Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

K-pop Confidential by Stephan Lee

14 reviews

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

While this was a very light read, I did struggle with this book a bit. It just seemed too ... unrealistic. And yes, I adore unrealistic stories. Books are places where fairytale dreams and reality can collide with no need for logical explanation ... But this was just a bit too far fetched.

I'm also highly intrigued how this segues into the second book. Given the current ending ... it seems even more implausible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Cultural appropriation, and Fatphobia

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Grief, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

doodeedoda's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexism, Stalking, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder

taysreads_'s review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this book. I really did hate how they treated the girls tho. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Sexism

smalljoys's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Dysphoria, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

inconsistent main character, boring love triangle, repetitive statements (we get that you the mc dated your gay bff for a week! move on!). unclear motive of the main character, did she want to be an idol? or not?

sankta_aleena's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexism, Bullying, Child abuse, and Eating disorder

Minor: Misogyny, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

miss__manga__'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

2022 review: Not a bad read, and I really enjoyed the end. I just wish there had been a faster pace for the first half of the book.
Rating 3.75

2023 reread review: I really like the almost effortless worldbuilding, though I still wish we had seen more of the other trainees (JinJoo was just... existing...). The writing did feel a little inconsistent at times (especially when Candace was using slang like shooketh - I have no issues with slang or the words chosen, but they were very sporadic).

I would have also liked to have seen the theme of feminism being a bit more developed, same with friendly rivalries amongst the girls. I hope these are expanded on in the sequel, which I plan to read soon.  
In my reading journal, I've updated this to a 4 star rating, but since it's not that different to my original rating, I'm leaving it there.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming and Bullying

Minor: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

pvbobrien's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Bullying

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Eating disorder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Stalking, and Suicide

lilifane's review

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Omg, I read this so long ago, I hardly remember the plot. I mean, it was a fun reading experience, just because of annotations my friend and I made in the book. And I liked some aspects of the plot a lot. But in the end, it was too over the top and too American for my taste. Concentrating on ridiculous aspects of K-pop too much and not enough on the training and day to day experiences of the characters. Also, the ending threw me completely off, I didn't like it at all. 
Will still read the sequel, though, for the same reading experience with my friends, mostly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Sexism, Misogyny, and Bullying

jaybee02's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Fun! Great for kpop fans that want that behind the scenes look at trainee life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this one a lot!!

Rep: Korean-American cishet female MC, Chinese-Korean cishet female side character, South Asian-Korean cishet female side character, Korean-American and Korean cast.

CWs: Body shaming, forced dieting, forced disordered eating, fatphobia, physical and emotional abuse (including sleep deprivation), sexism, bullying/hazing. Moderate: misogyny, sexual harassment, objectification of underage girls, medical content (MC's grandfather is hospitalized). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Body shaming, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Medical content