My picks for entertainment ~ suggested movies, TV shows, music, and books ~ so you can enjoy some quality ME time! (ATTN Korean drama addicts! This blog has lots of K-drama love.)
Masquerade (2012) is a Korean version of Mark Twain's "The Prince & The Pauper", only set in the Joseon Era. It WON Best Film-Movie of the Year. No surprise it a made into a series. The Crowned Clown (2019) has also enjoyed immense popularity worldwide.
King
Gwanghae swears that “somebody” or maybe “everybody” is out
to get him! He's convinced that a member of the royal court is
trying to poison him. Isn't that how they always get rid of members
of the royal family? The king comes up with a plan. Find a LOOK
ALIKE! Substitute the look-alike on the throne while he goes off to
hide somewhere. That way, the doppelganger who looks like him can get
murdered instead.
As
impossible as the task seems, the king's councilor finds a “twin”.
Initially, Ha-Sun tries to imitate the King Gwanghae speaks. It
works … for a while, although Queen
Heo Gyun
immediately suspects. After all, she is a wife, and the man who has
entered the bed chamber does not behave like her husband. There's no
way he's the king, i.e., the man she married. But??? … Who is he, and what is he doing in the palace? (O.o)
The
best-laid plans often go awry. While
King Gwanghae is hiding, he becomes gravely ill. That means Ha-Sun
has to continue pretending to be King. He finds it too difficult
pretending to be someone that he's not, and his true personality
emerges. He is nothing like King Gwanghae, and everybody notices the
difference. Even so, the king's enemies still want
to get rid of him.
Will
Ha-Sun end up dying in the king's place anyway?
♦
STORYLINE:
The Crowned Clown (2019)
This
is the
same story as
the movie “Masquerade”
with a few more details.
It tells
the story
Ha-Sun's childhood and how he became an entertainer. He worked with
a group of clowns
and they chose him to play the King during
their performances
because he looked so much like the real king. He
was spotted by the king's councilor during a performance and that was
the day his
life changed FOREVER! One of the best
things
that happened to him was
meeting and falling in love with the queen.
March has just begun and 2024 Korean dramas are still being released. Even so, I do not doubt that "Captivating the King" will make many lists as one of the Best K-Dramas of 2024. It may even appear on lists as one of the Best K-Dramas of All Time. From the first episode, as a viewer, I was completely captivated.
This series is historical, set during the Joseon Era, loaded with political intrigue, and it's a love story. The king is suspected of being a homosexual because of his closeness to a baduk (Go) player. However, the baduk player ultimately reveals herself to him and also confesses her love for him.
A man, especially a king, who is surrounded by so many treacherous and traitorous people must have at least one person he can trust and rely on; a confidant who will stay beside him through thick and then, and comfort and love him. The burden the king carries is heavy because, among the people who seek his life, one of them is his one and only kinsman. That kinsmen killed his brother and planned to kill him also. Even worse, his mother, the Queen Dowager, did nothing to stop him, It is indeed a cruel world when your mother won't even try to rescue you.
♦ “Captivating the King” is loosely based on the historical events about the time when Joseon was “between” the Qing and the Ming. In the history of Korea (formerly called Joseon), the date of the Manchu Victory is 1636. With this victory, the Qing defeated the Ming and the Emperor forced Joseon into a tributary relationship with the Empire.
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Grand Prince Jinhan / Lee In (played by Cho Jung-Seok, “The Face Reader”, “The Nokdu Flower”)
Kang Hee-Soo / The Baduk Gambler (played by Shin Se-Kyung, “Rookie Historian”)
Before he became king, people plotted against the Grand Prince Jinhan and accused him of treason. On the night he went before his brother, the king, to plead his innocence, his brother gave him “his last words” and died in his arms. The treacherous plans of his enemies BACKFIRED. He had the upper hand because he and a court maid were the only ones in the king's quarters when he received his dying words. The grand prince took the throne and became king. Although that was not his brother, the king, had willed. Nevertheless, to carry out his brother's dying wishes, Grand Prince Jinhan has to make himself king so that he has the authority to do so.
