Finding Glowing Beauty in Books

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What does it feel like when you have a best-selling detective fiction author for a boyfriend?

Whenever you offend him, he would look at you disdainfully, “A character molded after you could only ever appear in my novel as a deceased victim.”

Whenever you seriously offend him, he would threaten you, “The very next victim who dies in my novel would be named after you.”

Whenever you seriously, seriously offend him, he would add on to the previous threats, “Furthermore, the victim would have died at the hands of an extremely perverse and twisted serial killer, and would have suffered an extremely painful and terrible death.”

But, by a stroke of coincidence, if you happen to be this best-selling author’s editor, he need not resort to the above mentioned tactics. In fact, all he has to do is one, single thing –
-Delay the submission of his draft.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Cuộc Chiến Bản Thảo
书中自有颜如玉
Related Series
Just Blame Me For Being Blind in the Beginning (Shared Universe)
Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) (Shared Universe)
Good Morning, Miss Ghost (Shared Universe)
Amnesiac Queen (Shared Universe)
Divorce: This is a Trivial Matter (Shared Universe)
Sweet Heart in Honeyed Desire (Shared Universe)
Sonata: Fleeing to Avoid an Arranged Marriage (Shared Universe)
Hear My Heart: My World Falls into the River of Love (Shared Universe)
I Seem Unsuited for Dating (Shared Universe)
Midnight Cinderella (Shared Universe)
Slowly Falling For Changkong (Shared Universe)
The Lady’s Facade was Ruined (Shared Universe)
Kiss of Venus (Shared Universe)
Impossible Lovers (Shared Universe)
Twelve Units of Sweetness (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
I Work Hard Every Day To Make My Husband Bankrupt (2)
You Owe Me Your Draft (2)
Just Blame Me For Being Blind in the Beginning (1)
Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) (1)
Divorce: This is a Trivial Matter (1)
A Mistaken Marriage Match: A Generation of Military Counselor (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. all the books i've read before
  2. Modern day
  3. I search for more long novels
  4. Read once novels
  5. this list will outlive me

Latest Release

Date Group Release
03/08/20 Tinkerbellsan c64 (end)
01/14/20 Tinkerbellsan c63 part2
01/10/20 Tinkerbellsan c63 part1
01/07/20 Tinkerbellsan c62 part3
01/03/20 Tinkerbellsan c62 part2
01/01/20 Tinkerbellsan c62 part1
12/24/19 Tinkerbellsan c61 part2
12/22/19 Tinkerbellsan c61 part1
08/06/19 Tinkerbellsan c60 part2
08/04/19 Tinkerbellsan c60 part1
04/14/19 Tinkerbellsan c59 part2
04/09/19 Tinkerbellsan c59 part1
04/04/19 Tinkerbellsan c58 part2
03/30/19 Tinkerbellsan c58 part1
02/24/19 Tinkerbellsan c57 part2
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23 Reviews sorted by


Tachi Works
Biah_belle
October 30, 2016
Status: c13 part1
I think the reason I can't bring myself to like this too much is cuz the situation for romance in this novel is really painful to see. It's too directly linked to her lively-hood.

I believe one should keep their love lives separate from their professional work else they are losing too much at once in a failed relationship. While the intended couple aren't even dating as of now, their relationship is already showing signs of abuse. The author uses his position to force his editor who is in charge of... more>> his work to cater to his whims, these are often unprofessional and directly affect her personal life.

If I ever saw anyone in such a situation irl, I'd label it as harassment. I hate him. He is a manipulative creep. It just couldn't, I couldn't bring myself to like it that much so I gave 3 stars only cuz it's not bad, it's just not great. <<less
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Kalmaegi
Kalmaegi rated it
February 27, 2017
Status: c18 part1
Pleasantly surprised by the story since I didn't have good impression of it due to the controversial relationship between the two as stated by one reviewer. But then I realized it didn't matter since it's merely a prop/plot convenience that Chestnut loves to set up in [Truly Precious Verse]: most if not all of female leads work under the male lead at one point. Besides, this trope has been a staple in office romances. If you can tolerate those, you most probably can tolerate this since it's just a variation... more>> of the same thing but in a different setting. *Shrugs*

It definitely accomplished what I expected to see on Chestnut's other story [Sonata: Fleeing to avoid an arranged marriage] but with similar characters from [Divorce: This is a trivial matter].

