This started as quite the interesting book. the premise was unique and chemistry between the couple was fathomable. It was the the usual enemies-to-lovers trope but with the BL thrown into the puddle. We get to two alpha males as they try to figure out the intense attraction towards each other even though one of them was rejecting it vehemently. The ensuring scenes were truly hilarious.
Another pro of the book was the length of each chapter. As it was short it was easy to finish but the con on the other hand was the number of chapters. Even on Wattpad on which I was reading it on had broken it into two books as it was pretty long.
After the point where they got together I felt that the uniqueness was somewhat lost and in time even I lost a bit of interest in it. By the end I was just dragging it and was finishing it for the sake of finishing it. Finally I did and I can only say that made me give this an average rating instead of the previous good one I had in my head.
Revenged Love drama is the PG version of this novel.
Translated by Rao Ink. Each chapter is given TW flags with emojis. They did a great job labeling everything.
I really enjoyed this. I think it fleshed out the drama parts that unless you were in the know were a bit confusing or didn’t seem complete.
Example: CC with earbuds listening to a recording of WSW’s nighttime escapades during his work meetings. A coworker noticing his delicate state and is asking him if it was the old guy speaking making him that way. Then CC shouting (because earbuds, doesn’t know his own volume) he wanted to sleep with him. Disrupts the whole meeting. - Something that was a bit confusing during the drama but with more context was hilarious. Lots of these little diamonds throughout.
If you dislike really spicy or physical (bdsm) bedroom scenes, I’d stick with the drama. Lots of dominating horsing around. Everything is consensual.
There were two scenes that I was uncomfortable with one with a child involving what color a certain area was because he was black skinned. There is an explanation about these delicate topics at the end of the translation I read.
The second with CC taking out his jealousy/insecurities on WSW because of how he idols Wang Zhan. More due to the fact that it was a very physically abusive behavior that was thought to have been overcome with how their relationship had grown. It just struck me wrong with how far along their story was.
Wu Suo Wei was dating a girl, Yue Yue, and wanted to introduce her to his mom, but the girl decided to break up with him on the day of their supposed meeting. Wu was depressed and decided to get her back, even though Yue Yue insisted on breaking up with him after his several attempts at getting her back.
When Wu found out that his ex was dating Chi Cheng, a rich young master, he planned to hook up with the guy and try to break the two apart. However, once he stepped into their affair, he realized that he abandoned his plan far behind and fell in love with Chi Cheng instead.
With time, and more than enough obstacles and difficulties along the way for Wu, Chi has trained him into an obedient 'wife' material!
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Wu Suo Wei carved his name in my mind for posterity's sake but he is not my favorite character, not even is my favorite character the obsessive, compulsive and scary "snake-lover" Chi Cheng... nope. The one character that I will definitely remember for ages is certainly Gou Cheng Yu. I don't know, I have a thing for that character and wished throughout the read that he was the male lead. I could read about his verbal jousting with Jiang Xiao Shuai for hours without getting tired of them... whereas, with the two male leads (Wu Suo Wei and Chi Cheng), I had the feeling that I was reading about an idiot and a psycho... I don't know what they are the most: weird, funny or ... simply sick? lol
I loved the novel otherwise I wouldn't have rated it 4 stars. It's a humorous story that catches the reader's interest and keeps it hostage till the last chapter. I love its originality, the extravagance of the characters and the cringe-worthy scenes that bring some realism into the ambient surrealism of the story-line. Just like the other books of Miss Jidan, I recommend you to read it and make your own opinion about it, it's definitely in third position in my top 5 books of the author.
If you love long stories with exuberant characters, iconic dialogues and hilarious scenes, you'll have your fill with this one!
I already read the novel 'Are You Addicted?' from the same author after watching the series 'Stay With Me'. Sadly, that novel literally contained rape between the main characters, and yet they still end up together. I really tried to ignore that fact while reading (was a couple years ago) but when I picked up Counterattack because of the new drama Revenged Love, I really regretted it.