But what were his brother's last words? The grand prince was to:
Ensure that the king's son was placed on the throne; and
Find out who poisoned the king.
The king did not die a natural death. He was murdered.
The storyline for “Captivating the King” is rife with treachery and deceit, betrayal, psychological manipulation, and all of the tools power-mongers use to take control and satisfy their greed and lust for wealth and power.
When the grand prince was taken hostage by the Qing, he learned the value of playing baduk because it was a game that helped the player develop a military strategy to defeat his enemy.
When the grand prince returned to the palace, certain court officials convinced his brother, the king, to view the grand prince with suspicion and painted him as a spy for Qing. But even without the efforts of those within, the king had been threatened by those without. He was told that if something should happen to him, the Qing would place the grand prince on the throne, and not his son, the crown prince. This threat was already in the king’s mind and the Joseon court officials had simply added fuel to the fire.
One day the grand prince was out and about and came across a group of people playing baduk. He wondered if he could get into the game. That is how he met the baduk gambler. She was a noble lady, disguised as a man, who used the money she earned from gambling for charitable works.
Their relationship almost did not happen. The baduk player, along with several other people, were used as scapegoats to take the blame for the people who had plotted treason against the king. They were sentenced to death. The prince, who became king, thought she died. But several years later, the baduk player showed up. Not knowing how or why she/he survived, he made a way for her/him to stay by his side. Perhaps he had been given a second chance by the heavens to right his wrong against an innocent person. The baduk player, initially had plans to destroy him. But she had a change of heart once she learned “the rest of his story”.
The story of the prince and the gambler is truly captivating.
“Rommel.” Hitler smiled a ghastly smile that was almost one of triumph.
“So, the Desert Fox wishes to play games.”
“I’m almost certain of it.”
“The people’s hero,” Hitler said. “We must handle him carefully, wouldn’t you say?”
“Or outfox him, my Fuhrer,” Himmler said softly.
“Outfox him. Outfox the Desert Fox.” Hitler smiled delightfully.“Yes, I like that, Reichsfuhrer. I like that very much indeed.”
♦ The dialogue above is extracted from “Night of the Fox”, a novel by Jack Higgins.
Almost everybody knows Harry Patterson better known as Jack Higgins. He is an international bestselling suspense thrilling author who is among the world’s most popular writers. He is remembered by many for his novel, “The Eagle Has Landed” (1975); but his book “Night of the Fox” (1986) is equally as impressive. Though his books are a work of fiction, the writer’s efforts to research the historical events on which the plots are based were painstakingly real. For example, part of his research involved actually meeting with and reviewing the diaries of a woman who was trapped in Jersey during World War II.
The book,“The Eagle Has Landed”, was adapted to film(1976) which also starred a few of my favorite actors: Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, and Donald Sutherland disguised as Polish airmen. It was a plot to kidnap Sir Winston Churchill. Intense!
“Night of the Fox”, was also made into a movie (1990) which starred two of my favorite actors, George Peppard (as American officer, Col. Harry Martineau) and Michael York (as high-ranking German officer, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox”).
The book “The Eagle Has Flown” is a sequel to “The Eagle Has Landed”. Fans of novels by Higgins consider it worthy as a classic thriller, however, it was not adapted to film.
Nevertheless, if you are compiling a private library of WWII suspense thrillers, this 3-in-1 would be a great addition!
Image credits: Photos found at Wikipedia. General Field Marshall Erwin Rommel in December 1943; and Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1977-119-08, Erwin Rommel with Adolf Hitler. Book cover at Amazon.
100 Days My Prince (2018) is a historical period K-drama, with 16 episodes, currently available on popular streaming sites such as Netflix, Viki, and Amazon Prime.
