This drama has references to multiple kdramas (if you are a fan then you will appreciate those easter eggs), and to me the story is a mix of two dramas I've watched: the kdrama "W: Two Worlds" and the cdrama "The Romance Of Tiger And Rose". If you have watched and liked those dramas, you will enjoy "Lost Romance" for sure.
I've seen people mentioning other dramas too, but in my opinion they are nowhere close in comparison with the dramas I've mentioned above.
Long review ahead, but I always feel that MDL's plot summaries lack a lot and sometimes fail to catch people's attention although maybe the drama is really interesting. It happened to me multiple times.
STORY (extended explanation of the plot with no spoilers):
As I've mentioned, the story is like a mix of "W: Two Worlds" and "The Romance Of Tiger And Rose". It obviously has its own details and that's the reason why despite the similarities, "Lost Romance" is good and unique in its own.
The FL works in an editorial that publishes romance novels and she is a sucker for CEO stories. This obsession causes that alongside with her bff, during their breaks and with the help of a drone the girls spy on a handsome CEO (the ML) that works nearby. But one day the FL witnesses how the ML is pushed from the rooftop of a skyscraper and, scared about reporting it to the police with no evidence, she decides to remain silent. However a couple days after the incident she gets a high fever and ends up unconscious. From that moment, the FL is transported to the fictional world of the romance novel that she was working on.
The ML of the novel is an overbearing CEO who, for her surprise, looks like the ML from the real world. But she soon finds out that her character in the novel is not the female lead, but a secondary character with no happy ending. She decides to change her fate and become the female lead to be able to finally experience a romance with an overbearing CEO, and not just any CEO but one that looks exactly like the man she has been admiring for a long time. The problem comes when she ends up confusing both men and doubting who is the one she really likes.
Meanwhile in the real world the FL is unconscious and the doctors don't know the reason of why she doesn't wake up. The ML is unconscious as well, although his reason is quite obvious since he was pushed from a skyscraper. And as a cliche that happens in every drama involving a CEO (or a historical drama with a prince that is the equivalent of a modern world CEO), the family of the ML fights for the power with tricky ways and really evil ways in the case of this drama.
You hate some characters initially, then the hate downgrades little by little (it doesn't disappear though), and some characters that you liked at first end up being a disappointment. Some things were quite obvious but there were a couple plot twists too. I've laughed out loud a few times which is always a plus to me. It has a nice level of comedy and enjoyable support characters. The FL isn't the typical pushover but a woman that stands up for herself, and about the ML... I have to choose the one from the fictional world, but maybe that's because almost all the episodes are in the novel world and not the real world.
Beware of the SL syndrome. It hardly happens to me, but I have been really close on this one. He is a sweetheart that deserves a happy ending.
There are 2 SFL, one in the real world and another in the ficitional world. The one in the real world has no romantic interest on the ML, basically because she is his half-sister. The one in the fictional world is, indeed, the female lead of the novel world and the one that has all your typical cliches (super kind, innocent, bullied at work, accidental falls, getting the attention of the boss, etc).
PS: If you are interested on whether it has PDA or not, I have to give them a 9 out of 10. Yes, you have the typical fish kisses but that sex scene... omg! It was quite obvious that this is a taiwanese drama and not a chinese one. Taiwan produces BL dramas and therefore censorship isn't a big deal in there, not like in China. So they don't mind showing skinship as a normal grown up couple would do.
ACTING/CAST
Good chemistry, really good chemistry. Marcus Chang and Vivian Sung did a great job portraying their characters. Simon Lian as the SML did a good job too, a part of you really ends up rooting for him even if the ending is quite obvious. Overall the whole cast was good, nothing bad to note. Maybe on some of the support characters but since they are not key characters for the plot, it's not a big deal.
MUSIC
I am a person who focuses mainly on the visuals and the dialogue, so I don't pay attention to the music unless a song really catches my attention. That's hard to accomplish and in this drama none of the songs were able to do it.
REWATCH VALUE
Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes. Not immediately but if I find myself again with nothing to watch while waiting for ongoing dramas, I think I will rewatch "Lost Romance". It's true that the main reason for not giving it a 10 is that towards the end there were some plot holes and confusing moments (and I would have liked to see more of the leads together in the real world), but it's not annoying so you end up with good sensations.
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This review may contain spoilers
Cute story of novel's romance turned into reality.
