Love Is Sweet (2020)

Sweet It Is!

I guess the title says it all – Love Is Sweet is indeed a sweet love story. The plot is simple and the tears allergy seems odd but the execution is well-done. 36 episodes do seem a tad too long for a rom-com as many tend to end up with boring stretches but not this one. The combination of the romance with some business cases help with the overall pacing of the drama. The business side of things is unlike Perfect Partner though as it is not the focus but merely paves the way for the couple to cooperate and get to know one another better.

Where It Differs From The Usual
Many rom-coms start off with the main couple hating one another such as Midsummer Is Full Of Love and Mr. Honesty. But Love Is Sweet is a bit different because the guy’s interest in the girl is established very early on. They know each other from childhood and he has been carrying a torch for her for years. So, the phase of the male character having to discover his feelings for her is not needed in this drama. Yuan Shuai just loves Jiang Jun secretly and all his actions are geared towards wooing and protecting her right from the beginning although she sees it differently.

The other refreshing change is viewers get to see the couple living together for about half of the story. Normally, we will only get this in a contract marriage drama like You Are My Destiny. Other rom-coms would typically see the couple getting together at the end after a series of misunderstandings. But in Love Is Sweet, Yuan Shuai and Jiang Jun are already lovers midway through and viewers will witness a lot of sweet moments as they live under one roof. I think this adds to the satisfaction for the viewers to be able to see a minutiae of their interactions as a cohabiting couple.

The Plot (Spoilers Alert!)
To cut to the chase, Love Is Sweet is basically an office romance drama. The plot development is predictable as the drama unfolds. You will know who will the characters end up with eventually. It is the journey of getting there and the aftermath that will draw your attention due to the couple’s chemistry. There is the usual jealous third party but fortunately, it doesn’t really affect the main couple as there is trust between them and they are firm in their love for each other. So, this story line is nipped in the bud throughout the drama except for a very short stretch as it inches towards the end.

Personally, I think the drama could have ended at Episode 30 but somehow, it was stretched by another 6 episodes. The transformation of Du Lei from bad to good flows well with the story. But the last few episodes whereby he transforms back to being bad is a little forced as that part of the character development is not well explained. It is not that the last 6 episodes are boring but merely unnecessary to lengthen Du Lei’s story. Perhaps an extra 2 episodes would have suffice to tie up all the loose ends with a proposal thrown in.

Acting And Chemistry
The cast definitely did well in Love Is Sweet. Leo Luo fits the role to a tee with his good looks as a suave and confident Yuan Shuai. It is really a change to watch him in this romance drama compared to his melancholic roles in Princess Silver and Ashes Of Love. He made full use of his smiles and smirks to project a charming and also domineering man.

Bai Lu is known for her versatility as an actress as she can appear at ease in different roles. In this rom-com, she gave Jiang Jun a very down-to-earth feel. Bai Lu convincingly projected an adorable and a tender Jiang Jun during those loving moments with her softened expressions. For more serious scenes, her demeanor will change with a more steely expression that is portrayed very naturally.

It is obvious that Leo Luo and Bai Lu are very comfortable with each other from their behind-the-scenes clips. Hence, it is not surprising that the high comfort level will translate to a sizzling chemistry on-screen just like the couple in Love Designer. Leo Luo and Bai Lu seem to have a natural couple vibe that makes viewers ask for more. The compatibility is obvious and the sweet story simply takes the sparks up a notch.

I think the difference is plain to see if we were to compare the chemistry in Love Is Sweet with the lackluster Leo Luo and Yukee Chen pairing in And The Winner Is Love. It will also be interesting to check out Bai Lu and Lai Yi’s performance in Overlord.

My Verdict
If you like romance dramas, you can’t miss Love Is Sweet. The relationship is more mature unlike college romances like My Unicorn Girl. So, I like it that there is none of those juvenile antics that are typical of first love rom-coms. It is not entirely free of cliches but they are kept at an acceptable level and done right to help minimize the cheesy feeling. So, there is no escaping those accidental hugs and kisses that are so common in these dramas.

Although the plot is not top notch, the overall pacing is good. There are no unbearable boring stretches and the main couple’s story development follows a well-paced sequence of events. Yuan Shuai and Jiang Jun share a very trusting and supportive relationship which is satisfying to me as a viewer. It is sweet to see how Yuan Shuai indulges and pampers Jiang Jun and can’t get angry with her for long. His defenses simply crumble with his love for her.

The second couple’s story lacks spice to me but I’m still fine with it as they don’t take up that much of time in the drama. Furthermore, Riley Wang does have his fair share of fans and he is cute to watch. Xu Li can be an annoying character with her infatuation over Xiao Chuan in the beginning but the good thing is you can skip their story and will still be able to enjoy the drama without missing much.