"100 Days My Prince Series season 2nd not a secret now. We're expecting it to land on Saturday, May 11, 2024 almost same time as previous. Here's all we know about the upcoming part of the history." (Source)
For those who have not watched Season 1, below is a recap.
Plot Summary
In the beginning episode, we meet the young boy who will become the prince and the young girl that he falls in love with and promises to marry. Like typical historical Korean dramas, it is loaded with political power struggles between ruthless court officials and of course, there's a touching love story.
Childhood Trauma
A young prince
witnesses horrific bloodshed and commands that it be stopped. Since
he is a small child, his command is disregarded and he is returned to
his father; only to learn that it was his father who ordered the
bloodshed. To add insult to injury, his mother is “accidentally”
killed (really she was murdered).
From that day forward, he not only
hates his father, HE HATES EVERYBODY!
Everybody except his close
friend from childhood. Everybody should have at least one true friend in this world.
Two Marriages of Convenience?
The prince is forced into a marriage of convenience. His wife, the
princess, becomes pregnant by another man. In an effort to cover up her infidelity, the father-in-law (the father of the princess) attempts to kill
the prince. The assassination attempt fails. However, while trying to escape his assassins, the
prince falls down a slope and hits his head. A poor man finds him and takes care of him as best he can while he is unconscious.
When he
regains his consciousness, he does not remember who he is. When he was the prince he had given an order that all spinsters get married. The poor man's daughter has not yet obeyed this command and time is running out. The poor
man is desperate to save his daughter from being punished for disobeying the law. She is in peril and could be flogged to dearth. So he the prince that he is his daughter's husband-to-be and that they
must marry immediately. Another marriage of convenience?
What Happened During 100 Days
For 100 days,
he lives the simple life of a commoner and falls in love. He is found
by his father-in-law and brought back to the palace. His memory has
not returned. But slowly bits and pieces of incidents from his past,
like puzzle pieces, begin to fit together. His story begins …
AGAIN!
Gradually he realizes who he is and what he needs to do, i.e. fight against those who want him dead. But he also knows
what he wants to do, i.e. marry the woman he fell in love with
as a commoner. Eventually, he'll discover that she is the little girl he met when he was a
child and had promised he would marry anyway. Sadly, along the timeline from their childhood to young adults, many many unhappy and tragic events have occurred.
Will the prince overcome his opponents and will he and the woman he loves be able to live happily ever after?
Nam Ji Hyun plays Yi Seo, the woman he truly loves.
RATING
Most viewers gave this series 4.8 out of 5 stars or 9.5. out of stars. I agree. To date, 100 Days My Prince stands as "the 11th highest-rated drama in Korea" (Source); and fans are super excited for Season 2.
Kokdu: Season of Deity is a Viki Original Korean Drama Series, released 2023. How long does a season of deity last? 99 days. During that time, Kokdu, a cruel angry death god, needs to find a woman, win her heart, and she must say the words “I love you”.
Kokdu is a really mean and nasty death god, who is being punished because he incurred the wrath of the Creator. The only way he can be freed from this punishment is if a woman who knows how awful he is but still falls in love with him, faults and all. Like the fairy tale, “Beauty and the Beast”? Eh! Sort of.
Kokdu Was Once a Human
Before he became a vengeful, hateful, angry, merciless, really mean, and nasty god, he was a human named Oh-hyeon. He was a handsome warrior in Silla, one of the three kingdoms in ancient Korea. He lost his life because he loved Seol Hui, a woman who had been gifted as a concubine to another man. The plan was for the two of them to run away together. Their plan was discovered and he was killed. Seol Hui decided that she did not want to live without him and so she committed suicide.
In the afterlife, he was always angry and he refused to obey any commands received from the Creator. For him, there was no punishment that could be worse than what he had already experienced in the land of the living. He was wrong. It is much more painful and lasted much longer. The Creator made him the death god and every 99 years he is reincarnated to visit the land of the living. He is allowed to be there for 99 days, i.e. for a "season". During this season of deity, he hopes that he will find the woman who can end his punishment.