So far I'm liking the interesting concept of this book. This once is a fresher concept and not unlike the chinese time traveling dramas.I enjoyed every bit of this drama! Love the lead actor/actress and how the story was well rounded.
This story is about novelist writer Zheng Xiao En. She crushes on the hot ceo boss who is her neighbor. She uses a drone to watch him and what he does, so she can get more inspirations for writing her story. One day she turns on the drone and sees that the male lead He Tian Xing fell off of the roof top and knows what happen. She feels extremely guilty for not helping him. So now he is in a hospital and his evil sister tries to move him to another hospital, on the way out he holds onto Zheng xiao en's hand. She is suddenly now inside her own story, except that now the male lead's name is Si Tu Ao Ran. She and Si Tu Ao Ran starts off on a bad foot. He thinks she is evil and always trying to hurt an innocent co worker named Chu Chu. btw inside the story she isnt the " quote on quote female lead", she is actually a side character, so she does all she can to change her destiny lol. Its funny to see who has the female lead aura because when she gets hurt the male lead is instantly there! Through a series of encounters and finally unravelled misunderstanding they finally fall in love with each other. Zheng xiao en's fate was changed when Si Tu Ao Ran kissed her! Thus switching the character of the innocent Chu Chu , to be a conniving b... And of course later Si Tu Ao Ran faces danger. In the story they get married, but just as they were about to she wakes up and is faced with the male lead being He Tian Xing, not Si Tu Ao Ran. Then it goes about being their story... ( dont want to give it all away )
Romance- the chemistry and passionate between the two is off the charts. They make the kisses seem so natural. Many sensual kisses which is really different from chinese dramas, ( this one is a Taiwanese drama) and they are more openly ok to lbgtq ( so of course they would add an accidental girl girl kiss... The male and female lead's kisses escalated really quick ! lol you can hear their kisses. So bad for a dan shen gou like me haha. Those kisses are definitely worth the rewinding >_<
I also really like the assistant's in the story. It's kinda sand that he will never get a chance at romance because he's the second male lead. He slowly falls in love with the female lead. He's always there to support and comfort her. ( can the directors seriously give him a lead role) would love to watch more of him :) I liked how the story initially he liked the female lead in the story aka chu chu , but then slowlys fall for Zheng Xiao en when she becomes the female lead. I like the special effects that they put on him. He burns..... when he hugs her. ( I was thinking why is he burning? ) That is used to show his intensify love for her!
LOVE THIS DRAMA FOR THE ROMANCE! such a cute drama !
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A different shade of Taiwanese drama
The story plot of "Lost Romance" starts with the real life incidents of Zheng Xiao En (Vivian Sung) and He Tian Xing (Marcus Chang). Daydreaming about the handsome overbering CEO one day Zheng Xiao En finds herself transported in a romance novel. As a surprise she comes face to face with her crush He Tian Xing. But in this fiction CEO He Tian Xing is Si Tu Au Ran with a different character. Also she's not the female lead but a evil side character! Can she flip her character and get a happy ending?Not only fictional romance but also the corporate struggle, family feud, forsaking relationships over power everything is shown. The rigid feud to blissful romance "Lost Romance" portrays it all. The chemistry between the characters of Marcus Chang & Vivian Sung is worth mentioning. You can enjoy some recreated iconic scenes of 'Guardian:The great & lonely God' and 'Desecndents Of The Sun' in this taiwanese drama.
The supporting cast did a fantastic job. You cannot but love the warmth of the Duan Mu Qingfeng (Simon Lian). Kiki Chen pulled off the contrasting characters in both worlds really well. Jason Hsu and Kelly Liao complimented the storyline. Pii as Ling Chun Tian / Ling Qiu Tian supported Zheng Xiao En as a cheerful, bubbly best friend.
The OSTs portray the feelings of the characters smoothly. 3 of the OSTs were sung by Marcus Chang himself. These are 'Lose to you', 'Talk to me', 'Tonight I'm here'. This drama ended with the highest rating of 1.27 with it's last episode ranking number 1 at the chart (according to wiki).
If you are looking for a drama with love, romance, feud & twists to binge I would recommend this drama worth your watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Loved the storyline! Great show!
This show had a great storyline. It was well written. Mostly well executed. Loved the music in it. So that said...I have watched my fair share of Taiwanese shows. Some I liked but there are some that are just to crazy for my liking. This show, I have to say, is one of my favorites. Mostly because of the storyline. I loved the play on them being in a novel world vs the real world. I loved how they showed what was going on in the real world and then jump to the novel world. It was really well done and I did not get confused as to what world they were in.
