e-ARC, 336 pages
Release Date: May 30, 2017Published by: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux (BYR)
Read from: May 26- May 27, 2017Stand-aloneSource: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from the Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)For fans of: Marginalized Voices, Diverse Authors, Realistic Fiction, Sparkly Covers, Summer Love
Desi Lee knows how carburetors work. She learned CPR at the age of five. As a high school senior, she has never missed a day of school and has never had a B in her entire life. She’s for sure going to Stanford. But—she’s never had a boyfriend. In fact, she’s a disaster in romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation-magnet whose botched attempts at flirting have become legendary with her friends. So when the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi decides to tackle her flirting failures with the same zest she’s applied to everything else in her life. She finds her answer in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years—where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. It’s a simple formula, and Desi is a quick study. Armed with her “K Drama Rules for True Love,” Desi goes after the moody, elusive artist Luca Drakos—and boat rescues, love triangles, and fake car crashes ensue. But when the fun and games turn to true feels, Desi finds out that real love is about way more than just drama.
*MY THOUGHTS*
It’s so funny how unexpected things happen. This book wasn’t even on my radar, when one of my teens who LOVES K-POP (Korean Pop Music) came to the library and asked me for this book. I hadn’t even known about it, but I put it on my list to ask for her at TLA. I’m so glad I didn’t miss out on this book!
“I never lost the belief that yoou could will something just by sticking to it, by being unwavering.“1%
Desi is the true definition of an All-American teenager. She was an athlete, she had stellar grades, she was president of her senior class, BUT she’s never been in love. Even with the slightest notion of flirting, something totes weird happens. Finally, she decides to take matters into her own hands by making a list of things that people do in K-Dramas to help them fall in love.
“I believed, and still believe, that you can build your dreams brick by brick.“1%
Y’all know how I am with contemporary romances. Even more points if they’re a rom-com. So naturally, I just KNEW I would love this one. However, I unfortunately didn’t love the characters, and as a character driven reader, this was a let down for me. Desi was fine in the beginning and I thought it was so cute that she was willing to do these things in the name of love, but then things got a bit scary. She went over and beyond ALOT and sometimes it was actually scary. And her friends thought it was crazy, but still helped her with it and I just couldn’t understand that. Someone should’ve told her. And the love interest, I just didn’t really care for him. I’m not sure why, but I never connected with him. And because I didn’t care for him by his self, I wasn’t a fan of them together.
“Don’t you know that if it’s true love, even bad beginnings end happy?“11%
What kept me turning the pages though, was the humor/ second hand embarrassment in it. I found myself cringing and blushing along with Desi throughout the entire novel. Although she wasn’t my favorite, I DID feel bad everytime something happned to her. Even Maddy said “she has worse luck than me! I didn’t know that was possible.”
“There are worse things than having a relationship fail, you know […] eventually you have to stop playing games.“46%
What I LOVED about this book was the diverseness in it. There were people of color, there were different sexual orientations, and I learned alot about K-Dramas (and K-Pop from Maddy, my teen from work lol) and the Korean culture that was expressed in this book.
“You cannot control who you love, Desi, but you can always control how hard you fight, okay?“91%
This book is set in school, but still a perfect way to get geared up for summer with a nice contemporary romance. Make sure you get ready to laugh before you start reading this one!
Overall, I give this