Kim Jung-hyun plays Kokdu / Oh-hyeon / Doctor Do Jin-woo.
Im Soo-hyang plays Seol Hui / Doctor Han Gye-jeol.
"The Red Sleeve" is a Viki Original Korean drama series released in 2021. It is based on the love story between King Jeongjo and Royal Noble Consort Ui-bin Seong.
“The drama is based on historical records such as the fact that Uibin Seong, whose real name is Seong Deok-im, rejected Jeongjo's proposal to make her his concubine, not just once but twice. ...” (Source)
Lee
Jun-ho plays Yi San, later King Jeongjo. He continuously strives to
be a good king; a ruler who is kind and benevolent to his people.
During the Joseon Era, everybody knows that all of the women in the
palace are the king's women. He can have free access to any woman he
chooses and does not have to ask their permission. The king knows
this is the rule. But aren't the court ladies also his people?
Court
ladies in the palace wear uniforms that have a red cuff on their
sleeves. The king is attracted to a particular court lady named
Seong Deok-im played by Lee Se-young. He does not want his
relationship with her to be based on fear. He wants her to love him
and willingly become his woman. Seong Deok-im initially resists the
king's advances toward her. She feels that her life as a court lady
affords her a certain amount of freedom. If she becomes the king's
woman, she will no longer be free. If she becomes the mother of his
children, she can not love and cherish them as an ordinary mother.
They are her children, but they are also royal children and if they
are sons they are heirs to the throne.
She
eventually falls in love with the king but still tries to resist
becoming his woman. In the end, LOVE WINS. She becomes Royal Noble
Consort Ui-bin Seong. Just as she predicted, she did have to give up
her freedom. The king was very happy to have her by his side and she
was happy to be by his side. But she was not completely happy
because in order to live as the king's woman, she had to sacrifice
her free spirit. Not to mention, since it was obvious to everyone
that she had the king's favor, some of the other king's women were
“haters”. You can imagine the malicious backbiting she endured
from them.
This
series is 16 episodes and it is a very sad love story. There was no
fairy tale ending. Choosing to marry the prince or the king does not
always result in living happily ever after.
Queen: Love and War was released in 2019. In this Viki Original Korean drama series, a young
prince meets and makes friends with a nobleman's daughter, when they
were children. An accident happens on a boat and the girl he met is
tossed overboard. Her father believes that she drowned. Her twin
sister grows up and the prince, now king chooses her to be his bride;
not realizing that she is the twin sister and NOT the girl he met
when he was younger. Corrupt officials arrange to have both King Lee
Kyung and his queen, Kang Eun Bo, assassinated on their wedding day.
They succeed in killing the sister but the king miraculously comes
back to life. The people are terrified of him. How can he possibly
come back from the dead?
Coming back from the dead isn't all. Let's
not forget about the prophecy. Twins were supposed to be an evil
omen. It's the reason nobody knew that the nobleman had twin
daughters. He kept their birth a secret for fear they would be
harmed.
The
twin sister realizes that her sister has been murdered. She takes
her sister's body and secretly buries it. Then she returns to the
palace AS IF she has also risen from the dead, just like the king.
The king not knowing that she is the young girl he had met as a
child, also believes that his wife has come back to life. However,
the twin sister's main purpose for returning to the palace is to
discover who murdered her sister. For all she knew, even the king
may have been involved.
As she investigates to uncover the truth,
she eventually realizes the king is innocent and falls in love with
him. The problem is that she has already deceived him into believing
that she is the one who died. This makes their personal relationship
very complicated. AS IF life in the palace wasn't already
complicated with all of the scheming, conniving, ruthless, greedy
politicking that was going on.
Kim
Min-kyu plays the king, Lee Kyung
Jin
Se-yeon plays the twin sisters, Kang Eun-bo and Kang Eun-gi
This series is 16 episodes. It's love and war alright and the queen is right in the middle.
