Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho
Product Details
Web ID: 15415516Great Book!
I loved the book! The characters are perfectly put together and is the perfect combination of romance and comedy. It's an amazing book that I 100% recommend.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
charming rom-com read
ONCE UPON A K-PROM is an adorable and delightful YA contemporary. Elena is on a mission - she is trying to save the community center where she volunteers by trying to get other kids to forgo the trappings of prom and give that money to the community center instead. That plan is not going well and gets even worse when her childhood BFF, Robbie, who moved back to Korea when they were 10 and then became an international K-pop idol, returns to take her up on the promise they made when they were 10 to take her to prom. Elena is still upset that he stopped speaking to her and did not give her his number when he changed it. She is wary of his sudden intentions and not at all impressed by the spectacularly public prom-posal, particularly since she's the quiet type. However, he may be able to help her with the community center. As they spend time together, all the feelings from when Elena was younger are resurfacing, and she can't help but crush on Robbie. Even so, it's tough for Elena to trust that he won't disappear on her or break her heart, and the stakes are higher now that she is older and falling for him harder than ever. What I loved: This was such a delightful romantic comedy/YA contemporary read. It was impossible not to love Elena and Robbie together - they were such a sweet couple, and I loved the way their relationship built, with the background of their childhood BFF friendship. Elena is a compelling character - she's fierce, kind, and protective of her heart. However, her reactionary spirit has changed the way others react to her. As she is confronted with these problems, she does the work to make the changes and grows a lot as a character. Who she was at the beginning of the book is not who she is at the end, and this really made her into someone endlessly endearing. The book is mostly told from Elena's perspective, but there are a few key sections from Robbie's point-of-view that show his struggles with the music industry, fame, and the rekindled relationship with Elena. These really added to the story and made him into a more full character than he would have been without these. Themes around honesty, keeping promises, music industry challenges, the pressure of fame, friendship, family, and the value of community centers and volunteering were really strong throughout the book. While the focus is certainly on the charming relationship growing between Elena and Robbie, there is plenty else happening in the plot to make it a richer story. This is a book that manages to be sweet, swoony, and funny in all the right places - a great summer read! Final verdict: A charming romantic comedy, ONCE UPON A K-PROM is a sweet summery read that is sure to leave readers grinning from ear to ear. Highly recommend picking this one up! Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Shadows of Fame
Elena Soo and Robbie Choi are childhood best friends. Well, they were until Robbie and his family moved back to Korea seven years ago. Elena has grown into a different person than he last knew, she has new passions, like saving the community center, and she is known around school as her twin Ethan Soo’s Sister. But with prom right around the corner, Elena can’t stop herself from thinking about Robbie and the promise that he made to take her. Robbie hasn’t contacted her since he became a trainee, and now that he is a member of one of the most popular K-pop groups, Elena has no hope that he will fulfill his promise. Except, he shows up at her door one day after school and pops the question. When she sees the camera that records their interaction, she says no. But Robbie won’t take no for an answer. He keeps showing up and making a big deal of his promposal. Can Robbie persuade her to say yes? Can Elena raise enough money to save the community center? Can the two save their friendship, or will it fade away for the second time? Kat Cho writes realistically—well, as realistically as one can write about K-pop stars and high school—and lets us glimpse into the world of K-pop. With discussions of family expectations, being overshadowed by other siblings, and the struggle to find oneself, Cho gives us plenty to think about with this book. We get a unique perspective of the overlooked and underestimated sister, but what we also get to see is how her brother interprets her self preservation as her pushing him away. Once Upon a K-Prom gives us the under-appreciated childhood friends to lovers trope. We get a behind-the-scenes look into the illustrious world of K-pop. Additionally, we look into the harsh realities of life as a K-pop star, such as no dating, strict diets, and other contracted rules. Once Upon a K-Prom not only explores romance, but the pains of growing up in fame, and inversely, in the shadows.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Super sweet romance with a k-pop flare
Elena is the forgotten child. She's always been so and so's sister or friend. So when her childhood best friend turned k-pop superstar shows up at her house to ask her to fulfill a promise of taking her to prom, she's stunned. Robbie left for Korea seven years before and they lost touch. He starts off with some ulterior motives for showing up on Elena's doorstep after years of not talking. Robbie's heart is in the right place and he soon sees that his love for Elena is more important than being able to write and produce his own music. This book was super sweet. The relationships and friendships were perfect. Everything read like a k-drama. The artist facts were great little tidbits to get to know the boys in Robbie's group better. I cried at the ending. Elena learns that she's loved and seen by the people that really matter to her.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Love love loved this one!
