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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
2.85 stars! Really only kept me interested bc it was an easy read and I loved the topic of Kdrama. Short and sweet (ish)! Still a fun read for most if one can look past all the stupid decisions the main character, Desi, makes.
2.5 stars
As someone who drinks K-Dramas like they're my life blood, I felt this was a bit disappointing homage to k-dramas. I'm sorry in advance if this review is terribly long, I have a lot to say.
Believe in a Thing Called Love follows our main character Desi, who lives alone with her father. She hasn't had much luck in the love department because bad luck always seems to make its way into her pursuit of her crushes. A new boy comes to school, and she immediately falls for him. Because she doesn't want to repeat the past she takes a new approach and takes advice from the Korean dramas her dad loves.
Since this book is a bit outlandish, it definitely isn't for everyone. The plot line is absurd and tries to mimic the story line of popular K-Dramas. However, to me this didn't do it justice. Desi is the perfect smart girl, but whenever she comes across the boy she becomes obsessive. Even to the point where it's definitely creepy. She thinks about their future after only dating for a month or two, and has alarms for everything he does that's important. For example, she stages a car crash just so she can get closer to him. The crash ends up being so severe that the car has to be up in a shop for the duration of the book. As well, she stalks him on the internet, and it's excused as cute when Luca finds out about this.
The writing isn't that great either. The writing was jagged, even though were were supposed to be in Desi's head I felt sometimes the flow was off. Explanations for Korean terms weren't woven into the story and the pop culture references couldn't be more cringy. In addition to Desi's plot line, we get to Luca's struggles, but his story was somehow challenged and wrapped up all in one chapter. The romance gave off huge insta-love vibes, since we were only focused on Desi and Luca getting together.
I saw the problems coming from a mile away, and I hate that the big reveal that K-dramas were used to get the two together was shoved in the last few pages of the story. I also have a problem with how Desi claimed that being together with Luca was similar to "coming out." That made me very uncomfortable and seemed to belittle the struggles that LGBTQ+ experience when they want to finally be public about their sexuality (Even tho there is an attempt to get some representation in the story.)
What saved this book for me was the discussion of family relationships. Desi and her father have such a lovely relationship, and I loved seeing them talk things out. As well as the discussion on grief, it was nice. I enjoyed that Desi was dedicated to Luca through the end, and some of their little moments were cute (when Desi wasn't obsessing over their future.)
As someone who drinks K-Dramas like they're my life blood, I felt this was a bit disappointing homage to k-dramas. I'm sorry in advance if this review is terribly long, I have a lot to say.
Believe in a Thing Called Love follows our main character Desi, who lives alone with her father. She hasn't had much luck in the love department because bad luck always seems to make its way into her pursuit of her crushes. A new boy comes to school, and she immediately falls for him. Because she doesn't want to repeat the past she takes a new approach and takes advice from the Korean dramas her dad loves.
Since this book is a bit outlandish, it definitely isn't for everyone. The plot line is absurd and tries to mimic the story line of popular K-Dramas. However, to me this didn't do it justice. Desi is the perfect smart girl, but whenever she comes across the boy she becomes obsessive. Even to the point where it's definitely creepy. She thinks about their future after only dating for a month or two, and has alarms for everything he does that's important. For example, she stages a car crash just so she can get closer to him. The crash ends up being so severe that the car has to be up in a shop for the duration of the book. As well, she stalks him on the internet, and it's excused as cute when Luca finds out about this.
The writing isn't that great either. The writing was jagged, even though were were supposed to be in Desi's head I felt sometimes the flow was off. Explanations for Korean terms weren't woven into the story and the pop culture references couldn't be more cringy. In addition to Desi's plot line, we get to Luca's struggles, but his story was somehow challenged and wrapped up all in one chapter. The romance gave off huge insta-love vibes, since we were only focused on Desi and Luca getting together.
I saw the problems coming from a mile away, and I hate that the big reveal that K-dramas were used to get the two together was shoved in the last few pages of the story. I also have a problem with how Desi claimed that being together with Luca was similar to "coming out." That made me very uncomfortable and seemed to belittle the struggles that LGBTQ+ experience when they want to finally be public about their sexuality (Even tho there is an attempt to get some representation in the story.)