It's a
love triangle. But only because one grand prince does not want to
accept the fact that the woman he wants has already chosen his
younger brother. Her choice just adds to the list of all of the rest
of the reasons that he is jealous and envious of his younger brother.
It's a one-sided rivalry because the feelings are not mutual. The
younger brother truly loves his big brother. It's not his fault that
the royal adults chose to send his brother away from the palace and
allowed him to stay in the palace. Whenever his older brother comes
to the palace he is always happy to see him.
Yoon
Shi Yoon plays the younger brother, Lee Hwi, Prince Eun Sung. He doesn't really want to be king, even though he has the character to become a great king. He is sent to serve in the military to prove that he is worthy to rule.
Jin
Se Yeon plays Sung Ja-hyun, a noble lady, who falls in love with
Grand Prince Lee Hwi. They pledged their hearts to each other. When the grand prince is called to serve in the military, she vows
to wait until he returns. If he does not return she will remain unmarried and live her life in a Buddhist temple. One thing she has determined in her mind is that she will NOT become his older brother's woman.
Joo
Sang Wook plays the older brother, Lee Kang, Prince Jin Yang, who covets everything that his younger brother has, including his woman.
Unlike his younger brother, he has a strong desire to be king. He secretly arranges for his brother to be killed in battle and intends to take his brother's woman.
I usually watch K-drama TV series. But I found a Korean drama movie to watch called “Love, Lies” (2016).
WARNING!! DO NOT watch this movie if you don’t want to be bummed out!
I got addicted to Korean drama 5+ years ago. So I know K-dramas always have a love triangle. It’s expected. However, this is the saddest, most painful, most sorrowful, and most tragic love triangle I have ever seen IN MY LIFE! (And I have watched a lot of sad love stories over the years.)
Two young Korean girls ~ Jung So-yul (played by Han Hyo-joo), and Seo Yeon-hee (played by Chun Woo-hee) ~ who have beautful voices were raised to be “artists”. (That’s what they were told. One of them found out later that they were just beautified to be “artful prostitutes” for the Japanese men.)
One young Korean man ~ Kim Yoon-woo (played by Yoo Yeon-seok0 ~ who is a song-writer. But he writes popular songs for the common people ~ “Joseon’s Heart”. Not the traditional music (jeongga, or classical Korean songs) the girls have been trained to sing for the upper class Korean society and the Japanese occupiers.
Kim Yoon-woo says he is in love with one girl but then he meets her best friend. You might want to call the guy “a jive turkey”. But as the relationships develop, you almost feel like … he didn’t really do anything wrong.
WHY? I always say that if you are in a relationship, it is best that you find out BEFORE you get married that you don’t want to be in that relationship. No matter how much it may hurt the other person, you really should not marry somebody that you don’t love. Because that means two (2) people will be miserable in the relationship. Break it off before you marry so that the other person can … maybe … find someone else to be happy with.
I won’t tell you details of how this story unfolds but it was so so so so so so so so so so so so … painful!!
Half of the time I was watching the movie, one part of my mind kept telling me … Look away! You don’t want to see The End. The other part of my mind was saying … Look! You gotta know what happens in The End.
I watched it until The End and my heart was breaking for all three of them!
The cruelty that resulted from a woman’s bitterness, anger, and jealousy …?? I searched for one word to describe the things she did to get her revenge. But I came up with two words. INSANELY VICIOUS!!
By the end of the movie, I was totally shattered.
Many reviewers praised the movie; and I wholeheartedly agree with those reviews. I thought the acting was superb! In addition to the stellar acting by the three (3) main characters, this movie also gets my 5 star rating for: the music, the scenery, and the costumes. Especially, the traditional Hanbok clothing and the modern westernized clothing that both ladies wore. In every outfit, they were both gorgeous and extremely stylish. Their hairstyles whether long hair or short hair were beautiful!!
