Romance In The House

tags: favorite for 2024, Korean  family dramedy, mystery, Netflix

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From Asianwiki

Byeon Moo-Jin was married to Geum Ae-Yeon. They had a daughter, Byeon Mi-Rae and son, Byeon Hyeon-Jae, during their marriage.

Byeon Moo-Jin attempted various business ventures while married, but they all failed. His family could not take him anymore and they cut him off from them. After going through a divorce, Geum Ae-Yeon experienced difficulties raising her two children by herself.

Now, 11 years later, she works part-time at a big mart. Her daughter and son are all grown up. The daughter, Byeon Mi-Rae, wanted to become a person her mother could rely on. She works as the MD at a big mart. She is also the breadwinner of the family. The son, Byeon Hyun-Jae, has a unique charm, but he also the troublemaker of the family.

One day, Byeon Moo-Jin appears in front of his family as the owner of the villa building where they live. Byeon Moo-Jin hopes to reunite with his beloved ex-wife Geum Ae-Yeon and even tries to seduce her, but the daughter, Byeon Mi-Rae, is strongly opposed to her father's idea. Unlike his sister, Byeon Hyun-Jae supports his dad's attempt for reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Byeon Mi-Rae gets involved with Nam Tae-Pyeong (Minho). He was once a member of the national taekwondo team and now works as a security at the same mart as Byeon Mi-Rae. He hides his real identity and the fact that his father is the owner of the mart.

There are 2 Korean dramedy series currently streaming on Netflix. Romance In The House just finished airing the 12th and last episode. I love the series more than the other one, Love Next Door which I stopped watching at episode 7. It is the same old same old storyline. I might go back to it when there's nothing else to watch.

Romance In The House is somewhat different from the usual Korean drama comedy series because the main "romance" is between a couple in their late 40s. The second main romance is between the daughter and the security guard played by Minho who is still so cute with his big anime eyes. The series also has a chaebol who is kind and understanding, not the usual cruel and greedy character. The series has no evil or manipulative character. 

I also love the OST. Where can I download the songs??!!

 

The Enigma of Room 622

tags: dramedy, mystery

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From Goodreads

One night in December, a corpse is found in Room 622 of the Hotel Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. A police investigation begins without definite end, and public interest wanes with the passage of time. Years later, the writer Joel Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary ingenue, arrives at that same hotel to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his longtime publisher, and begin his next novel. Little does Joel know that his expertise in the art of the thriller will come in handy when he finds himself investigating the crime. He'll need a Watson, of course: in this case, that would be Scarlett, the beautiful guest and aspiring novelist from the next room, who joins in the search while he tries to solve another puzzle: the plot of his next book. Meanwhile, in the wake of his father's passing, Macaire Ebezner is set to take over as president of the largest private bank in Switzerland. The succession captivates the news media, and the future looks bright, until it doesn't. The bank's board, including a certain Lev Levovitch - Geneva's very own Jay Gatsby - have other plans, and Macaire's race to the top soon becomes a race against time... A matryoshka doll of a mystery built with the precision of a Swiss watch. Joel Dicker presents a diabolically addictive thriller where a love triangle, a power struggle, shocking betrayals and dangerous envy play out against the backdrop of a not so quiet Switzerland, where the truth twists and turns into something no reader will see coming. A European phenomenon, Dicker's latest page-turner is his most personal novel yet

This is the first novel I've read by this young Swiss author. The novel is full of flaws and at first I was not liking it but I found myself laughing at the absurd characters and story and slowly realized I was loving it up to the very last twist at the end. Speaking of twists, a novel usually has just one or two. Enigma has several twists that I failed to guess who was dead and who killed him until all the possible characters and suspects have been cleared. In the book, the author Joel Dicker misses and pays tribute to his long time publisher who just died and he does it nicely without being maudlin or intrusive in the main story.

The dialog, situations, the love triangle, the unbelievable characters are silly but oh so entertaining. The author wrote himself into the story which is not a new idea because William Goldman wrote a fictional character of himself in The Princess Bride. I am comparing the silliness and comic book feel of Enigma to the The Princess Bride, being almost a satire maybe, I am not sure. The book is a tad long at over 600 pages, my only complaint, but I didn't notice because I was enjoying the novel. The mystery of Room 622 storyline was confusing at the beginning because of the several timelines jumping back and forth but I got used to it and didn't mind after 200 pages. I just paid attention to the years things happened, what's what, and who's who. 

Great read. Highly recommended for readers with sense of humor and adventure.