What saved this book for me was the discussion of family relationships. Desi and her father have such a lovely relationship, and I loved seeing them talk things out. As well as the discussion on grief, it was nice. I enjoyed that Desi was dedicated to Luca through the end, and some of their little moments were cute (when Desi wasn't obsessing over their future.)
This contemporary romance brought back that feeling of having a mega-crush in high school.
It really captured the feeling of senior year, and the friends who stick by you even when you're not always making the best decisions.
Desi is smart and motivated and good at everything except for romance. So she uses the K-Drama formula to get her dream guy interested in her. Please note that "drama" is in the main influence of her plan, so OF COURSE things go bonkers.
It's funny and sweet and cringeworthy and adorable.
Bonus: if you want to start watching K-Dramas after reading this, there is a whole list of them in various styles for you to choose from!
It really captured the feeling of senior year, and the friends who stick by you even when you're not always making the best decisions.
Desi is smart and motivated and good at everything except for romance. So she uses the K-Drama formula to get her dream guy interested in her. Please note that "drama" is in the main influence of her plan, so OF COURSE things go bonkers.
It's funny and sweet and cringeworthy and adorable.
Bonus: if you want to start watching K-Dramas after reading this, there is a whole list of them in various styles for you to choose from!
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have to say, if Desi's goal was to live her romance like a Korean drama, then she accomplished that with flying colors. I can, one hundred percent, see this as the plot of a K-Drama. As an avid watcher of Asian dramas of all kinds, this book was right up my alley and I'm glad to say it didn't disappoint me.
The premise follows Desi Lee, a Korean-American overachiever who's one year away from hopefully getting into her dream school of Stanford. She's pretty much good at everything - except flirting with boys, which she is absolutely awful at. When new boy, Luca Drakos, shows up, she's immediately head over heels but she doesn't want to screw it up with her patented "flailure" at flirting, so she turns to the most obvious choice of romantic advice - Korean dramas.
Like I said, I've watched a ton of Asian dramas. If you're watching anything of the romance variety (whether a rom-com or something more dramatic), there is a tried and true formula they follow. Sometimes, you'll get something out of the box (try Save Me, if you're okay with being punched in the face repeatedly over the course of the series), but most things follow this formula, even if they dash their own coating over it. Korean dramas are practically fueled by a happily ever after, so Desi makes herself a list of how the plots for K-dramas normally go and she follows them to try to get her man. Something that sounds completely nonsensical but is entirely on point with dramaland.
I kind of adored Desi, as she wasn't some self-loathing Asian who was sad she was too Asian (which seems to be a thing for some reason) and she wasn't just some clumsy, awkward social outcast/pariah that everyone adores despite her not seeing it. She's in clubs and she has friends and she's working damn hard to be good at things. Luca wasn't as interesting as her (and I'm pretty sure she originally falls in love with him because he's a pretty boy, but I digress), but he was good enough for me to like him. The supporting cast was great. I liked that they weren't cookie cutter characters while not making them cartoony in an effort to make them stand out.
The writing was great. Desi reads like a teenage girl, something that gets missed a lot in the weird attempt to make every modern day teenager sound like they were a scholar in the 16th century. The plot moved along at a great clip. Maybe my knowledge of dramas meant I had an idea of where the plot was going as it moved, but that didn't detract anything from the story for me.
Overall, I Believe in a Thing Called Love was fantastic, and it was a breath of fresh air. Recommended.
The premise follows Desi Lee, a Korean-American overachiever who's one year away from hopefully getting into her dream school of Stanford. She's pretty much good at everything - except flirting with boys, which she is absolutely awful at. When new boy, Luca Drakos, shows up, she's immediately head over heels but she doesn't want to screw it up with her patented "flailure" at flirting, so she turns to the most obvious choice of romantic advice - Korean dramas.
Like I said, I've watched a ton of Asian dramas. If you're watching anything of the romance variety (whether a rom-com or something more dramatic), there is a tried and true formula they follow. Sometimes, you'll get something out of the box (try Save Me, if you're okay with being punched in the face repeatedly over the course of the series), but most things follow this formula, even if they dash their own coating over it. Korean dramas are practically fueled by a happily ever after, so Desi makes herself a list of how the plots for K-dramas normally go and she follows them to try to get her man. Something that sounds completely nonsensical but is entirely on point with dramaland.