Personally tho, they're the kind of couple that will divorce in a year. <<less
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CBC
CBC rated it
December 28, 2017
Status: c37 part3
This is a refreshing novel compared to the other Chestnut novels. So far it feels like it has the strongest love rival (in her other novels, I think the love rivals are almost non-existent.) -- ok, this has been updated 3 months later. I found another Chestnut book with a huge love rival but I still like this novel. ;)

The MC is the most relatable of all Chestnut female characters. She's not a goddess endowed with talent and not helpless. Regardless of the conflict of interest other readers may... more>> perceive, she has been very professional despite the situations the author throws her in (haha, maybe that's the reason for the low ratings but really, the MC's efforts should be admired.)

The ML is a touch more mysterious because there hasn't been a chapter with his point of view which makes it harder to know the turning point of their relationship. This gives an impression of a more realistic development of their feelings. So the love development is slower but it's amusing to read the interactions between MC and ML.

This novel is also different than the other Chestnut novels because the catch is more in the middle than at the beginning so it's a slow start. I think this also explains why the rating is lower.... but it's not reflective of the quality of the novel. I think it's worth a read! <<less
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CrazyBaby
CrazyBaby rated it
January 5, 2022
Status: Completed
After reading all of Chestnut's novel and generally liking her stories, this one is just.... bad. I don't know how other readers can love the romance and ML so much when he is basically a jerk, extremely rude, has a terrible ego, abuses MC, forces MC to be his s*ave and clean up his house and cook for him etc etc, prevents MC from having her own life, forces MC to constantly work overtime just because he wants her to keep him company, prevent MC from hanging out with her... more>> friends, sexually harasses her, threatens her with her job, purposely makes her job difficult..... is there anything else that I didn't miss out?

But seriously, the only reason why the readers like ML is because he is handsome and super rich. Now imagine if ML was a really ugly, short, fat, balding, 70 years old guy who has a bad temper, sexually harasses the MC and threatens her with her job....I'm wondering how many of the same readers who say that this novel is so romantic will be able to say the same thing when the ML isn't rich and handsome.

Even the author herself knows this and in the novel she also wrote something like "How can ML like me ah? His attitude towards me is so bad!" and "Luckily ML is handsome, otherwise this is considered as s*xual harassment ah". And yet the other readers gives this story 4&5 stars? Well, I guess there's plenty of gold diggers around even among readers *shrugs*. As long as a guy is handsome and rich enough, it doesn't matter how terrible his character is.

One example of s*xual harassment was when there was a blackout and MC had just finished bathing. Instead of knocking on the door like a normal person and calling out "Are you alright? The electricity tripped/don't move while I look for a flashlight etc etc" what the ML did was
Spoiler

silently creeps into MC's bedroom, throws her on to the bed and gropes her breasts and all

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and the other readers said that this is romantic. *vomits* Also, keep in mind that this happened when MC still hated ML, not when they were mutually in love and dating. Like I said, now imagine if the ML is an ugly, fat, short, poor beggar who suddenly starts groping her body in the dark, they would immediately complain that it's disgusting instead of saying it's romantic.

At Chapter 53, MC says she still hates ML especially when thinking about his character. At Chapter 55, ML suddenly forces another kiss on MC and suddenly they are in love. Ehh... such a forced romance. The one I pity the most is the 2nd ML cos he's really sweet, responsible and mature (compared to ML). His only mistake is falling for a dumb female like MC who loves to be abused and scolded instead of being loved like a normal human being.

In Marriage Concerto, QYC is strict about singing but out of work he treats his wife really well and cooks for her and all. In Fleeing to Avoid an Arranged Marriage, XG was originally strict with MQ but after she faced a few difficulties as fallen rich lady, he comforts her and gave her advice and slowly guided her through life. In I Seem Unsuited for Dating, ML seemed to be this uptight rich man but besides his slight OCD about cleanliness and all, he actually has a soft heart even feeding stray cats. Here, ML is just rude, egoistic and disgusting through and through.

If you are a female and at work there's this really ugly, fat, short, pockmarked face, grimy old boss that you really hate who loves to sexually harass you, prevents you from having your own life or having fun with friends because he wants you to come over to his house at night and wants you to clean and cook and serve him like a king, and wants to bed you, and constantly makes your life difficult for you and threatens you with your job.... and you find that this ugly disgusting boss of yours is very romantic with all these actions, then by all means go ahead and read this novel. But if you won't let such a thing happen to you in real life, skip this novel cos the ML is basically all of this, just that he has tons of money and is handsome. A really really disgusting novel from Chestnut, sadly. <<less
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hold-tututu
hold-tututu rated it
June 22, 2021
Status: c58
This novel has received a lot of love from many people, and surely to them it may be a good novel but to me I find this to be a novel where I hate the romance.
Female lead is level headed in some ways, but also kinda s*upid (?) She is unable to understand her own feelings and its not cause she is insecure or because she finds it hard to believe someone likes her, but because she doesn't believe the person offering their love will remain faithful to her... more>> because of past experiences. And I understand her perspective, but what I find so annoying about her is how she doesn't really go out of her way to tell the ML to leave her alone, like are you really trying to not bother with him or are you just playing hard to get. The vibe I got from it is of the latter type. Which irritated me cause the FL seemed like a very nice character at the start.
Spoiler

