larissa Blick was abused by her family, who wanted to take her diamond tears for themselves. Then one day, a prince appeared to save Larissa and ride off into the sunset with her. But why was I reborn into this fairy tale as the evil sister, Marcia?! I need to leave this wretched house… but how can I leave my poor sister here in this hell hole? Instead of waiting for the prince to come, I can just bring Larissa to him. This way, both of us can live happily ever after, right?"

My thoughts:

I liked this Manhwa!

At times it felt a bit longwinded, but it never lost sight of the Plot - which was familiar enough (Isekai, magic world, destined lovers, FL thinks ML is supposed to be with someone else) for me to not having to think too much, but distonct enough to keep me engaged.

Larissa's trauma was treated with care, but since I am not a survivor I can't say if everyone would agree with me on this. I liked that it wasn't forgotten how she was treated and that it had a lasting impact. There were days she was doing good, there were days she was doing horribly and noone thought less of her for it.

Fabian was a great ML solely for the fact that he didn't consider marrying Larissa even for a second. In his eyes, she is a child and the mere thought of having to marry a child disgusted him the bar is in hell.

Marcia was a bit annoying at times with her insistance that Larissa and Fabian are going to marry. It's an annoying trope to have the FL be dead set on the ML marrying someone else and that he can't possibly like her because of it. Still, I liked her aside of this. She had a plan, she executed it, she used her powers for good and knew when to ask for help, most of the time at least. She wasn't extremly overpowered either and no business genius out of nowhere the bar is in hell with female leads too.

The Main Story was finished with 111 chapters. There are still sidestories released, but I am not too sure if I will read them.

I finished this Manhwa on July 6th, 2025.

Art:

[janchei-reads]

The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden

Synopsis:

"You must be our new neighbors!" Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter's hand and smile back: but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I'll do anything to keep it that way...

I used to clean other people's houses-now, I can't believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.

Even still, I'm wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell. When she invites us over for dinner it's our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it's like to be in her shoes. But her cold stare gives me chills...

The Lowells' maid isn't the only strange thing on our street. I'm sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.

Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?

I thought I'd left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?"

My thoughts:

From the Housemaid Series, I liked this book the best. I loved to see Millie as mother - even though I am usually not a fan of mothers in books - I loved Enzo as a father, I loved their children. Ada and Nico are precious.

I wish, wish wish that there will be more books in this series featuring Ada especially! Even before the book changed to her PoV I liked her and when it did... oh boy. She is great. A precious baby that needs to be protected at all costs. Nico, too, by the way! The siblings are wonderful and I need more of them, asap!

It was also so great to see Cecelia again, the little horror spawn from the first book. I only wish that she had one more scene in the book, after everything was finally over. It would have been great to see her interact with Ada and Nico! But even without that last scene, what was shown of her was really great. I love that she is a lawyer now. Considering her backstory it makes sense!

I can absolutely recommend this book to anyone who doesn't like their thrillers too bloody. As with the other books, there was only one death and it wasn't that bad in my opinion. McFadden focuses more on the impact of a murder than the act, which I appreciate.

I finished reading this book in July 5th, 2025.

Other Books of the Housemaid Series:

The Housemaid

The Housemaid's Secret

The Housemaid's Wedding

The Housemaid is Watching

[janchei-reads]

The Housemaid's Wedding by Freida McFadden

Synopsis:

"Today is supposed to be the happiest day of my life.

I'm engaged to the man of my dreams, and in a few short hours, I'm going to stand before a judge, who will declare us husband and wife, till death does us part. Despite some bumps in the road, this day is everything I dreamed it would be.

There's only one problem:

Someone out there doesn't want me to live long enough to say my vows.

And if I'm not careful, they may very well get their wish."

My thoughts:

With just about seventy pages, this shortstory is supposed to beidge the gap between book two, The Housemaid's Secret, and book three, The Housemaid is Watching.

I liked Enzo and Millie as a couple much more than I did in The Housemaid's Secret. Seeing them together really showed that they work, something I dearly missed before. Both of them do their very best to protect the other, both of them are stupid while doing so. Talking with each other? Nah. They will protect the other person without their knowledge - it's a concept I absolutely adore.

I know, I'm probably doing this whole Thriller reading wrong by concentrating on the chemistry of the main couple, but I don't care! I like good characters! And I like idiots in love! And those two, while obviously very intelligent, are idiots in love!

I finished reading the Shortstory in July 3rd, 2025.

