What an AMAZING book about the K-pop world, growing up as a Korean American and navigating both worlds! Loved the love story in here, tales about varying friendships, and references to so many things I could relate to growing up! I can’t wait until the second book comes out!!
Notable lines:
I wish I could say that time with Mrs. Li and the school nurse was the only time I ever felt rejected by the world, but it wasn’t. There were the kids who made fun of the kimchi Umma packed me for lunch; the woman who once came up to me in our corner bodega, screaming at me that I should “go home” (even though I lived around the block, I got the feeling that wasn’t what she meant); there was the time I dressed like Hermione Granger for Halloween and everyone insisted that I was Cho Chang. Through it all, there was K-pop. It made me feel understood, like there was a place in the world where I belonged, where people would see me for me.”
PS-LOVED Lady M’s advent calendar! Even after the holidays pass, you can still use it, and it depicts NYC in the winter time so well!