Reviews

The Comeback by Lily Chu

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I really enjoyed Chu's first book, The Stand-In but was disappointed with this one. Not even Phillipa Soo's narration could make Ari anything but a two-dimensional workaholic (who doesn't actually like her job) and I ended up being bored.

vpalo's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ashlynkcraig's review

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3.0

3.5 ⭐️ Cute, but juvenile plot. Felt very circular from about the halfway point, and the otherwise very competent and intelligent MC took much too long to discover Jihoon’s secret (which was glaringly obvious but that may just be the dramatic irony of it). The will they or won’t they became rather maddening by about the second go around. That being said, the dialogue felt realistic, and it made me laugh out loud at multiple points. Phillipa Soo’s performance also makes me keep coming back to Lily Chu’s books.

iriszoe's review against another edition

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Protagonist was unlikeable and the love interest seemed unrealistic (even for a romcom)

courtneys_reading's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book had a lot going on, like we tried to resolve all this girl's issues with her family, her career and her budding relationship with a kpop star...it was trying to do one too many things I feel.

My favourite thing was the open communication the couple had though. Gave a lot of green flags and gave very unrealistic relationship goals but you know it's fiction after all lol

exhale01's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Jihoon is absolutely wonderful. He is incredibly emotionally fluent - he spends a lot of time talking about feelings and going deep with other people to help them understand their own. Perhaps even more importantly, he is presented as a really involved, very intense listener.
Yet at the same time, he has a core of utter chaos that I found funny and charming as all get out.

Ari and Jihoon work so well together. The author did a great job of realistically putting them into scenarios where they shared a lot of themselves with each other.

The book skillfully explored and delved into heavy issues like mansplaining, racism, diversity in a thoughtful manner and dysfunctional family issues.

kiki_chaser's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I got incredibly angry with Ari (the FMC) so many times while reading this and had to put the book down multiple times because I could not deal with her attitude and ignorance.

The only characters I enjoyed reading were Ari's roommate and sister. I would have loved to learn more about their lives, but there was too much going on in the book to have the chance to get to know them.