We've partnered with Rakuten Kobo to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! Asian and Latino culture share many overarching themes such as Family and Identity, Female Friendships, Mythology and Fantasy, and of course the universal theme, LOVE.

Check out these must watch drama and book recommendations below!

Hispanic Heritage Month

TVING

At the age of 28, Jeong Jin (Nam Ji Hyun) had everything in life that a person could ever want or need. With a great job and a fantastic boyfriend, Jin was convinced her life was as close to perfect as anyone could ever wish. Little did she know, her perfect world was about to come crashing down around her.&nbsp;

Stricken by a string of bad luck, Jin now finds herself without a job, a boyfriend, or a clue as to what to do next. With no better ideas, Jin agrees to open a restaurant with her mother but even that venture ends in bankruptcy. With her mother leaving for the countryside, Jin is left with nothing but a failed business and overwhelming heartache. But after an unexpected encounter with Jo Hee Ra (Song Ji Hyo), a sorceress who specializes in granting wishes, things take an unexpected turn for the better.

Wishing to borrow Jin’s restaurant to run a restaurant of her own, Jin agrees to the mysterious woman’s request. Soon the place is full of people willing to sell their soul for a taste of Hee Ra’s magical wish-granting dishes. Though thrilled by their success, Jin sometimes wonders if the price of Hee Ra’s dishes isn’t just a little high...

Adapted from a novel of the same name written by Goo Sang Hee, “The Witch’s Diner” is a 2021 fantasy drama directed by So Jae Hyun.

The Witch's Diner

🧙🏻‍♀️✨Dinner at the Witch's ✨

Nestled deep in the heart of Seoul’s thriving downtown sits a curious hotel, the like of which no one has ever seen before. Old beyond measure, the building has stood for millennia, an ever-present testament to the fact that things are not always what they seem. Running this hotel is Jang Man Wol (IU), a greedy, suspicious soul who has spent the past thousand years acting as the establishment’s CEO.

Cursed for a sin she can no longer remember committing, Man Wol is doomed to spend all of the eternity running this odd establishment, catering to the needs of a most peculiar clientele. Her only hope of escape is to find someone who has committed a worse sin than her own but after a thousand years, she’s beginning to lose hope.

However, things take an interesting turn when Goo Chan Sung (Yeo Jin Goo) shows up. Once the youngest assistant manager ever to work at a multinational hotel corporation, Chan Sung finds himself forced to manage the Hotel del Luna because of a deal his father made with Man Wol years ago. A stickler for rules and regulations, he’s a perfectionist to the extreme but that may be exactly what this odd establishment and its cursed CEO needs.

A tale of old curses, lost souls, and unexpected surprises, “Hotel Del Luna” is a 2019 mystery, romance, fantasy drama directed by Oh Choong Hwan.

Hotel Del Luna

🏨  Team Hotel Del Luna  🌕

A dedicated professional, Sung Deok Mi (Park Min Young) lives for her work as an art gallery curator. Devoting herself to her work, she is exceptional in every way, save one. Beneath that cool, professional facade, Deok Mi carries a dark secret. A secret she desperately wants to keep from the world. A secret that has driven lovers away. A secret that rules every moment of her personal life...

Sung Deok Mi is the ultimate Cha Shi An (Jung Je Won) fangirl.

The devoted manager of a Shi An fansite, Deok Mi eats, breathes, and sleeps for Shi An. He is her sun, her moon. Her entire universe revolves around him. 

This is the secret Deok Mi must hide from the world. 

And hide it she does. At least until Ryan Gold (Kim Jae Wook), the art gallery’s new director, saunters into her life. A once famous painter, the former-artist-turned-director considers himself an indifferent being, unconcerned with the lives of others. But when he uncovers Deok Mi’s secret, everything changes. 

Based on the webtoon, “Noona Fan Dot Com” by Jeon Hye Jin & Kim Jin Hee, “Her Private Life” is a 2019 romantic comedy-drama directed by Hong Jong Chan.

Her Private Life

The Undercover Sasaeng Team

Yoon Gyeo Re (Ji Chang Wook) is a young man who has known nothing but misery ever since he was a child. He was abused while still a boy, and had a torrid time at the orphanage where he was raised. He then spent time in a juvenile detention center. And as an adult, things got no better, leading to him serving time in prison. Beatings and misery are all he knows, and he finds himself at the end of his tether, finally facing the void…

But when he is ordered by a court to serve his community service at an end-of-life care facility for the terminally ill, things begin to change for him. Here he meets the tireless as Kang Tae Sik (Sung Dong Il), a middle-aged man who leads the volunteer team at the facility. Kang Tae Sik has created a unit called Team Genie, which is dedicated to granting dying patients their last wishes. No matter what people ask for, Team Genie will work their hardest to make those precious last wishes come true. He also meets Seo Yeon Ju (Choi Sooyoung), a young nurse who refuses to give up on her patients and tries to keep them physically active at all times. Will working at this facility help turn Yoon Gyeo Re’s life around? Or is it too late to change his destiny?

“If You Wish Upon Me” is a 2022 South Korean drama series that was directed by Kim Yong Wan.

If You Wish Upon Me

🦋 Free as a butterfly Team 🦋

Kakao TV

Never one to be considered beautiful by society’s standards, Koo Ae Jin (Shim Dal Gi) has lived a pretty miserable life. As a high school student, she is constantly tormented by her peers and even strangers on the street feel the need to insult her looks in passing. Despite being bullied by nearly everyone around her, Ae Jin has found a surprising way to cope.

