Bookishly Gabby: #Review

Hart & Seoul
Author: Kristen Burnham
Series: Hart & Seoul #1
Pages: 256 pages
Publisher: Mascot Books
Release Date: June 4th,2019
Source: Received a copy for review via netgalley

Summary:

Girl meets boy. Boy falls for girl. Girl discovers boy is a runaway K-pop idol in hiding.

Merilee Hart has been doing her best to keep things together since her mother left, her art a welcome escape from her depressing new reality. But things seem to go even more awry the moment her next door neighbor’s enigmatic and mysterious nephew arrives from South Korea. Lee is moody, cocky, and utterly infuriating.
But when Merri’s closest friends betray her and her father crushes her dream of going to art school, Merri finds herself drawn to Lee, who seems to live within even greater shadows than her own. And just when she thought things couldn’t get crazier, Merri’s world is upended when she discovers Lee’s big and bizarre secret…he is none other than a runaway member of the K-pop mega-group Thunder.

It’s not long before Thunder’s fans, the Storm Chasers, begin to close in on Lee, ready to do whatever it takes to return their favorite idol to his rightful place in the band. Faced with the prospect of even more heartbreak and caught up in an international whirlwind that has a life of its own, Merri realizes that she must find a way to mend herself, gain control of her life, and pursue her dreams—her heart and soul depend on it.

So while I've been gone these past couple of years one thing that I really became interested in is K-Pop and k-dramas. When I read the summary of this book I just knew I had to read it and I am so glad I did! Guys this book made me so incredibly happy! I loved the idea of the book and the actual story itself was so amazing and cute.

Let me just say that I have yet to read a book like this -- one that really incorporates k-pop and k-dramas like this one did. I loved all the references to Korean Food and Korean words and when Lee and Merri were watching k-dramas that I have also seen, I was in heaven. Living in America I know very few people around me who are also interested in K-pop bands, so I tend to forget how big of a deal K-pop stars are and the huge fan base they can have. With that being said, it was so interesting to get to experience how a member of a k-pop group may feel. We really got see what it's possibly like under the pressure of being such a huge star and hardly having any privacy. Granted it's fiction, but I am sure that being a K-pop star in real life is even more pressure than displayed here. Even so, I really connected with the characters in this novel.

Character development is such an essential part of a good story and I can safely say, there was ALOT of character development going on here. When we are first introduced to Lee, he definitely was not a likeable character in the slightest. He was arrogant, stuck up and just honestly, a dick. However, as the novel continues, more and more layers are pulled back about this character and at some point he really turns into a good guy. Merri does not have as much character development as Lee, but I do feel like she also goes under a transformation of being self aware of her mistakes she's made and just about forgiveness. There is not any supporting character development since its entirely focused on Lee and Merri,but I can't say that I'm mad about that choice in the slightest! I'm honestly mad that I finished so quick. Now i just want to re-read it all over again UGH.

So here is the one issue I had with this book and the reason why it did not get 5 stars.. When I started reading this book there was something about the writing style at the beginning that I just really did not connect with. It was very slow, and to me there was a lot of missing details. I kept asking myself about details and was this mention or was that mention and it caused me to re-read a lot at the beginning thinking I missed something, but I didn't. The first few chapters I really started to think this was going to be a DNF for me. I hated the way that Lee was an arrogant jerk, I didn't really relate to Merri and the cheating scandal was not a surprise in the slightest. I was very uninterested and annoyed, but I kept reading hoping that it would get better because I really loved the idea of this plot and I'm so glad I did! At some point everything just clicked. The writing became more in depth, character transformation started to happen and it became even steamy at some points. Everything just started to flow and this book became a fun, on the edge of your seat read.

Overall, I LOVE THIS BOOK. While there was a little bit of a rocky start, if you work pass it and stay through it, I promise you, you will not be dissapointed! You'll be grinning ear to ear and binge watching K-dramas at the end of all of this!

I highly recommend this book if you like:

💗Contemporary YA

💗Swoony Worthy Romance

💗Diverse characters

💗 Interested in K-pop