Forget The Details
If you want to enjoy Love Is Sweet, don’t take it too seriously though. The details are not grounded in reality and you will have to overlook them for better enjoyment. For instance, the protagonists are too young to assume such senior roles in the investment banking field. Jiang Jun’s tears allergy is also such a strange condition to have. Thus, just watch it for the romance and chemistry of the main couple and not let the details bother you too much.

For this Love Is Sweet review, I would give it a rating of 9/10. I like it that the producers have taken a simple office romance plot and made it enjoyable with a talented cast, sizzling chemistry, and smooth pacing to keep the chain of events going. Therefore, it is easy to get hooked to the story and the main couple as the romance develops with an overload of sweetness. The bonus are the kisses which are aplenty in the drama from passionate smooches to loving pecks on the forehead. A few comical moments will make you laugh while the interruptions to their intimate moments will probably cause you to squirm.

Overall, I would recommend a watch for Love Is Sweet unless you really can’t feel the chemistry between the leads. If that is the case, then a big chunk of the drama’s attraction will be missing and it might well be a big bore. But personally, this is definitely one of the better romance dramas for me for 2020.

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Some very good things. Some not so good things. Overall it is enjoyable for the leads

WHAT I LIKED:

- The chemistry between the two main leads Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai. The pairing was physically very good-looking together (Bai Lu's facial features totally matches Leo Luo's small face). Their interactions were savory all along the drama.

- The love story : a nice little story born from a misunderstanding from his part which causes her to suffer and them to go separate ways. The reunion in a professional context helps them to get closer, rediscover their relationship and find their true feelings. Very simple, cute, heartwarming and very funny at times also. Their love is not really challenged. It's nice romantic cute moments almost all the way.

- Looking for the truth: The story about the death of Jiang Jun's dad caused by MH was interesting too. It did not take a huge part. Just enough to entertain between our two lovers' cuddling time. It was consistent enough with no huge farfetched element. It was revealed slowly and resolved in a nice fast way: tense when the villains were here and very funny when the good guys took action against them.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- Secondary couple is pretty useless as their romance has no sparkle and the two characters have no background. Hard to have sympathy for them. Sadly it takes a huge part of the drama.

- The last part : After JJ father's name is cleared, there is a time jump of 2 years. Good idea to reshuffle things and put the characters into new perspectives and challenges. The issue is that some parts are good and some are not . The good part: our main couple always. These two are now business rivals, a couple of three years bickering about work and how their couple evolves now. The not so good part: what happens to the others: Du lei, the secondary couple, Qiao Na...

More details hereafter (/HUGE SPOILER)

o - Du Lei evolution is a little bit surprising after he sided with the main couple to fight the evil ones. But he does not keep going on that direction. Instead he does crappy schemes to succeed and pry on Jiang Jung as he is obsessed by her. He goes on tilt and does illegal and unacceptable things as he can't accept defeat. He is spared in an illegal way: JJ and YS cover for him in exchange of him stopping his bad deeds. So illegal and wrong.

o - Secondary couple keeps being boring in the last part while trying to have a baby and doubting each other.

o - Qiao Nao becomes a little girl with a romantic heart which flutters when a 17yo kid in track suit comes to sing a song for her in her office. What a joke. Writers had nothing better in stock for her? /


ACTORS/CHARACTERS:

- Bai Lu is a fav. She was very convincing as a strong modern woman chasing her dreams and following her heart to find her love.
- Leo Luo had a very strong performance compared to his previous works I watched. He should do more of these roles as he is charming and has a good sense of comedy.
- Du Lei: Good performance from the actor. A complete freak in the clothes of a friend / ally
- Riley Wang: watched/tried his three last dramas. Never rated him. This drama will not help his case for me. But also his character was pretty badly written. Same for Xu Li.
- Qiao Na: loved her in Sword Dynasty. Here her character is challenging then supportive and then completely messed up.
- Linda : despicable but at least she ends in jail and redeems herself.
- Others fun characters: Su Chang, JJ's mom.

MUSIC:
Some songs were very nice to listen. Overall I thought the OST was well adapted to the drama.

REWATCH VALUE:
Weirdly I would not rewatch it. Because it is mainly about these two lovebirds in love and cute. I can watch it and be happy with them and be afraid for them when challenges come their way. But when you already know these challenges and how they are resolved, it is only about watching them being so in love that it will make me feel jealous.
There are some funny scenes anyway (DL and YS rivalry in the Aquarium, YS, how and after he got laid, The meeting with JJ's mother...) I would gladly rewatch these for the fun.

OVERALL: An enjoyable drama mainly for its main couple which account for 80% of the good things here.