I finished the novel, but honestly: the drama was so much better. If people want to enjoy the story, just skip the novel and go for 'Revenged Love'. The drama kept the beautiful love story and showed all the sweet, fun parts in an amazing way, while cutting out most of the toxicity.
The novel is basically exactly the drama but with a huge amount of added toxicity: rape, abuse, unhealthy manipulation, torture, racism… and the worst part is that the author writes all of this like it’s fine, basically romanticizing it. That framing made me extremely uncomfortable. Please check the trigger warnings if you plan to read it, they’re absolutely needed. Personally, it wasn’t for me at all. And yes, I know someone might say: “Then why did you read it?” but I think it’s still fair to give a low rating when something really doesn’t sit right. The drama, in contrast, took all the nice parts out of the novel and showed the love story in a much softer, healthier, and more beautiful way. Like a lil morally grey, yes no problem but straight up rape and such.. that goes beyond it. The drama.. same storyline, same characters, but without the poison, and it works so much better.
I won’t be picking up any more works from this author. After reading two of her works, I feel like this is just how this author writes her romances. Her view on love and sex honestly feels uncomfortable and unhealthy to me.
Do I recommend the novel? No. Just watch 'Revenged Love' instead, that version is definitely one to fall in love with. The novel is too toxic and rough, especially if you’re a romantic at heart like me. It’s a shame, because the storyline is original and the characters could’ve been so good if the author hadn’t written it in such... way.
Tried to read this novel so many times even scoured the internet up and down for a decent translation. When I finally found one, I couldn’t stand Wu. Threatening his girlfriend with his own life? Hitting himself in the head with a brick three separate times? I just can’t. No rating since I’m dropping this at 1%.
This story jumps between being ridiculous and overly horny, with really no in between, and I just couldn't read anymore. Too horny for me. Vulgarly horny. Like it was way WAY too much.
Yo conocí primero la mini serie que se hizo, después me dio curiosidad por si tenia un libro y tachan, Hay estaba, encontré una traducción por fans al español y me la leí enterita. Uff me encanto, es verdad que muchas veces sentía que no podía seguir con el, pero eso es mas por que me avergüenzo con facilidad y hay muchas escenas que me detenían por eso.
Pero en si muy recomendable, y si no crees que pueda ser de tu estilo vete la mini serie que consta de 8 cap y 1 ova para ver si te llama la atención, la serie se llama igual que el libro
Everything began with the first series, I remember watching it many years ago and when Revenged Love was announced I didn't know it was based on Counter Attack. While watching Revenged Love, the chemistry between the characters and the story piqued my interest in reading the book, especially when everyone was always mentioning it in the comments. I then decided to read Counter Attack and I started it while the series was still ongoing. This took me way longer to read then I thought it would, it felt like forever hahah but I really enjoyed it overall.
There are many problematic moments, as the author has addressed (I even saw a post that mentioned her request for people to simply watch the series and not read the book), there were some scenes that left me deeply uncomfortable and that I condemn.
Nonetheless, I was hooked from the start, I really loved following Wu Suo Wei, Chi Cheng and their journey, they are both nuts but they're definitely made for each other 😂 The side characters and couple were also interesting but the main couple stole the show with their chemistry, craziness, passion and tenderness ❤️🔥
I also think the series adaptation is really good, it stuck very close to the book, hitting many of the main/important points. The actors also have great chemistry and brought Wu Suo Wei and Chi Cheng to life perfectly.
I would like to thank the person who took the time to translate Counter Attack and I especially appreciated the comments they left in the Translator's note at the end, acknowledging the problematic content in this book.
Because I read this book after watching "Revenged Love", I had really high expectations. The series shows love so sweetly, but the book shows love quite sadistically. We miss out on the growing story really of the second couple, which was a bit disappointing. Some of the plot lines are so unnecessarily long and made the book drag on. There were way too many detailed sex scenes that I just felt like was overdone. Overall, love the show, don't recommend the book.
