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spatterson12's review against another edition
4.0
K-pop is a world I know little about until a friend shared her knowledge and this read. Written by a former K-pop star, it was a fascinating story about the teens trying to make it in the industry. Looking forward to the eventual sequel.
shiqingxuan34's review against another edition
3.0
i really liked that it tried to address things like sexism in the industry but in the end it didn't really say anything new or unique. was it trying to ? idk. but it was an enjoyable read. didn't really care about her high school friends, and tbh they felt almost unecessary.
theblondebird's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
b4d3m's review against another edition
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
1.0
1/5
Wasn’t into it.. was hoping I would get into it but that didn’t prevail
Wasn’t into it.. was hoping I would get into it but that didn’t prevail
allisonreadsabook's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
goodthingsread's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Look, I support Jessica. But this was painful.
The romance was mediocre and ended up being more of an object lesson in sexism than anything approaching real. I had hopes that Jason Lee would end up being a worthwhile character, fleeting glimpses of characterization, that all swiftly swirled down the drain as the novel drew to a close. He ended up just being a stand-in for a point, three tropes in a trench coat pretending to be a man.
The rest of the supporting characters were worse. Again, Mina, the stereotypical mean girl who's only mean because her father is mean to her, who becomes a friend briefly, also falls apart and immediately becomes an antagonist again at the first opportunity (and a flimsy opportunity, too). The trainee best friend is never given a chance to show any personality because Rachel, the MC, ghosts her quite early in the novel. The school best friends are twins and indistinguishable from each other, except one is a makeup maven and one is science-y with a crush on a nerdy boy. Don't ask me which is which. Dad is going to night school for a law degree and never seems to contribute anything to a conversation and Mom is heavily judgmental of K-Pop and Rachel's choices at all times.
Leah is the little sister and is obviously a stand in for Krystal and is therefore perfect and without flaw. (This is me, the reviewer's opinion, because I stan f(x), still. But in reality, Leah as a character acts much more childishly than I would ever expect a thirteen year old to. I honestly thought she was nine until the narrative announced she was thirteen halfway through.)
The fact that this is just a blatant grab for attention through the cache of K-Pop though is terrible since... the K-Pop is incredibly surface level. This is marketed as a sneak peak behind the scenes, but it's either obvious facts that a casual fan would know or nonsense. Trainees have strict dieting restrictions and weekly weigh-ins? Wow, shocking. But three (three!) K-Pop performers (two wildly popular trainees and one boyband star on the level of any member of BTS) are allowed to rent a car in Canada and drive themselves hours to a performance the same day without supervision.
There was a lot that simply didn't make sense though, and that killed me, dragging down the rating. I can handle basic and uninspiring story and characters. But Rachel talks about training 24/7, but also goes shopping with her school friends constantly, goes to a theme park, goes on an overnight school field trip, and spends an entire day in Tokyo seemingly without any backlash from her label. She talks about dieting and weigh-ins, but never does she restrict her food intake or second guess whether she should eat a particular item or not. The biggest event to start the novel involves her going to the trainee house for late night practice, only to find that there's a raging party going off, not any training at all. She stays to make a point, but then Mina, the mean girl, drugs her so she passes out after looking a mess on camera. Sure, I'll accept that. It's the kind of K-Drama nonsense I expect. But when Rachel wakes up the next morning, late for practice, she runs to the label building only to find that it's not <i>just</i> practice, but monthly evaluations. You mean to tell me she's been training for <i>seven whole years</i> but happened to <i>forget</i> that she was going to be out late the night before <i>monthly evals</i>? She can't get a single dance step right and then cracks on her first note, only managing to regain her control when Jason joins her on stage. They light up the stage, pure magic.... and then she barfs on his shoes and runs off stage to the bathroom.
I just... it's so tiring. You don't need every bad thing to happen to make a MC sympathetic. You need to make a worthwhile MC. That didn't happen here and so they're trying to make up for it by making Rachel such a pity case that you have to root for her, because no one else in the book is even remotely redeemable (except Leah, again, perfect). It's not a story, it's a slog, waiting to see what ridiculous event will happen next that will blow up in Rachel's face.
Yeah, I'm probably going to read the whole series because I enjoy pain.
The romance was mediocre and ended up being more of an object lesson in sexism than anything approaching real. I had hopes that Jason Lee would end up being a worthwhile character, fleeting glimpses of characterization, that all swiftly swirled down the drain as the novel drew to a close. He ended up just being a stand-in for a point, three tropes in a trench coat pretending to be a man.
The rest of the supporting characters were worse. Again, Mina, the stereotypical mean girl who's only mean because her father is mean to her, who becomes a friend briefly, also falls apart and immediately becomes an antagonist again at the first opportunity (and a flimsy opportunity, too). The trainee best friend is never given a chance to show any personality because Rachel, the MC, ghosts her quite early in the novel. The school best friends are twins and indistinguishable from each other, except one is a makeup maven and one is science-y with a crush on a nerdy boy. Don't ask me which is which. Dad is going to night school for a law degree and never seems to contribute anything to a conversation and Mom is heavily judgmental of K-Pop and Rachel's choices at all times.
Leah is the little sister and is obviously a stand in for Krystal and is therefore perfect and without flaw. (This is me, the reviewer's opinion, because I stan f(x), still. But in reality, Leah as a character acts much more childishly than I would ever expect a thirteen year old to. I honestly thought she was nine until the narrative announced she was thirteen halfway through.)
The fact that this is just a blatant grab for attention through the cache of K-Pop though is terrible since... the K-Pop is incredibly surface level. This is marketed as a sneak peak behind the scenes, but it's either obvious facts that a casual fan would know or nonsense. Trainees have strict dieting restrictions and weekly weigh-ins? Wow, shocking. But three (three!) K-Pop performers (two wildly popular trainees and one boyband star on the level of any member of BTS) are allowed to rent a car in Canada and drive themselves hours to a performance the same day without supervision.
There was a lot that simply didn't make sense though, and that killed me, dragging down the rating. I can handle basic and uninspiring story and characters. But Rachel talks about training 24/7, but also goes shopping with her school friends constantly, goes to a theme park, goes on an overnight school field trip, and spends an entire day in Tokyo seemingly without any backlash from her label. She talks about dieting and weigh-ins, but never does she restrict her food intake or second guess whether she should eat a particular item or not. The biggest event to start the novel involves her going to the trainee house for late night practice, only to find that there's a raging party going off, not any training at all. She stays to make a point, but then Mina, the mean girl, drugs her so she passes out after looking a mess on camera. Sure, I'll accept that. It's the kind of K-Drama nonsense I expect. But when Rachel wakes up the next morning, late for practice, she runs to the label building only to find that it's not <i>just</i> practice, but monthly evaluations. You mean to tell me she's been training for <i>seven whole years</i> but happened to <i>forget</i> that she was going to be out late the night before <i>monthly evals</i>? She can't get a single dance step right and then cracks on her first note, only managing to regain her control when Jason joins her on stage. They light up the stage, pure magic.... and then she barfs on his shoes and runs off stage to the bathroom.
I just... it's so tiring. You don't need every bad thing to happen to make a MC sympathetic. You need to make a worthwhile MC. That didn't happen here and so they're trying to make up for it by making Rachel such a pity case that you have to root for her, because no one else in the book is even remotely redeemable (except Leah, again, perfect). It's not a story, it's a slog, waiting to see what ridiculous event will happen next that will blow up in Rachel's face.
Yeah, I'm probably going to read the whole series because I enjoy pain.
jess_84's review against another edition
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
4.0
hazel_oat's review against another edition
1.0
jessica has many talents! writing is not one of them.