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It was honestly a good show and the chemistry between the mains was nice but it was a little far fetched at times and it got kind of draggy, need I say I had to force myself to finish it unfortunately. It literally was so cute and awesome, but it was an office relationship that fell flat to me. There was so much going on with the rival, the partner he worked with, Riley Wang was tossed in there and I love him but still. So I did end up forcing myself through the end parts, which kind of sucks because it's a pretty good show but I was like "what happen?" it went 0-100 real quick. Maybe one day I'll be able to go back but other than that, it was good, worth the watch for the most part, I'm sure people will really really love the romance aspect of it.

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HIGHLY WORTH WATCHING!

one of my top cdrama i've ever seen! i love its storyline, love hate since childhood until adult and the ML really loves his girl. he's wayy too sweet as a man being, it made me crush on him to the bone😭 both ML and FL have good chemistry, ofc they're good kisser as well. they also funny i can't help myself laugh at their silliness😭 the 2nd couple ain't bad at all however i just focus on the 1st one hehe. furthermore, i love its OST!! it suits this drama so much!
the FL isn't the type of weak girl. i adore her because she's bold, beautiful, funny, smart and independent but tends to be slightly stubborn. she has a weird allergy which make her can't shed tears, otherwise she must've fainted. there's also 1 man who loves her, he's being her mentor in the first place yet the FL doesn't love him. i'm grateful cause i could see the ML being jealous of them and confess his feelings towards her eventually😁

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Cute Couple

I decided to watch this drama because of Bai Lu. I watched her for the first time in Lucky’s First Love and liked her. She’s not exquisitely gorgeous but she’s pretty in her own way and she’s attractively feminine.

This drama is good enough to watch. There are annoying moments and horrible characters, but of course.

Watch because:
- Bai Lu as Jiang Jun carried the show well
- the second male lead (Du Lei) is strangely attractive despite being a bad boy, ok, maybe because he’s a bad boy
- second male lead has good build and is quite handsome
- male lead is handsome but I find him too skinny
- plot is fairly fast-moving and things are explained quite fast
- the Easter Egg moments are cute and add to the understanding of the plot
- happy ending

I must complain about these annoying characters though - Lin Tai Mo: ugly and annoying ; Li Xiao Chuan: when he speaks he looks so annoying. When he doesn’t speak, he also looks so annoying. Xu Lili: acting isn’t good.

Rest - okay.

Overall, watch!!

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Even Love's sweetness can't make up for all this mess

I need to preface this by saying that this is my second go at this drama. I started it months ago and dropped it, finding the premise of the story a bit far-fetched from the first episode.

Now, it seems almost every other person who responds to drama suggestions on Reddit or Facebook has to mention "Love is Sweet" as the best romance/ enemy to lovers/ green flags (you name it, it seems to have it). So I decided to give it a second chance especially since it has Bai Lu and she's one of my favorite Chinese actresses.

As I expected my girl did not disappoint and I was pleasantly surprised by Luo Yun Xi. He sold his character to me. If anything, I think I loved Yuan Shuai way more than I did Jiang Jun, despite his flaws. I'll even go as far as saying that I was pleasantly surprised by the way the drama was going up to episode 24 - 25ish... The romance was great and what you'd expect from people who went from old friends/ enemies (in her mind) to lovers. Once all the initial dust and introductions were done, I appreciated how they acknowledged that maybe they'd misunderstood the other all along and decided to start their relationship on a new foot, almost as proper friends. Sadly, that's where the good ends with this drama - for me.

The problematic parts of the drama occurred when too much screen time was given to things that didn't contribute anything to the general story. Or some characters were conveniently made to fit a certain purpose temporarily and when that was done, they went to the next "purpose"; for example, Du Lei aka SML, aka ML's loser archenemy, aka poor orphan who misreads FL's signals, aka reformed (?) cold-hearted bad guy, aka newfound friend, aka Mr "Oh nevermind he was an asshole after all"...

And don't get me started with that second couple... I gladly fast-forwarded through most of this mess (especially Du Lei, I couldn't stand him). I have a theory that maybe the writer gave up on the plot after episode 24ish and decided to just get things done no matter what, no matter how long it would take.

All in all, what I'm trying to say here isn't that you should skip the drama entirely. I think it had potential and was very enjoyable in parts but if you decide to give it a try just know that you're not getting a perfect package despite what you might read. The leads will make it worth your while if you can bear all the rest (and that's the hard part).

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Extremely in love

I love this drama so much! After watching and the winner is love, I knew I had to watch Leo's new drama. It happen to be with one of my fave FL, Bai Lu. I love her acting. Please also watch her dramas, Arsenal Military Academy and The Legends with Xu Kai! They are must watch!

OSTs were superb, could've been better if it was in Mandarin as I'm an English speaker so some parts sounded weird to me. Love the acting and characters as well. One thing I was quite disappointed about was FL's love for the ML. I definitely needed more than what was given in the drama so that was the only bummer.

