Goodreads Synopsis: A teen escapes to a boarding school abroad and falls for a Korean pop star in this fun and fresh romantic novel in the vein of Anna and the French Kiss.
Commentary: When I first about this book, I immediately put in on my to be read list. I really love KPOP and I thought it was going to be super interesting!! Now, I had mixed feelings about the book before I got it. It could have been great or a train wreck. Well, this book was a bit of a train wreck for me. Grace Wilde, the main protagonist, was so annoying!! She made Americans look bad! She was quite nosy, she wanted to know everything personal about the secondary characters, it’s like she has never heard of privacy…and insensitive about Korean culture. First of all, she didn’t really want to go to South Korea. She chose the first school according to Google results. If she really wanted to get away from her family, she should have chosen a place where she wanted to go to…that’s one of my main problems with this book. She could have at least been a bit more enthusiastic about her stay there, but no. Also, I thought Jason Bae was going to be in a Korean pop group, but that wasn’t the case. He was in a band, and Grace was so suprised that Koreans play instruments like Westerners. Secondly, I don’t think this book is for any KPOP fan at all. There weren’t really any references to KPOP…The book mainly focused on the developing love-hate relationship between Jason and Grace. I was very disappointed because this book was really hyped up. I felt sorry for Jason since there was a lot of miscommunication between he and Grace. Grace was mostly angry and quite annoying, I don’t know how he and his band member fell for her. She constantly got angry at Jason…and overreacted to so many situations…I don’t know how I even finished the book. I also felt that the second guy was a bit pointless. I feel that the author tried to create drama between the characters, but I believe that it didn’t work since Grace was too distracted by Jason and how hot he was. The secondary characters were fun. I really like Sophie, Jason’s twin. She was really nice and helpful to Grace. I would have loved if Grace’s sister, Jane, were the protagonist! It would have made this book a little more readable. In addition, the synopsis says that Grace wanted to get away from the music industry, but that’s a lie. She was willing to help out Jason out with his song. Whoever wrote the synopsis should rewrite because it fooled me! The book title is based off The Door’s song, Hello I Love You. Lastly, I really couldn’t stand Grace. She was snobby and wasn’t really willing to learn in her new environment. Was the book worth the price? No, I found it to be a tad expensive for a meh book. Would I recommend it for my fellow KPOP fans? Absolutely not. I would rather read KPOP fanfictions on Wattpad.
Hi Mishi, good review. I’m sad to hear the book isn’t too positive on K-ent. I thought that was its main selling point!
I was debating whether to read this or not. I am gonna hold off on this one.
I was so excited about this, but kpop fans seem to dislike it so much! I don’t want to read a book and feel angry and annoyed about 98% of the time.
My inner kpop fan would go batshit crazy while reading a book like this!
Ha ha ha!! I tried not to go crazy, but I hated this book so much!!