Take a photo of a barcode or cover
cw for drugging and fat-shaming in the book
Shine. What is there to say about Shine? (A lot. Really. So bear with me, this might be a lengthy one)
The story follows the endeavors of Rachel Kim, a seventeen year old Korean girl born and raised in New York City who uproots her entire life—family included—so she can move to Seoul, the City of Kpop, to become a Kpop trainee. Throughout the book we meet a handful of characters that play important roles in Rachel's development, like twins Juhyun and Hyeri, hotshot Jason Lee, the rival Mina and the lovely little sister Leah.
Right off the bat I'll say that if you're expecting some amazing storytelling in this book, please find another one. But if you're looking for something that encasulaptes the cheesiest moments of Camp Rock, High School Musical (the first movie) and almost every Disney film from the 2000's, this is the right place. You just need time and Naver Papago in hand, 'cause you're gonna be met with some funky romanizations for Korean words and the best part is that you get no clarification or translation all that.
For me, I didn't want that. So this book just wasn't for me.
The pacing is bad, okay. Bad. It's like the timeline is all chopped up and glued together. Also, every moment feels too cheesy, and it's like all that cheese and corn is trying to make up for the fact that these characters (re: Jason and Rachel, Rachel and Mina) lack chemistry. There was a moment where I was genuinely rooting for Rachel and Juhyun, because their sweet moment of friendship felt more romantic than anything Jason and Rachel had done and ever did.
Jessica needs to learn how to spice up her characters, give them a drive. Sure, Rachel and Mina (and the other trainees who barely show up) want to debut and all that, but it felt so unidimensional! And their squabbles, as dramatic as they were, lacked that spark that makes the reader think, holy shit, they might actually kill each other.
Another thing, this book is missing something very—extremely!—important: redemption arcs. Every bridge crossed and hatchet buried is done like it's no big deal, even when they abso-fucking-lutely are. That's also why the book doesn't have continuity, or feels like it doesn't, because everything simply happens. So there's no character growth, either. It's just very botchy.
Let's take the biggest, most annoying prick in the world, Jason Lee, as an example. This guy goes around, blind to all the double standards in the industry, does nothing to defend Rachel and is almost forceful in wanting their relationship to be public despite Rachel insisting that she doesn't want that, and suddenly, by some miracle (called Rachel being in danger and those around them ignoring it until Jason steps in), all that ignorance is - poof - gone!
The good thing is that Rachel doesn't forgive him all the easily. The bad thing is that she does end up accepting this unrealistically sudden change of heart.
Which I wouldn't have a problem with if there was a redemption arc of sorts. A good one.
The only redeemable characters in this book are Leah, the twins, Rachel's dad and, believe it or not, Daeho, who doesn't show up all that much but always brings a little spice with his little love triangle with the twins. Also, Jessica tried so bad to insert Minjun (that's one of Jason's groupmates) in the story, so he showed up out of fucking nowhere and was only there to make some brainless commentary. Me, tbh.
Onto more serious matters, let's talk fat-shaming. This is something I cannot commend her for, I don't think this subject was done right. All we see is the girls and the trainers berating the trainees for the body image, and Rachel herself makes sure to comment on Mina's weight as well. So... yeah. And for all the misogyny the girls scowl at, there isn't a drop of unity between them. I get it, debuting is a competition and they are each other's biggest rivals, but really? Really...
Apparently, this is book #1 of lord knows how many, so I hope Jessica gets a little more help (or that her proofreader gets a bit meaner because... c'mon) in the next ones. But I might not read them. Or maybe I will, who knows.
Shine. What is there to say about Shine? (A lot. Really. So bear with me, this might be a lengthy one)
The story follows the endeavors of Rachel Kim, a seventeen year old Korean girl born and raised in New York City who uproots her entire life—family included—so she can move to Seoul, the City of Kpop, to become a Kpop trainee. Throughout the book we meet a handful of characters that play important roles in Rachel's development, like twins Juhyun and Hyeri, hotshot Jason Lee, the rival Mina and the lovely little sister Leah.
Right off the bat I'll say that if you're expecting some amazing storytelling in this book, please find another one. But if you're looking for something that encasulaptes the cheesiest moments of Camp Rock, High School Musical (the first movie) and almost every Disney film from the 2000's, this is the right place. You just need time and Naver Papago in hand, 'cause you're gonna be met with some funky romanizations for Korean words and the best part is that you get no clarification or translation all that.
For me, I didn't want that. So this book just wasn't for me.
The pacing is bad, okay. Bad. It's like the timeline is all chopped up and glued together. Also, every moment feels too cheesy, and it's like all that cheese and corn is trying to make up for the fact that these characters (re: Jason and Rachel, Rachel and Mina) lack chemistry. There was a moment where I was genuinely rooting for Rachel and Juhyun, because their sweet moment of friendship felt more romantic than anything Jason and Rachel had done and ever did.
Jessica needs to learn how to spice up her characters, give them a drive. Sure, Rachel and Mina (and the other trainees who barely show up) want to debut and all that, but it felt so unidimensional! And their squabbles, as dramatic as they were, lacked that spark that makes the reader think, holy shit, they might actually kill each other.
Another thing, this book is missing something very—extremely!—important: redemption arcs. Every bridge crossed and hatchet buried is done like it's no big deal, even when they abso-fucking-lutely are
Spoiler
how the hell did Rachel get over the fact that Mina spiked her drink so fast? She just up and left, continued with her life. Um?Let's take the biggest, most annoying prick in the world, Jason Lee, as an example. This guy goes around, blind to all the double standards in the industry, does nothing to defend Rachel and is almost forceful in wanting their relationship to be public despite Rachel insisting that she doesn't want that, and suddenly, by some miracle (called Rachel being in danger and those around them ignoring it until Jason steps in), all that ignorance is - poof - gone!
The good thing is that Rachel doesn't forgive him all the easily. The bad thing is that she does end up accepting this unrealistically sudden change of heart.
Which I wouldn't have a problem with if there was a redemption arc of sorts. A good one.
The only redeemable characters in this book are Leah, the twins, Rachel's dad and, believe it or not, Daeho, who doesn't show up all that much but always brings a little spice with his little love triangle with the twins. Also, Jessica tried so bad to insert Minjun (that's one of Jason's groupmates) in the story, so he showed up out of fucking nowhere and was only there to make some brainless commentary. Me, tbh.
Onto more serious matters, let's talk fat-shaming. This is something I cannot commend her for, I don't think this subject was done right. All we see is the girls and the trainers berating the trainees for the body image, and Rachel herself makes sure to comment on Mina's weight as well. So... yeah. And for all the misogyny the girls scowl at, there isn't a drop of unity between them. I get it, debuting is a competition and they are each other's biggest rivals, but really? Really...
Apparently, this is book #1 of lord knows how many, so I hope Jessica gets a little more help (or that her proofreader gets a bit meaner because... c'mon) in the next ones. But I might not read them. Or maybe I will, who knows.