The male lead is extremely overbearing. In terms of delaying his work, I get it, everyone is lazy. In terms of making the FL run around a lot, I get it, he is abusing his position but its realistic for someone like him. But once he starts liking her he gets so overbearing, literally overstepping into her personal space. Which made me consider if she was overstepping in his life with her work as an editor, and I feel like she might have done that but at least she didn't claim to be someone she wasn't (while he claims to be her BF when they dont have such a relationship)

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this development triggered me greatly, hence I ended up dropping this novel. The last few chapters I was skimming just to see if there was any good development but I just find that it was not worth my time.
I liked the second male lead, but I can understand the FL's hesitation towards him since he is young and his feelings might be fleeting. But I would rather wait for the second ML to mature and grow than go for someone as over bearing as the ML. I just don't like his attitude, the romance might seem sweet to others but to me it seems frustrating. If you like him, tell him, reflect on your own feelings instead of being like I don't like him but I won't correct him if he calls himself my boyfriend. If you like her don't treat her like she has to follow through on your whims or you will make trouble for her work.
This novel makes me feel 😊 (and I hope you would get the reference if you have read the novel) <<less
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Crazy Cat Person
Crazy Cat Person rated it
June 24, 2017
Status: c23.2
It is quite an entertaining read, after reading a comment, I was a bit skeptical in reading this. I ended up reading it because I want to see with my own eyes if this is in fact an abusive or one sided relationship. I don't mind novels with a bit of office romance, it's a common thing. I doubt that this will grow into some abusive or one sided love story.

The character opinions of each other would start to shift and develop from there. This is a romantic comedy about... more>> a shameless author (for being laxy) and his editor who would chase him for his draft.

The translations for this is professional, updates in a reasonable pace. I recommend people to give it a go. :) <<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Water_drop
Water_drop
April 23, 2020
Status: Completed
So romantic. Melting to the point of suddering.

Funny, really funny

Not boring at all

The description is misleading. The tittle is also misleading. Because when I read it I though that this is a boring novel. Unexpectedly it is not.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Cheng Mei
Cheng Mei rated it
September 30, 2020
Status: Completed
For an introverted booklover like me, the title and cover are enough to attract my attention to read this novel. (人 •͈ᴗ•͈) Hmm.. Thats all I have to say.

You go look how many stars I gave out. ^_^
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
ricachuu
ricachuu rated it
July 19, 2020
Status: Completed
This story like other chestnut's novels was sweet, fluffy and smooth. This ML is probably one of the most eccentric ones I've met lol. They clearly didn't like each other at first sight but along the way the ML seems to have fallen for our foolish but independent FL. Even after I finished reading it, I could not find when did the ML's feelings start to bloom since he's so difficult to read. However, I am quite sure that the ML really did fall first and did his best for... more>> the FL to accept that she has feelings for him too. There is a 2ndML but FL immediately turned him down (aww poor baby :<). Well, ML's efforts bore fruit and he married and pressed the FL everyday in the end yaaaay!

I honestly liked the dynamics of the ML and FL. You could say they are more of a bickering couple with the ML being shamelessly pe*verted lololol. It was nice and calm. Ah I have been so into the peaceful and fluffy novels of Chestnut so I give this a two thumbs up! <<less
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Dizaster
Dizaster rated it
March 5, 2020
Status: Completed
This story is like a palate cleanser. It has a neutral taste, so if you've gotten too involved in a novel and decided to give yourself a break, here's a good option for you to read. This story has a little bit of everything, enough for you to sympathies with them but not empathize (hope I made it clear).

This novel is about two very ordinary people living two very ordinary lives. They have their own share of happiness and their own sad pasts. What they had experienced was not... more>> too brutal to make them ruthless and cold blooded (like other stories mainly rebirth / transmigration) but painful enough to make their hearts guarded.

There is not much substance to the story and I can even summarise it 3-4 paragraphs at most. The story is decent with fair amount of laughs and a little fluff to top it off. However many times I found the jokes lost in translation though, which to be honest is a bit upsetting. However translating is a difficult job, so I can be a bit forgiving.

