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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've been in a full reading mode and abandoned my study schedule lately. But still, I'm not complaining.
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was such a wholesome story - it made me remember my love for contemporary, YA love stories. In the beginning I thought it was a bit cringe - but then I realised that that was the whole point. The story made me miss the feeling of being head-over-heels for someone and the feeling of having your whole life ahead of you when you’re in highschool.
I wish I could give this 6 stars because THIS IS THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER READ.
I thought To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was cute………….nope, it can’t hold a candle to Desi Lee and her adorable recipe for romance and disaster!
It’s sweet, cheesy, and above all - funny. It’s common for a book to make me cry but it’s very difficult to make me laugh, and I Believe In A Thing Called Love had me genuinely cackling out loud during a long haul flight!
I freakin’ adore Desi Lee as a character. She’s adorable, awkward, funny, neurotic, and a total Type-A personality. You know her recipe for snagging a boyfriend will invariably blow up in her face at some point, but I couldn’t stop reading and had the biggest smile on my face the entire time!
I loved that Desi never has to change anything about herself in pursuit of a boyfriend. Her love interest doesn’t make fun of her, doesn’t try to change her, and doesn’t admonish her for her neediness. She’s allowed to be her wonderful neurotic, awkward, intense self.
Aaaaaaaaa this is just so sweet and cheesy and K-drama fans will live for it! I want to reread it already omfg.
Representation: Korean American protagonist and father, queer side character.
I thought To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was cute………….nope, it can’t hold a candle to Desi Lee and her adorable recipe for romance and disaster!
It’s sweet, cheesy, and above all - funny. It’s common for a book to make me cry but it’s very difficult to make me laugh, and I Believe In A Thing Called Love had me genuinely cackling out loud during a long haul flight!
I freakin’ adore Desi Lee as a character. She’s adorable, awkward, funny, neurotic, and a total Type-A personality. You know her recipe for snagging a boyfriend will invariably blow up in her face at some point, but I couldn’t stop reading and had the biggest smile on my face the entire time!
I loved that Desi never has to change anything about herself in pursuit of a boyfriend. Her love interest doesn’t make fun of her, doesn’t try to change her, and doesn’t admonish her for her neediness. She’s allowed to be her wonderful neurotic, awkward, intense self.
Aaaaaaaaa this is just so sweet and cheesy and K-drama fans will live for it! I want to reread it already omfg.
Representation: Korean American protagonist and father, queer side character.
Read as an audiobook - narrated by Emily Woo Zeller
This book is part of what I call my “I just discovered BookTube and fell down a YA rabbithole” phase - circa 2018 ish. I had left this on my TBR because (a) I own the physical book and (b) I LOVE (!!!) K-dramas.
I am glad I finally picked this up because this generally worked for me. I tend not to like YA romances because reading about romantic drama of teens feels a bit icky to me - old fogey that I am. Here it worked for me - perhaps because the drama felt age appropriate and light. Our heroine - Desi - is looking for her first boyfriend not the love-of-her-life who she will be forever!!
Plus, this book had one of the best dad-daughter relationships ever! Well, not ever - but I was sold right from the first few pages (where he feeds his 7 year old daughter as she focuses on moving a pencil with her mind - so cute!!)
I think this was the general positive of the book for me - it was so cute! I liked the tone of the writing and the humour. It balanced cringe with some great moments between friends and family which I enjoyed. It felt a bit like the high school anime which I am pretty fond of (and k-dramas).
Plus - Won Bin is a great reference. That would have put it over the top for me. I really enjoyed this book quite a bit - it was a quick, funny, sweat little rom-com. I liked Desi as a main character quite a bit - she was a focused protagonist who still felt like a teen.
4 stars for being a great example of what a YA high-school romance can be. I found it charming.
This book is part of what I call my “I just discovered BookTube and fell down a YA rabbithole” phase - circa 2018 ish. I had left this on my TBR because (a) I own the physical book and (b) I LOVE (!!!) K-dramas.
I am glad I finally picked this up because this generally worked for me. I tend not to like YA romances because reading about romantic drama of teens feels a bit icky to me - old fogey that I am. Here it worked for me - perhaps because the drama felt age appropriate and light. Our heroine - Desi - is looking for her first boyfriend not the love-of-her-life who she will be forever!!
Plus, this book had one of the best dad-daughter relationships ever! Well, not ever - but I was sold right from the first few pages (where he feeds his 7 year old daughter as she focuses on moving a pencil with her mind - so cute!!)
I think this was the general positive of the book for me - it was so cute! I liked the tone of the writing and the humour. It balanced cringe with some great moments between friends and family which I enjoyed. It felt a bit like the high school anime which I am pretty fond of (and k-dramas).
