Comeback by Lyn Ashwood and Rachel Rose- 4 Stars!

Today's Tea Choice: Anything elderberry or immune-boosting (it’s COVID and Flu season people! Guess who's got COVID cooties!)

Trigger Warnings: Suicide scene, loss of family member, grief, anger management

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 312

Summary(goodreads.com):

Emery Jung is living his dream. Known by his stage name M, he is loved by millions of fans around the world as a member of the rising K-pop group NEON, but all fame comes with a cost, especially when one slip up can have viral consequences.

Alana Kim is trying to forget. After a tragic loss sends her spiraling, she escapes to her family in Korea, abandoning her love of music along the way. However, her plans are derailed when she literally runs into M, the famous K-pop idol.When their paths collide, Emery and Alana must work together to prevent a scandal from ruining NEON’s success, sparking a journey of friendship, love, and healing. Unfortunately, fame and love aren’t easily compatible, especially in the world of K-pop.

My Review:

K-pop is one of my guilty pleasures that I’m not shy about. I’ve had a love affair with K-pop since I was sixteen years old but never found any artists that I could binge listen to until I found out about Stray Kids this summer. Their music truly helped me through some difficult times these last few months.

Try to guess my bias in the comments below :)

I have plans to write an enemies-to-lovers K-pop romance one day, so I started researching some popular novels with themes or ideas similar to what I’d like to create. This was my first K-pop novel, and I loved it!

What I loved:

POV:  Each chapter alternates with a different character’s perspective and is written in third person POV. While some may argue that third person limits the scope of emotions an author can portray, Lyn Ashwood and Rachel Rose did a fantastic job of using subtext, dialogue, and body language to convey the author’s emotions. We can also see how Emery and Alana’s lives are different and the emotional struggles they share.

Plot: The plot pacing was excellent, and each chapter progressed the storyline, something most authors forget to do. Each chapter had a purpose and clear, distinctive voice despite using two different POVS. There is one aspect of the plot I wish was different, which you can read about later on.

Setting:  K-pop culture often surrounds a very hectic lifestyle filled with constant promotions, music shows, fan meetings (called fansigns), and backstage chaos. Each scene was explored in great detail that helps the reader fully immerse themselves as they prepare for the stage alongside NEON. There's also well-written scenes that describe these shows and promos from Alana's POV as she is just trying to keep up. There were also some scenes around Seoul, South Korea which I really appreciated, and the authors did an excellent job with showing food culture on Seoul as well.

Characters:  The two main characters in this novel are Emery and Alana with other side characters peppered within the plot for additional support. Emery was my favorite character out of the two mains because I related to his personal struggles. Throughout the novel, Emery struggles with perfectionism and ambition, sometimes wearing himself out mentally in the process. As a writer who juggles a lot of side projects, I understood his perspective of always trying to be the best and sacrificing some much-needed rest. Emery also tends to wear a metaphorical mask in front of his fans, bandmates, and the public in general. Underneath, he suffers from anger management and shame about a failed comeback (slang for a K-pop album).

Alana is dealing with a traumatic loss and moves to Seoul in search of some peace and stability. She is also a relatable character due to her shy and distant disposition along with her grief coping strategies. However, there was one quality about Alana that I didn’t like, which I’ll get to under the What Needed Improvement section.

Dialogue: The dialogue was well written and authentic, using a mix of Korean terms/slang and English. There are moments where the dialogue gets really heated between the characters, and it was an excellent choice by both writers to remove any tags in those sections to focus on the conversation.

Themes: One of the more prevalent themes in the novel is our inner vs outer selves. This is such a powerful and emotional theme to use in this book, especially because K-pop has a huge visual component. While Emery has a cheery exterior, he deals with serious anger and emotional issues, mostly brought on by his parents and self-deprecatory nature. On the other side, Alana wants everyone to leave her alone, wears black, and tries to fade into the background. However, once Emery gets to know her, she’s very sweet.

Until that one moment.

What Needed Improvement:

While I enjoyed this book and loved the K-pop elements, Alana was a character who puzzled me at times. She “tries” to keep her distance with Emery, yet she also sends mix signals by messaging him, talking with him and going along with his playful antics. Eventually, this dating rumor leads to a falling out with one of the band members, and Alana feels like she has to break Emery’s heart for his protection. This is one trope in movies and books that I can’t stand. If you’re both happy, then just date! I think one of the other rising events would’ve been a better turning point to avoid this overly dramatic moment.

Authors Can Learn:

-          How to utilize authentic dialogue and slang from another culture.

-          How to write distinct and emotionally complex characters.

-          The importance of plot pacing and incorporating subtext to discuss complex themes.

Readers Will Love This For:

A realistic portrayal of the backstage chaos in the K-pop industry along with a sweet and sometimes messy romance.

I give this book 4 stars.

Kyla