Most people dislike this because as I said this story can only be a palate cleanser and not the main course as it can come off as a bit bland. So bookmark the story and read it when you need to cool down your emotions and is in need for a light hearted, relatable story. Give it a try though. It deserves it. <<less
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Jiiemm
Jiiemm rated it
February 11, 2024
Status: Completed
Deserves to be another great work from author Chesnut...
But honestly this is the only FL of Chesnut's that I dislike a little 🥹

How to say :')
The past isn't really 'bad', but it really hinders the characters... It's not the kind of drama that sucks, but I still feel a little uncomfortable with his character compared to Chesnut's other FL characters. But to be honest, her character is also developing, she admits that she's in love with our author, but it's quite late to admit their relationship.

But strangely... more>> enough they got married quite quickly even though they got together very late 😂😂😂

But rather than romance, the genre of this story is more of a slice of life... <<less
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chande
chande rated it
July 30, 2021
Status: Completed
The story is quite good but compared to other Chestnut's novel, it's not that outstanding. I think that ML and MC are lacked of chemistry so it's hard for me to root for them. Their relationship also seemed a bit forced, mainly from ML's one sided decision. I love 2nd ML (Ye Cheng) more. Although he's younger than MC, he had a cheerful and bright personality. He will complement MC better than ML because MC was a bit gloomy and bitter, almost the same as ML. Well, at least MC... more>> and ML tried to change to be a better person for each other in the end. <<less
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kamuisama
kamuisama rated it
June 22, 2020
Status: Completed
I'll still give this a 5 star rating because Chestnut never fails to make me laugh none stop because of her characters quirks and interesting dialogues.

One thing I've learned after binge reading her stories is that you should never read her novels so seriously. The characters can sometimes be a little bit too abusive, egocentric, idiotic and not too fleshed out. But I still enjoying reading her stories.
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Kasa
Kasa rated it
August 4, 2019
Status: c60 part1
One of my favorite and this is Chestnut's I'm giving this a five 'cause this story can make me read it back from the first chapter and have the urge to do it again. That's how good it is to me and this is my first review hehe. If you want to read a pure hearted love, with a touch of comedy and easy reading you could try this.
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Lily.rose
Lily.rose
December 24, 2023
Status: c1
It was very fluffy and sweet. No drama which I loved!
Spoiler

I felt like the author rushed the ending though with the quick wedding and then giving us next nothing about their marriage life. It would have been fun to see scenes of their married life months or years after since they got married so quickly. Would have been so nice to see if they had kids and who the kids resembled, etc. But overall, not a bad book

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the translation is good too!
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Itsl
Itsl rated it
June 23, 2022
Status: --
It was sweet and fluffy, not to dramatic. The ML isn’t ice cold brick or a domineering jerk. The FL is rather hardworking and doesn’t really depend on the ML as much as I thought she would considering their positions. One review did scare me a little bit before reading it but the ML always had good intentions towards her even if they didn’t come off well. More importantly they both learned from the mistakes they made at the beginning of their relationship which was nice. Another thing I liked... more>> was that not every person fell in love with the FL and not every female character hated her even though they were some who did which was nice compared to some of the novels I’ve read. <<less
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Roll._.
Roll._. rated it
January 15, 2022
Status: c27 part3
I honestly don't find any big issues in this novel. But I decided to drop it just because I found it very monotone and quite boring. Every chapter feels the same with FL running after the ML for the manuscript and eventually I got stressed as well. Would I recommend this book to anyone? No. But I wouldn't discourage any readers from reading, because who knows this novel might just be up on your alley.
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RoseCh
RoseCh rated it
March 19, 2021
Status: Completed
Definitely enjoyable to read. It's light and funny. The leads' interaction is very entertaining. Out of all the novels that I read from Chestnut, this for me is the most grounded.

The translation though, is terrible. I don't mind the grammatical errors, I've survived reading MTLs, but there had been multiple times of inconsistency in names. Like from Wu Yang to Wu Hao to Wu Yin when they are all the same person, the ML's MC in his book. Even the book titles' translation, from Actor to suddenly Player. If this... more>> was straight up MTLed, I don't see the point of adding copyright in between the length of the chapters. <<less
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NapsInTheSun
NapsInTheSun rated it
December 5, 2020
Status: --
The story is nice. The summary/comments are misleading because even though ML has some degree of say over her job, he's not actually her superior. If she doesn't edit for him, she can edit for someone else. The MC is a pretty girl but no one explicitly says it. Pretty enough to have multiple pursuers. The translation.. Has terrible grammar so you'll have to self edit as you read. I don't think it' MTL, I think the translator just isn't good at English.
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glaciel25
glaciel25 rated it
November 11, 2020
Status: c1
I don't know what's going to happen but I assure you guys that this is great. I've come here from the book "just blame from being blind at the start" and from the tidbits given, I think having Xing Xin as a compass... will give you a prayer from me 😂😂 but I still remained resolute to say this is great even though I hadn't read it yet. further updates would be given..... if I remember...
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