Utilizing her skills with both makeup and photo editing, Ae Jin leads a secret life as Genie, a wildly popular social media influencer with more than 770,000 followers. Spending hours each day applying makeup and even more hours editing her photos, every photo Ae Jin posts on social media is sure to be a hit. As enjoyable as it is to live this double life, Ae Jin is horrified when one day Genie receives a text message that changes everything. Sent an untouched photograph of herself, Ae Jin is suddenly painfully aware of the fact that someone knows her deepest secret. The question is, who?

Searching desperately for the sender of that mysterious message, Ae Jin is shocked when she discovers who the culprit really is. Suddenly she finds herself wondering, how much longer will she be able to keep the truth hidden?

Adapted from the webtoon of the same name by Ahum, “Shadow Beauty” is a 2021 romantic drama directed by Bang Soo In.

Shadow Beauty

Cha Soo Hyun (Song Hye Kyo) is the daughter of a powerful, political family. She recently divorced her wealthy husband from an arranged marriage. Tired of living life guided by others, she decides to travel overseas. She meets Kim Jin Hyuk (Park Bo Gum), a free-spirited young soul on the way. Despite their differences, they are undeniably drawn to each other.

Will the two find true love amongst their differences?

"Encounter" is a 2018 South Korean drama directed by Park Shin Woo.

Encounter

🌈 My Rainbow, After A Storm ⛈

KBS02

Seo Hyeon Ju is a hardworking producer with a great job, but she hasn't been as successful in the love department as she has been in her career. After a series of devastating breakups, she swears off men and gives up on marriage, finding solace in the single life. But just when she's done looking for the right guy, she finds herself in the middle of a tricky love triangle with Hwang Ji Woo, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, and her lifelong friend Park Do Gyum.

To All The Guys Who Loved Me

The Heartbreaker Team

Tencent

As any working woman in this modern era can tell you, trying to find your way through the corporate jungle is no easy feat. As a corporate powerhouse, Xia Meng (Naomi Wang) can attest to that fact. Having worked harder than any man around her, Xia Meng has reached the top in her profession but even with her success, struggles inevitably follow.

Dating a man who feels insecure next to a woman as powerful as Xia Meng, she often wonders why she even bothers with him. But Xia Meng isn’t the only working woman with relationship issues. As a food blogger with a reputation for being a perfectionist, Liu Jing (Li Chun) has always struggled with finding a partner, as no one seems to be able to live up to her impossibly high standards. Anchorwoman Fang Xin (Zhang Han Yun), on the other hand, finds herself struggling with love following her divorce.

As different as each of these women are, they each share several commonalities, including facing opposition and oppression in the workplace and setbacks in their personal lives. Despite everything, can these three hard-working women rise above the challenges they face and find the happiness and fulfillment they each desire?

“Delicious Romance” is a 2021 Chinese romance drama directed by Leste Chen and Hsu Chao Jen.

Delicious Romance

 Taste the Romance

Oh Su Jae (Seo Hyun Jin) is on a journey to reach the pinnacle of South Korea's legal world. However, a key case takes an unexpected turn, leading to her abrupt demotion. Deflated, Su Jae takes on a job working at a law school, hoping to reclaim her reputation and standing in the law firm where she was once a partner. At the school, she meets Gong Chan (Hwang In Yeop), a student who has faced his own share of hardships. And as they begin to spend time together, a close bond forms. As Su Jae begins her journey back to the top, could love be on the cards? This 2022 South Korean drama series was directed by Park Soo Jin.

Why Her?

Fallen ⭐️ Rising Team

They became an unlikely team. Park Bong Pal (Taecyeon) is a college student who has always had the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. To make extra money, he hires himself out as an exorcist who helps people vanquish the ghosts haunting them, with only about a 50-50 success rate. He crosses paths with Kim Hyun Ji (Kim So Hyun), the ghost of a 19-year-old student who died in a car accident but has been wandering the Earth for five years because she is unable to move on to the afterlife. When Bong Pal and Hyun Ji first meet, they accidentally kiss and sparks fly. But more importantly, Hyun Ji knows that Bong Pal holds the key to her past so she decides to move in with him. With her ability to see how ghosts died, Hyun Ji teams up with Bong Pal to help ghosts cross over into the next world. But what secrets does Joo Hye Sung (Kwon Yool), a professor at Bong Pal’s university, hold to both Bong Pal and Hyun Ji’s predicaments? “Bring It On, Ghost” is a 2016 South Korean drama series directed by Park Joon Hwa. It is based on the webcomic "Ssawooja Gwishina” written by Im In Seu.

Bring It On, Ghost

GHOSTBUSTERS

Tencent Video

&nbsp;The year is 626 C.E, and the realm, and its political center Chang’an, are shaken to its core by the Xuanwu Gate Incident, a successful palace coup to take charge of the Tang Dynasty.

A scheming prince leads the bloody coup, and kills the family of Li Chang Ge (Dilraba Dilmurat) during the raid, although she manages to escape.

Now the prince has placed himself on the Imperial throne, and rules as the Emperor Tai Zong.

Li Chang Ge has her mind firmly set on revenge – and musters a powerful army intent on overthrowing the new Emperor.

But her plans are thrown into disarray when she suffers an unexpected defeat against the armies of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. The victorious General, Ashi Na Sun (Leo Wu), decides to keep her in his service, making her his military strategist as he looks to pursue his own military goals.

The duo forms a formidable military partnership. And over time, she finds herself falling for her captor – as he also starts developing feelings for her.

But what will become of Li Chang Ge’s quest for vengeance as she continues to serve at the General’s side?

This drama was based on a popular manhua by artist Xia Da.

“The Long Ballad” is a 2021 Chinese drama series that was directed by Zhu Rui Bin.

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