Cover Image: Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous

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Member Reviews

Not being the biggest fan of instalove I thought I’d give this one a chance but was left kinda feeling meh and not totally hooked. I did like how it covered how obsessed we can get with social media and how the book was focused on unplugging. It’s definitely written I feel for the YA crowd which I didn’t mind. The author also did a good job of keeping the cast diverse which was nice to see.

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Relatable teen fiction that expertly explores the impacts, both positive and negative, of social media through an engaging heroine. California high schooler Sunny Song has it all figured out. She's a rising social media influencer who manages her work smoothly and plans to make it a career. The adults around her go from concerned to worried when she accidently flashes the world her sports bra during a livestream of making brownies. To save her from being expelled from school, her family sends her to a digital detox summer camp in the middle of America. Here she will meet fellow wanna be influencer stars, encounter subtle and not so subtle racism, teach older adults to make the most of technology, and fall in love with a farm boy whose own career goals inspire her to new heights. Sunny is a fully realized character whose Korean-American experience is presented with insight. I especially appreciated that the book didn't paint social media as a blight, but explored how it can be a blessing too, helping people improve their lives. Highly recommended for ages 12 and up.

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In our age of social media, this book is right on the pulse.
Everyone wants to be famous, but probably not for accidently creating a PG-13 brownie cooking video.
When Sunny is sent to Iowa (I've been there too many times and taken in first hand the absolute nothingness of cornfields in every direction), she's desperate to get back online.
But the connections and relationships she's developing in the meantime are actually what makes this book so amazing.
The audiobook was great. Narration wasn't distracting from the plot and well done.

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I got an advanced copy of this book (audiobook) from NetGalley for a review. Thanks, NetGalley!

Sunny's parents are already on her case since her school's headmaster met with them to address Sunny's social media activity. So when her parents and younger sister walk in on her accidentally racy cooking Livestream, dubbed #BrowniePron, she's sent to a digital media detox camp in Iowa where technology is banned and campers are required to attend daily group sessions and help the farm. There, she meets a new friend Delia, makes enemies with Wendy, and meets a possible love interest, the camp owner's son Theo.

The first thing that drew me to the book was the digital detox camp. I've never heard of anything like it. The author was good at writing Sunny's struggles with detoxing (no spoilers) and her fighting feelings for Theo. Making Sunny Asian-American just adds to making this book unique and special.

I would have loved to have seen an Epilogue of a Sunny-Theo-meet-outside-of-camp scene. Maybe of Sunny showing him around Los Angeles?

Anyway, this was a good book, but I just would have liked to see more scenes with the characters OUTSIDE of camp is all. Good camp teen romance story.

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This was a such a great story! The narration was very good and I liked how it played. I think we are all a little addicted to technology and many to social media. This just showed how easy it is to start new habits and remind you that when you choose one thing you will always be missing out on something else. So make sure it is more important or what you really want.

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Sunny is a budding social media star... but it's gotten her in so much trouble at school that she's being sent to a social media detox camp for the summer. Iowa, to this California girl, is not good: there's no internet, no phones, no technology, no bestie, no crush, and no possibility to raise her star! But at the farm, Sunny learns that social media in moderation is an okay thing... and she catches a cute guy's eye, too.

Diverse reads:
- Sunny is Korean-American.

Audiobook ARC: The narrator is fun: engaging, diverse in different characters' speaking bits, and keeps the energy flowing.

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Before I dive into my review of Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous, I wanted to mention that when I picked up this book I was at a point in my journey as a reader where I was distancing myself from young adult contemporary books a little bit (or at least as much as I could outside of the books already on my TBR for the year).

And before I continue, I wanted to say that the narrator was perfect for how I imagined Sunny would sound like. The tone of voice, the intonations, everything!

I was aware of this going into Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous, so I wasn’t too surprised when I didn’t really resonate with what Sunny was going through–yes, I did understand the influencer aspect a little bit even if she has more followers than I likely ever will, but her age and the fact that she was in high school and thinking about college and all of those things… I’ve gotten to a point I think where those parts of my life are too far behind me for me to properly click with characters who are still in that period of their life.

I will say though that it was a little bit easier to get into the story and to resonate with Sunny and what she was going through once she left the big city and got to the camp. I’m not sure if it was just me but I did find the times that Suzanne Park’s adult rom-com writing peeked through the YA writing…but maybe that’s just because I’ve read an adult romance of hers in the past and I got a little bit in my head about it.

Sunny’s story as a whole I found to be quite entertaining–with little nuggets of teenage stress added in as well as, I would say, a lesson that I think people of all ages could benefit from hearing and learning from (having to do with social media and forgetting to live in the real world–but I won’t go into much detail about this because Park imparts this lesson a lot better than I could, and I also don’t want to spoil the book for those who haven’t read it yet). I definitely had a lot of fun reading Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous, and I think that it might actually be my favourite Suzanne Park book so far!

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Another one of “I wanted to love this but didn’t” reviews! It had a good idea but it was too fast of a pacing to enjoy anything about it and I just didn’t enjoy it.

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I really liked the story - I thought it was fun. However, the audiobook was a bit rough and patchy and I just couldn’t connect with this character.

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Sonny didn't mean for it to happen, it was just a horribly embarrassing mistake that her baking stream turned more steamy than she would have liked. Because of it, her parents are shipping her off to a rehab summer camp. This really does stunt her chances to win an influencer contest but maybe this camp can help her win. Sunny Song will never be famous is a look into the relationship between social media and teenagers. How it can become a toxic relationship instead of foster relationships online. Sunny's detox will relate with many of the young generations today and her antics with making them laugh out loud as well. Giving perspective on what really matters and what relationships should be fostered. I would have liked for the intergenerational relationships to have shined a little more but overall it was a fun and quick read

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This was so stinkin cute I can't.... I loved this so much! I honestly had no expectations for this but Sunny was a wonderful and adorable character! And oh the romance -gasp- my hopeless romantic self couldn't. This is definitely worth a listen and read for any YA or romance lover!

