Amidst a Snowstorm of Love (2024) [+]
Sep 23 2026
Amidst a Snowstorm of Love is a Chinese romance series running 30 45-minute episodes.
I think it starts out in Sweden. It's snowing heavily. Yin Guo (Zhao Jinmai, Shine on Me, 2025) and her cousin are visiting for a week, Lin Yiyang (Leo Wu, The Long Ballad, 2021) is walking in the snowstorm and sees Guo at a bar window talking on the phone and drawing on the condensation on the window and immediately falls for her. Turns out Yiyang is a friend of a friend and is there to help Guo and her cousin.
His attempts to be around her and arrange meals and such is a little clumsy but works because Guo also finds him attractive. It's a hesitant attraction as they don't declare their feelings but each silently yearns for the other. But they will get to spend more time interacting because she is a world class woman's 9-ball player (it's a billiards-type game) and he is a former Chinese national champion snookers player who retired abruptly but not due to any physical or mental issues. Yiyang will eventually return to competitions because he wants to earn money and impress Guo and her family.
There is a lot of both snookers and 9-ball action, though never really explained or shown so I still don't know how either game is played. Someone in chat said 9-ball's objective is to sink the balls in numerical order which I guess was shown though in cuts so I didn't realize that's what the players were doing. Snookers though seems to have more strategy as at some points one player was using their turn to hide the white ball so the other player couldn't win and there must be some sort of penalty if you can't hit one of your balls during your turn.
We also see competition areas and how it's setup. A tv show setup is probably not as grand as the real thing but it did make it look like it's a formal and popular game.
There is a certain lack of drama making this more of a slow and pure romance. Maybe her mom and sister don't like him because of the way he behaved in his last tournament before he retired but that is quickly resolved. Maybe he has a lingering injury but it's never to the point that it threatens his playing. Maybe there's going to be conflict when he takes over his old billiard's club and the older teachers are worried about his changes but again that never becomes a problem.
The ending also comes really fast. In the last episode he proposes then it jumps three years and both of them are happy together (and what happened about that pregnancy scare half a dozen episodes ago?). And then the end not resolving a couple of minor sub-romances that were more hinted at than delved into but still.
The love story is great. It moves slowly and it has little things and it has a lot of feels. But around that there's a rather bland story and world that doesn't seem to have much impact on their developing relationship or lives. Still, very attractive leads and lots of loving looks makes it worth watching.
I think it starts out in Sweden. It's snowing heavily. Yin Guo (Zhao Jinmai, Shine on Me, 2025) and her cousin are visiting for a week, Lin Yiyang (Leo Wu, The Long Ballad, 2021) is walking in the snowstorm and sees Guo at a bar window talking on the phone and drawing on the condensation on the window and immediately falls for her. Turns out Yiyang is a friend of a friend and is there to help Guo and her cousin.
His attempts to be around her and arrange meals and such is a little clumsy but works because Guo also finds him attractive. It's a hesitant attraction as they don't declare their feelings but each silently yearns for the other. But they will get to spend more time interacting because she is a world class woman's 9-ball player (it's a billiards-type game) and he is a former Chinese national champion snookers player who retired abruptly but not due to any physical or mental issues. Yiyang will eventually return to competitions because he wants to earn money and impress Guo and her family.
There is a lot of both snookers and 9-ball action, though never really explained or shown so I still don't know how either game is played. Someone in chat said 9-ball's objective is to sink the balls in numerical order which I guess was shown though in cuts so I didn't realize that's what the players were doing. Snookers though seems to have more strategy as at some points one player was using their turn to hide the white ball so the other player couldn't win and there must be some sort of penalty if you can't hit one of your balls during your turn.
We also see competition areas and how it's setup. A tv show setup is probably not as grand as the real thing but it did make it look like it's a formal and popular game.
There is a certain lack of drama making this more of a slow and pure romance. Maybe her mom and sister don't like him because of the way he behaved in his last tournament before he retired but that is quickly resolved. Maybe he has a lingering injury but it's never to the point that it threatens his playing. Maybe there's going to be conflict when he takes over his old billiard's club and the older teachers are worried about his changes but again that never becomes a problem.
The ending also comes really fast. In the last episode he proposes then it jumps three years and both of them are happy together (and what happened about that pregnancy scare half a dozen episodes ago?). And then the end not resolving a couple of minor sub-romances that were more hinted at than delved into but still.
The love story is great. It moves slowly and it has little things and it has a lot of feels. But around that there's a rather bland story and world that doesn't seem to have much impact on their developing relationship or lives. Still, very attractive leads and lots of loving looks makes it worth watching.