First and foremost, thank you so much to the publisher and to Edelweiss+ for providing me with a much appreciated ARC of this book. I was honestly so happy when I was approved, I could have danced the night away.
Okay, now time to get down to the nitty gritty - my thoughts on the book:
Overall, I think this book was very sweet, very cute, but ultimately very forgettable. I'll explain further.
Things I liked:
1. The humor - I found the jokes and the overall humor in this book to be very relatable and right up my alley. There were several times where I physically had to stop reading to laugh out loud and soak in the funniness of the moment. This is the cutesy kind of contemporary stuff that makes me UWU (I'm sorry lol) big time.
2. The plot/setup - Not going to lie, the main character and her situation SEVERELY reminded me of Hannah Montana. The whole 'nobody is gonna recognize me without my wig prolly' thing just gave me major throwback vibes for old Miley Stewart but I liked it. Of course, I was super interested in the subject matter of this book as a HUGE fan of both contemporary YA and K-Pop. There was just a few things that I wished would have been done differently.
What I wasn't so thrilled about:
1. Oh hello there, Insta-Love, (not) nice to see you again. I did not miss you. - So yeah, I don't really feel like the word "Love" belongs anywhere near a romance that takes place over the course of a mere 24-hour period. That 'I love you' shit almost made me drop my croissant. I gagged a little and did my best to stop myself from swallowing my tongue before it rolled down the back of my throat.
2. Very American - I don't even know how to word this without offending anyone so, screw it, try not to get offended cuz here I go! The main characters are Korean-American. And that is fine. Obviously. It's great! However, I was really wanting to soak up a little more culture outside of my own while reading this book. I would have been really interested in seeing the differences between my own culture and Korean culture since I'm whiter than the screen I'm currently typing this review into. Anyway, there were some bits of Korean and even Chinese culture thrown in, but still, most of the characters were more American at than anything. Take away a few minor things and it could have felt as if the book itself was set in the good old US of A.
3. Dual perspectives are twinning - I saw a few other people mention this in their reviews and I have to say that I agree with them. Several times I could not decipher the differences between the voices of Lucky and Jack. If it weren't for the 'he' or 'she' cues, I would not have been able to tell whose POV I was reading. The two characters were slightly different, but they really needed more work to be separate beings with separate personalities.
4. A little too unbelievable - I mean, obviously when you're reading a book about a celebrity, there are going to be things that are a little far-fetched and hard to believe. And that being said, I do think the author did her best to really try to show a deeper side to the perspective of a K-Pop idol. However, the events that transpired at the end (without spoiling anything) were just a little too out there, considering how strict the K-Pop world really is, for me to take seriously. There would have been MAJOR repercussions to her actions and I'm talking *motions slitting my own throat* career done. Ended. Over. Kaput!
To sum it all up, did I enjoy this book?
YES!
Am I glad I got to read it?
HECK YEAH!
Should you read it?
YEAH, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO!
Will I ever think of this book ever again?
No... probably not...