It's supposed to be a tense, gripping story about fighting to live and never giving up hope, but I was too distracted by how easily preventable the whole situation was. Maggie goes to rescue kids trapped in a mining cave, but due to a stupid mistake she made she ended up trapped herself in an even more perilous cave. One of the rescue team was being a sexist, elitist jerk and tried to stop the leads from interfering with the mission since they weren't professionals, but he was actually right all along! Honestly, the gender equality message was incredibly ham-fisted and out of place considering the life threatening situation, seriously that was no time for talking about women's capabilities. Adam's marriage was also a case of idiots being idiots, everything he did just made things worse. I should also mention that I HATE it when surprise pregnancy leads to instant marriage, that is NOT what's best for the baby!! This was so stupid!

Lady Kate is on a mission to exact revenge on the man who murdered her parents, when she's taken hostage by knock-off Robin Hood, Shadow, until her ransom is paid. Kate is feisty, courageous, resourceful and cunning, while Shadow is a dashing rogue. The two have great chemistry and I was always rooting for them to achieve their goals and to get together in the end. I would've liked a bit more of a Happily Ever After though, they both deserve it and I especially wanted to see more of Kate finally being happy and at peace.

Two people with dark and troubled pasts find salvation in each other. Alicia used to be a party girl as a teenager but when she come home drunk one night 8 years ago, her married neighbour took advantage of her when she was in no condition to resist. Her dad blamed her and she's been ashamed of herself ever since. Nikolai suffered a brutal and violent childhood at the hands of his abusive uncle, and now views everyone as his enemy, trying to control everyone and everything with rules and coercion. He's so inept at talking to people like a normal person it's actually kinda funny; Alicia certainly thinks so and her laughter (at him) is what drew him to her. I like how rebellious Alicia is, she doesn't give into Nikolai's harassment (there's no other way to call it) until after he's comforted her and assured her that what happened to her isn't her fault, something she desperately needed to hear. They both need each other and their love feels genuine and earned. Very cathartic.

Two broken hearts at rock bottom find each other and help each other to heal. While predictable, it's very sweet and slow burn, warm, soothing and uplifting, perfect feelgood fluff. Matthew and Eva have both lost something irreplaceable and find comfort in the other. Despite their completely different pasts and lifestyles, they help each other to get back on their feet and overcome their suffering together. The surprise baby later in the story is just another of life's hurdles/miracles, but it doesn't define their relationship, unlike most of their trope. Nothing special, but it's still a nice story about how love can save you.

This story doesn't hold back, not on the laughs, not the drama, not the feels, that ending was so emotional! Ivy is a down-to-earth farm girl and completely comfortable that way, she has the sense not to expect anything from a notorious playboy and is perfectly happy to have fun with him and enjoy herself for once (falling in love ruined those plans lol). Jordan is like an over-eager horny dog, he's been drawn to Ivy since they met because she's completely different from all of the women who throw themselves at him, and he's relentless (and shameless) in his pursuit of her. His straight-forwardness is hilarious and I was laughing at him right alongside Ivy. While he has some hidden trauma because of his ex, he never takes it out on Ivy and decides for himself to trust her, I'm glad he never used past bad experiences as an excuse to be a jerk. Even the side characters have a lot of personality, this whole manga is bursting with life, vibrant and dynamic. I loved all of it!

I am genuinely stunned at how bad this is, everything is awful! The plot is a tired clich辿 with nothing new to add (vacation fling with temporary boss), the dialogue is insanely disjointed (it felt like parts were cut out, there were non sequiturs EVERYWHERE), the leads were bland and boring (neither has any defined personality, Nick is especially nebulous). The worst part is the lack of details! Nick is the "king of the finance world". What does that mean? What does he do? How did get there? He's not interested in love. Why? Heck, he's got NO backstory, no mention of his past or family, no explanation whatsoever of what he sees in Rose! We get all of one conversation on her family, but no mention of her job or interests. Her sister literally vanishes partway through the story (I'm not kidding, she disappears from one panel to the next never to be seen or heard from again). It felt like random things just happened, then it was over, the end. How do you mess up a story this badly?!

Old clich辿s mixed with modern sensibilities, great pacing and plot, and mature, believable characters who, surprisingly, don't change over the course of the story, they were just fine and just that compatible from the start! Violet is no shrinking violet, she's sensible, opinionated and has some actual self-worth! She's not a doll to be dressed up nor a meek puppet whose personality can be moulded to suit her man, she's a grown woman with a kind heart. Damien may come across as a playboy but he isn't sleazy, he knows what he likes and goes after it, he's not very open about his emotions but it's not because of some tragic backstory, he's just like that naturally. The two even date, argue and have sex like mature, consenting adults instead of like hormonal teenagers. I love the message that their differences are what make them get along so well, they compliment each other and make up for each other's weaknesses. We need more couples like this in our romance stories!

One of the best hero-saves-girl feelgood stories I've read, the plot's tight, the pacing's good and the characters are competent, likable and believable. Selene is excellent, she starts off adorably innocent and hopeful then steadily grows into a confident and capable heroine, she's weak when she should be and strong when she needs to be. Stefan is equally well developed and goes through his own growth, learning to open his heart to love and also to accept that he IS a hero. I love that he doesn't solve all of Selene's problems all by himself, she does a good job trying to save herself and he just gives her help when she truly needs it. They both change themselves and help to change the other into better, stronger, happier people. Sometimes we all need a helping hand to be brave.

Not my fav of the series but it's still very enjoyable. Most of it was fairly predictable, but it did have a few really good twists. I'm a bit puzzled by the mishmash of confusing themes: there's your clich辿 gender stereotypes, "Italian men" this "women" that, makeovers to bring out a woman's inner beauty (including Charley viewing sex as making her a "true" woman), it's especially bad in the first part of the story. But later on there's also more modern themes, such as mental illness being in your genes (good excuse for his family curse) and using IVF to counter that. There are plenty of great ideas and messages, like how even in turmoil you can still find beauty, and when it comes to true love, blood ties and genes mean nothing. Overall I'd say the good outweighs the bad and, while I wasn't at all feeling the first part, the latter part was very touching and makes up for the previous eye-rolls.

Very predictable and cheesy, but so adorable and heartwarming. Ruby and Sander's story went exactly as I predicted, it's your typical 1-N-S/pregnancy/marriage w/o love, with typical misunderstandings, though here it's actually the woman who proposes marriage (out of panic and fear of losing her kids). Ruby's growth was nice to see, her finally gaining confidence in herself and her merit as a person was wonderful. The best part for me, though, was finally learning the full story behind this saga and learning Valerie Raintree's full story in particular. I always love it when people are presented as just that: people, with flaws and real motives. Valerie made mistakes and regrets them deeply, she shows just how painful and devastating love can be, both as a woman and a mother (and a man and a father, obviously). Always love a good redemption story.