Plus - Won Bin is a great reference. That would have put it over the top for me. I really enjoyed this book quite a bit - it was a quick, funny, sweat little rom-com. I liked Desi as a main character quite a bit - she was a focused protagonist who still felt like a teen.
4 stars for being a great example of what a YA high-school romance can be. I found it charming.
Marked as DNF at 45%. I hated this so much that it made me angry, and I already have enough repressed anger issues without adding this dumbass book to the list.
Desi has everything in her life planned. She's valedictorian of her class, student body president and a star soccer player on her team. One of her goals includes getting in to Stanford to become a doctor, which is what her mom did. But she's never had a boyfriend because flirting with boys is not something she can plan out and they always end up with her embarrassed. But after watching her dad's obsession, Korean dramas, she writes out a 24 step plan to find love. And she's got her eyes on Luca, the mysterious, artist who is new to school. As she starts on her steps to win him over, she finds out that real love isn't just about drama.
The premise of this story is interesting. But the outcome wasn't that great. First of all, Desi does some pretty outrageous things. Things that don't make much sense and make me question what is going through her mind. She endangers both her and Luca's lives on more than one account and she's constantly lying and manipulating Luca. I don't agree with her plan and I think it's wrong. Also, there are moments when Desi goes into extreme stalker mode and it's a bit scary. She goes as far as finding out who Luca's ex-girlfriend is and starts following her social media accounts anonymously AND gets notifications for anytime she posts a new status or picture. I just hated all the lying and manipulating and for as smart as she is, I feel like she made some really stupid decisions. Over and over!
Desi has two really good friends, Fiona and Wes. I don't really have any opinion of them. They didn't have much personality. Desi mentioned that Wes is a player but we don't see him except for with one girl. The relationship between Desi and her father is one of my favorite things about this book. After losing her mother at the age of 7, Desi and her dad rely on each other and they are very close.
So while I had a lot of issues with Desi and the story, I didn't absolutely hate it. The story was interesting and I wanted to find out what happened with Luca and Desi by the end of the book.
The premise of this story is interesting. But the outcome wasn't that great. First of all, Desi does some pretty outrageous things. Things that don't make much sense and make me question what is going through her mind. She endangers both her and Luca's lives on more than one account and she's constantly lying and manipulating Luca. I don't agree with her plan and I think it's wrong. Also, there are moments when Desi goes into extreme stalker mode and it's a bit scary. She goes as far as finding out who Luca's ex-girlfriend is and starts following her social media accounts anonymously AND gets notifications for anytime she posts a new status or picture. I just hated all the lying and manipulating and for as smart as she is, I feel like she made some really stupid decisions. Over and over!
Desi has two really good friends, Fiona and Wes. I don't really have any opinion of them. They didn't have much personality. Desi mentioned that Wes is a player but we don't see him except for with one girl. The relationship between Desi and her father is one of my favorite things about this book. After losing her mother at the age of 7, Desi and her dad rely on each other and they are very close.
So while I had a lot of issues with Desi and the story, I didn't absolutely hate it. The story was interesting and I wanted to find out what happened with Luca and Desi by the end of the book.
There were parts I found enjoyable and cute, but then I was really annoyed with a few rom-com cliches that I totally saw coming. I would recommend it for a nice fluffy read though.
i read this as part of the 7 in 7 Readathon for challenge no. 2: read something with yellow on the cover!
so this was a 2/2.5 stars. i can't decide, and i'm exhausted and Done™ with today, so i'm just saying 2.5. this premise is absolutely brilliant and hilarious, and the k-drama references made me laugh. (i need to rewatch my love from another star asap. not that the love interest in this is an alien or anything, i just love that show more than life itself.)
while desi and her story embodies a lot of what makes k-dramas so fun and unique to the genre, she also subverts a lot of the common tropes in them, like "the dude love interest who doesn't take no for an answer." (NOT in a gross way, but like in the "i need to run after my love interest and make them Understand after a Big Misunderstanding" kind of way.) the cast of characters is also diverse in both race and sexuality.
here's my problem: desi's narration is annoying most of the time. she has that naïve, inane, chatter/stream of consciousness type of narration that's supposed to be charming (done successfully with, for example, lara jean in the tatbilb series by jenny han). instead, it just made me want to cringe. this book also has one of my All-Time Hated Tropes involving female characters:. it's never okay. it's never justified. and it bores me to tears.
maybe i'm just a hater because everyone i follow loved this book. but again: see 1st paragraph. i am Done™.
so this was a 2/2.5 stars. i can't decide, and i'm exhausted and Done™ with today, so i'm just saying 2.5. this premise is absolutely brilliant and hilarious, and the k-drama references made me laugh. (i need to rewatch my love from another star asap. not that the love interest in this is an alien or anything, i just love that show more than life itself.)
