Raine Balkera - Romance Author

호구의 사랑 / Hogooeui Sarang AKA: Ho Gu's Love / Fool's Love / Fool for You Genre: Romance, comedy Episodes: 16 Network: tvN Broadcast: 2015-Feb through Mar Synopsis A romantic comedy drama that depicts Kang Ho Goo, who never had a girlfriend and has no dating techniques. He meets his first love -- a member of the national swim team -- Do Do Hee and gets involved in a complicated love/friend relationship. Main Cast UEE as Do Do Hee (A swimmer, Asian Games silver medalist) Choi Woo Shik as Kang Ho Goo (artist, dreamer, lover) This was worth the watch AND the wait for episode uploads. At first, I didn't care for UEE and thought that Ho Goo's twin sister did a better, more believable job portraying the bad-ass, ugly duckling with the opposite attitude. But as the show progressed, I managed to get past UEE's huge eyes and fat cheeks, and that deadpan, I really don't give a shit vibe she carried throughout and started to enjoy her on-screen time ...

Title: 스웨덴 세탁소 / Seuweden Setakso Genre: Comedy, fantasy, romance, family Broadcast network: MBC Every1, MBC Drama Net, MBC Music, MBC QueeN Broadcast period: Nov-2014 to March -2015 Episodes: 16 A lot of new faces in this one, and with some stiff acting on a few parts, but overall, I gave this a high score because of the interesting story line. Lee Yong Yi as the grandmother and Bom were like-able. Hwang Young hee as the mother is too pretty to be a bitch omanee, but she still pulled it off in ostensible Korean-drama style. Chang Jo as Yong Soo chul, the supposed love interest who ended up being more of a side-kick or extra than a real lead that could have resulted in this being a true romance . . . he was okay but could stand to gain a bit more skill/polish under his belt. Sweden Laundry is about a young woman who doesn't seem to fit in right with her fatherless family. The oldest brother is a bookworm who continues to fail the bar exam and the youngest is a stuck-...

Title: 총각네 야채가게 / Chonggakne Yachaegage Genre: Melodrama, comedy, romance Episodes: 24 Broadcast network: Channel A Broadcast period: Dec-2011 to Mar-2012 Disappointing, really. Still adore Ji Chang wook, though :D He did a terrific job holding this one up despite its numerous flaws and fails. It is supposed to be based (even loosely) on a real-life scenario about a man who ended up owning a chain of vegetable stores -- but that never turns out to be the case. What it IS about is a young guy, his younger sister, and an orphan girl who befriend one another, and then the orphan girl befriends some snobby girl with a crazy omanee. The crazy omanee is biding her time in a lesser-valued neighborhood until her Chaebol lover ditches his arranged-marriage wife and returns to her and their daughter. The orphan girl is so desperate for 'family' that she allows herself to be degraded and cheapens herself by dissing her two good friends in order to be able to hang...

연애의 발견 / Yeonaeui Balgyeon Genre: Romance, comedy Episodes: 16 Broadcast network: KBS2 Broadcast period:  Aug  to  Oct,  2014 My Rating: This was good. Surprisingly good. I didn't like the leading lady much, but she did an excellent job of portraying the character's messed up personality. I just wasn't all that convinced that she was deserving or attractive enough to have not one but two hot, successful men after her. The chemistry wasn't there in either relationship, but I'm getting ahead of myself. If you haven't seen it yet, this is a rom-com with more rom than com, but with enough com to make me laugh through  at least  the first half. It's about a woman who experiences love at first sight and sticks with this guy (Eric) for over five years when things go south and they break up. Three years later, she meets another hot guy (Seong jun) and the same thing happens again -- instant attraction, hook-up, and romance. A little mo...

As the snow continues to fall here in Michigan, with more than a foot of it expected through the overnight hours and nearly a foot of it on the ground as I type, now is probably as good a time as any to write a review. So, I finally finished the 32-episode Korean drama Hotel King today. That's right, I typed 32-episodes. It was another of their drawn-out-deliberately dramas based entirely on ratings and not because the story needed that much time to be told. Still, it wasn't so bad, or at least not so bad or tiring that I even once felt compelled to skip episodes just to get the thing over & done with, which says something, I think. It was about a guy who started out in a rough situation after being adopted by Americans and then left on the 'mean streets' to fend for himself (LOL). By age 11, he is picked up by a Korean man who claims to know the boy's background, and that it is the boy's duty to get revenge against the father who abandoned...