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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Actual rating 3.5 stars.
A nerdy insecure girl creates a list of things she’s seen on K-Dramas in order to entice her crush to fall in love with her. Our rom-com protagonist Desi is a list-maker after my own heart in all her flirt-failures.
I see the list Desi makes as a tool for her to deal with her grief and loss over her mother. She doesn’t have a female role model to refer to these things about. It’s also a way for her to distance herself from reality (and escape grief and/or embarrassment) as a means to step out of her comfort zone in a controlled way – because her life has always been about control and rule following – the list is another set of rules.
The level of importance, drama, and stress around things like boys, friends, grades, graduation, and university is major. It’s like I want to pull all the characters of this book aside for a moment so they can take a breath and chill – do they have to make life so difficult for themselves? Everything has world-ending consequences. For example, bFF June has a tendency to overreact to situations leading Desi right down the garden path. You don’t have to do everything at once. Having a boyfriend is not the answer to everything. I love the drama, but at the same time hate the drama. This book is like an episode of messy TikTok.
With small arcs for both main characters around not making assumptions – could have been avoided with some patience and long frank discussions… things teens are NOT known for. But this trope always urks me because it negates the plot – makes the story irrelevant in a sense, and I did not invest all that time for them to do something they should have done 100 pages previously.
There is a sweetness and innocence to ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ and it definitely has a heart. I really enjoyed my time reading this book – a nice little escape from real life. I just wanted it to be a bit less tropey and overdramatic to really let the tone of the narrative and writing style shine.
‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ is a fast paced contemporary that I read in one sitting, with a breezy writing style and plenty of comedic moments that counter-balance the drama. A soft recommendation from me. A light romance great for a quiet afternoon of reading.
A nerdy insecure girl creates a list of things she’s seen on K-Dramas in order to entice her crush to fall in love with her. Our rom-com protagonist Desi is a list-maker after my own heart in all her flirt-failures.
I see the list Desi makes as a tool for her to deal with her grief and loss over her mother. She doesn’t have a female role model to refer to these things about. It’s also a way for her to distance herself from reality (and escape grief and/or embarrassment) as a means to step out of her comfort zone in a controlled way – because her life has always been about control and rule following – the list is another set of rules.
The level of importance, drama, and stress around things like boys, friends, grades, graduation, and university is major. It’s like I want to pull all the characters of this book aside for a moment so they can take a breath and chill – do they have to make life so difficult for themselves? Everything has world-ending consequences. For example, bFF June has a tendency to overreact to situations leading Desi right down the garden path. You don’t have to do everything at once. Having a boyfriend is not the answer to everything. I love the drama, but at the same time hate the drama. This book is like an episode of messy TikTok.
With small arcs for both main characters around not making assumptions – could have been avoided with some patience and long frank discussions… things teens are NOT known for. But this trope always urks me because it negates the plot – makes the story irrelevant in a sense, and I did not invest all that time for them to do something they should have done 100 pages previously.
There is a sweetness and innocence to ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ and it definitely has a heart. I really enjoyed my time reading this book – a nice little escape from real life. I just wanted it to be a bit less tropey and overdramatic to really let the tone of the narrative and writing style shine.
‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ is a fast paced contemporary that I read in one sitting, with a breezy writing style and plenty of comedic moments that counter-balance the drama. A soft recommendation from me. A light romance great for a quiet afternoon of reading.
What and enjoyable and fun read! Desi is your typical type A overachiever. In honor of her mother, she plans to to to Stanford to study medicine. Her road map to get there has her as a soccer star, student body president, a member of numerous clubs, and the valedictorian of her class. With a plan and steps, she knows you can do anything. Too bad that method doesn't apply to boys and flirting...or does it?
Known for a long standing series of embarrassing "flailures" (flirting + failing), Desi is struck by inspiration from the formulaic, always happy endings of her father's Korean K-pop tv shows. If she follows the formula embedded in those, surely, she can attract the attention of new student Luca, right? After all, she can do anything with a plan an steps!
