Sleeps In Sunbeams's manga / #manhwa(14)

Yu Jin Gong is a young sales rep with a brightly engaging personality. Lee Hyundai Do is 10 years Jin’s senior. An extremely successful businessman, the recently divorced father is struggling with adjusting to sole parenting of his 10yo daughter Jena when he meets Jin for the first time. Mistaking Jin for a pedophile (twice) their relationship is off to a bumpy start, but the serious Lee Hyundai Do is swept gently into the warmth of Jin’s life in this lovely, wholesome story.

A really lovely adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew which is probably my favourite of Shakespeare’s tales. However, I liked this even more because instead of Petruchio taming the headstrong Katherina with psychological torments in response to her shrewish behaviours, here we had more of a taming of the Lothario playboy. I like that Katherina was respected more here, whilst still keeping her family relationship consistent with the original story and Bianca’s subplot and the explanation for Katherina’s shrewishness as well. I found Petruchio more endearing as he fell for Katherina, the little things like his fear of bugs to inadvertently sharing his genuine feelings.

A GL childhood friends to lovers story. Yun-Cho-Ul and Ju-Ah Ah have always been inseparable. They even had an experimental kiss in high school with each other but nothing disturbed their friendship. Nothing that is, except for Ju-Ah’s every growing wish that she could be her best friends lover. I think that the art was pretty and the sexy scenes were nicely done. My problem really lay with Cho-Ul being so inexpressive. Even after chapter 8.5 which was from her POV, nothing in that made it feel like she really loved Ju-Ah. She lacked heat and intensity of emotion. Also, Ju-Ah had so many erotic daydreams I didn’t realise the lovemaking scene where they finally got together was real.

There is a reason that this story is rated (currently mid 2023) at 9.8/10. It’s a great showcase of fantastic characters, clever plot, beautiful artwork, save the world action, unpredictable interactions, bad guys who make sense given their backstory, and a touch of romance. No need for spoilers, just read and enjoy.