Also, Goodreads should credit me the extra 300 pages I had to read due to the translated copy!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Why did I read this?! How did I read this?! This was...utterly bad! And yet, I read all one thousand pages of nonsense, so who's the real clown here?! Let me get this straight (pun NOT intended), this book is weird. As in, I am half-convinced that a cat in heat wrote this! I'm not even gonna touch on the problematic aspects. Even at its most nonproblematic, this book lacks a basic understanding of how humans function, both socially and anatomically. Seriously! I had so many moments when I would pause reading and just stare into the middle distance, as if waiting for someone to materialise out of thin air and confirm my confusion at the ludicrousness of what I had just read! A character jumps out of the fourth floor and lands on his feet?! The snakes open doors?! The sex barely makes sense, like these guys should be in a hospital, I am worried for their physical well-being. It's just so weird. I don't recommend this book to anyone, honestly. Only read it if you have a morbid curiosity to see why everyone says this is bad. I will admit, it had its moments. But for the most part, this felt like a book written about gay men for the straight male gaze! I think it just feeds into a very testosterone-filled idea of physical over emotional relationship. And...okay I can't say that because there are emotions and the characters *think* a lot about how much they love each other but they rarely if ever say it out loud. And that seems like such an annoyingly guy thing to me. Why would a woman write men like this?! We can't even trust a woman to write a proper man, anymore?! There was hardly any emotions there. The sex is weird and wild in a very unrealistic way, the men are all so macho and unwilling to show proper emotions...it's like who was supposed to enjoy this?! There's very little emotional communication in the book and that is the most frustrating edging it puts the reader through. Because the main couple actually work so well together but they hardly ever talk to each other like mature people and that's so frustrating. So whenever they express the bare minimum of emotions or show any softness towards each other, I was eating it up like a starving man. Those moments are rare, however, and you really have to work through the rest of this book to get to them. For the most part, the sex scenes, which I believe are supposed to be the main attraction point of this book, are bland or mechanical. They get wild, but without a proper emotional anchor, they don't mean much. This gets better slightly as the book progresses. Some of the scenes work, but there's also such an uncalled-for violence in many of these scenes that they end up ruining the mood, anyway. I would say this: the inherent illogicality of this book aside, the scheming is actually top-notch! These are 100% diabolical people who properly screw people over with 3D chess mindgames and gambles, and it kind of makes sense in that odd way that things make sense in nonsensical situations...you know?! So this was not good. Not really. But it had its moments. Don't read it. Just watch the show instead...and know that every illogical thing from the show is directly the book's fault!
Read the novel after finishing the drama. IMO, the drama just left me hanging and confused. Like some plots weren't explained properly/ the ending felt quite abrupt.
I have to admit certain parts of the book made me uncomfortable. I just feel that the first was unnecessary and did not value-add AT ALL. what's the point of including it? As for the 2nd, it felt abit insensitive when I was reading it. And as usual, we get the old traditional Chinese parents mindset regarding same-sex relationships. Slightly understand ML's father POV considering he's some big shot official (doesn't mean I agree).
Other than that, I really enjoyed reading the novel with its humor, fluff, smut and tragic scenes. Really loved the interactions between MC/ML and side characters, especially the side couple. It was just hilarious. Feeling a bit sad for the good catch, WZ, who seems pretty matured and skillful. Would love to have see him with some cons...
Being completely frank I don’t know what to rate this book. I will say I think you should listen to the author and not read it. I split this book up. I want to say into 4 arcs and then the special episodes. Arc 1 Yue Yue Arc 2 is Chi Cheng Ex Arc 3 is Chi Cheng’ family and finally the special chapters. I would tell you to read arc one and arc two and the special chapters and completely skip arc three, I know that the author said that she was in a bad mental space supposedly when she wrote this book, but the way that she writes about mixed children and the way that the characters deal with it absolutely ruined it for me. I’m giving it a four star because I’m being very generous right now that she supposedly wrote this when she was very young obviously she lives in China and most likely had no experience with a diverse community, especially African-Americans other than what she might have been seeing on the TV, but this is in no way excusing the way that she handled colorism.