I really loved their romantic scenes. They touched my heart. Made me cry when they both came out of a coma and were back in the real world and he did not remember her. The leads did a really good job. The emotion was there for me to see and feel. I kept on wanting to grab that book and shove it in his face every time they showed it!? Just read it and you would REMEMBER her!!!!!?
The only problem I had was that some of the supporting actors/actresses seems to be off on their acting in some scenes. It seemed like at the time they filmed they were having an off day. I could be wrong but I felt that way in several parts of the show. But that is my one and only complaint.
The ending was great! Thank you for not making it a show where family is stopping them from being together. This show was a break from that! ?Thank goodness! I am glad that the ones I really thought would turn out evil did not. They actually accepted they had done wrong and changed. Most of these shows they are evil to the end! Glad this one was not like that.
Rewatch? Umm YES! It is worth it! So it is in my Favorites list on Viki.
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Compelling story that makes fun of typical tropes!
Watch it, watch it, watch it. I'll few tropes that this drama has in case anyone is wondering - and it kinda is a spoiler so you've been warned!There is no love triangle, there is the stereotypical memory loss at the end which is expected but the way they went about it was so well executed that you can't really complain and yes it's an happy ending, you might get second lead syndrome for a bit (I personally still rooted for the main couple though ehehe).
Many complain that the fl behaves at the beginning is awful but the whole point of the drama is that she goes against those stereotypes so imo I dont mind but take that as you will ?♀️
Like everyone else says you might want to push yourself to continue based on the first episodes but is WORTH IT!
The acting in my opinion was great, it felt natural. The music was also really spot on, hence why i put 10.
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Will be rewatching it at least once a year
WOW!!!!!I've dropped every "i became a character in a novel" rom com because they were so stupid. This one is crazy good. If you only work and sleep, and ignore your family for a few days, you can get it done in 2 days. I did it in 3, because I'm not completely irresponsible.
I stumbled into this one while waiting anxiously for the next weekly installment of "Wedding Impossible." By the second episode, I'd forgotten all about WI and really couldn't care less about it anymore. I'll probably just watch this one over again.
What I LOVED:
FL - every adjective would not do her justice., but to name a few: spunky, entertaining, delightful, able to convey silly, adorable, funny as heck and heartbreak. Actress hit it out of the park. Her comedic timing is amazing.
ML - I want to be as respectful as I can about Marcus Chung and not treat him like an object here. He's probably one of the most handsome men I've ever seen. And he is soo good in this role. ML he plays is standoffish but with an electric gaze and sensual vibes sparking off his skin. But he conveys loneliness, heart break and fear beautifully.
ML/FL chemistry: off the charts. Real love scenes here. Not pecks on the cheek and lip kisses the don't even move after they've made contact. In the one scene I felt like I was intruding and should quit being a voyeur. It's that steamy.
Story: Refreshing, well done, beautiful. For the most part GREAT story. and bonus, we get two chances to see them meet and fall hard for each other - once in the novel and once in real life. It doesn't feel repetitive.
2M: I rooted for him and adored him. The twist in the middle was out of the blue.
2FL: gooooood. She made for some amazing jealous scenes.
The pacing: 20 episodes was perfect, and the story moved along nicely.
What I didn't like:
agree with everyone who said the "real life" parts involving the family characters are out and out boring and tedious. I got the gist of things by episode 3 and started fast forwarding about half the scenes they were in. I liked every one of the other side characters.
The villains were way too cookie cutter and one dimensional. And, dang! the evil things they did were brutal. I guess I've seen that in other dramas too, pretty graphically, and these aren't graphic. But the hatred they exude requires a little more basis for me. As in, (you find this out in the first episode) my dad cheated on my mom with your mom and now I want to kill you. Really? This happens to plenty of people and they don't resort to attempted murder. The sister has so much hate. The mother is so terrible to her daughter. Why? Just not believable. Really lazy writing. That said the actors and actresses playing those roles did very well given the one-dimensional characters they had to work with. The actress playing the sister was great. Again, the character, not believable.
I took off 1 1/2 stars for these reasons, but the fact that it still got an 8.5 shows you how much I loved the story and the fl/ml together.
OST, good songs, but two played constantly. It got boring. Some really good ones only played once. A variety and more even play time among the songs would have been better.. Also didn't know ML Actor Marcus Chang sang and wrote the theme song. Dang. I just can't with this guy. Is he even human?
