I loved Kat Cho’s Wicked Fox duology, so as soon as I heard about this book, I knew I had to read it.

The book was everything I’d imagined and more! Kat does so well at capturing the current hallyu (Korean wave) as well as bringing up the strict rules that K-pop stars have to follow.

And of course this book is also a great story on friendship, love, and belonging. Plus, while the plot seems outlandish, it’s still so relatable and like it actually could happen.

Oh and one thing more I loved was spotting the k-drama tropes. In my mind I had almost a tally going to check off when something came up. It made the read even more fun!

Fun and engaging. It made me feel like a teen again! Such a great Kpop book! But those that don't know anything about the world of Kpop will still love this book.

Robbie and Elena used to be the best of friends, but Robbie's move to Soul and his becoming one of the biggest k-pop stars has changed that. However, their connection rekindles when Robbie turns up in Elena's life years after they've lost touch with the intention to keep their childhood promise of going to prom together.
This book truly was made for the childhood friends to lovers enthusiasts! You have the careful treading of that fine line as the two are scared of breaking the precious connection they already have, the yearning on both sides as they want to become more. You also have the additional layer of their distance (both spatial and temporal) making it so that they have to relearn who the other is after all these years. There's something so tender and fragile and tentative about their relationship, which is so heartwarming to follow as a reader.
I also appreciated that outside of the relationship, both characters had a lot of growing up yet to do individually before they could come to a place to allow anyone else into their lives that way.
Naturally, I adored that drama and hijinks brought by the fame aspect, from concerts to fans and managers, AND LET ME TELL YOU HOW WONDERFUL OF AN ADDITION I FOUND THE MEMBER PROFILES TO BE!
This book is just such a treat and a delight!

I found this book to be very cute. The beginning was a bit stilted but it definitely picked up as the story progressed.

~👑Special thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!👑~

I should've accepted that marriage proposal.

Rating: ✨✨✨✨3.6

See, when one gets a 'Say Yes To The Ring' moment when one is in kindergarten, that immature, tiny, miniscule brain thinks 'oh, that's weird, let's run away'. While years later, that same immature, slightly larger, miniscule brain thinks, "I could've been a married lady by now, with a slightly-disturbed-because-the-kid-chased-me-all-around-the-fountain-while-viciously-holding-on-to-said-flower-ring to lovers trope, and sweat stains from running away as my reminder of it."

Frankly, I'm still wiping tears.

With a big chunk of ice to make myself suffer because why can't I have THIS-
I missed the opportunity, and it hunts me.
It doesn't, but I'll say it does for effect.
I may be emotionally spent and money less, but let's make it ~dramatic~

Being superficial for a second, that cover owns me.
It owns my mortgage, my life, my own Barbie collection- and while reading some corny/ slightly cheesy scenes that fit perfectly with the vibes of the book, I thought about being critical and judging everything...

But then I thought, let's be real, I'm never going to have this ish (unless the kid that chased me back then, still holds a burning candle for my arrival, which I doubt-) in real life, so I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Speaking of which, that brings me to the first topic of this ess- review (barely two days back in Hell, and I've already been hijacked), the fact that books like this give me hope for my celebrity meet-cute. AKA, the plot and storyline.
The book's pace itself was on steroids, most likely some hallucinogenic drug too- wait, maybe that was me, never mind. By page 20, the characters were already in each other's lives, by page 40, feelings were already present. By page 100 they probably swore never to be apart again- you know what I mean. Those kinds of steroids, and honestly? This mass of bad decisions was alllll here for it. I've been dying to read a celebrity/commoner book that's appropriate to mark as 'read' (cough) when people that share my own blood follow me- and this one was the perfect one!

Quick, light and basically a batch of whipped cream dumped on waffles.
Dang, now I'm hungry.
Which is also what this book made me feel.

