DNF'd on: July 7th, 2019
DNF'd on: page 99

I Believe In A Thing Called Love wasn't it for me. I could barely make it a hundred pages before giving up on the book. Not only did the book read very juvenile, but I found the romance uncompelling, and this book had a dash too much girl-on-girl hate to be particularly fun.

The book follows Desi a senior in high school who hasn't had a boyfriend because of her numerous romantic fumbles. After a New boy Luca moves into town she decides to use her father's beloved K-Dramas as an instruction manual to win Luca and finally get a boyfriend. Hilarity and hijinks ensue.

Unfortunately, I found I Believe In A Thing Called Love insufferable. The writing read too young for my tastes. Desi had a naivety that felt unnatural for someone who was supposed to be in her final year of high school. Honestly, if Goo aged down Desi to 15 I might have found the story more believable.

The romance in this book was excessively cheesy. The book is loaded with lines like: "I stared directly into his eyes and a zap of electricity shot between us.". I like YA romance, but I couldn't help rolling my eyes through the romantic scenes. The beginnings of the romance between Desi and Luca didn't engage me.

This book sets up a rivalry between the protagonist and another girl in the school, Kat. Kat hates Desi for being the 'perfect' girl and plans to 'steal' Luca before Desi gets her hands on him. Not only were the catty scenes between Kat and Desi a tired cliche, Luca really wasn't anyone to fight over. So this thread of conflict was just annoying.

I Believe In A Thing Called Love felt particularly designed to turn me off despite my best efforts. If you're looking for Korean-Americans in your YA, love K-Dramas, and you've already read the Laura-Jean trilogy I guess you can pick this one up, but I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.