Watch it.
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JUST GO WATCH IT! You won't be disappointed!
WOW! This drama absolutely took me by surprise - I came in with no idea of what the storyline was, who the actors were and what to expect. AND DAMN I was hooked! It was interesting without being too complex, freaking hilarious, light hearted and a heart string puller. It seriously has a special place in my heart and it deserves it. You'll enjoy this drama if you're the type of person who rolls their eyes and groans at every trope and cliché that appears in dramas or books.I'm a sucker for anything with alternate universes and when our female lead fell into her own novel I was like... OMG YAS! What I liked out of this the most was the fact that our main FL is a romance publisher and therefore she knows all the romance tropes. So when she falls into the novel, she makes fun of a lot of stupid, silly tropes and questions a lot of things that happen the characters. It was super entertaining watching her make fun of things I also point out and groan at and roll my eyes at when I watch dramas, like the female lead falling for no freaking reason and the male lead always catching her every single time! The FL also references a lot of k-dramas and even re-enacts some classic k-drama scenes. Another interesting aspect was that the characters in the novel themselves begin to question their lives and why some things are pre-set for them - almost breaking that fourth wall.
NOW let's talk about the chemistry. Diggity damn... the chemistry between our leads was HOT! Marcus and Vivian match each other so well and they really did a fantastic job portraying the characters. Marcus was exceptional especially since he was playing two different characters and he did such a good job at playing each - giving each character their own distinct differences and personalities. Plus, Marcus has a way of looking so alluring yet gentle and hell, it's hot (you'll know what I mean when you see it). Vivian did a perfect job of portraying her character who l thought was such a great female lead character - she was smart, freaking hilarious, witty, fierce and got shit done. And she didn't let her side antagonist role in the novel deter her from becoming the main female lead. Also, if you've finished this drama and need some more Marcus and Vivian, go watch their behind the scene clips and check out Vivian Sung's YouTube channel - she has an episode where she goes on a date with Marcus and their friendship is super cute and funny (they're like an old married couple)! She also has an episode with Simon too!
Other things I liked where: this drama did a fantastic job of creating an alternative universe and unexpectedly delves into the livelihoods of novel characters after the novel has completed which was a concept I found really interesting. It's also one of those dramas where the characters who you think aren't the bad guys turn out to to be the bad guys at the end. Also the drama is very well paced and there wasn't a moment that was boring or meaningless. Every character was very consistent and everything they did had a reason and explanation which a lot of dramas unfortunately don't stick to.
Overall, I can't recommend this drama enough! If you're looking for something that isn't too complex yet still on the interesting side so it's not boring, light hearted and comedic, I highly recommend this! It has romance, action, comedy, family and business politics and an alternative novel universe!
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In "real life" in this drama more like makjang drama, so many overdramatic scenes and the acting also hmm too dramatic. The "novel life" in this drama is more entertaining. Eventho I don't like many characters there, like the SFL. Damn I hate her character. Yes I know it's based on the "novel" but yeah I'm sorry for being subjective. Ngl I love the SML so much, QianFeng. His character is great, the acting as well, he's so handsome, and I wanna see him in other dramas. I love SML more than the ML. I think SML's acting is better and natural than the ML.
Also I don't like the style of ML in this drama. It's too exaggerated. His style as CEO going to office feels like he went to a formal party with a tuxedo.
Some part of this drama is entertaining. Ah the kiss scenes are top notch lol, I like it.
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One of the Best Taiwanese Dramas Out There
First, the cast is perfect. The music is phenomenal (and not just because of ML, Marcus Chang...okay...it's because of Marcus Chang). The story line is original, and the romance value is a 10+. I LOVED everything about this series.I do admit I did have a little bit of the SML syndrome, but just because he's absolutely adorable in this series. As a writer, I appreciated the "editor" and "author" roles and the characters who portrayed them. What I found profound was how one of the characters gets stuck inside the "books" because the author neglected to finish his story. It made me feel sorry for all the characters I've created, hanging out there in limbo, waiting for me to give them their ending.
An overall wonderful, romantic, well-written drama.
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Amazing. Certainly worth a rewatch.
Funny, romantic and has a satisfying ending too. Watch this if you want a self-aware drama that makes fun of itself and have a fresh take on romance tropes. Other popular dramas especially kdramas were referenced and spoofed a lot too. The kiss scenes and level of skinship were the stuff of fantasies.Episode 1 was just a background setup to show how impossible it is for the leads to meet in the real world. It was only in Episode 2 that the fun really started, when XiaoEn meets Situ Aoran in the novel world.
