Kat Cho

What would you do if the world's biggest K-pop star asked you to prom? Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon, this hilarious and heartfelt novel brings the glamour and drama of the K-pop world straight to high school. Elena Soo has always felt overshadowed. Whether by her more successful older sisters, her more popular twin brother, or her more outgoing best friend, everyone except Elena seems to know exactly who they are and what they want. But she is certain about one thing - she has no interest in going to prom. While the rest of the school is giddy over corsages and dresses, Elena would rather spend her time working to save the local community center, the one place that's always made her feel like she belonged. So when international K-pop superstar Robbie Choi shows up at her house to ask her to prom, Elena is more confused than ever. Because the one person who always accepted Elena as she is? Her childhood best friend, Robbie Choi. And the one thing she maybe, possibly, secretly wants more than anything? For the two of them to keep the promise they made each other as kids: to go to prom together. But that was seven year ago, and with this new K-pop persona, pink hair, and stylish clothes, Robbie is nothing like the sweet, goofy boy she remembers. The boy she shared all her secrets with. The boy she used to love. Besides, prom with a guy who comes with hordes of screaming fans, online haters, and relentless paparazzi is the last thing Elena wants - even if she can't stop thinking about Robbie's smile...right?

Once Upon a K-Prom

Julia Moran 

3.5
Much MUCH better than XOXO and more realistic (if you can call it that lmao) 
This still feels like fanfiction but pretty well-written fanfiction...

I absolutely enjoyed this book. I laughed and squealed and was cursing up a storm towards the end. overall, a great fun read! I both loved and was annoyed by the main character but she was so relatable. I definitely want to live that life too!

Stephanie

Lia Yuliana

Update 27/07/2022

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Official Release Date : May 17th 2022
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2/5 ⭐️

I read this book because of the cover. The artist Xia Tong (@/velinxi) made the art for all the books in SVSS series by MXTX. They did a great job in drawing the characters of the book, Robbie and Elena, on the cover.

Now on to the story.. To be honest, I read this book for the sake of reading something. I wasn't in the mood to read anything heavy or serious so I picked it up. I am so happy I didn't buy it instead I borrowed it from the library.

I'll just say it as it is that this book is an Americanized K-Pop Fanfic. If you've been on the K-Pop scene you'll know who some of the characters are referenced from which artist. I read another K-Pop book last year that I didn't like because of how out of the age range it was for me (I know these books aren't written for someone like me, a 26 year old adult). I genuinely thought it would be a fun contemporary romance but it ended up being a bit too cheesy and cringe some times.

The main source of cringe energy is the main character Elena. Elena has abandonment issues, can be a bit self deprecating most of the time, and a lot of insecure energy radiating from her. She projects her insecurities on to others then choosing to cut off contact when it gets hard. Most of the conflict that happened in this book I skim over to save time because its usually filled with Elena projections and repetitive concern of abandonment. In a way the characters did help Elena snap out of it and realize how wrong she's been this whole time, I feel there is zero progress in her characterization. 

Now there's the childhood friends to lovers trope. It is my favorite trope to love and hate at the same time. If its done well I will love it but if its done bad I will hate it. In this case this trope is wildly used in the fanfic sphere, it is like the blandest plot route for a K-Pop themed story. I will be brutally honest I've seen this trope done better in fanfics. There is no flare or sense of freshness presented in Once Upon A K-Prom. It is plain as yogurt. I expected a smoothie bowl but all I got was plain yogurt with no flavor. 

The predictability in the story is so high when I put this book down I dreamt of the ending and when I finished the book the next day it definitely happened to the tea just like in my dream.

Robbie is the typical foreigner member of the group that is the nephew of the owner of the entertainment agency. Robbie is like an amalgamation of Suga and Jungkook from BTS, Woozi from Seventeen, and maybe Mark from NCT. He must have had Hanbin (the manager) in a chokehold because Robbie could get off doing whatever he is doing in the story. The using Robbie to test the waters for a dating scandal kinda fell through half way. It is just too predictably simple and half baked. There is absolutely no tension between Elena and Robbie. I will repeat myself they are so plain. 

Lesson learned, I will try to not pick up more K-Pop books. I've been a K-Pop fan for too long to have a shred of feeling reading these books about K-Pop love stories.

Once Upon a K-Prom

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