For food, not uh... I'll shut up now.
Holy fire is needed in aisle 5

The storyline follows best friends that were separated when they were kids--one taken to stardom in the K-Pop industry, whilst the other strived to save a community center from closing down-- then suddenly Spy Boy comes back into the picture, and guess what? He rocks the MCs world.
...
......
I need a mental ice bath.
The puns are too frigid-
(I need help)

I liked that plot so much (not the ice bath one). Not too much to absolutely adore it, but I flew through it like a single-minded chipmunk.

Then, of course, we have the daydreaming portion where I envisioned V as the love interest for the whole book-
And I blushed.
Flushed (not the toilet)
And combusted.

But revived myself to finish this.

The characters themselves weren't that big of a deal. Superficial, sweet, if they died maybe I wouldn't have cried- BUT THAT'S OKAY. NOT EVERY BOOK HAS TO BREAK YOU, BOOKSY. HUSH YOURSELF

I really wanted to care more about them, you know? I wanted to see how they were beneath their masks and dance breaks.
They were more... fillers, I think.
We got the mean girls.
Sassy bff.
Annoying yet super hot brother.
More mean people.
The one friend that's not mean but not nice.
You know the gist-

The MC needs a thousand hugs, possibly a bottle of tequila, possibly a pillow fort and the words 'you're worth staying for' tattooed on her forehead. You have no idea how much I related to how she felt and the things she did when times seemed a little too difficult. Trust me, I gave up on the violin a loooong time ago because I didn't have a passion for it, and maybe I didn't. But perhaps I didn't want it because it got hard to do. And the fact that she went from journaling to music to art and didn't find the one that called to her made me feel not alone. We're teens, we don't have anything planned out, most of us don't know what the heck to do with life itself. And even if you're not a teen! Perhaps you're 88 (which is epic) and don't know what the complete purpose of your existence is. I've learned that just enjoying hobbies or studying the things you want to study is what makes living, better than existing for a single goal. And her character ARC was fabulous.
Mainly because the rest of the characters made her see what was going wrong, and I love THE COMMUNICATION-

Then we have the love interest-he- UGH, okay? (look at me using my words) That's really all. I wanted to squeeze the cuteness out of his bootiful self, bottle it up and spritz it every time I walked into a room. Disturbing visual? Yes.
We need to bury this man under 56789 pounds of cotton to preserve his precious innocence. Time and time again, his adorable self was too much to resist. If I were to rate him from 'Ew, what's that', to 'MARRY ME, LET'S HAVE OFFSPRING-', I would give him a solid 'you brighten up my day, you' next to 'I'll steal you away and place you in a lovable dungeon'

More on the like than in the love-basically this whole book.

The main event of this book, though, was (McDonald's outro) the romance! It was easy, sometimes not very easy because COMMUNICATION was not present (I have an innate dislike for that trope), but ultimately fun, loveable, perhaps shoveable too, sweet and quick. The atmosphere it created was not one of sizzling feasts, more like desserts served cold on a summer day. I had the issue of finding it was too fast for me to completely adore it, but I see why. Or at least what was the purpose of it. Childhood sweethearts meet again, disastrous Promposal, the holy duo of Rom- Coms everywhere.

It helps that I was eating Ice Cream while reading, not going to lie- *wink WINK*

The thing I least enjoyed, overall, was probably how easy every problem was fixed at the end. Because sometimes it takes time to recuperate a bond, to forgive years of fights or hatred. The fact that it was made so easy within the last 25 pages was a tad frustrating. I want to see the struggle, or even better, leave it open-ended! Life is not perfect, so why should familial or even romantic relationships strive to be so?

On a closing note, this is a book you can most likely read in under four hours. It's funny, fluffy, uncomplicated, painless (ahem, as every book you read should be, Booksy-) and above all, so flipping wholesome.

I'm still waiting for my ring, V.
You may be a little (COUGH) older than me, BUT I'LL SOON BE LEGAL-
JUST HOLD UP THE DANG AGING-
EVEN THOUGH YOU LOOK SO FINE STANDING THERE-

(P.S: To the boy who chased me with a flower ring, I want to tell you that even though I screamed bloody murder, you made me feel loved, and I hope someone makes you feel that way now.
Or, you know, give me a call-)

I wish you the sweetest bookish day!