Also, I really liked the album covers. Both ladies released an album with them singing and the artwork for both album covers is incredible! I wouldn’t mind buying an art print.
In fact, that’s how the movie begins. Some people found an old record album and wanted to know the whole story behind it. (Kind of like that popular American movie “Titanic” (1997) where they found that art portrait and wanted to know who the woman was.)
The majority of reviewers gave this movie 4.8 stars out of 5. I agree.
NOTE: There is one thing I am curious about in this movie. Maybe my readers can enlighten me. The red and blue parasols given to the artists when they completed their training? Is that historical fact or historical fiction?
Today Romania is a Republic and enjoys a good relationship with many countries, the United States being one of them. But this was not always the case.
There was a time when Romania was ruled by a ruthless and oppressive dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu. He is no longer with us.
One can imagine all the Romanians were likely dancing in the streets the day of his execution. It was also Christmas Day so they would have been celebrating anyway.
● Born in Romania, she lived during the Ceaușescu regime. She escaped. Her novel “The Appointment” incorporates some of her own personal experiences. The story is about a young Romanian woman who has an appointment that she must keep.
The story begins :
“I’ve been summoned. Thursday, at ten sharp.”
The story ends :
“The trick is not to go mad.”
● The lines in between paint a clear picture of what life was like in Communist Romania.
I wanted to watch this historical period drama series because it starred Kim Hyun Joo. The first time I saw this actress was in “Boys Over Flowers” (2009) . She was a supporting actress and she played the part of the big sister of one of the boys who were known as the “F4”. Her character was so sweet and generous. By contrast, in“Cruel Palace — War of Flowers”, she is the main character who plays royal concubine Soyong Jo / Yam Jun, and she is anything but sweet and generous. Although, her character started out as a nice girl; once she is adopted as a nobleman’s daughter, she changes completely.
Kim Ja-Jeom (played by Jung Sung-Mo) is the nobleman who adopts her. He has his own political/revenge agenda. The king had exiled him and when he came back, he was out for blood! The king’s blood! He planned to use his adopted daughter to take control of the throne and when she has a son for the king, that son will be his grandson, and he will hold the power. However, his adopted daughter, Soyong Jo, has her own plans to achieve her dreams of power. She wants to be queen AND make her son king!
Even though the rule is NOT to be envious and jealous, life for the women in the palace ~ mainly the queen and the concubines who constantly compete to receive the favor of the king ~ is motivated by envy and jealousy. This series is set during the Joseon dynasty after the Manchu invasion. The Qing are fighting against the Ming and Joseon is stuck in the middle. As if it’s not bad enough that the entire country is stuck in the middle of a power struggle between two Chinese warring groups, the “flowers”, i.e. the women in the palace are engaged in their own ruthless power struggle.
What will these women do to gain the king’s favor which gives them certain “power”?
To say that these ladies, were sleazy, caddy, and cruel would be paying them a compliment! It’s a good thing the queen and crown princess are sensible and seem to know how to navigate through the dark palace intrigue. Even so, the royal concubine Jo So Yong is willing DO ANYTHING to maintain her dominant position and control over the king. She even gets King Injo addicted to opium in order to be able to manipulate and control him better. The ruthlessness, the viciousness, the cruelty … the acts she committed just to keep her power and hold over the king … were SAVAGE!
Thank goodness for the loyal eunuch who was always by the king’s side.
Eunuch Kim In (played by Woo Hyeon) was physically short in stature but he was not a person you wanted to mess with. Out of all of the people in the palace, he was the only one who put that cruel concubine in her place. In one of the episodes he told her plainly “You know you’re not all that much.” In other words, you think you’re all that and you think you can become queen, but it wouldn’t be that hard to get rid of you.
The series is 50 episodes and honestly? I had to take breaks and rest. But I finished the series because I just had to know what was going to happen to royal concubine Jo So Yong in The End.
