This story is a fun and modern take on Roman Holiday. So cool to make a K-Pop Star and a freelance paparazzo have a one day adventure in Hong Kong. I loved the global feel of Korean Americans in Hong Kong, and the dual perspective as they presented only part of themselves to each other but still had a connection. I can’t wait til it’s published and I can share it with others!

Thank you net galley for the advance read copy of this novel. I enjoyed this contemporary romance debut about two American born Koreans who share an instant connection in Hong Kong. Lucky, a Korean Kpop star, meets Jack a photographer in an off chance encounter. They hit it off and help challenge each other to really pursue their dreams. I enjoyed that this novel was told in alternating perspectives. It was cute and had a happily ever after type of ending.

A very fun story of teens discovering what they really want from life. Lucky is a K-pop sensation, just coming off her big Asian tour and ready to make it big in the U.S. Jack has a passion for photography, which he turns into a side job as a paparazzo while taking a gap year before college. The two run into each other one fateful night in Hong Kong, and Jack ends up convincing Lucky to spend the day experiencing Hong Kong, instead of getting back to her hotel for "choir" practice. What made this light-hearted romance so enjoyable was that it was also about Jack and Lucky finding more about themselves through their journey together.
A fun summer romance for music lovers, artists, and fans of Nicola Yoon's "The Sun is Also a Star."

The essentials:
Publication date: May 7, 2019 from Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Advanced copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher (for an honest review)
#YA, minority lit, K pop, romance, multicultural lit
From the publisher:
10:00 p.m.: Lucky is the biggest K-pop star on the scene, and she’s just performed her hit song “Heartbeat” in Hong Kong to thousands of adoring fans. She’s about to debut on The Tonight Show in America, hopefully a breakout performance for her career. But right now? She’s in her fancy hotel, trying to fall asleep but dying for a hamburger.
11:00 p.m.: Jack is sneaking into a fancy hotel, on assignment for his tabloid job that he keeps secret from his parents. On his way out of the hotel, he runs into a girl wearing slippers, a girl who is single-mindedly determined to find a hamburger. She looks kind of familiar. She’s very cute. He’s maybe curious.
12:00 a.m.: Nothing will ever be the same



My thoughts:
When I find a writer whose voice I trust for whatever reason, I tend to watch for them and scoop up whatever they publish until they either stop publishing or I do not trust them anymore. Maurene Goo, author of The Way You Make Me Feel can be trusted to bring readers attractive, conflicted, sweetly broken characters who by the end always do the right thing for their families, for their culture, for their community, and for themselves without being disrespectful, spoiled or obnoxious. Goo brings her Asian/American multicultural characters into the mainstream YA market and normalizes the minority teen experience even as her teens hold onto their strong cultural values and expectations. The best thing is that as an author, she does this in the most non political way and just tells a feel good story.

Once upon a time, dear reader, I was an avid watcher of Korean dramas. The only reason why I'm not currently an avid watcher is because they do take up quite a bit of time and are very addictive to this fan (points at self). I knew the actors by name, followed their musical groups if they happened to be in them, and proceeded to listen to music I did not understand. And I loved it.

​So, it is no surprise that the K-pop part of this book is what got my attention. I'm not a big fan of the "lets fall in love in one single day" trope, but I find that it does work for me depending on the story itself. Needless to say, Somewhere Only We Know definitely worked for me.

Lucky is an adorable K-pop idol who has been working her whole life to be in her position. She is on the brink of debuting in America (where she's actually from) and her career exploding more that it already has. And as much as Lucky does appreciate her career, she's feeling the disconnection that comes with a life in the limelight. And it all accumulates at the end of her Asia tour where she is in dire need of a hamburger.

It's in her search for this mystic hamburger where she meets Jack, a seemingly sweet guy who happens to do side photography jobs for a tabloid. That's right. Uh ohhhh.

Somewhere Only We Know took me on a rollercoaster of emotions (MUCH LIKE A KDRAMA OMG). I loved Lucky from the get-go. She unveils this side of an K-pop idol that goes beyond the so-called manufactured image we think we know from their companies. She's sweet and charismatic, while also being very human in her fears and anxiety. I found myself feeling simultaneously protective of her while also wanting her to have some freedom for herself.

