If You Read These Books…Try These J-Dramas: Romance Edition Vol. 2
Hello Everyone! As you know, I’m a big fan of Japanese dramas and Romance novels. Today I’ll be recommending even more romance novels that can be paired up with Japanese Dramas and vice versa. To see the first batch of recommendations click here.
Each book or show centers around a romance or has romance included in the storyline. I hope you all enjoy these personal picks and come away with some new books and TV shows to watch!
On Pointe follows Bina, a talented dancer, and teacher at the MacLaine academy. She’s nursing her heart over a bad split in her life. Bina is a caring person and extremely passionate about dance and sharing it with others. Still haunted by an ugly breakup that meant walking away from her fiancé and her high-rise apartment, now the dance teacher faces the possibility of losing her job, too, if her performance academy closes. When Maurice Hewett, one of her old ballet students, arrives in town, Bina sees he’s not the goofy boy she once knew—but a very handsome, very sexy grown man.
In Around 40, the main character Satoko is a single and successful psychiatrist. She speaks her mind and is good at taking care of others. People both at work and in her private life rely on her. When she goes to her favorite hot-spring inn. There she coincidentally encounters a breakup between a handsome but somewhat odd man, Okamura Keitaro, and his girlfriend. She soon finds herself falling for him.
Why you Should Read/Watch: Age Gap, Independent Women
Breathless follows Portia who is a manager of one of the finest hotels in Arizona Territory of the Old West. She refuses to jeopardize that by hitching herself to the wrong man. Suitors are plentiful, but none of them has ever looked quite as tempting as the family friend who just rode into town. I liked the friends-to-lovers aspect of the plot as Portia and Kent get reacquainted after a long time. It was cute to see them flirt and interact with each other even when Portia tries to deny her feelings (but all the signs show that she has a big crush on him).
In the J-Drama Bad Luck Bride, Akiko, a television announcer, lost her position in a news program to a rookie announcer. What’s worse, she is assigned to go undercover and experience life as a farmer’s bride for a variety program. Akiko pretends to be the fiancée of Ichiro, her ex-boyfriend. This is a funny show with a romance and a family drama feel. It’s got a lot of laugh-out-loud parts and some tender moments as well as Akiko gets to know her fake fiance’s family. It’s also a drama about self-discovery.
Why you Should Read/Watch: Friends-To-Lovers, Strong Family Aspects
After Samiah in The Boyfriend Project finds out she’s been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend she and his two other “girlfriends,” London and Taylor have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. Which is the exact moment she meets the very attractive Daniel Collins at work. I felt that the story focused more on the overall suspense of the secrets happening within the company and Samiah finding friendship with London and Taylor over a public breakup, but the romance was still cute!
The Reason I Can’t Find My Love follows the lives of three women who have difficulties in dating and finding love. They all went to the same high school and now begin to live under the same roof by chance. Before moving in the new roommates makes three rules – if they bring a man over or if they touch their savings or if they find a boyfriend, then their living arrangement will end. This show reminds you that love can be tricky and it also focuses a lot on friendship.
Why you Should Read/Watch: Friendship, Multiple POVs
In The Bride Test, Khai Diep avoids relationships, so his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride. As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
Marry Me’s premise is about solving contemporary social problems involving NEET (unemployed young adults), low birth rate, aging population, and other issues, and as a result, the NEET protection program is created. The NEET protection program pairs a single working person and a single NEET person to marry. Himari Sawamoto and Shin Akiyasu are selected to take part in the experimental program. Due to the NEET protection program, Himari Sawamoto and Shin Akiyasu marry and begin their married life without having romantic feelings at first and then their relationship evolves.
Why you Should Read/Watch: Marriage, Forced Proximity
Most Likely To Succeed is YA novel that follows Kaye who is the vice president of the Student Council. She and her boyfriend, Aidan, already have their lives mapped out: attend Columbia University together, pursue banking careers, and eventually get married. To his entire class, Sawyer is an irreverent bad boy. His antics on the field as a school mascot and his love of partying have earned him total slacker status. But while he and Kaye appear to be opposites on every level, fate—and their friends—keep conspiring to throw them together. Perhaps the seniors see the simmering attraction Kaye and Sawyer are unwilling to acknowledge to themselves…
Switch Girl is a romantic comedy that revolves around the story of a high school student named Nika who appears to be a stylish and fashionable girl at school, but that’s really a fake persona that she uses when she’s in public. At home, she “switches off” the facade and returns to her true slovenly nature. What makes this show such a joy to watch is seeing the main actress, Nishiuchi Mariya in action as Nika. She plays the character well and I like her chemistry with the cast.
Why you Should Read/Watch: Cute High School Romance, Opposites Attract
Have you watched any of these Japanese Dramas or read any of these books? What pairings would you recommend? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