Watching Korean dramas is my guilty pleasure. I especially like the
historical period dramas, during the Joseon period. I have published a
few detailed reviews of K-dramas here on Read.Cash. But I also shared some quickie reviews on its partner site, Noise.Cash, which I am recapping below.
If you have not watched these you should add them to your watch list.
If you have watched them, let me know if enjoyed them too!
The main character is a feisty little innocent girl who is fiercely
loyal to her family and friends, but has the courage, inner strength and
determination to break with tradition, and find her own way in a cruel
world that is not a very nice place for a low-born; especially not a
low-born young girl.
This series is 60 episodes, with an extraordinary cast, and based on a
true story. It is a real life love story between a king and a woman he
took to be his concubine: Dong Yi (played by Han Hyo-joo) and King
Sukjong (played by Ji Jin-hee).
It's a love story with a bold and daring hero who is not only an
expert swordsman, but knows how to handle a pistol and a rifle. His love
interest is an intelligent woman whose father is a scholar and allowed
her to learn (although she had to dress up like a man to attend school).
They both dream of their country, Joseon, as a land that will one day
be populated with free people. His enemies thought they had killed him,
but he was saved and taken to another country. He returned to Joseon
with a new identity, and determined to settle old scores. The first time
his beloved sees him again, she faints. He may be wearing different
clothes and using a different name, but he still looked to her like the
man she loved. She thought she had seen a ghost.
A baby who was born in a prison turns out to be a princess. But
before she learned her true identity she was taught by a martial arts
master and first learned how to kick butt!! It's a handy skill to have
if you're going after the bad guys who caused your mother's death. The
main character is Ok Nyeo played by Jin Se Yeon who is on my list for
favorite Korean actresses.
A young prince witnesses horrific bloodshed and commands that it be
stopped. Since he is a small child, his command is disregarded and he is
returned to his father; only to learn that it was his father who
ordered the bloodshed. To add insult to injury, his mother is
“accidentally” killed (really she was murdered). From that day forward,
he not only hates his father, HE HATES EVERYBODY! Everybody except his
close friend. He was forced into a marriage of convenience. His wife,
the princess, becomes pregnant by another man. In an effort to cover
this up, the father-in-law (the father of the princess) attempts to kill
the prince. The attempt fails. Trying to escape his assassins, the
prince falls down a slope and hits his head. A poor man finds him, takes
care of him as best he can while he is unconscious. When he regains his
consciousness, he does not remember who he is. The poor man tells him
that he is his daughter's husband-to-be and that they must marry
immediately or his daughter will be flogged.
For 100 days, he lives the simple life of a commoner and falls in
love. He is found by his father-in-law and brought back to the palace.
His memory has not returned. But slowly bits and pieces of incidents
from his past, like puzzle pieces, begin to come together. His story
begins … AGAIN! He realizes who he is and what he needs to do. He also
knows what he wants to do. He wants to marry the woman he fell in love
with as a commoner, who is also the little girl he met when he was a
child and had promised he would marry some day.
A young prince meets and makes friends with a nobleman's daughter,
when they were children. An accident happens on a boat and the girl he
met is tossed overboard. Her father believes that she drowned. Her
sister grows up and the prince, now king chooses her to be his bride;
not realizing that she is the twin sister and NOT the girl he met when
he was younger. Corrupt officials arrange to have both King Lee Kyung
and his queen, Kang Eun Bo, assassinated on their wedding day. They
succeed in killing the sister but the king miraculously comes back to
life. The people are terrified of him. How can he possibly come back
from the dead? The twin sister realizes that her sister has been
murdered. She takes her sister's body and secretly buries it. Then she
returns to the palace AS IF she has also risen from the dead, just like
the king. The king not knowing that she is the young girl he had met as a
child, also believes his wife has come back to life. However, the twin
sister's main purpose for returning to the palace is to discover who
murdered her sister. For all she knew, even the king may have been
involved. But she eventually realizes his innocence and falls in love
with him. The problem is that she has already deceived him into
believing that she is the one who died. This makes their personal
relationship very complicated. As if life in the palace wasn't already
complicated with all of the scheming, conniving, ruthless, greedy
politicking that was going on. Oh! Did I mention the prophecy?
