What happens when your childhood best friend (and crush) has come back into town after 4 years of not talking to keep a promise you made as children? Elena Soo is about to find out. Elena Soo and Robbie Choi have been childhood best friends but at 10 he had to move away to Seoul and begin his training to become a Kpop star... before he left he kissed her and they both promised to go to prom together. Years later, Robbie is now an international pop star,,, and he has just shown up in front of Elena’s front door and asked her to prom just like they promised all those years ago. But Elena is at a lost, her best friend stopped talking to her, he ghosted her and now all these years later he is a completely different person. She knows there is something else going on... there has to be a bigger reason for him coming back all these years later just to go to prom with her but Robbie is full of secrets and Elena is not sure she is ready to have her heart broken again by the one person she’s always loved. Robbie has worked his entire life to have his music heard, he has trained, given up any semblance of a social life, and everything about him is a carefully crafted image to make it into the kpop industry. What Robbie has always dreamed of is having his songs and music, his own work, be heard, but he knows he has to play the game to get the power he needs. But there has always been something besides his music that he’s loved, and that was his childhood best friend, the only girl who truly knows him before the fame. He just has to show her that he’s still the same guy and that despite everything, they still work. This was such a cute story! I loved that we got to read both characters POV and it felt like such a fun addition to have actual Kpop stars added into the book to give it a more realistic feel. As someone who listens to Kpop and catches up on some of the drama its really captures the pressure that Kpop stars go through in the industry, especially the no dating rule and companies having control over their stars and the fact that they could be terminated for ridiculous clauses in their contracts. It’s a hard industry, it’s rules are rigid, and scandal is always ripe for these idols. Being a KPOP idol isn’t easy and this book was such a sweet take on romance in the industry. Definitely give it a go! ( Seriously it’s too cute read it)
*Thanks Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*