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alylentz's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I loved this! The blend of discovering new friendships, uncovering family secrets, and budding romance really made this seem much shorter than it is to me--there was always something interesting happening to keep me reading. Melody's questions about fitting in in both cultures unfolded so nicely and came to a really satisfying conclusion. By far, I think the best part was how clearly both the New York and Seoul settings were developed; I learned so much and I really felt like I was there, which is impressive especially as someone who has never visited Korea! The descriptions of food were also mouth-watering. I would recommend this to teens looking for coming of age novels with a well-developed sense of place and deeply developed main characters.
beenthere125's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
jess_segraves's review
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up. I was so excited for this one! And it was entertaining, and a nice mental escape. But it was also a little over-explained and the conflicts/family secrets felt obvious to everyone but Melody.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
I'm very much a fan of books where the protagonist moves—preferably across at least one ocean. And here we have just that: Melody has grown up in New York, but following some very minor drama, she and her mother pack up to move to Seoul, where her father already lives.
Seoul comes as a surprise: in New York, she and her mother share a cramped apartment, and Melody is careful not to buy fancy coffee too often. In Seoul with her father, they live in a luxury high-rise apartment and Melody is given a limitless credit card and told not to go tooooo wild with it. Suddenly she's in private school, taking Honors Korean (despite her markedly less-than-fluent proficiency) and hanging with teenagers who think nothing of dropping the equivalent of hundreds of dollars on an afternoon snack.
It's a lot of fun, but I'm still looking forward to more off-to-another-country books (especially non-Western countries) that don't have quite this wish-fulfillment feel. That is...most people who change countries get a visa in a passport, not a Visa without a limit, you know? I'd love to see more of a middle-class experience where less of the focus is on glitz and glamour and $1,700 shopping sprees and where the 'poor' kids in school don't still live in luxury towers.
Seoul comes as a surprise: in New York, she and her mother share a cramped apartment, and Melody is careful not to buy fancy coffee too often. In Seoul with her father, they live in a luxury high-rise apartment and Melody is given a limitless credit card and told not to go tooooo wild with it. Suddenly she's in private school, taking Honors Korean (despite her markedly less-than-fluent proficiency) and hanging with teenagers who think nothing of dropping the equivalent of hundreds of dollars on an afternoon snack.
It's a lot of fun, but I'm still looking forward to more off-to-another-country books (especially non-Western countries) that don't have quite this wish-fulfillment feel. That is...most people who change countries get a visa in a passport, not a Visa without a limit, you know? I'd love to see more of a middle-class experience where less of the focus is on glitz and glamour and $1,700 shopping sprees and where the 'poor' kids in school don't still live in luxury towers.
goolsby's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was so cute and captured really well the isolation of moving, especially around high school.
Melody grows so much throughout. In the beginning, I had to actively remind myself she's a teenager. She makes stupid choices and carelessly hurts people. She's not malicious, she's just in her own world and trying to build her own life.
It wraps up a little too perfectly, though. It's too easy and too forgiving. Teenagers should be allowed to have real fights, to go in and out with people, and see the results of that. On the other hand, there were things that never get wrapped up.
Her family is what takes it from younger YA to dead in the middle of the target age. Her relationships growing and changing with her parents and aunt really change things.
It was really interesting to see the differences in schooling, especially to the world of international schools.
Well done on the whole.
Melody grows so much throughout. In the beginning, I had to actively remind myself she's a teenager. She makes stupid choices and carelessly hurts people. She's not malicious, she's just in her own world and trying to build her own life.
It wraps up a little too perfectly, though. It's too easy and too forgiving. Teenagers should be allowed to have real fights, to go in and out with people, and see the results of that. On the other hand, there were things that never get wrapped up.
Her family is what takes it from younger YA to dead in the middle of the target age. Her relationships growing and changing with her parents and aunt really change things.
It was really interesting to see the differences in schooling, especially to the world of international schools.
Well done on the whole.
sheabooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
laylacarstairs's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5 stars
Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an ARC of this book!
“I smile when he says my Korean name. The name I always heard spoken in a tone of disappointment now sounds more comfortable to me. It finally feels like my name.”
This novel felt like a cute teen k-drama! I am a huge fan of k-dramas and this book gave me all the butterflies that I get when I watch a k-drama! I really enjoyed the story and the romance within the novel. Wonjae and Melody were absolutely adorable and I was excited for them every step of the way! I also really enjoyed learning about Korean culture and seeing Melody reconcile with the culture of her homeland. It really touches my heart to see read a story about a first-gen kid learning to love and appreciate their culture, as it was an experience that I went through. All in all, this was just such an easy book to read!
Some things I didn't love include the main character, Melody, at times, because she came off as a bit annoying. I did however like the fact that she was called out for it, so it seemed like the author was aware of how her character was acting. I also felt like the writing style was giving 2012 if that makes sense, and it could have been improved.
Overall, a really cute book that I definitely recommend if you need to get out of a reading slump!
Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an ARC of this book!
“I smile when he says my Korean name. The name I always heard spoken in a tone of disappointment now sounds more comfortable to me. It finally feels like my name.”