Goo Hae-ryung is a female historian. Prince Dowon (or Yi Rim) is a
young prince who has been sheltered from the outside world. These two
main characters are adorably cute! But they have had some tragedy in
their young lives. They both lost their fathers through violence. Of
course, the adults around them try to hide the truth. But the two of
them trying to uncover the truth makes for a good plot.
The time is during the transitional period between the end of the
Goryeo dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon dynasty, which is why it
is “The New Age”. A king, princes, military leaders, all engaged in a
power struggle to build a new country. Seo Hwi and Nam Seon-ho are two
childhood friends have the power of their friendship “tested”. Things
happen to them, they get separated, and become enemies due to a
misunderstanding about "my country." One of them decides his country is
“the country of the abandoned”.
“'Bossam' in the Korean title refers to a customary remarriage
procedure that took place during the Joseon period. At that time, a
widow could not remarry. A single man or widower would kidnap the widow
and marry her. Some of the kidnappings were agreed upon in advance and
others were by force.” (Quote Source: https://asianwiki.com/Bossam:_Steal_the_Fate)
Here's the story. Two friends earn their living by kidnapping widows.
It's a steady paying job because … evidently, a lot of widows want to
be kidnapped and remarried. However, there is one widow who does not
have this on her mind. She just happened to be sitting outside and the
kidnapper happened to go to the wrong house and … uh oh! … she is
accidentally kidnapped. You think this problem is easy to solve. The guy
made a mistake, so all he needs to do is take her back home. Right?
WRONG! The lady who was kidnapped turns put to be a princess. Her
father, the king, wants to see her. Since her father-in-law did not know
how or why she disappeared or where she was, HE LIED! He told the king
his daughter committed suicide, having died from the grief of being a
widow. The king finds out that his daughter is alive and wants to use
this fact to trap the father-in-law and get rid of him for treason. The
father-in-law also finds out she is alive and the entire series is him
trying to have her killed so that he doesn't get caught in his LIE!
Jude Deveraux is an American author who has been publishing books since 1980. Many of her books have been on The New York Times Best Seller list. I personally fancy her historical romance novels set in medieval England; specifically her books about the Montgomery men and the women they loved.
The first novel by Ms. Deveraux that I read was about Gavin and Judith Montgomery. He stood tall like a tower over her and was ruggedly handsome; and she was just a pretty little thing, on the outside, that is. But once she got him to realize that she had no intention of becoming an adornment for his arm nor a little toy to be used for his amusement, they began to see eye-to-eye. Even if he did have to lift her up so that she could look him straight in the eye. Gavin not only loved and cherished her, but he had the utmost respect and admiration for her strong character and will. Their initially unhappy union turned into wedded bliss and their happiness was so wondrous that even the servants were happy that the master and the missus were finally getting along. The name of the first Deveraux book I read is The Velvet Promise.
After being introduced to Gavin Montgomery, I just had to know what his brothers were like. I followed it up by reading Highland Velvet, Velvet Song, and Velvet Angel ~ the love stories of Gavin's brothers, the other Montgomery men ~ Stephen Montgomery, Raine Montgomery, and Miles Montgomery.
These four books together are called The Velvet Montgomery Annals Quadrilogy. The primary theme of each book is the age-old truth: “Love conquers all.” Corny. But if you enjoy reading passionate historical romance, you'll love these books!
Treathyl Fox aka Cmoneyspinner – Home Business Entrepreneur. Think. Dream. Focus. Believe in yourself? Hire yourself! Be your own boss! Do it! Self-employed and loving it! ♦ DISCLOSURE: In compliance with FTC rules and guidelines, be advised that some links shared via this websites might contain affiliate referral links which means commissions might be earned if product sales resulted from your click-through to the vendor’s website.
