Genius Story Teller

How Dare You - this novel is amazing. A meta exploration of transmigration, the male lead is fully unhinged and deserves to be, the female lead reminded me somewhat of the heroine of Salted Fish but she was also just great. Story stayed strong and interesting the whole way through. Also, most faithful adaptation I've ever seen in my life.

The Poor Princess - this is one of the worst novels I've ever read, all that kept me going was sheer curiosity about how Mary Sue the female lead would become and how little research the writer did about the Regency era. This was more research than enjoyment.

How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy - I wasn't sure what to expect from Phantom of the Opera fan fiction and I'm ashamed to admit that I've only watched the musical, but I very much enjoyed this. Erik was really not toned down, most black and insane male lead I've ever read. The female lead discovering that she's turned on by death threats and being like, "That's messed up but whatever" really made it work.

The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir - make sure you read it at the link provided because the translator had the best notes ever and did a great job. The novel itself was wonderful, it felt like nothing was happening and yet everything was happening. You didn't know what the ML was up to and then it became clear as it went on. The ML is a Trash Husband but I warmed up to him in the end. Read all 500 chapters in like 4 days so that is my endorsement.

A Decade of Nightscape Lights Guan Xin Ze Luan - this is one of the most hilarious novels I've read in a long time. The main characters were both menaces, especially the ML, and it was so funny. My only problem was that I wish we had a family/sect tree. There were SO MANY characters and their little stories were important because they would come back, but sometimes when they did reappear I'd totally forgotten who they were.

Love in the Clouds by Bai Lu Cheng Shuang - this could have been my favourite except for the ending, which I didn't love, but a really fun novel. I love the beginning of Trash man x Deceptive woman and the buildup to the love story was so satisfying. Reformed Rake & I Don't Care About the World Only You in It tropes, which were done so well

Lost You Forever by Tong Hua- this is a fantasy novel about four people who go through significant trauma and then deal with it in healthy and unhealthy ways. One of the most amazing things to me is that two of the main characters are injured leading to a permanent disability. They learn to work around their limitations, but they are never magically healed. The female lead is a gender-fluid princess who lives for three hundred years as a male doctor (she can shapechange). One of the main characters is a nine-headed snake creature who can take human form. Adaptation is fairly faithful but falls off at the end.

Chasing Jade by Tuan Zi Lai Xi- a teenage, orphaned, female pig butcher finds a man nearly dead in the woods, drags him home, and fake marries him so she can keep her house. He is shockingly well-educated and maybe was almost assassinated, but she doesn't think much about that. She's got a little sister to feed and pigs to butcher. This might be the female lead with the most himbo energy I've ever read and I love her (adaptation not yet released)

Marry the Villain/Redeem Him by Bu Ding Liu Li - this is my favourite so far, but it's very wild. A girl is sent to the prince regent's residence as a gift and she's the only woman he doesn't kill. She spends two terrifying years with him, as he murders people for fun, but he's kind/indifferent to her. She dies. He refuses to bury her. Her angry ghost wakes up back in her childhood. At first she wants revenge, but she happens to find him right before a life-altering injury, so she saves him instead. She ends up entangled with him again on Life 2. The Tower of Whispers is a very loose mini adaptation.

Love Beyond the Grave by Li Qing Ran- fantasy about a woman born dead who is the king of the ghost realm. She doesn't have normal senses like a human, but she can make a deal with a human to borrow his. The male lead doesn't find this scary at all, but really cool and he's totally down. He is a military general bent on reclaiming land and he will not tolerate anyone stopping him (adaptation not yet released)

Offering Salted Fish to Master by Fu Hua- this is probably my second favourite. A Gen Z worker drone is sucked into a fantasy novel and she decides to treat it as a vacation. She entrances the male lead simply because she's the only person in the universe who doesn't want anything from him. She literally just wants to take a nap and have a snack. She is dragged into the plot, half-asleep. When Destiny Bring the Demon was a fairly faithful adaptation.

The Marquis is Innocent by Peng Lai Ke- this comes with a ton of content warnings (dubious consent, sexual assault, dismemberment) but it's such a unique novel. Two enemies marry and their marriage evolves through a series of sex scenes (it's porn with plot). The reason I liked it and was even able to read it (do not like reading SA), is because it felt very period. The husband doesn't have a concept of consent. The wife is annoyed, but knows that sex is part of her duty (she isn't usually frightened or feeling violated, more like, "fine"). He eventually becomes obsessed with her and then they fall in love. The Prisoner of Beauty was a loose adaptation (otherwise it would be rated 18+) and it really went downhill at being faithful halfway through.