Thank you to Disney Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. As a huge fan of the author, I was so excited to get a chance to read it early!

Kat Cho's done it again with Once Upon a K-Prom! I absolutely loved this book and it hit on so many favorite tropes: forbidden romance, famous person falls in love with regular girl, ride or die friendships, and so much more.

While most people don't have an international K-pop superstar as a best friend, the feeling of being left behind or overshadowed by friends and family is a much more universal experience that I think many readers will be able to relate to. I know I did, and I would have loved to have access to this book when I was a teen.

The book hinged a lot on the miscommunication trope and while I appreciated that the story gave valid reasons for why they couldn't always just call or text to clear something up, it did get to be a bit much. That said, I still absolutely loved it and can't wait until my final copy arrives!

3/5 for Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho

I was very excited when I picked up this book. The kpop idol and normal girl trope has quickly become one of my favorite. While this book delivered towards the end, the beginning could have been much better. There was little setting development and it felt very rushed. The ML, Robbie was so suddenly introduced (as expected), but he experienced little character development. I was honestly very disappointed with his action...and don't think he should be forgiven. Overall, the whole book felt quite rushed. It was all go, Go, GO! It would have been better to slow down at some parts and really develop the characters as real people. The only redemption for me was how relatable Elena (the FL) was. The struggles she faces in her family parallels my own.

Once Upon a K-Prom is so cute. I loved the (estranged) friends to lovers trope, the K-pop band and industry insight, and Elena's involvement with the community center.

Elena's character never sticks with anything hobby-wise and keeps people at a distance for when they inevitably leave, but she's doing her best to improve her corner of the world. She has issues with her family and classmates, but most of that gets resolved.

Robbie has to remember who he was seven years ago to rekindle his friendship with Elena and get her to agree to go to prom. I enjoyed his POV chapters, learning about his bandmates, and having a behind the scenes look.

Overall this is a quick, entertaining read.

I really enjoyed this book. Minor spoilers.

Elena and Robbie are super cute together :) Once Robbie stops listening to his cousin on how to wow a girl, he gets a lot more likable. I love how they reconnect and grow close again. There are some pretty amusing moments, but the main takeaway for me was relationships- familial, friendships, and love interests, not assuming anything and keeping lines of communication open, since this would have prevented just about all negative moments.

This would probably have been a 5-star read for me if it wasn't for the MC's having their first kiss and crushing on each other when they were just 10 years old. 1) they're way too young to crush/ be in love with someone, and 2) seven years pass before they see each other (crucial teenage years where you typically see substantial changes in people), but they still know each other, etc. I could have bought it if it would have been a couple of years, but seven is a long time to remain the same person.

This had such a fun premise. There were definitely some cute moments, and I appreciate that it highlighted some of the darker aspects of K-Pop, such as the strict rules that idols must follow. Plus, how gorgeous is that cover?

Unfortunately, though, it felt like too much in this book hinged on miscommunication. I did enjoy the main character's passion, and I found her relatable in some ways, but there were also so many strained and broken relationships based on assumptions and a lack of talking things through. Towards the end, it felt like there were a couple of times where she was just being stubborn and doubling down even after being confronted with her errors, and that made me lose a lot of sympathy for her. I would much rather have seen more development, and to have gotten to know some of the side characters better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book.was adorable and lovable, with fun and relatable charecters that I couldn't help but love. My only issue was that sometimes the chapters felt unbalanced, with more of Elena's POV than Robbie's, and I wish they were more balanced or that there was more of a pattern. Other than that, I loved the story and charecters, especially Elena, who was sweet and caring. I definetly reccomend if you like K-Pop and slow-burn childhood-friends to lovers. 4.5/5 stars from me.

Thank you to Disney Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book was the K-Drama YA novel that my heart needed right now. It was everything I thought it would be, everything I wanted it to be, and then some. It reminded me of how much I love & miss K-Pop/Korea, and highlighted the fact that sometimes the way we perceive things is not always what is happening behind the scenes.