The Housemaid Series:

1. The Housemaid

2. The Housemaid's Secret

2.5. The Housemaid's Wedding

3. The Housemaid is Watching

[janchei-reads]

The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden

Synopsis:

"It's hard to find an employer who doesn't ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want. It's almost perfect. But I still haven't met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I'm sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I'm doing laundry. And one day I can't help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything... That's when I make a promise. After all, I've done this before. I can protect Mrs Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe. Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It's simply a question of how far I'm willing to go..."

My thoughts:

It was nice to see Millie again after the first book, even though I think she left a bit less of an impression on me than she did in the first one. Maybe because she is a good samaritan now, which, after the ending of the first book, wasn't far fetched at all. It was just a bit annoying to only read her talking about all the good things she allegedly did and all the women she helped instead of "being there" with her while she does it.

Enzo is back as well, this time not as a Gardener but as Millie's Ex-Boyfriend. This came a bit as a surprise. Sure, he wanted to help women in abusive relationships even in the first book, but I never really thought about him with Millie of all people! Since he wasn't there for most of the book, I can't really tell if they were a good couple or not, but oh well.

Millie and Enzo are the only characters returning from The Housemaid, everyone else was original to this book.

I enjoyed Wendy as a character much less than I probably should have. When the book turned to her PoV at the halfpoint mark, she fell kind of flat for me. And I think that's on me. She felt like I should think she is interesting, but somehow I only thought she's boring. Not even annoying or anything, just... boring.

Douglas was the best character in the book habds down, Russel sucked - I can't say more without spoiling the Plottwist, which I don't want to do.

While I didn't enjoy The Housemaid's Secret as much as I did The Housemaid, it was still a good book. I read in in just about two days because I had to go to work in-between.

I finished this book on Jul, 3rd, 2025.

The Housemaid Series:

1. The Housemaid

2. The Housemaid's Secret

2.5. The Housemaid's Wedding

3. The Housemaid is Watching

[janchei-reads]

Surviving Romance (Season 2) by Lee Yone

My thoughts:

Season 2 starts a bit before Season 1 finished. We get to see Mihui's POV, one of the classmates from the first Season, who wakes up in the morning "after" Chaerin took her life at the end of season one to start another run. It's very soon clear that Mihui remembers the last round and that she's not the only one who does.

During the second season, all characters start to remember one after another the "first" timeline and soon it is revealed that one of them is The Devil, the one who made a bet with the original Chaerin.

The story is totally character driven, evwn more so than the first season, which didn't come as a surprise. After all, the qjole thing is buid aeound the will to live, or the lack thereof. The characters who died in the "first" round remember dying, even those who became Zombies.

For something that is "just a Zombie story" this was incredibly well written. The characters were wonderful, the worldbuilding was great. The story felt very realistic and had darker themes that I have yet to see touched upon properly in other Manhwa. Huisu, who took Chaerin's place as "Main Character" took her own life before she Isekai'd. The story doesn't forget that she did that and it becomes a main point of the last few chapters, something for Huisu to come to terms with, something she has to accept.

If I could, I would read it again for the first time once more! Go read it yourself!

I finished reading this Manhwa on June 30th, 2025.

Other Season's:

Season 1

Season 2

Art:

[janchei-reads]

Surviving Romance (Season 1) by Lee Yone

Synopsis:

When Chaerin Eun becomes the protagonist of the romance novel she is reading, she expects a fairytale ending with the novel’s love interest, Jeha. But when a bizarre twist makes her realize the story is not playing out as it does in the book, she’ll need the help of an unlikely character from her class to defy the new storyline and find her happy ending -- if only she can figure out who this ‘Unknown Extra’ is first!

My thoughts:

I really need to start reading the synopsis before I read the story because this horror tag got me like it did poor Chaerin.

The story has a very cool concept: Chaerin isekai'd into a romance Novel she read in her former life as the main character. She's not too angry at that - she actually likes it a lot. Until there's a massive shift in genre and it turns into a zombie horror story.

Chaerin now tries to desperately save the Male Lead because other than her he is the only other "real" person, with "real" meaning that he is the only other character that isn't a shadow-y figure (think Tumblr's beloved anon "OC"). She fails, over and over and over again. After over 370 tries she is about to give up on her life alltogether. This is when an "Unknown Extra" saves her life. Chaerin doesn't know who saves her and they soon die, but this event gives her the courage to start a new round, now determined to save that Unknown Extra.

