Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Shine

Not my can of jam. When I first came across the book, the cover threw me off. It's not what you would expect from a YA novel, it's very garish and cheesy/'plastic', which pretty much describes the book.

Writing Style
There is a lot of 'show not tell.' I feel like all the scenes in the story were told to me, the writing felt chunky and corny. The story and way of words didn't flow together very well, and it seemed to be written (style wise and story wise) for maybe a young-middle schooler/elementary schooler to read. Reading it did not feel like an experience fit for the YA section.

Story and Characters
I could not connect with the characters for the life of me. Jason (the love interest) seemed like an irritant to me, he's dense and not very likable straight off the first meeting. I couldn't feel any real friction between the MC and Jason, except for maybe when they sung together and even then the 'friction and energy' was described and told to the reader, not shown. What may have been smooth flirting felt forced and I could not see through him at all, he was a bit 'too perfect' a character. His flaws felt forced and not natural.

Rachel was... as the main character, she was very 'plastic.' Any moment you may have thought for some character development... nope. I don't see anything that I particularly like in her as a character, as well as her sister and her friends. Though this is the first book in the series, so maybe there is hope for redemption further down the way.

The story address some issues like sexism/misogyny, issues with the corporates behind the k-pop industry and xenophobia, but it's a scrap on the surface and could've gone deeper, and felt like these things were used as a plot device.

I am not a k-pop fan, but I do know the author went through some sort of k-pop training/was in the industry and is a celebrity. A lot of times when celebrities write books they turn out subpar, however. Since this is the first book in a series, there is possible hope in the future these characters pack their shit together and we actually see something, because the sheer (almost ridiculous, but perhaps accurate) amount of drama was the one thing fun to read. Also, it makes me feel better maybe that someone with real experience within the industry wrote this novel.

Would I recommend? Not exactly. But maybe if we get a few books out in the future and return to this series, and see some character improvement I'll come back. Keep moving forward Jessica!

Content Warnings

a_h__'s review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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elskabee's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

A fun read overall, but it was a pretty mediocre book.

The good:
- The actual writing was pretty decent, not standout, but not bad for a cheesy teen novel

- Not as childish as I was worried. there's teen drinking, swearing, and real-world problems among all the over the top k-pop drama

- Much of the 'over the top' drama was pretty entertaining despite being unrealistic at times

- The main characters weren't entirely one dimensional throughout
(notice how the praise is very measured?)

The not so good:
- With all the over the top drama, it felt like it would've worked better as a k-drama (which based on the acknowledgments at the end seems to be the goal). It couldn't decide how realistic it wanted to be and made for a bit of a confused tone. It could have been an entertaining melodramatic story OR it could have been a more realistic story of a girl struggling to achieve her dreams depending entirely on the chapter. I don't mind a mix, but I wish this novel had a clearer identity.

- VERY fan-ficcy. By which I mean there were many tropes that were distractingly cliche. For example: describing outfits constantly, random insertions of Korean language that seemed out of place, describing luxury experiences without having any real meaning behind them. All three of those things at the very least could have been worked into the story better or even just left out 50% of the time.

- Although the main three characters (Rachel, Jason, and Mina) were not 1D they weren't exactly 3D either. The other background characters suffer more, almost all of them being very 1D throughout. This book subscribes to the notion that in teen media every character is the best friend or worst enemy and it gets tired pretty quickly.

- Short. I don't think I would want it longer, but some things felt rushed, especially the ending. I know there's a sequel planned for next year and some of the stuff at the end could have been pushed into the sequel rather than being tacked on in the last chapter.

Overall:
I didn't hate reading this book and at times could be entertaining, but it has a confused identity and some tropes that stop it from being a more unique and interesting story. I'd probably read the sequel when it comes out out of curiosity, but I wouldn't be rushing to recommend this to anyone. I think the target audience of teen girls interested in kpop may find it more enjoyable than I did though.

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whatannikareads's review

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adventurous informative lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

mmmm i'm settling at a 3.5 for this! if you've been a longtime fan of k-pop, i don't think you'll learn anything particularly new here. it's nice to verify that some of the things you've heard about k-pop idols—dating ban, diet watch, groups not being as frinedly behind the scenes, etc—are true, based on jessica's writing. i think the plot flew by enough for me to continue wondering what happened next, but didn't really go the extra mile in all of the plot directions that were brought up. but since i realized afterwards that this is meant to be the first book in a series, i think it makes better sense on how the book panned out. im mildly interested enough to check out the next book! it's not too strenuous of a read anywa—good fluff.

my biggest critique is that miss jessica wants me to believe that the hottest k-pop idol in all of the land is a guy named Jason....................has there ever been a hot Jason, let's be honest.

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