it was really long with unnecessary drama.. they should've just quite after Chi got his Wang Shuo closure and knew about Yue Yue. that was the whole plot. it was interesting and I tried again after I saw the new series. I finished the last 60 chapters with the literal translation and that was difficult his sister and her kids will have a storyline with lots of inappropriate jokes about skin color smh. Chi Cheng is romantized... he really loves Wu Suo Wei. but they both do shit that isn't okay... there was also lots of secondhand embarrassments... I hope it will be offically English translated soon. they better not cancel the new series... it's sad we had to wait like 10 years... btw rxpe is no joke.. having unprotected sex is no joke.. especially when it's rough with multiple partners...
the literal translation was very confusing. did CJD also mess up some characters aka typos? or was it the translation's fault?
i kinda cheated with this and skipped parts 🫣 but i actually read everything starting a little behind the divorce era. i can’t say much about the beginning but everything after that was amazing. i had such a fun time reading and a lot of moments made me laugh out loud. i LOVE both couples’ dynamics and it is pretty toxic but i think the funny parts make up for it. ik it took me about a month to read this but i actually finished majority of it in two days. once i got into it i couldn’t stop it which says a lot cuz i have the world’s shortest attention span. i will def reread this someday and not cheat that time lmao
Me encantó, ciertamente no es para cualquier persona, no lo recomiendo para iniciar a leer este tipo de novelas, si ya eres de hueso colorado te encantará, me la leí completa en español en 2 traducciones la primera mitad excelente, pero como no estaba terminada busqué otra y desgraciadamente no era buena, no se entendía nada, solo logré comprender a grandes rasgos, si alguien sabe sobre una buena traducción en español completa o solo la segunda mitad, xfa dígame...
🎶 Give me back my ' sanity ' , it was mine firsstttttttttt🎶
sometimes , i should just really leave myself alone and have a little more patience because... I could have just waited for the damn episodes like any other person, but nope, my impatient ahh decided to read the BOOK ! And now I am traumatised.
I promised to myself not to read more books of this author after addicted and advance bravely but since I was watching the drama here we are.
Well... the story starts pretty good a enemies to lovers with comedy tones.... then, as always, the TRAIN WRECK... smut and torture, and then tons of tons of angsty stupid situations one after another. Enjoy the show, this doesn't worth it xD
I’m glad I started the book after I was at least halfway through the show. I’m not sure I would’ve watched the series if I read this first! Revenged Love gets ALL the stars!! It’s easily in my top 3 BLs ever. This book, Counter Attack, wasn’t as good. Obviously, it’s how the show came to be, but I like the direction the series went in for certain things.
THE ENDING IS HORRIBLE!!! I loved the series and I loved the book until the last part. Like what do you mean the sister just gets pregnant to give it to Chi Chieng, who never told her he wants a baby or that he might not be great meanwhile trying to built an entire company from the ground... URGH so mad about the ending. BUT.I.HAD.SO.MUCH.FRIKING.FUN. reading it.
In all it's problematic glory, I have finally finished Counterattack! i actually questioned how the drama was adapting the source material as the story seemed to weak, but if anything that was incredibly true to the source haha.
Counterattack doesn't have a lot behind it, a basic revenge plot, fixation on snakes and some truly toxic tropes but somehow it's what makes it work (kinda).
I think reading the translation, if not a native speaker can take the nuances out of some sayings/idioms which just come out weird (without explanation from the translation).
But I found it enjoyable not to mention, reading alongside watching the drama~
If your thinking of reading just watch the cdrama it's way better the plot is interesting and seeing more of their internal monologue is aswell but some parts js felt like I was reading a crackfic and dint even get me started on the racism 😟
I started reading this after I knew about revenged love....and I am glad I got my hands on a decent translation. I loved the story of both the couples. Wu Suo Wei and Chi Cheng how they love each other. I will miss them now. I loved this one.
Too horny.. Karakter-karakternya pada bejat. CJD pas nulis ini beneran mabok kecubung :) Tapi tetep banyak part yang aku suka (dasar akoh tidak bermoral WKAOWKWOWKWK). Cuma sebagai pelipur doang. Kuanggap part amoralnya tidak pernah ditulis😂 (Bisa gitu ya kambiang🤣😂).