Jack...Jack invoked a different emotion in me. I found him charming and funny - but his backstory created a major problem for me. It was a great conflict to have in the story because it pulls you in two different directions - wanting to see these two characters grow closer, while wanting to protect Lucky from the fact that Jack is a tabloid photographer.

Ultimately, this book gave me an ending that was all truth - it hurt and it gave me hope.

I recommend this read to lovers of Kdramas and K-pop, definitely, but mostly I recommend this book to readers who love stories full of emotion and fantastic character development.

Somewhere Only We Know is about Lucky a K-Pop star on the cusp of making her American debut and Jack a photographer who has been taking odd jobs as a paparazzo while trying to figure out what he wants out of life. These two characters meet cute and spend a whirlwind day in Hong Kong discovering things about each other but most of all themselves.

Lucky and Jack were likable enough. They each had problems they needed to overcome but were afraid to tackle on their own. Lucky is unhappy as a K-Pop Superstar and needs to rediscover her passion for music and Jack wants to study photography but is afraid his parents won't approve. These are very real issues but I felt like they were glossed over and too easily solved. I wished there had been more depth to these characters and this story. It all felt too cutesy.

I usually love books set in cities I've never been to. I enjoy the feeling of exploring something new and getting to know a real place in a fictional book. I visited Ireland last year because I read A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane when I was 12 thought it would be cool. You can say I get travel advice from books.

The problem was that the setting didn't {POP} in Somewhere Only We Know. It felt like the characters were just hopping from one tourist trap to the next and we never got to know Hong Kong. The soul of the city. The setting in this book was like having a layover, you get to see a city's airport but nothing else.

Despite the little issues I had with this story I still enjoyed reading it. It kept me engaged until the end and I wanted Lucky and Jack to get their happily ever after moment. If you're in the mood for a light-hearted romance, or a quick read at the beach, you'll enjoy Somewhere Only We Know.

Falling For YA Blog Link: http://www.fallingforya.com/2019/05/somewhere-only-we-know-by-maureen-goo.html (Live May 7th)
Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2630887256 (The add link option is rejecting this link - I apologize).

Maurene Goo is quickly angling herself to be the Kevin Kwan of YA fiction, creating fun romantic stories seeped in Asian culture. Somewhere Only We Know is sure to be snapped up by romance readers everywhere.

I had really high hopes for this book because i love K pop and K dramas and this book did not disappoint! I really loved this book because it was an easy read. This is a good book for everyone even if they know nothing about the Korean entertainment world.

This is a fun, teen romance . I will recommend it to my patrons looking for a light read , that are willing to buy into the idea of insta-love. Great setting!

I loved the diversity of the characters and the fact that this takes place in Hong Kong, but unfortunately this one wasn't for me. I don't think this is by any means a bad book and I wanted to like this so badly. Also, based on my vague memory of the movie, Roman Holiday, this basically follows the same plot. Instead of a princess wanting a "normal" day, we follow a K-POP star.

There are some parts of this that are funny, but it feels very ~insta lovey~. I am one of those people who can get behind a one day romance, Just One Day & The Sun is Also a Star are some of my favorites. But, despite having a few cute moments, I was not shipping the main characters and did not care about their journeys. Honestly, I feel like all they do is eat (which makes me want to go to HK and eat) and talk.

I think this book has a target audience, but sadly that was not me.

