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A review by captwinghead
Bright by Jessica Jung
1.0
Less body shaming, v*mit, and misogyny than the first book. However, it was dreadfully boring.
To get this out of the way, I think a better book could've been written blending the storyline from the first book into this one and making it one eventful novel. Jason had more of a story than Alex did and if the romance had been combined where Jason actually fell for her, the plan was revealed, they ended up back together somehow and he was the rich person that believed in Rachel's endeavors. It would've made more sense to have the love interest with an actual backstory and personality to be the one she continued sneaking around to see five years in the future. Also, more characters felt like characters in the first book.
This sequel felt like a nothing burger. The few events that happened were so spaced out between the monotony of Rachel's schedule that I was annoyed slogging through it. The only Girls Forever members that were fleshed out were Mina and maybe Eunji (if I'm being nice). Again, Alex had no personality. Leah's present a bit and she's the only character from Rachel's home life that's really present. The twins show up very briefly. Yunjin and Akari resurface to give her pep talks and leave, despite her being the worst friend to Akari.
Rachel continues being incredibly selfish. It's actually funny how her relationships with her friends drop into the background when she focuses on Alex.
There are business decisions in this book that are completely nonsensical.
This is the part people believe was a thinly veiled telling of what actually happened when Jessica Jung left Girls Generation. While still under contract, it's believed she was forced out of the group and it was related to her desire to have a fashion line. Of all the things that took place in these books, that concept wasn't the craziest. However, I think it could've definitely been executed better.
The romance in this book was so lackluster and the few times they met were not romantic enough to make me believe their chemistry. It made it even harder to understand her risking everything for him. Also, he was pretty much just there to help her solve (and fund) her problems.
So, the romance was lackluster. The story moved at a snail's pace. It was extremely uneventful, especially compared to the first book. Many of the characters, especially 6 members of Girls Forever, felt interchangeable. The unnecessarily detail outfit descriptions were back. The MC continued to be insufferable and selfish.
One thing the first book had going for it was that it did manage to keep my attention. This book definitely cut down on the misogyny and fatphobia. However, what was present was incredibly boring.
To get this out of the way, I think a better book could've been written blending the storyline from the first book into this one and making it one eventful novel. Jason had more of a story than Alex did and if the romance had been combined where Jason actually fell for her, the plan was revealed, they ended up back together somehow and he was the rich person that believed in Rachel's endeavors. It would've made more sense to have the love interest with an actual backstory and personality to be the one she continued sneaking around to see five years in the future. Also, more characters felt like characters in the first book.
This sequel felt like a nothing burger. The few events that happened were so spaced out between the monotony of Rachel's schedule that I was annoyed slogging through it. The only Girls Forever members that were fleshed out were Mina and maybe Eunji (if I'm being nice). Again, Alex had no personality. Leah's present a bit and she's the only character from Rachel's home life that's really present. The twins show up very briefly. Yunjin and Akari resurface to give her pep talks and leave, despite her being the worst friend to Akari.
Rachel continues being incredibly selfish.
Spoiler
Again, her constantly thinking about how much her parents gave up for her career doesn't endear the audience to her as she risks throwing all of that away for a boy with no personality. Her father worked impossible hours so they could move closer to her and she's lost in thoughts of handbags and confusingly rich men.There are business decisions in this book that are completely nonsensical.
Spoiler
Maybe they meant to imply Girls Forever was so much bigger than Winter Flower (I think that was the name) ever was to explain why Kang Jina was kicked out of the company for a dating scandal but 2 members of Girls Forever were just scolded for the same thing and nothing more. The book tells us a member leaving a group would be terrible for business, but the company decides to kick Rachel out because the group refused to go on with her. Because risking the hit to their stock was worth it, I guess.This is the part people believe was a thinly veiled telling of what actually happened when Jessica Jung left Girls Generation. While still under contract, it's believed she was forced out of the group and it was related to her desire to have a fashion line. Of all the things that took place in these books, that concept wasn't the craziest. However, I think it could've definitely been executed better.
The romance in this book was so lackluster and the few times they met were not romantic enough to make me believe their chemistry. It made it even harder to understand her risking everything for him. Also, he was pretty much just there to help her solve (and fund) her problems.
So, the romance was lackluster. The story moved at a snail's pace. It was extremely uneventful, especially compared to the first book. Many of the characters, especially 6 members of Girls Forever, felt interchangeable. The unnecessarily detail outfit descriptions were back. The MC continued to be insufferable and selfish.
One thing the first book had going for it was that it did manage to keep my attention. This book definitely cut down on the misogyny and fatphobia. However, what was present was incredibly boring.