[ARC Review] Comeback By Lyn Ashwood & Rachel Rose

Title: Comeback

Authors: Lyn Ashwood & Rachel Rose

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Korean Culture

My Rating: 4.75/5 stars ☆☆☆☆

Warning: includes scenes on self-harm and suicide

//spoiler free//

I received a free Advanced Reader’s Copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

Synopsis:

Emery Jung is living his dream. Known by his stage name M, he is loved by millions of fans around the world as a member of the rising K-pop group NEON, but all fame comes with a cost, especially when one slip up can have viral consequences.

Alana Kim is trying to forget. After a tragic loss sends her spiraling, she escapes to her family in Korea, abandoning her love of music along the way. However, her plans are derailed when she literally runs into M, the famous K-pop idol.

When their paths collide, Emery and Alana must work together to prevent a scandal from ruining NEON’s success, sparking a journey of friendship, love, and healing. Unfortunately, fame and love aren’t easily compatible, especially in the world of K-pop.

(Source: Goodreads )

General Thoughts:

Sounds a bit cliché at first, but don’t judge a book by its cover. Before you label this book as just another “K-Pop Fanfiction”, hear me out. It is so much more than that. Comeback is a coming-of-age story of two people, it is about how these two young and broken souls meet and save each other from making possibly the biggest mistake of their lives. Though there are plenty of typical K-Drama tropes in the story, it is a fleshed out narrative with complex characters and an interesting plot.

Personal Thoughts:

Kpop and Books are two of my most favorite things right now, so of course, when I saw my friends reading this book, I just had to reach out to the authors for an ARC, which they were so kind enough to send a copy of. Going into it, I expected it to be pretty much like most fanfictions (and believe me, I’ve read A LOT of those). While that was somewhat true, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a lot more to Comeback than just the typical idol and fan romance.

Each of the characters had their unique personalities. The members of NEON; Emery, Stu, Jaehyun, Songil, and Yongnam, as well as Alana’s cousin Stephanie all had such interesting characteristics and each had their pros and cons. I loved how the band members interacted. It felt almost like watching my favorite K-pop idols interacting. The dynamics between the hyungs and maknae was really adorable. I just find their friendship so so precious and wholesome.

I appreciated how it shows the dark sides of being a K-Pop idol and what goes on behind the scenes, for fans, idols, companies, online communities and everyone else involved in this diverse world. But at the same time, there are plenty of fluffy, hilarious scenes full of romance and friendship sure to have you chuckling while reading. The authors did a great job of explaining the Korean and Konglish terms and there’s a really helpful glossary at the back of the book for those unfamiliar with the terms.

Conclusion:

Obviously, being a huge fan of K-Pop, a lot of the aspects of this story seemed natural to me since I’m so used to the Korean culture and terms by now. But I also realize that not everyone is the same, so that might be a setback for non-K-Pop fans reading this story. But that should by no means be a reason to not pick up this book. In fact, make that your main reason for reading it. Why give up the chance to learn about a whole new culture and language and the world of K-Pop and a glimpse into behind the scenes of a Korean boy group?

Even if you’re not into K-Pop and K-fandoms, I think you will be able to relate to the characters on some level as they go through their personal struggles and try to find who they are. Trying to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, I’ll just say that there’s plenty of conversations about mental health in this novel.

I feel personally invested in this fictional K-Pop group now and desperately wish NEON was real so I could shower them with all my love and support. SHINE GLO FOREVER! So hyped for the next comeback! >v<

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