Hello, I Love You by Katie M. StoutPublication Date: June 9, 2015
Page Count: 304
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: eArc received from publisher in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis from Goodreads:
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.
Grace Wilde is running—from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start.
She wants nothing to do with music, but when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame. She can't stand Jason, whose celebrity status is only outmatched by his oversized ego, but they form a tenuous alliance for the sake of her friendship with Sophie. As the months go by and Grace adjusts to her new life in Korea, even she can't deny the sparks flying between her and the KPOP idol.
Soon, Grace realizes that her feelings for Jason threaten her promise to herself that she'll leave behind the music industry that destroyed her family. But can Grace ignore her attraction to Jason and her undeniable pull of the music she was born to write? Sweet, fun, and romantic, this young adult novel explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process.
This would have been such a cute book if the protagonist hadn't been so offensive right from the start. Grace's condescending attitude towards the people and the culture of Korea was too much for me.
Needless to say, I didn't like Grace. She was really shallow and self-centered. I didn't like how she ran away from her problems back home by going to Korea. I mean, who does that??? And I really disliked the way she looked down on Korea and Koreans, and I felt embarrassed for her. I don't know why the author would make Grace such an unlikable character. As for the other characters, I really liked Sophie and her bubbly personality. She was a hoot! I'm not sure Jason was full on swoon worthy, but I liked him well enough.
I also want to add that this book is really ANTI KPop. I thought I would be reading about something I was interested in, but know very little about. This book made me wonder what KPop music is all about, so I would have loved to learn more about it. Instead I got a bunch of people deriding KPop music and it's artists. Even Jason, the KPop 'STAR', doesn't like the music that he makes!
I would have enjoyed this book more than I did if I hadn't disliked Grace so much. That's just the truth! It was very frustrating to read a book that, to me at least, turned out to be the opposite of what I thought it would be.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I would be pissed to hear that the Surinamese culture would be portrayed inaccurately.it's a mix between Caribbean and a Latin one.
ReplyDeleteSo far I've only read negative reviews. Sad that it has such a cute cover . thanks for the review
Cute cover and what sounds like a cute synopsis. Too bad it's anything BUT cute! And yes, I also saw tons of really low star reviews, but I read it anyways to form my own opinion. Bad move on my part. I can understand why you would be upset about having your culture made fun of. I think that was a bad move on the author's part.
DeleteI totally agree with all of this. I thought this book would enlighten me so much about KPop and culture in Korea, but it didn't do that at all. I felt it to be a little disrespectful too. And I did like Sophie. She was sweet. And fun. I really with the author would have done this in a more positive way, with a much better m/c.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was excited to learn about KPop and Korean culture too. It sounded like such a cute story. It's too bad this book was such a let down.
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