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This book was so cute! I loved sonny songs character and she will always be famous to me ☺️ I have recently started listening to audiobooks and listening to this one made me continue to love them, definitely pick this one up if you want a fast, quick and fun read!

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-Genre
Young adult romcom audio🎧 book

-Excerpt
My registration person looked at me and smiled. “Sunny Song. Seventeen years old. Los Angeles, California?” I nodded and watched as she wrote 2 on the printout. According to the key next to the roster, that was tier-­-2 social media addiction.

She said, “Great, I’ll check your name off. Do you have any other names you go by? We don’t have any others listed.”

“Oh, my mom filled out my forms, not me. I go by Goggle Girl on Insta and YouTube and Sunny D on everything else.”

She laughed. “No, I meant, like, a family nickname or something. In case someone calls the office and is trying to contact you in case of an emergency?”

Heat flushed my cheeks, and my body flicked on the maximum-­perspiration switch. “Oh, jeez! I’m so…oh my God. I go by Sunny, or Sun-­Hee at home, usually when my parents are angry with me.” I scrunched my head down into my shoulders like a turtle backing into its shell.

-My description
Social media influencer Sunny has plans for the summer🏖️-- crack 100K Youtube followers, snag the boy of her dreams, have the best summer ever with her best friend Maya. That was before #browniegate--taking her shirt off on camera (she didn’t realize she was still streaming. Thank God for bras!) Her parents are sending her to Idaho and digital detox camp⛺. What will Sunny discover when forced to disconnect?

How it made you feel
There is an earnestness and authenticity to Sunny that drew me in and kept me reading. The lightness to the story.

-Favorite part
Sunny’s working with the folks from the retirement home.

-One-word description
Smile

-Would you recommend?
Is it ironic that I am sharing my recommendation for ON social media? I really enjoyed this, and the tone, style, and setting make it a perfect summer read. I listened to this on audio and I think the book was greatly enhanced by the reader. I would love more stories about Sunny or her sister (hint, hint!)

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This a cute little story about love and focusing on what is in front of you. It is an adorable YA or even a middle grade book.

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Ok time for a bit of honesty. I don't read very much YA because I just don't feel like I relate well. I am old and my kids are 14 and below. I have tried a few YA novels in the past year. I have loved several, others I just couldn't get past all the drama. I am trying to branch out and read more YA. My kids are getting older and I know they will be venturing into this world more.
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With that above being said, I absolutely adored this book. Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous was an absolute joy to read. I loved the whole cast of characters and was so involved with the book that I read it in one sitting. I could not stop. I was sad when it ended because I could have easily read more. Full disclosure, I did have audio as well and the narrator did a great job.
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After a hiccup on an instagram live video in front of thousands of Sunny's fans, Sunny's parents and school insist that she go to a digital detox summer camp. Sunny of course is not thrilled, but the camp is a lot different than she expected.

This was unexpectedly good. I love a good light read with a surprisingly good story. This could have very easily turned unbearbly cheesy in tone, but I found it refreshingly light instead of cliche and overly-frothy.

A perfect blend of humor, interesting plot and yes, even some romance, made for a really fun summer read that I am glad I took a chance on! I listened to this on audiobook and thought the narration was really excellent!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous was such a fun story to listen to. I hadn't listened to an audiobook in a long time and hearing Sunny's story of being "exiled" to a digital detox camp was just what I needed for my 45-minute commute to and from work each day.

As someone who dabbles into the influencer world, but also didn't necessarily grow up with that world, it was really interesting to see Park's point of view through Sunny's story. It definitely felt true to today's internet and influencer climate with YouTube and video content being a strong choice of many of today's youth for entering social media. I also felt the constant pressure to be "on" or be a certain personality or out-putting content constantly that Sunny and other characters felt to be true as well to today's internet culture and youth culture. So I definitely enjoyed exploring that through Sunny's eyes and within the setting of detox camp where Sunny could really dig in to who she really is and take some of the pressure of and being a non-content creating teenager for a while.

But if you strip away the influencer characteristics and problems and the detox camp setting, readers are left with a familiar coming-of-age story that I think any reader can relate to. Sunny is a teenager worried about making friends, pleasing her parents, finding and developing a love relationship with her crush, surviving a brand-new summer camp and worried about her future and who she wants to be. Throw in some humor and you're definitely going to be drawn in to this story! Park has a wonderful way of drawing you into her characters and not wanting to put down this book! So if you're looking for a great character-driven story with humor, influencer culture and coming-of-age storyline then definitely take a change on this one!

Also, I cannot recommend the audiobook enough! If you're an audiobook listener, I'd definitely recommend picking up this title on audiobook if you can!

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Ok, so I officially love Joy as a narrator and will listen to all of her books. I listen to my Audio on 1.7 or 2 speed, and some voices and cadence of narrators sound off at that level but not this one. Both the author of the book and narrator for the audiobook is fantastic, and I recommend giving them both a chance if you can!

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Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

Gosh Sunny was super annoying. I did not like her character and could not get on board with this book. I liked the narrator's voice but really struggled with the content. Sunny felt immature and inauthentic.

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My only thought for much of this book is “Sunny is annoying”. I didn’t hate her, but I didn’t love her. This is a very “Disney Channel Original” style story of a teenage viral YouTube star who is sent to a digital detox camp in Iowa for social media addiction. Cue summer camp hijinks, cute Iowa farm boys, and learning moral lessons. It was fine.

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