I kind of adored Desi, as she wasn't some self-loathing Asian who was sad she was too Asian (which seems to be a thing for some reason) and she wasn't just some clumsy, awkward social outcast/pariah that everyone adores despite her not seeing it. She's in clubs and she has friends and she's working damn hard to be good at things. Luca wasn't as interesting as her (and I'm pretty sure she originally falls in love with him because he's a pretty boy, but I digress), but he was good enough for me to like him. The supporting cast was great. I liked that they weren't cookie cutter characters while not making them cartoony in an effort to make them stand out.
The writing was great. Desi reads like a teenage girl, something that gets missed a lot in the weird attempt to make every modern day teenager sound like they were a scholar in the 16th century. The plot moved along at a great clip. Maybe my knowledge of dramas meant I had an idea of where the plot was going as it moved, but that didn't detract anything from the story for me.
Overall, I Believe in a Thing Called Love was fantastic, and it was a breath of fresh air. Recommended.
funny
lighthearted
This book is the perfect palate cleanser. You know when you're between heavy books, or in the middle of an intense series and need a break (*cough*Wheel of Time*cough*), so you need something you don't have to think about too much? That's this book. It's not going to change the world with its societal commentary, but it's also not totally annoying in its cutesy teen romance way.
Desi's nerdiness is highly endearing, and her inner commentary is perfectly poised on the fence between cringe-worthy awkward teen and unrealistic teen seductress. I've never seen a k-drama, but since it was meant to follow the outline of one (and I've heard they can be pretty crazy), I don't fault her for her outlandish ideas, as it's meant to follow the common tropes.
The love interest developed well and fairly naturally. I loved the realistic innocence of it, with some truly human and meaningful moments. It had all of the ingredients of a perfect palate cleanser.
Desi's nerdiness is highly endearing, and her inner commentary is perfectly poised on the fence between cringe-worthy awkward teen and unrealistic teen seductress. I've never seen a k-drama, but since it was meant to follow the outline of one (and I've heard they can be pretty crazy), I don't fault her for her outlandish ideas, as it's meant to follow the common tropes.
The love interest developed well and fairly naturally. I loved the realistic innocence of it, with some truly human and meaningful moments. It had all of the ingredients of a perfect palate cleanser.
This was cute, very funny, an extremely light and heartwarming read!
Personally, my enjoyment was more like a 3 stars, but I think it's simply a matter of preference. It felt a little too silly at times for my personal tastes, but I have no doubt plenty of readers will appreciate its humor more than I did. The writing is really easy to enjoy and it's a great YA summer read.
Personally, my enjoyment was more like a 3 stars, but I think it's simply a matter of preference. It felt a little too silly at times for my personal tastes, but I have no doubt plenty of readers will appreciate its humor more than I did. The writing is really easy to enjoy and it's a great YA summer read.
An easy, breezy read. A cute, crazy story during which, my k drama loving self wished that our male hero was actually Korean
Eu amo/odeio k-drama então tive mixed feelings aqui.
Claramente uma adolescente vai agir igual adolescente e fazer burradas adolescentes, ainda mais quando a gente lembra que ela está se inspirando nas mocinhas de k-drama que nem sempre tem as melhores personalidades possíveis.
No fim, gostei bastante!
É um bom livro pra te tirar de uma ressaca literária, eu devorei ele em um dia (se ignorarmos que li uns dois capítulos uma vez e depois deixei ele de molho por um mês pois tava fora da vibe necessária).
Claramente uma adolescente vai agir igual adolescente e fazer burradas adolescentes, ainda mais quando a gente lembra que ela está se inspirando nas mocinhas de k-drama que nem sempre tem as melhores personalidades possíveis.
No fim, gostei bastante!
É um bom livro pra te tirar de uma ressaca literária, eu devorei ele em um dia (se ignorarmos que li uns dois capítulos uma vez e depois deixei ele de molho por um mês pois tava fora da vibe necessária).
Did Desi do some truly batshit insane dangerous nonsense in her quest for love? yes. if she was a friend of mine, i would NEVER have enabled her the way her friends did.
but this book made it shockingly easy to overlook all that nonsense and just enjoy Desi's relationship with her dad and how flawed but engaging all of the characters were.
but this book made it shockingly easy to overlook all that nonsense and just enjoy Desi's relationship with her dad and how flawed but engaging all of the characters were.