Reviews

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park

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chasethefictionfanatic's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

One of my favorite things about this book was the relationships and friendships Sunny made/had throughout this book. I wasn't a fan of Sunny's parents, specifically her mom- at least initially. I loved seeing the character growth and change of perspective that these characters went through. If I had to describe the romantic relationship that grows in this novel I would say it's awkward and adorable. I also really enjoyed the humor in this book. One thing I will say is that the conflict/resolution happened at an astronomical speed. Literally one-minute things were in shambles and the next things were immediately set right. I really liked how things played out, but I don't think the resolution needed to happen so quickly. Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, I thought it was a great summer read, and would highly recommend picking this up if you have the chance.

Happy Reading my Friends.

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is a good YA story and emphasizes in a way that’s not overbearing how important it is to enjoy real life activities and genuine human interaction versus spending unlimited amounts of time focused on a phone or computer screen. The book is about the pressure that comes with committing yourself to creating social content and getting “likes” at the sacrifice of the other important things in life.

The heart of the story is set up where the parents of a high achieving teenager feel she needs an intervention because her social engagement seems to be interfering with what they feel should be more important priorities in her life. So they send her to a summer camp designed to help teens detox fr social media. The story feels like a Disney 90s movie that has an innocent puppy love romance, new friendships, rivals, zany situations, and misunderstandings that the heroine has to get herself out of. It’s reminiscent of good clean fun and I highly recommend it as a cute lighthearted read with some beneficial life lessons about how making real life memories and building in-person relationships can be so much better than anything you create online.

I listened to the audiobook and feel the narrator, Joy Osmanski, had a lot of fun portraying the main character, Sunny Song. Ms. Osmanski delivered teen Sunny’s inner dialogue and witty comments in a way I found very entertaining.

eokamoto's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

startjpw23's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The main character of the book is Sunny, a Korean American who lives in Los Angeles. When the story starts, it is close to the end of her junior year in high school. She has a YouTube channel that has a fair amount of success. She posts a video that causes the principal of her school to get upset. He contacts Sunny's parents. Sunny and her parents meet with the principal. They agree that Sunny will not post the type of content that got the principal upset. A little later, Sunny posts a video that again upsets the principal. She is at risk of not being able to attend her high school for her senior year. Sunny's mother is very demanding of her. She sends Sunny to a digital detox camp in Iowa for a month. The camp is kind of a working farm. It is quite the culture shock for Sunny. Sunny is a very appealing character. She is very good on social media. In face-to-face social situations, she is quite awkward. I loved the book. It is the debut novel of Suzanne Park. I am definitely going to look into more of her books.

Content Warnings

randomly_kait's review against another edition

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3.0

Sometimes I wonder if I should check myself into a digital detox boot camp. I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm obsessed, and I'm definitely not as bad as the kids in this book, but the amount of time I spend scrolling through Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Facebook is kind of alarming.

One thing that Sunny does have going on for her, is the fact that once she's set her mind to something, she'll figure out a way to accomplish it. Though I wanted to scream at her almost the whole time she was at detox camp, she just kept hyper focusing on the fact that she didn't have access to social media... I was glad to see her grow up and use her influencer powers to help others

Overall this was a nice, fast summer read, and I enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read a digital ARC