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo
I love, love, love Maurene Goo! I Believe in a Thing Called Love was one of my first NetGalley selections, and I have been a devoted fan ever since. One of my first Follett orders when I started my new position as librarian in my school included copies of I Believe in a Thing Called Love and The Way You Make Me Feel because we didn’t have them yet, and I have kept them rotating through circulation all school year so far. I CANNOT WAIT to be able to hand them this book, too! (Side note — I hate that it’s coming out in early May because that means only a couple of kids will get to read it before school ends!)
What I liked LOVED:
The characters are just easy to love. Lucky is certainly not a typical girl and readers haven’t been through the grueling background world of K-pop, but her feelings are easy for any reader to identify with. While I want to be really angry at Jack for his motives, I also recognize that he’s a young adult just trying to figure out who he is and manage to pay rent in the meantime — a struggle that will resonate with plenty of readers!
While I’m not opposed to using books to address hot-button issues, I do appreciate a good story that has layers of reality — keeps it to a romcom feel but not so light that it feels pointless or fluffy. The anxiety and self-discovery issues that Goo addresses in this novel are applicable to all groups, and the story never feels like it’s trying to make a political point or anything.
I like the back-and-forth points of view. Sometimes this feels overdone in YA today, but their two voices are distinct enough to make it work. There were a few places where I had to stop and back up and remind myself of which character was speaking, but for the most part, they were easy for me to keep separate.
I don’t want to tell too much, but as an adult looking back on the young adult years, I really appreciate the way Goo timed the resolution.
What I didn’t love:
I wish it didn’t have to end. I’d like it to continue forever.

I think that Maurene Goo just isn't the author for me. I keep trying her books because the descriptions sound interesting and I want to love them but I always end up feeling disappointed and this book was no exception. Following a couple of days with a K-Pop star and a boy working as a tabloid photographer, I was hoping for some cute romance and some K-Pop world fun but instead I just felt sort of uncomfortable while reading the entire book. The romance set up was not romantic to me. I don't like that their first few encounters occur while she is impaired due to sleeping pills and then the entire next day involves lying and manipulation on his part especially although she is keeping her own secrets too. It just isn't a good start to any sort of relationship and I found myself really hating the main male character, she could have done much better than him and did not stay mad enough at him for the terrible things he was doing. I wanted to love it but this author just doesn't work for me and I'm very sad that this book didn't work out the way I had hoped.

Supper cute romance for teens. I enjoyed both characters and I thought the setting really enhanced the story.

Once more, I am enchanted by Maureen Goo's work. Somewhere Only We Know is an adorable, surprisingly and unexpectedly feminist, story of a boy and a girl who fall in love over the course of one day.

Yes, it's tropey, yes, there's insta-love, yes it's a bit cheeseball. But if you read the description for the book and you chose to read the book, then you should be expecting that. This doesn't make the book any less adorable or enjoyable.

Lucky is THE top K-pop artist and is about to make her American debut, but she's starting to realize that she doesn't love her stardom life as much as she once dreamed she would. Jack is interning at a bank to please his parents while moonlighting as a tabloid photographer, because it's the only way to pursue photography, which is his actual passion. One night Lucky wanders out in search of a hamburger and adorableness ensues.

The one thing I did not appreciate about this set up is the fact that Lucky takes sleeping pills and then decides to go for a bite to eat. If you are familiar with taking sleeping pills, you know that they quickly make you drowsy and loopy, and someone who has been taking this medication regularly (like Lucky) would not take the pills while thinking she might still go find some food. I understand the author wanted to make it so that Lucky would be slightly "out of it" when she met Jack, but I do feel this could have been done in a different and more appropriate way,

Sleeping pills aside, Jack meets Lucky and attempts to help her because he thinks she's drunk. Jack is genuinely being a nice guy here, since he doesn't immediately recognize her. It's only later that night that he realizes WHO exactly is in his apartment. And suddenly he comes up with a plan to secure his future in the tabloid business.

He plans to show her a wonderful day in Hong Kong when she wakes up the next morning, and to secretly photograph her so that he can then sell the biggest story of the year to the tabloid he works at. Only, throughout the course of the day, his plans begin to change.

Lucky is much more than a ditzy K-pop diva, as Jack initially imagined. She turns out to be fun-loving, quirky, energetic, sweet, talented, and intelligent. And as Lucky begins to open up to Jack, he begins to realize that there might be something more important than a story here...

I don't know too much about K-pop, personally, but I loved learning about it, and I loved Lucky's voice in this book. She is determined and strong minded and she stands up for what she believes in. She was an excellent character, and was very much about female empowerment and independence, which I did not really expect to find in this story. I thought she was a wonderful blend of fierce and gentle, which can sometimes be difficult to achieve when writing strong female characters.