Elena is a flawed character in the best way. Her flaws make her real and believable - and thus the best type of main character to follow. In fact, all of the characters were written with believable flaws, coming off as very realistic and not too perfect, even the K-Pop stars. Everyone in this book is accessible and I would want to be friends with most of these characters (there are a few I would be fine leaving in the book). The whole book is just very sweet, even when my heart ached because of the misunderstandings and miscommunications.

Kat does a great job as well with highlighting the chaos that it is to be an idol in the Korean music industry, especially after the Hallyu 3.0 wave started. Between the netziens, dating scandals, reality TV shows following the groups, and the struggle with finding your own voice while under contract. The entertainment industry in Korea very different than the US, and this does a good job explaining some of the weird nuances of it.

There is so much I could say about different small points about the plot, but overall this book just made my heart sing. It made me emotional through a combination of nostalgia and just cute YA-ness. I can't wait for it to be out for everyone to read as I think it is just a sweet book. 5/5

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this E-ARC!
5/5 💫
Ahhh I loved this book so much!
I love reading books with Asian representation by Asian authors and this book did not disappoint!

Childhood best friends/lovers to strangers to lovers 🥰🥰

The book is about Elena and Robbie who were childhood best friends and sort of lovers? But then Robbie left to go to Korea to train to become a k pop idol and they lost touch! Now suddenly Robbie comes back asking her to prom because of a promise they made when they were younger but to her everything’s changed!

The love interest Robbie HAS HAS DIMPLES. I do wish we got Robbie’s POV so we could hear this thoughts during everything that was happening.

I loved kind of going “behind the scenes” on the idol life!

This book isn’t just about Elena and Robbie’s love story but also deals with Elena’s issues that she has to face throughout the story

The ending was beautiful and the perfect end to the book!

Big thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for letting me have an eARC of the book to read in advance. I was beyond excited for this release since it's coming from one of my favourite authors, so really, I am so thankful.

Kat Cho did not disappoint and I loved this book so much. <i><s>(Fear not, Wicked Fox, you still have the 'my favourite book by Kat Cho' spot.)</s></i>

I can't talk enough about how precious Elena Soo is. I want to steal her away and hug her and protect her and give her all the love. There were things I could relate to with her and it's always funny when that happens because, while when it comes to myself, I feel like I am the problem and I most probably deserve it, when it's for the character, I am so ready to punch everyone and anyone who's making them feel like that. And boy, wasn't I ready to beat people up for Elena. Robbie was such a cute little booboo too. An idiot, but an adorable one and that's right up my alley. He deserves the protective feelings as well but since him being a massive fool ended up hurting my baby Elena a few time, I am not extending them to him. *crosses arms defensively*

The writing was flawless, as Miss Cho always delivers - just a typo that I noticed but I'm sure it'll be caught and fixed in the final copy. It read like a movie playing out in my head as I was reading it and the emotions Elena went through hit like a brick wall, be it the embarrassment or the giddiness or the heartbreak. It all hit here *folds hands against my heart*

The fan reactions were insane bruh. It's what I've always seen on the Internet, there are disrespectful and hurtful comments by the ton, but I have no idea of what people involved in such scandals have to live through and I'd really hope it's not this bad. Nobody deserved to be harassed like that for such a mundane reason. Y'all need to calm tf down and let your idols live. They don't owe you anything, they don't have to be single for you all their lives, y'all need help. And I'm saying this as a Fantasy. Sure it hurts cause they're people you love in your own way, but it's from afar dude, you don't even know the real them and they don't know you at all. Besides, isn't the most important thing for them to be happy? Since y'all claim to love them so much? <s>Sorry for the rant, it's just unbelievable to see the way people react sometimes, especially the kind of hate EXO's Chen gets, like???</s>

But yes, coming back to the review, *chef's kiss*. When I tell you I can't wait for Kat Cho to throw more books in my face 🥺

<spoiler> Another point I really, <i>really</i> appreciated about this book that I feel should mention, and I hope the author sees this because thank you for this: the relationship between Elena and her parents. Listen, there have been SO many books where the parents are being SO nasty; abusive, neglectful, micro-managing, controlling, you name it. And they've ALWAYS ended with the parents suddenly doing a 180 and getting like 'I understand you booboo and I will try to do better for you', and I am so sick of seeing that. Especially when the story was NOTHING about exploring the parent-child relationship in a nice arc, which would explain the change.