I am not an avid Horror-reader, so I am not sure with how many genres and tropes the story plays around with. Seeing how the "This is but a Novel, not reality!" card is thrown around, I'm sure it's a lot of them. But, as I said, I don't know many Horror-Stories, so I really enjoyed what was presentef to me. The Zombies were creepy (they can run and merge together), the characters interesting (and their designs are so so good, I did not expect this after the bland male lead lol) and the plot twists really got to me. (Again, not a horror-reader, this might be very different for anyone who is usually reading this kind of story!)

I didn't like the Artstyle at the beginning of the story much, but it took only a few chapters for me to get fond of it. The artist got more of a hang on the characters after a few chapters, all with a whole new look for Chaerin.

I actually finished Season 1 on June 28th, 2025, but totally forgot to upload this lol

Other Seasons of this Manhwa:

Season 1

Season 2

Art:

The first look at the FL made think "Meh". I don't like her eyes. They probably should have been my first warning sign though lol

The first look of the original ML and FL together.

This picture really should have warned me about the things to come, but, nope. Bird brain here lol

Aaaand this made me realize that I should ho and read the Synopsis and Genre list lmao

The Classmates! All Shadow-like. I understand why Chaerin never made an effort to befriend them, this would have creeped me out, too.

I liked this concept a lot. After each chapter we got a list like this, showing which characters Chaerin can now "see" because of a (somewhat) mutual trust. I originally wanted to put a picture of all classmates here, but that would spoil the story too much imo

[janchei-reads]

Spellbound one: Three Mages and a Margarita by Annette Marie

Synopsis:

"Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.

It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview — to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right?

I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they… offered me the job?

It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-shit bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here.

So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course — with a pay raise."

My thoughts:

The first thing I need to get off my chest is that the english (american? Canadian?) Cover is horrible. Who designed that? Who is that?? Why is does it look like that??

The german cover, while being plain purple with golden letters for the title, may look boring, but it did make me pick up the book. If I had seen this one first I would not have touched the story with a ten feet pole.

Anyways.

The story is exactly what the Synopsis said. It leans more to the cozy fantasy side of things (healing, learning to trust others) without actually being cozy fantasy (too much violence and murder in the last third of the book). Tori herself is also a bit too violent to fit into a cozy fantasy lol

The story, short as it was, was very fun to read. The Guild and its members remind me of Fairy Tail in the best way possible (friendship, loyalty, found family).

The action scenes were easy enough to follow, the romance was okay (I kind of want all of them to end up together lmao, this is a first) and the worldbuilding was... there. I hope that this will be worked on in the next book, because I need all the info on Ezra, Aaron's family and Tori's shitty dad.

I finished reading this book on June 24th, 2025.

Other Spellbound Books:

Three Mages and a Margarita

Dark Arts and a Daiquiri

Two Witches and a Whiskey

Demon Magic and a Martini

[janchei-reads]

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

First things first: I got this book as a free review copy and I kind of get paid for reviewing it? I guess? I mean. That's part of my literal job, so. Yeah. But! My "official" review won't be here so me loving this book is not because I got paid to say so lol

Also, I read this book in german. Even thoigh I do own an english copy. Shame on me XD

Synopsis:

"Every day I clean the Winchesters' beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew's handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it's hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina's life. I only try on one of Nina's pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it's like. But soon she finds out--and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it's far too late. But I reassure myself that the Winchesters don't know who I really am. And they don't know what I'm capable of."

My thoughts:

This is the first Thriller I actually finished, despite starting a few (The Good Daughter and Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter) and not hating them. I still hope to get back to ghose books one day because they were really good - but they didn't catch me like The Housemaid did.

Maybe it's because I am not usually a Thriller reader, but I only caught on half the things that led up to the Plot Twist.

Full spoilers ahead for anyone who didn't read the book yet!

I clocked Andrew as odd from the moment on he arrived on the pages. I didn't like him. I watched a K-Drama last year (I forgot the name) with a similar plot of the husband being a dirtbag, but in the drama it was the wife who got thrown into the shitty plot without her own fault.

Here the wife, Nina, is batshit insane. Not like the book portraits her at first, but still: woman plotted her husbands death by the hand of another women. A women she employed, made her sleep with her husband and then left her alone with him, knowing full well what will happen. And what Millie did was batshit insane, too. Like damn. Don't get me wrokg, Andrew deserved it! But damn.

All in all, I enjoyed this book a whole lot. I will see that I get my hands on the next one because I really can't wait to see what will happen to Millie next!

I finished reading this book on June 21st, 2025.

The Housemaid series:

1. The Housemaid

2. The Housemaid's Secret

2.5. The Housemaid's Wedding

3. The Housemaid is watching