I was hooked from the very beginning of this, and could barely put it down, even though I actually had a concert by my favorite boy band when I was a teenager to go to the night I started reading this. If I hadn’t gone to the New Kids on the Block concert the night I started this one, I could probably have sat and read this all in one day. You see, I love boy bands. They’re my jam, have been since I was a teen. So the whole K-Pop thing is one that I can totally support my students and other people who love it. And I’ll admit, I’ve been downloading more BTS songs lately and learning the words and singing along in my car, lol. But it was more than just that for this story that made me love it so much. The teenage angst was perfect, I loved that even with different cultural issues, still teens had the same feelings and wants and needs at that age. And then I loved that Robbie was also not a perfect boy. He was a teen boy. And a teen boy who was part of a band, in a world where his life had been carefully controlled and orchestrated the way the managers and CEOs wanted. The friendships between Elana and her friends, as well as between Robbie and his bandmates all seemed just real to me. Even the enemies Elena had, former friends, were real people, and when things all unfolded toward the end, it was a perfect way to see that even the people you don’t like or know or understand, are just people too, and just give them a chance! It might change your opinion if you got to know them. And back to the boy band stuff and fans. I loved how they worried how the fans would deal with them dating. You always wonder how much is real and how much is for publicity, especially as you learn about what actually happened in real life with boy bands you followed, or maybe that’s just me. The little bio sheets on each of the band members spread throughout the story were so much fun. And wow, do they really share blood types? Crazy! While one thing about the whole prom at the end disappointed me, it also totally made sense the way it all worked out. I really loved this story so much! I don’t know that a lot of students at my new school are as into K-Pop as the students at my last school. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to provide these awesome books for them to hopefully get hooked! And oh, as if the cover isn’t beautiful enough, the poster/image on the inside is awesome as well, this is a MUST-OWN physical copy.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Cute Romance for Fans and Non-Fans of K-pop
**I received an ARC from the publisher through Netgalley. These are my honest opinions, and in no way was I compensated for this review.** As soon as I heard about this book, I knew it was one that I had to read. The idea of your old best friend becoming a K-pop idol and then returning to fulfill a childhood promise to take you to prom? Such a wild ride, and I definitely had so much fun while reading this book. In Once Upon a K-Prom, a girl’s childhood best friend—and now a world-famous K-pop idol—comes back into her life, and she must decide if his spotlight is worth getting to know him again while also discovering her own passions. This book was so much fun! I read it all in one day because I couldn’t put it down. The premise sounds so wild, but the circumstances of the book felt very natural. It was also interesting how detailed the boy group Robbie is a part of, WDB, was, with profiles of each member throughout the novel as well as hints toward their backstory. While aspects of the K-pop industry are prevalent throughout the book, they’re explained well enough for people who might not know but not too detailed to be longwinded for people who do know, so I think this story will be enjoyable to K-pop fans and non-fans alike. I was confused by the BTS erasure at first, but I soon realized that WDB basically takes over their existence for the purposes of the story. It doesn’t detract from your experience if you just don’t overthink it, which I probably was. I will say that I thought the book portrayed idol life as only stifling and rigid—and it obviously can be, don’t get me wrong—but I felt like parts of it leaned into “the dark side of K-pop” rhetoric where some people act like idols are machines and not allowed to do anything their company doesn’t want. Maybe I’m just overthinking it again because there wouldn’t be much of a story without this conflict, I guess. Anyways, I really liked the characters! We get both Elena’s and Robbie’s point-of-view although I would say Elena is more of the main character. Robbie’s chapters provided some more insight on what was happening on his side and fleshed out his character, but most of the story is Elena’s. Elena has gone through life not able to pinpoint an interest or a hobby, and she’s used to being overlooked. Her older sisters never come home anymore, and her mom focuses more on her twin brother Ethan than her. I liked seeing her begin to realize that people do, in fact, care about her and see her, even if that’s not what it seems like at first. Meanwhile, Robbie wants to produce and write his own music but is scared of his ideas getting rejected by the company. I really liked how, while this is a diasporic story, Elena doesn’t struggle with her Korean-American identity. Obviously these feelings and stories are valid, but I did relate more to how being Korean American is not a source of conflict for her. Her Korean culture is just a part of her and not one that she feels out-of-place for, a bit of a privileged position as she acknowledges. The romance was really cute! As I said before, this is an “estranged childhood best friends to lovers” story. Elena and Robbie were childhood friends that haven’t spoken in four years after Robbie became a trainee. However, all this time, Elena thought he ghosted her and rebuffs his first attempt at asking her to prom because of this. Once they get over this, they begin to relearn their friendship with each other, rekindling their romantic feelings for each other. Overall, Once Upon a K-Prom was a fun, adorable story that also navigated discovering your passion. I liked the characters, and the romance was very cute. Whether you’re into K-pop or not, I think anyone can enjoy this estranged-childhood-friends-to-lovers story!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Thank you Netgalley and Disney Publishing!
Thank you Netgalley and Disney Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own. This is a very sweet and endearing story about Elena, a teenager who feels overshadowed by her family and invisible at school. She is headstrong and independent and is asked to the prom by none other than K-Pop star Robbie Choi. But before Robbie became famous he was Elena's childhood goofy best friend. Elena has to decide if their promise to go to prom seven years ago holds up today especially with screaming fans and paparazzi. So will Elena go to the prom with Robbie, you'll need to read it to find out. I enjoyed Elena as a MC and Robbie is pretty cute with his banter with Elena. I thought this was an easy read and I think many K-Pop fans will enjoy Kat Cho's writing on it. I wish the K-Pop world was explored more as it is a fascinating subject to talk about (behind the scenes). I liked Kat Cho's writing and thought it was fast paced and to the point. Elena is a great character and I liked her development. 4 solid stars.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Delightful read!
Thank you to Disney Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. As a huge fan of the author, I was so excited to get a chance to read it early! Kat Cho's done it again with Once Upon a K-Prom! I absolutely loved this book and it hit on so many favorite tropes: forbidden romance, famous person falls in love with regular girl, ride or die friendships, and so much more. While most people don't have an international K-pop superstar as a best friend, the feeling of being left behind or overshadowed by friends and family is a much more universal experience that I think many readers will be able to relate to. I know I did, and I would have loved to have access to this book when I was a teen. The book hinged a lot on the miscommunication trope and while I appreciated that the story gave valid reasons for why they couldn't always just call or text to clear something up, it did get to be a bit much. That said, I still absolutely loved it and can't wait until my final copy arrives!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com