This novel felt like a cute teen k-drama! I am a huge fan of k-dramas and this book gave me all the butterflies that I get when I watch a k-drama! I really enjoyed the story and the romance within the novel. Wonjae and Melody were absolutely adorable and I was excited for them every step of the way! I also really enjoyed learning about Korean culture and seeing Melody reconcile with the culture of her homeland. It really touches my heart to see read a story about a first-gen kid learning to love and appreciate their culture, as it was an experience that I went through. All in all, this was just such an easy book to read!
Some things I didn't love include the main character, Melody, at times, because she came off as a bit annoying. I did however like the fact that she was called out for it, so it seemed like the author was aware of how her character was acting. I also felt like the writing style was giving 2012 if that makes sense, and it could have been improved.
Overall, a really cute book that I definitely recommend if you need to get out of a reading slump!
twiinklex's review
3.0
I'm a sucker for YA novels set in Korea, whether it's chaebol drama or K-pop chaos. This book wasn't as exciting as its counterparts in the genre and nor does it offer anything new, but I enjoyed it overall.
There's no big conflict to propel what is essentially a coming-of-age story, which focuses on Melody adjusting to life in Seoul while navigating school, grades, romance, parental expectations and the pursuit of an unconventional career path frowned upon by her parents. I enjoyed following the protagonist as she grapples with her two identities, family secrets and first love.
I loved the book's themes but found Melody hard to like even though I get that it's part of character development. She was disrespectful to her elders and often speaking out of turn; sometimes well-intentioned but many times overboard. Not forgetting how she snoops through her mum's phone and keeps giving the poor woman a hard time. Melody is also highly self-absorbed and hardly asks about Sophia when the two talk, even wondering to herself "What does Soph know?"
Still, this is a beautiful love letter to Seoul and Korean culture. I loved all the descriptions of food, hanoks, cafes and even the subway system. It reminds me of my own visit and I can't wait to go back again. In the meantime, I'll just keep reading books like this one!
There's no big conflict to propel what is essentially a coming-of-age story, which focuses on Melody adjusting to life in Seoul while navigating school, grades, romance, parental expectations and the pursuit of an unconventional career path frowned upon by her parents. I enjoyed following the protagonist as she grapples with her two identities, family secrets and first love.
I loved the book's themes but found Melody hard to like even though I get that it's part of character development. She was disrespectful to her elders and often speaking out of turn; sometimes well-intentioned but many times overboard. Not forgetting how she snoops through her mum's phone and keeps giving the poor woman a hard time. Melody is also highly self-absorbed and hardly asks about Sophia when the two talk, even wondering to herself "What does Soph know?"
Still, this is a beautiful love letter to Seoul and Korean culture. I loved all the descriptions of food, hanoks, cafes and even the subway system. It reminds me of my own visit and I can't wait to go back again. In the meantime, I'll just keep reading books like this one!
shane_the_reading_rat's review
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
wasn’t a big fan of this :/ pretty cover though!!
i liked the first section of this book, and i like Sophia as a character. where i kinda start to have problems is with Melody/Solmi (i’ll call her Melody as that is what the synopsis calls her, but she is also named Solmi).
it just felt like her actions were extremely immature and like she didn’t understand consequences of what she did. she did have a bit of character growth over the course of the book, but not really enough for me to actually like her.i was glad to see both Yura and Sophie call Melody out on this at different times, but that still didn’t really go anywhere. i also really didn’t feel the chemistry between Melody and Wongjae. it felt like a partially-baked enemies-to-lovers thing? and i really dont like enemies-to-lovers as a trope, so it might just be me not getting the chemistry.
sadly, my other problem with this book was Kimbeom. it just felt like he had no personality other than the tension surrounding him and his dad, seemed really one-dimensional. also the Chuseok dinner party scene made me genuinely upset, where Melody was about to start yelling at Kimbeom’s dad, likely outing poor Kimbeom to everyone there. thankfully he stopped her, but a few pages later Melody’s mom agrees that maybe Melody SHOULD have called out Kimbeom’s dad in front of everyone. i cannot just let that slide, it felt so weird that no one except Kimbeom himself was like “don’t do that.” that is outing someone and i just really dont feel great that no other characters (who weren’t Kimbeom) acknowledged that that was a horrible idea. also after Kimbeom says that his mom told his dad she would divorce him unless he apologized to Kimbeom and took back the plan to send him to boarding school in Boston, there’s just no follow-up after that? it felt like the poor guy’s side plot got tossed to the wayside to accommodate for the romantic development between Wongjae and Melody.
so over all, cover is very pretty, but i wasn’t a big fan of the story. i will read whatever Claire Ahn writes next though!!
i liked the first section of this book, and i like Sophia as a character. where i kinda start to have problems is with Melody/Solmi (i’ll call her Melody as that is what the synopsis calls her, but she is also named Solmi).
it just felt like her actions were extremely immature and like she didn’t understand consequences of what she did. she did have a bit of character growth over the course of the book, but not really enough for me to actually like her.
so over all, cover is very pretty, but i wasn’t a big fan of the story. i will read whatever Claire Ahn writes next though!!