Teen Book Review: "Once Upon a K-Prom" by Kat Cho

"Elena Soo has always felt overshadowed. Whether by her more successful older sisters, her more popular twin brother, or her more outgoing best friend, everyone except Elena seems to know exactly who they are and what they want. But she is certain about one thing - she has no interest in going to prom. While the rest of the school is giddy over corsages and dresses, Elena would rather spend her time working to save the local community center, the one place that's always made her feel like she belonged. So when international K-pop superstar Robbie Choi shows up at her house to ask her to prom, Elena is more confused than ever. Because the one person who always accepted Elena as she is? Her childhood best friend, Robbie Choi. And the one thing she maybe, possibly, secretly wants more than anything? For the two of them to keep the promise they made each other as kids: to go to prom together. But that was seven years ago, and with this new K-pop persona, pink hair, and stylish clothes, Robbie is nothing like the sweet, goofy boy she remembers. The boy she shared all her secrets with. The boy she used to love. Besides, prom with a guy who comes with hordes of screaming fans, online haters, and relentless paparazzi is the last thing Elena wants - even if she can't stop thinking about Robbie's smile...right?" --Summary via Goodreads

Review By Anony-mouse

4/5 Stars

(Note: Version of the book reference by reviewer is an uncorrected proof. There may be small grammatical and wording differences from the published version)

To be fair to this book, 100% of the reason I gave this a four star rating as opposed to a  five star rating is because the main topic of interest featured in this book is K-pop, which is a thing I (as an individual) do not know anything about, and have never been interested in. As for what was good about the writing, well, there’s a whole lot. The author wrote and built their world beautifully, with techniques such as subtle foreshadowing and a good handle on the general subject matter that their target audience might be interested in. For instance: K-pop. A LOT of people love K-pop, a lot of teenagers and young adults love K-pop, too (at least according to the first website google brought up; link here). Another topic  very clearly catering towards the intended audience of this book is the theme of being able to express yourself and figure yourself out however you wish (within reason, this book does not promote crime). Which is a thing I feel is commonly skipped over when it comes to books that are as emotionally centered as this one is. This is a romance book that constantly says “love will not, and should not, fix everything; love is filled with misunderstandings and betrayals, but you have to stick around when the going gets tough for it to get better,” which, compared to some written materials, is very deep and meaningful thing to include in a book that has as much tooth-rotting fluffy moments as this one (although, with my typical reading material being angsty, that might be an exaggeration). This book dives deep into emotions, and not just those of love. This book explores feeling lonely, isolated, even in a crowd of a thousand people, betrayal, and, as mentioned before, very very sweet moments full of love and happiness. The way the author lathers emotions on as thick as she does is almost suffocating at certain moments, and a breath of fresh air in others. Along with the vast emotional spectrum and deep theme(s) of this book, there is quite a bit of (very) subtle foreshadowing all throughout the first half of the book. 

(spoiler territory starts here)

The first half of Once Upon a K-Prom (by Kat Cho) is littered with foreshadowing alluding to the biggest betrayal of this book: the fact that, initially at least, the love interest (Robbie) had been trying to ask our main character (Elena) out to test out how the fans of his K-pop group would react to one of the members dating someone. From Robbie constantly saying “I have to go to prom with you,” to Elena to the flimsy excuse he gave as to why he was even able to find time to go to prom with her despite being horrendously busy being an idol (so much so that he didn’t contact her for four years). Actually, now that I summarize Robbie, he is literally the definition of a walking red flag at the start of the book. Yowch. Although, we can’t give Robbie too much heat here, seeing as when choosing between the happiness of your cousin, who has stuck by your side for seven years, and that of some (pretty) girl you lived next door to seven years ago, everyone would choose their cousin, no doubt about it. That is, until they have to personally hurt the (pretty) girl, then things get a little too human. Things get a little too complicated.

(spoiler territory has ended)

Overall, for an advance proof of a book I picked out (mostly) for how pretty the cover art was, this was a pleasant surprise. There were two grammatical errors that I found upon my initial read, and the writing was solid when it came to elaborating on emotions. Really, I think this would be the perfect book for someone who likes K-pop a whole lot more than I do. Honestly, with the title, and cover, I expected this book to be quite cheesy, and it was. Once Upon a K-Prom is the perfect easy-going book for people who like love with little bits of sadness sprinkled throughout. In general, this book was a good, enjoyable, read, and I hope it gets as much love as it deserves now that it has released. 

 Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this, and make sure to have a great day.