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Chinese F.r.i.e.n.d.s. - best romcom of 2020

Story 9.0/10
Lovely and funny story with small flaws. I giggled a lot because of the unexpected twists. Sometimes the advertisment kill the mood, but all of them is forgivable. The main storyline is great, the other sidekick stories are less entertaining. There are some interesting 'out of the box' thoughts: girls with girls in the bar, older woman - younger guy pair. I have never seen these before in chinese series, it is fresh, new and brave. Thanks to the censors to not kill it. :)

Acting/ Cast 10/10
The two main lead is brilliant, they take this series into the high sky. Luo Yunxi is a brilliant actor - I always says :D - in this series he showed a kinda new face. Bai Lu was not know to me before, but she is awesome, very talented and this two together is a nuke. Everybody praising them, and they totally deserve it.
Gao Hanyu, the second lead get less possibility to show his talent here. He was great in the Flipped and in the FuYao, and when have to be a lover, a friend, a hearthbroken guy or a badass badboi he can showed himself.
The other cast is really good, Guan Zi Jing is perfect sidekick in every situation, Tao Si Yuan is scary and psicho. :) The big surprise is Ran Xu, he have got talent and charisma from the beginning, I hope he can have more opportunity in the future.
AND the doggo. Tangyuan take everything, If se is in the set she rule the screen. Princess <3

Music 7.0/10
Lovely music, good to listen. The big surprise is Gao Hanyu - Miracle. I did not know that he have got an awesome voice like this, to me this is the best one from the soundtrack. I liked Riley Wang - "Sometimes", and Blue Bird - 丁当(Della) songs too.

Rewatch Value 10/10
Anytime, when you need a lovely story. Romcom of 2020.

Overall 9.0/10
There are minor flaws, illogical storylines, too direct ads and sometimes the second leads are really boring. But worth to watch, or I should say: must watch, minimum once.

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the kiss scenes are very satisfying

love is sweet was the drama I started watching because of riley wang. But when I started to watch this I fell in love with jiang jun and yuan shuai. The story line is good 👍and I like the most was this couple I want to call this couple comedian couple because there are literally lot of scene where you will laugh your heart out like in one scene when jiang jun kick yuanshuai off the bad and in the office when the jiang jun do the octopus🐙 dance. I like it very much. The ep 16 when yuan shuai was sick the most funny scene of luo yunxi for me. I have wath this drama 4 to 5 times now also I am not bored.

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Simply Amazing from start to finish ?

I normally write my notes while watching because My Drama list requires so much info in order to post a review lol.
but from start to finish of Sweet Love I was captivated, my phone was down the entire time, and who doesn't love a happy ending.

The acting and chemistry between Luo and Bai lu is really award worthy no wonder they did so well in "Till the end of the moon,"

The story line just thought so well every episode was a hit. I think This is what the drama Only for love aspired to be.

definitely a beautiful drama that is worth watching.

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Worth it - until the 2nd guy became crazy

Okay so first off I love this drama. I have finished all 36 episodes. The drama is unique since the female lead has an allergy with her own tears. I find it hard to cope up with that kind of allergy no matter how strong you are you tend to cry if things are not going really well. But thankfully the male lead is so understanding.

I honestly don't understand why there are people that doesn't like the male lead's character. To be honest, I like him so much, he's such an ideal guy. He is handsome, career person who takes up responsibility, a good cook, and he is loyal to just one girl. This is so rare in real life you can probably find a guy that has one or two of those characteristics mentioned. Anyway, I like him and I am looking forward for his future dramas.

* This contain spoilers for the last few episodes *
Going back, the story became awful when they have decided to make the 2nd guy insanely in love. I mean they are all good and the story actually jumped in to 2 years later. Obviously, the 2nd guy should know and understand that the female & male lead are in a serious relationship and he doesn't stand a chance. I don't understand why he thought that the female lead likes him more than a friend? It's crazy! He even tried to kiss the FL & ruined her career (for her to ask him for help). He even got mad because the FL didn't wore the watch he gave him instead wore the watch that her boyfriend gave her. Hello! Of course any girl would wear the watch that their boyfriend gave them.

I just don't understand why they have decided to ruin his character when everything was perfectly fine. They should have gave him a love line instead of ruining his kind character. Just like what they've did to Qiao Na.

Probably they just want some spice and it worked I got really pissed off when they ruined his character. He got a bad childhood and life too. They have just gave him a break. But am not the writer haha just my thoughts.

Nonetheless, I love how it ended. They have given us a proposal (even the failed ones are worth clipping), it's so cute when Yuan Shuai does the proposal several times and failed with it too. It makes me realize how much effort he is willing to give for Jiang Jun. I love it!

That's my review for Love is Sweet. I do hope that I can find my Yuan Shuai too hahaha but I am passed the childhood and the highschool edition. Work edition would be fine. HAHAHA!

- Miss Bee

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