while desi and her story embodies a lot of what makes k-dramas so fun and unique to the genre, she also subverts a lot of the common tropes in them, like "the dude love interest who doesn't take no for an answer." (NOT in a gross way, but like in the "i need to run after my love interest and make them Understand after a Big Misunderstanding" kind of way.) the cast of characters is also diverse in both race and sexuality.
here's my problem: desi's narration is annoying most of the time. she has that naïve, inane, chatter/stream of consciousness type of narration that's supposed to be charming (done successfully with, for example, lara jean in the tatbilb series by jenny han). instead, it just made me want to cringe. this book also has one of my All-Time Hated Tropes involving female characters:
Spoiler
when the girl gives up her life-long dream or goal for an ain't-shit guymaybe i'm just a hater because everyone i follow loved this book. but again: see 1st paragraph. i am Done™.
3.5 ⭐
Creo en una cosa llamada amor nos cuenta la historia de Desi, una chica de 17 años que está cursando su último año de instituto. El sueño de Desi siempre ha sido estudiar Medicina en Stanford, al igual que su mamá, quien falleció cuando ella era niña. Desde la muerte de su madre, Desi ha vivido con su padre, a quien llama Appa; Desi siempre ha querido que su padre se sienta orgulloso de ella, por lo que participa en diferentes actividades que se realizan en su escuela, además nunca le ha gustado darle motivos para que se preocupe por ella.
Por otro lado, el historial amoroso en la vida de Desi no es muy positivo, debido a que cada vez que le gusta un chico, ella termina en una situación vergonzosa frente a ese chico.
Desi se da cuenta de que en los dramas coreanos por lo general se sigue una secuencia de pasos para que la pareja logre su final feliz, por lo que al ser una chica de métodos, decide desarrollar su propio método basado en dramas coreanos con el fin de conquistar al chico que le gusta.
Una vez que desarrolla este método, Desi empieza a aplicar cada uno de los pasos con Luca, el chico que le gusta. De tal manera que con la ayuda de sus amigos, Desi debe crear ciertas situaciones para cumplir con cada paso, algunas de estas situaciones resultan bastante divertidas, pero en otras sentimos pena ajena por la protagonista.
Me ha gustado bastante este libro, ha sido bastante entretenido y lindo en ciertos momentos. Me ha gustado la manera en que la autora combina el método científico y los dramas coreanos.
En un principio empecé a leer este libro porque escuché que era parecido a "A todos los chicos de los que me enamoré", pero en mi opinión no es así, tal vez lo que tienen en común es que es una comedia romántica, pero el romance en este libro se siente más forzado debido a que Desi planea todo para que Luca se enamore de ella.
Creo en una cosa llamada amor es un libro que se lee rápido y que toda fan de los dramas coreanos podría disfrutar. No se debe esperar mucho romance porque la verdad es muy poco lo que nos dan, pero te hará reír en más de una ocasión.
Creo en una cosa llamada amor nos cuenta la historia de Desi, una chica de 17 años que está cursando su último año de instituto. El sueño de Desi siempre ha sido estudiar Medicina en Stanford, al igual que su mamá, quien falleció cuando ella era niña. Desde la muerte de su madre, Desi ha vivido con su padre, a quien llama Appa; Desi siempre ha querido que su padre se sienta orgulloso de ella, por lo que participa en diferentes actividades que se realizan en su escuela, además nunca le ha gustado darle motivos para que se preocupe por ella.
Por otro lado, el historial amoroso en la vida de Desi no es muy positivo, debido a que cada vez que le gusta un chico, ella termina en una situación vergonzosa frente a ese chico.
Desi se da cuenta de que en los dramas coreanos por lo general se sigue una secuencia de pasos para que la pareja logre su final feliz, por lo que al ser una chica de métodos, decide desarrollar su propio método basado en dramas coreanos con el fin de conquistar al chico que le gusta.
Una vez que desarrolla este método, Desi empieza a aplicar cada uno de los pasos con Luca, el chico que le gusta. De tal manera que con la ayuda de sus amigos, Desi debe crear ciertas situaciones para cumplir con cada paso, algunas de estas situaciones resultan bastante divertidas, pero en otras sentimos pena ajena por la protagonista.
Me ha gustado bastante este libro, ha sido bastante entretenido y lindo en ciertos momentos. Me ha gustado la manera en que la autora combina el método científico y los dramas coreanos.
En un principio empecé a leer este libro porque escuché que era parecido a "A todos los chicos de los que me enamoré", pero en mi opinión no es así, tal vez lo que tienen en común es que es una comedia romántica, pero el romance en este libro se siente más forzado debido a que Desi planea todo para que Luca se enamore de ella.
Creo en una cosa llamada amor es un libro que se lee rápido y que toda fan de los dramas coreanos podría disfrutar. No se debe esperar mucho romance porque la verdad es muy poco lo que nos dan, pero te hará reír en más de una ocasión.