What follows is a cute and funny story of a misguided first relationship. Desi's friends know her plan is weird. They help her out of loyalty and the desire to see their friend happy, all the while telling her it's a terrible idea, mentioning along the way that she is occasionally trying to change herself for Luca (a point noted also by her "enemy" Violet). Desi does acknowledge this, but is beholden to the steps to boyfriend success.
Of course, nothing goes smoothly, she learns that Luca isn't quite who initially seems, and maybe she isn't necessarily the same as she once was either. The background set up using of Korean K-dramas makes this standout from other titles in the genre, giving it a fresh feel. Hand this to teens who like Jenny Han and Morgan Matson.
Known for a long standing series of embarrassing "flailures" (flirting + failing), Desi is struck by inspiration from the formulaic, always happy endings of her father's Korean K-pop tv shows. If she follows the formula embedded in those, surely, she can attract the attention of new student Luca, right? After all, she can do anything with a plan an steps!
What follows is a cute and funny story of a misguided first relationship. Desi's friends know her plan is weird. They help her out of loyalty and the desire to see their friend happy, all the while telling her it's a terrible idea, mentioning along the way that she is occasionally trying to change herself for Luca (a point noted also by her "enemy" Violet). Desi does acknowledge this, but is beholden to the steps to boyfriend success.
Of course, nothing goes smoothly, she learns that Luca isn't quite who initially seems, and maybe she isn't necessarily the same as she once was either. The background set up using of Korean K-dramas makes this standout from other titles in the genre, giving it a fresh feel. Hand this to teens who like Jenny Han and Morgan Matson.
I'm docking a star only because I didn't 100% love the writing style, and because of the implausibility of 85% of this book (but, really, that's irrelevant because that's the point; it's like a k-drama!) Overall, this was a really, really cute read and so fun as someone who watches k-dramas! The totally unrealistic bits made it almost as outrageous as dramas can get, and I really appreciated the effort to embraces a lot of those tropes in a contemporary YA setting.
(Sidenote: You should NEVER copy Jan-Di's move at the end of Boys Over Flowers in real life?! Like, what was Desi *thinking*?!)
(Double sidenote: My least favorite moment in this book is
(Sidenote: You should NEVER copy Jan-Di's move at the end of Boys Over Flowers in real life?! Like, what was Desi *thinking*?!)
(Double sidenote: My least favorite moment in this book is
Spoiler
when Desi goes with Luca and misses her Stanford interview, gets snappy with the admissions guy, FRAMES her rejection letter (I mean, I could MAYBE see it, but it was really stupid to me), and ends up at Boston (which, yes, has a better med program, but is conveniently closer to Luca?) It's a little too easy; I know this is a k-drama trope, too, but sometimes I want to see a girl make good decisions and still have a successful long distance relationship! Even if it's more implausible than most of this book!)
Check out my other reviews at Riddle's Reviews
This book is one of my new favorite contemporaries! From the moment I picked this book up, I didn't want to put it down. I Believe in a Thing Called Love is sweet and funny. Desi Lee is great at all things, except when it comes to boys. Her friends have lovingly coined the term "flailing" when it comes to Desi flirting: flirt failing. I could relate so much to Desi, because I, too, excel when there is a set list of "rules" for something. When things are left up to chance, Desi fails miserably, and often embarrassingly.
I've never seen a K drama before, but after reading I Believe in a Thing Called Love and seeing all of Desi's "K Drama Rules for True Love," I feel like I understand the genre a lot more, and might actually appreciate it if I were to go watch some of them. There's even a handy guide at the end of the novel for getting into K dramas, based off of what genre you're looking for, which I found to be really unique and helpful.
Have you ever watched a show or read a book that you knew was going to end in a huge disaster, and were just waiting for the bomb to go off? That's what this book was for me. I just had this feeling that all of Desi's ridiculous manipulations to try and snag Luca were going to end terribly! I mean, she makes some horrible decisions throughout the book, that no sane person could possible come up with, but I think that she also learns a lot about herself through the course of the book.