Also... there is SO. MUCH. FOOD. Reading this book made me hungry. The descriptions of food were excellent, and Lucky's appetite (for food AND life) was absolutely adorable!

I also loved the love story. Yes, it's pretty much insta-love, and it occurs over the course of one day. However, I felt the pacing of the novel was just right, and I appreciated that neither character held the other back. Quite the opposite, they helped each other grow. Which is a pretty important aspect about love.

Also, if you're a fan of Goo's previous works, you'll want to be on the look out for a couple Easter eggs hidden in the book!

Somewhere Only We Know is the classic ulterior-motive romance with a K-pop twist! If you love any of the movies pictured below (Roman Holiday, It Happened One Night, 10 Things I Hate About You, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), you'll definitely enjoy this book.

Somewhere Only We Know is a bright gem of a novel, buoyed by Goo's quick bantering narration and quick clip. Unfortunately, the characters didn't quite work for me. I didn't really feel much of anything for Jack until the end--and even then he felt rather like a stock image. Pardon the pun, readers. In addition, I didn't feel the romance. A little too much tell, not enough show. Lucky, however, is a fantastic leading lady; I would read it again for her alone

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! This was a really sweet and light-hearted romance that is a love affair with Hong Kong as much as it is between the two talented artists it depicts. Despite being completely PG, I was all-in with their romance, and thought it had just enough drama and reality mixed in. I thought it was delightful and recommend it even for younger readers who want to dip into YA- there's some super kissing, but nothing raunchy about this mild but adorable romance.

This is an incredibly sweet story, and makes for a relaxing and engaging read. It absolutely will make you want to wander around Hong Kong. My only real gripe with this book is that the cover is a bit too generic, especially when you look at Maurene Goo's last 2 covers!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) for the advance reader copy of Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo in exchange for an honest review. What a great romance! I fell in love immediately with Korean American character, K-Pop Star, Lucky, and Jack’s story, spanning one day of unrestricted commitments (Lucky decides to take a chance on being freed of her overwhelming K-Pop persona and obligations) with Jack (rescuer and nice guy) providing a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong via sites, music, and food, as they really get to know and like each other. As they roam the city, Jack and Lucky continue their deceptions, even as they parse out each other’s insecurities. I loved Lucky’s pluck, while also being tremendously guarded and conversely she also trusts and feels free as Jack accepts her as just a girl he is showing around the city. Even though Jack’s deceit is worse, I saw him through Lucky’s eyes as kind, caring, and oh so handsome. What I love about Goo’s stories are how her main characters, even though flawed, and drama-filled, they each begin to feel interest, caring, and love spread, and it makes the characters oh so swoon worthy. Teens will enjoy the intense relationship Lucky and Jack generate as their whirlwind tour of Hong Kong becomes a dream come true. Lucky and Jack are vivid, sympathetic characters whose fate matters and will keep teens turning the pages. One of my favorite new romances!

Thank you Netgalley/Macmillian for an eARC of this book!

This book was such a delight. Goo is one of my favorite YA authors, and this one certainly did not disappoint. Of course it has a sweet romance and lots and lots of food! The only thing that I felt was missing was the strong father/daughter relationship that made her last two books stand out, but because of this particular narrative, I don't think that it needed it.

I thought that both Lucky and Jack had strong motivations, which really made the book work. I feel like usually, "aimless" characters like Jack don't always work, but juxtaposed against a character like Lucky, who feels really conflicted about her success, made for a really nice dynamic. Sometimes I felt Jack had the upper-hand on Lucky, and she had less agency than I would have liked, but she had a few cards to play here and there.

I've seen some reviews say the end wrapped up too neatly, but I actually thought it was quite bittersweet. The last paragraph gave me a lil ache in my chest, and made me realize how much I cared about these characters.

I think if the "one, sweeping, romantic day" trope isn't your cup of tea, you might skip this one, but if you like it all, you must pick this one up. So much of the book, I felt like I was just spending time with Jack and Lucky, and getting to experience the day alongside them.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2738712295?book_show_action=false