Like it's a nice fantasy to have sure, but it's also so annoying to see when you know that in real life, people don't change overnight. God knows parents definitely don't change overnight. It's always up to us kids to keep dealing with it and to try and find a way to break the cycle with ourselves, forget the parents that's a lost cause honestly.

So it felt some kind of way to read this and have Elena's mom not change at all by the end. It's terrible for Elena, most certainly, but it also felt like something that would happen in reality and that's refreshing, I guess. I'm not left feeling part weird and part envious because why can't my parents turn into the world's most understanding and supportive parents overnight as well.

I'm glad that Ethan got to put his perspective out there too and hopefully, he and Elena can work on their issues and relationship over time so they have each other they can lean on in this family. Like at least Elena has someone in this cursed family who'd be there for and supportive of her. Cause the rest of the Soos, y'all suck.</spoiler>

Anyway, my thanks again to the author, publishers and NetGalley. I shall go and allow myself a good cry now. That was not how I was expecting to feel from this book, but it's great. I feel understood in some ways, it's just sad to realise that there is someone else that I've grown to love who's had to feel like this too.

Elena, you got this 💕

*3,5

Having read Kat Cho’s previous books, I knew I wanted to keep a close eye on any of her new releases, and when I read the synopsis for Once Upon a K-Prom I was sold immediately and I knew I had to read it. I was very happy when I got the opportunity to read an arc of it, although the book left me with very mixed feelings.

One of the reasons why I really wanted to read this book is because I’m a huge kpop fan and this book sounded absolutely perfect for me. And it was in some ways, but also not.
It became very clear to me quickly that the author is also a kpop fan and you could really tell that while reading the book. Everything felt very accurate and I really loved that.
But some things that happened in this book just felt a little too unrealistic for me and I couldn’t fully enjoy it because of that.

The main characters, Elena and Robbie, were very enjoyable and fun characters. As separate characters they were great on their own but I also loved the dynamic they had together. I’m normally not a big fan of the childhood friends to lovers trope, but I think it worked really well in this case.
But sometimes I couldn’t help but be annoyed by their miscommunication. They took no effort to try and understand and communicate with each other. Instead they just assumed how the other was feeling. They would eventually talk about it only for it to happen again later on. This got especially worse towards the end and it started to get really annoying.
I think Elena and Robbie were an adorable couple, they really had some sweet moments. I wish we could’ve seen more of that.

Also one thing that annoyed me a bit was that although this book is dual POV, we basically only got Elena’s POV. Robbie’s POV chapters felt very random and I wished it was a little more balanced. I really loved Robbie’s POV and I would’ve liked to see more of that.

Overall this was a very quick read with a cute romance that sadly got a little annoying towards the end.
But if you’re a fan of kpop and love the childhood friends to lovers trope then this is definitely something you should check out!

This book is definitely one for fans of K-Pop and quite reminiscent of XOXO. Elena and Robbie were best friends when they were little, but he moved back to Korea 7 years ago. However, he's never forgotten his promise to take her to prom and now that he's a mega-superstar, they reconnect but find that their worlds have completely changed.

Elena's struggle as the youngest daughter in a Korean family is pretty heartbreaking- her mother often miscalls her by her sister's name, she's pretty unpopular at school, and her own twin isn't interested in her life. This changes when Robbie is back in their lives and everyone is suddenly interested. While I found the romance to be a little fast, I thought it was clever for the story to use his popularity to serve the community. Elena has been known to not have any passions in life, drifting from one hobby to the next but not excelling anywhere, but her love for her community was a great motivator throughout the story.