Maurene's writing style is one that I really like. It's engaging, funny, and kept me immersed within the story. The friendships that her characters share are absolutely amazing, and they are so supportive of one another. I constantly found myself wishing that I had friends like Fiona and Wes.
I give I Believe in a Thing Called Love 4.5/5 stars. Thanks so much to Maureen Goo for the ARC of this book, I couldn't have been more pleased with it!
This book is one of my new favorite contemporaries! From the moment I picked this book up, I didn't want to put it down. I Believe in a Thing Called Love is sweet and funny. Desi Lee is great at all things, except when it comes to boys. Her friends have lovingly coined the term "flailing" when it comes to Desi flirting: flirt failing. I could relate so much to Desi, because I, too, excel when there is a set list of "rules" for something. When things are left up to chance, Desi fails miserably, and often embarrassingly.
I've never seen a K drama before, but after reading I Believe in a Thing Called Love and seeing all of Desi's "K Drama Rules for True Love," I feel like I understand the genre a lot more, and might actually appreciate it if I were to go watch some of them. There's even a handy guide at the end of the novel for getting into K dramas, based off of what genre you're looking for, which I found to be really unique and helpful.
Have you ever watched a show or read a book that you knew was going to end in a huge disaster, and were just waiting for the bomb to go off? That's what this book was for me. I just had this feeling that all of Desi's ridiculous manipulations to try and snag Luca were going to end terribly! I mean, she makes some horrible decisions throughout the book, that no sane person could possible come up with, but I think that she also learns a lot about herself through the course of the book.
Maurene's writing style is one that I really like. It's engaging, funny, and kept me immersed within the story. The friendships that her characters share are absolutely amazing, and they are so supportive of one another. I constantly found myself wishing that I had friends like Fiona and Wes.
I give I Believe in a Thing Called Love 4.5/5 stars. Thanks so much to Maureen Goo for the ARC of this book, I couldn't have been more pleased with it!
"All's fair in love and Korean dramas"
GAH, this book is so cute. Have you ever wanted to read a book that's basically a K-Drama in book format? Wish granted! There's even a handy guide at the back of the book to suggest the K-Drama for you based on your preferences for romance romance or romantic comedy, historical or contemporary, fantasy, high-school, K-pop, gender bending...
Desi is great. She's this super over-achiever who is good at everything except talking to boys, so she comes up with a study plan and basically goes to K-Drama cram school for a weekend to come up with "The K Drama Steps to True Love." I love how amazing and yet vulnerable Desi is. I also am totally in love with Luca, who at first is basically Aloof Art-Boy but then throughout the book so many shadings of personality are revealed to make him into a genuine person. And do not get me started on Desi's Appa. If you've ever watched a K-Drama, you will be able to practically hear his dialogue as you read it, what with calling himself Appa and yelling "Ya" at Desi all the time.
Desi and Luca's relationship is adorable, and manages to follow Desi's K Drama Steps to True Love even when she's NOT trying to manipulate things. Their late night conversation where Luca says he's as awake as coffee? ADORABLE. Melt. I remember talking on the phone with my husband many moons ago until one or both of us would fall asleep, still on the line. And then there's the story of Desi's parents, which basically sounds like a Korean Drama on its own. (Hear that, Ms. Maurene Goo? I think you've got a prequel to write...)
GAH, this book is so cute. Have you ever wanted to read a book that's basically a K-Drama in book format? Wish granted! There's even a handy guide at the back of the book to suggest the K-Drama for you based on your preferences for romance romance or romantic comedy, historical or contemporary, fantasy, high-school, K-pop, gender bending...
