Vengeful Romance

Reviewer: dhaatk
Review for: -Muasbby

Requested on: 04/18/2015
Finished On: 05/01/2015

NOTE: 7 Chapters (Spoiler Alert)

(10/10) Title:  Not a lot can be commented on the chosen title. It is simply ideal, because of originality and accuracy. The main storyline is about a romance, which in a way went bad. Plus, it is intriguing!

(9/10) Character: One of the most important things in any story is the quantity of characters. In this particular story, it is not too big, so good job! Also, it is great how all the characters are basically in two big families that are intervened in the lives of each other. Now, some comments on main characters.
In the beginning, Bang Yongguk is a typical male protagonist. He is madly in love with someone and is ready to sacrifice a lot for that person. However, at the turning point his personality changes completely. When Mani suddenly leaves and his mother tells him that she is a and ran away with his brother, Yongguk is devastated. Usually, such characters never fully recover from the heartbreak, sometimes they become cold to everyone around, but very rarely they somewhat turn into antagonist. And that is exactly what happens in this story. It is obvious that Yongguk is still sore about what happened five years ago. His bad guy's image divides readers into two groups: some totally love new Yongguk, others think he is a piece of trash. What should also be mentioned is that the guy does things unexpected even from the “bad man”. For example, he does not simply despise Mani, he threatens her not only verbally, but also physically. He does that to the point where reader starts to think Yongguk could even Mani just out of pure hatred.
Moving on to Im Mani, she is also a typical female protagonist. However, there is not any turning point for her. She is sweet, hardworking and loyal to her family. To put it simply, Mani is the paragon of good. She is ready to sacrifice her feelings to save her little brother. This lets readers to sympathize with her to some extent. A lot of them probably like her character a lot.
Jung Goeun is not very outstanding character. She does not really voice out her opinion and it is obvious that she does not want to get married to Yongguk. She is forced into arranged marriage, but she is not fighting. The young woman has simply accepted her fate and now tries to go through it, enjoying her wedding as an event. It seems as if she does not have wheel of any events and for some she might appear as anti-feminist. Independent strong women, fighting for their rights are highly appreciated in literature and Goeun is exactly the opposite.
Even though living as a slave, Yoo Youngjae is somewhat a noble man. It is sad that he does not fight for being together with Goeun, even though they both are fully aware of their feelings for each other. It is hard to speculate if Youngjae is a very humble man, or just a true coward.
Jung Daehyun is another character, who along with Yongguk changes. In the beginning, he is portrayed as potential antagonist. He is just bad in the way he treats others and how he sees himself as superior to everybody around him by all means. Some readers might be curious about this character's future. Will he stay calm or will something happen and he will throw tantrum again?

(9/10) Originality: Long-lost lovers or arranged marriages are nothing new. Yet, details like the reason (female protagonist brother's disease) behind two lovers going separate paths or how all characters are basically related somehow, because they come from two different households, add kudos to originality. Also, many readers might find the fact that Yongguk despises Mani and has a bad image of her set by his mother very unique.

(36/40) Storyline/Plot: Overall the plot is good and satisfying, but it lacks at some places. For example, Natasha's departure seems rather unreasonable. Yes, her character is an adventurous and random one, but every event must have its reason and outcome. Every single one of them. Then, there is a gap with Yongnam's disappearance. Boryun, his mother, lies that her son had an affair with their maid ant left, but the real reason should be revealed.

(22/25) Grammar/Errors: The grammar skills of yours are fair. Vocabulary is rather rich, so it is surprising for a reader to see how those great words are often used in a wrong way. Generally speaking, readers are able to catch the main idea of what the author wants to convey through her story, but some incomprehensible scenes and conversations do occur. For example, sometimes such simple things as pronouns are mixed and it is difficult to distinguish who is doing the action.

(5/5) Overall Enjoyment: Personally, I avoid stories with arranged marriage, because they simply do not entertain me at all. But since this is more like a subplot here, I can deal with this marriage. I totally love Yongguk's story and I think this character is exactly what made me like it so far.

(91/100) Points Total

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