Robbie's characterization is alright, considering his behavior when he first reappears is calling 911 worthy, but considering his only role models are his hyungs, I guess we can overlook that he really didn't know any better. Most of the story is told through Elena's POV with a handful of Robbie's sprinkled in, and I found this to be quite unbalanced but it wasn't detrimental to the storytelling.

This was cute! Lot of drama, lots of romance, definitely felt like a well written K-Pop fanfic, and I'm sure there were plenty of references that I didn't get. Would definitely recommend this!

This book is one of my new favorites. Robbie is the best person ever even if he is fictional. All in all I would totally recommend this book to romance and K-pop lovers.

"Was this what seven years did to someone? Just took all their sweetest features and sharpened them just enough to make them dangerous. Because that dimple was a serious weapon."

For fans of Axie Oh's XOXO and Kristen Burnham's Heart & Seoul comes Once Upon a K-prom, a refreshing meet cute with a twist.

Let's be honest, if you are looking for a young adult story with that k-drama twist, I am your girl to give you the truth as I absolutely devour everything in this sub genre of YA. I absolutely love watching k-dramas so reading instead of watching these types of stories is literally my guilty pleasure.

Elena has practically felt invisible her entire life. Not only has she been overshadowed by her older sisters, she is constantly overshadowed by her own twin Ethan. Everyone constantly leaves Elena -- they are always moving, leaving her feeling even more alone. The one person in the world Elena misses the most was her best friend Robbie who moved when they were 10 years old to Seoul, South Korea. Now Robbie has found his passion and is a part of a famous k-pop group. Elena's world is suddenly turned upside down when Robbie shows up on her door step 7 years later to uphold his promise to her -- They would go to prom together. However, is Robbie still the person she fell in love with when she was 10 or is has he changed with fame?

When I begin reading I felt like the story I was sold in the synopsis wasn't the story I was getting, but as the story progressed it got a lot better and I really started to enjoy it. I personally think this is defiantly aimed more towards the younger audience of YA as there isn't a whole lot of spice to it, but doesn't mean I didn't think it was a cute story! So let's dive into my overall experience! The beginning of this novel was incredibly slow. We see Robbie show up within the first few chapters, however, it feels like it's dragged on and we have filler chapters where nothing really significant happens. I understand the playing hard to get and Robbie going all out to prove himself, I just think it was missing that special emph to get it to the five stars I would really love to give it.

One of my biggest take aways and suggestions before this book is published is maybe a guide for some of the Hangul words that are included in the novel to be included. I Found myself reading and noticing there were Hangul words mixed into the sentences without any real translation or indication of what the words meant. For example, " I remembered the story about how harabeoji had come to the us to work for a few years without halmeoni." I of course know that Harabeoji is grandfather and halmeoni is grandmother, finally my years of watch k-dramas has finally paid off haha, but to the average reader of YA they might not have that basic knowledge of Hangul to understand the context of the sentence. Especially with there being no clarification or context to indication that she is talking about her grandfather and grandmother. I think that just a guide at the beginning to the words word be an amazing feature that would help the reader understand a little better.

Overall, this was a light read for me and I did enjoy the overall theme of the novel! I think this was a really cute fun read and those who are also into kdrama style books or books in a high school setting will really enjoy this read! I also found out that this was the author's first contemporary novel, but she's written a fantasy romance series. Needless to say, I am intrigued and ready to read it as I did overall like the writing style of this author!

Wicked Fox and Vicious Spirits are one of my all-time favourite duologies, AND I love K-Pop. So this should have been a new favourite, right?

Now don't get me wrong, this wasn't a bad book. But I was hoping for so much more. I frankly found myself quite bored while reading this, especially because I felt like I never really got to know the characters, which made it feel like it was dragging at times. I also wanted a lot more charm from this. I guess I just didn't like the characters very much.