Desi is great. She's this super over-achiever who is good at everything except talking to boys, so she comes up with a study plan and basically goes to K-Drama cram school for a weekend to come up with "The K Drama Steps to True Love." I love how amazing and yet vulnerable Desi is. I also am totally in love with Luca, who at first is basically Aloof Art-Boy but then throughout the book so many shadings of personality are revealed to make him into a genuine person. And do not get me started on Desi's Appa. If you've ever watched a K-Drama, you will be able to practically hear his dialogue as you read it, what with calling himself Appa and yelling "Ya" at Desi all the time.
Desi and Luca's relationship is adorable, and manages to follow Desi's K Drama Steps to True Love even when she's NOT trying to manipulate things. Their late night conversation where Luca says he's as awake as coffee? ADORABLE. Melt. I remember talking on the phone with my husband many moons ago until one or both of us would fall asleep, still on the line. And then there's the story of Desi's parents, which basically sounds like a Korean Drama on its own. (Hear that, Ms. Maurene Goo? I think you've got a prequel to write...)
emotional
funny
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
This one was so funny and lighthearted and exactly what I needed. There were some parts that were cringy but obviously that was kind of the point. The writing was fine, a little immature at times. Overall, I liked this one, but not my favorite romance.
Back into the foray of straight YA (as in, not fantasy). This has been described as “adorable” and “endearing” but it took a little bit for me to get myself into the right frame of mind. I’m a little out of the ideal age demographic for this, and most of the YA fiction I read tends to be fantasy, which, more often than not, is darker and less frivolous.
This was, well, cutesy and was trying to be. It read like a rom com ([b:When Dimple met Rishi|28458598|When Dimple Met Rishi|Sandhya Menon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1475687488s/28458598.jpg|48593860] came to mind, surprise, I don’t read that many of these types of books and apparently only pick them up if there’s some diversity--but nerdy girl, artsy boy? Similar).
Maybe it’s me, but I didn’t get my pants wowed off by Luca...or even the premise of Desi following steps to “catch a boyfriend.” There’s people on the reviews that didn’t like Desi, but I liked her. I can’t say I was ever as ambitious as her with sports/clubs/etc., but I get her basic premise.
Desi’s steps to getting a guy were on the “this seems wrong” side of the moral compass. Some of them I found endearing, some of them I found like “oh gosh, really?” It was VERY uncomfortable. Not in the sense that “she’s so crazy, isn’t it cute?” Well, no it isn’t.
I know this is probably more of a taste for the genre itself more than anything. I get jazzed about the basic premise of some of these YA books, but they end up not being for me. I considered 3 stars, but honestly, I kept gravitating toward other books when I had something to read. This could have ultimately been a DNF but i forced (and, honestly, skimmed) my way through most it.
This was, well, cutesy and was trying to be. It read like a rom com ([b:When Dimple met Rishi|28458598|When Dimple Met Rishi|Sandhya Menon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1475687488s/28458598.jpg|48593860] came to mind, surprise, I don’t read that many of these types of books and apparently only pick them up if there’s some diversity--but nerdy girl, artsy boy? Similar).
Maybe it’s me, but I didn’t get my pants wowed off by Luca...or even the premise of Desi following steps to “catch a boyfriend.” There’s people on the reviews that didn’t like Desi, but I liked her. I can’t say I was ever as ambitious as her with sports/clubs/etc., but I get her basic premise.
Desi’s steps to getting a guy were on the “this seems wrong” side of the moral compass. Some of them I found endearing, some of them I found like “oh gosh, really?” It was VERY uncomfortable. Not in the sense that “she’s so crazy, isn’t it cute?” Well, no it isn’t.
Spoiler
It’s ALARMING that you orchestrated a car accident with nails on the road, Desi. I like you, but you’ve totally lost it.I know this is probably more of a taste for the genre itself more than anything. I get jazzed about the basic premise of some of these YA books, but they end up not being for me. I considered 3 stars, but honestly, I kept gravitating toward other books when I had something to read. This could have ultimately been a DNF but i forced (and, honestly, skimmed) my way through most it.