Not to be too spoilery, the story started like this: XiaoEn, a romance novel editor dreams to have her own romance and secretly admires He Tianxing, an inspiring CEO from a neighboring office. One day after waking up from a fever, she ran into HT, who now seems to be more overbearing and was told his name was Situ Aoran. Realizing that she was in the novel that she was editing, and that she was a bad character who bullies Chuchu, the FL in the novel, she decided to change her fate and instead become the novel's FL by preventing situations that can develop the Chuchu-SA relationship.
The storytelling goes back and forth between the real world where both HT and XE were in coma and the novel world where SA and XE were falling in love. I liked that the novel world have that reddish, vibrant hue (maybe to tell us us that fantasies are usually seen through rose colored glasses, hahaha) and the real world had grayish tones (does this mean reality sucks?). Things that are happening to HT became SA's dreams. Though I didn't really like that there are many scenes on power struggle for the Tiangling Group, it showed how toxic the real world was for HT. I particularly did not like it when when a sweet love scene in the novel is immediately followed by a suspense scene in the real world.
The pacing of the series was just right at 20 episodes, half of which were devoted to XE and SA falling in love, 1/4 growing their relationship, 1/4 being in the real world.
Actually, I was quite concerned that this would be messy like other parallel world dramas but it wasn't. Though 5 characters (SA, Chuchu, Moran, Susan and Quitian) in the novel world are played by the same actor in the real world, their personalities and backgrounds were different, so they may be treated as distinct from their counterparts. Characters did not go back and forth again and again from one world to another which might have resulted to story inconsistencies. Instead, there was a clear timeline, both leads are in the real world, then they both fell into comas and XE went in the novel, then they both woke up.
Some are questioning XE's hesitancy in the last quarter episodes to start a relationship with HT, but it is quite understandable because in her mind SA is another person, whom she was forcefully separated from. She also did not want to be disrespectful to HT by treating him as substitute. The resolution between SA and HT was logical and reasonable.
One scene mentioned that a wedding ending is irresponsible so this drama ending in a honeymoon felt intentional and satisfying.
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Reviewed solely as a Taiwanese drama
I wanted to watch this since maybe earlier this year, but I could not get over episode one, it was soooooo boring, so I dropped this drama. Somehow I keep coming back to this drama, so I checked out the comment section and honestly, soo many bad comments I changed my mind and decided not too watch anymore, then again I couldn't shake it, I really wanted to know why the rating was so high and the comments so bad, so I went ahead to watch.The drama after the first 2 episode, as someone else mentioned, I watched it with the speed at around 2x, after i got to episode 3 i changed it to 1.25x, I started to enjoy the drama, the whole story of going into the comic and so one was pretty great, the romance was beautiful and the chemistry with the leads was amazing, best I've ever seen for a Taiwanese drama, tbh, it was great chemistry, and then there was episode 12 hahahaha... you got to watch to know, I kept wondering "What am I watching" hahaha, they really have great chemistry in this, it makes up for all the scenes with he power struggle in the real world, you can skip those if you want.
so my rating and review is based solely on the fact that as a Taiwanese drama, it was pretty good, minus the power struggle stuff and how slow the first two episode is. I personally think for those reasons it definitely deserve the rating it got. Truly one of the best Taiwanese romcom out there. I also didn't realize how naturally beautiful the FL was,, even with the ugly clothes, she is soo beautiful, I've only seen her in 2 movies, it's my first drama with her. ML is very handsome and a good actor as well.
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This review may contain spoilers
Incredible!! (Intimate scenes were a 10!!)
Omg I’m gonna miss this drama so much!!! It was absolutely fantastic!! I just wish we could have gotten everyone’s reaction to their overnight marriage at the end!! I would have loved to see the look on ChuChu and Shanna’s face!! I didn’t think I would like this drama, but I was proven so wrong! The chemistry between Xiaoen and Tianxing was AMAZING!!! Their kissing scenes were 100% the best I’ve ever seen in any drama and I’ve watched hundreds over the years!! The only thing I will say is that the last 5 episodes really get dragged out unnecessarily, but not enough to make someone not wanna watch it anymore. Other than that it was great! I’m seriously gonna miss this!!! I’m so glad I watched it!!Was this review helpful to you?
