Blog Tour Review: Once Upon a K-Prom

 

Welcome to The Real World According To Sam!!! Today I have a VERY special review!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the ONCE UPON A K-PROM by Kat Cho Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: ONCE UPON A K-PROM

Author: Kat Cho

Pub. Date: May 17, 2022

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 336

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

What would you do if the world's biggest K-pop star asked you to prom? Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon, this hilarious and heartfelt novel brings the glamour and drama of the K-pop world straight to high school.

Elena Soo has always felt overshadowed. Whether by her more successful older sisters, her more popular twin brother, or her more outgoing best friend, everyone except Elena seems to know exactly who they are and what they want. But she is certain about one thing - she has no interest in going to prom. While the rest of the school is giddy over corsages and dresses, Elena would rather spend her time working to save the local community center, the one place that's always made her feel like she belonged.

So when international K-pop superstar Robbie Choi shows up at her house to ask her to prom, Elena is more confused than ever. Because the one person who always accepted Elena as she is? Her childhood best friend, Robbie Choi. And the one thing she maybe, possibly, secretly wants more than anything? For the two of them to keep the promise they made each other as kids: to go to prom together. But that was seven years ago, and with this new K-pop persona, pink hair, and stylish clothes, Robbie is nothing like the sweet, goofy boy she remembers. The boy she shared all her secrets with. The boy she used to love.

Besides, prom with a guy who comes with hordes of screaming fans, online haters, and relentless paparazzi is the last thing Elena wants - even if she can't stop thinking about Robbie's smile...right?

 

My Review

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. That being said...I absolutely LOVE IT! Once Upon a K-Prom features two perspectives: Elena and Robbie. Elena's POV is the main one throughout the book and Robbie's POV is featured here and again, showing insight into his side of things. I would love to read this book from Robbie's perspective. It would also be great to see more of the WDB boys! I wouldn't consider myself BTS Army or a member of any other K-Pop fan group, but I did spend a bit of time the last few years getting into the genre. This book was perfect for me in that regard, since Elena has had her fair share of dabbling between things. I would love to actually hear what WDB would sound like as a real group, because after finishing the book, I'm definitely a Constellation. 

This book is a super cute romance that follows average Korean high schooler, Elena Soo. Her childhood friend, Robbie, moved to Korea when he was younger and has become a global K-Pop icon. When they were little, they promised each other that they would go to prom together and he shows up out of the blue, ready to keep his promise. The problem? Elena isn't planning to go to prom, because she has some bigger problems in her community that she's focused on helping with. So begins Robbie's quest to convince Elena to go with him, while Elena learns more about herself than she knew before and begins to open her heart. 

As I've already said...this book is CUTE! I love that it involves music, I love that it has a friends to potentially lovers concept to it. I also really love how invested in the story I was. It was so easy to get into and once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. I was sneaking in chapters while heating up pizza and nearly binge read it in a single day. By the time I was halfway through, there was NO stopping me from reaching the end. It's a super fun read and for me, pretty quick. I was invested, I was crossing my fingers, I was feeling all the 'please get together' feelings throughout the way, and I'm not ashamed to say I did cry just a little. A moment that Elena had emotionally really hit me and I couldn't help myself. I love her. She is a very relatable heroine; she felt so real to me as I was reading. 

I really don't have any complaints about this book, beyond just wishing I also had more of Robbie's perspective throughout the story. I'm a sucker for guy perspectives (when it comes to them thinking about their prospective partners and admitting feelings) - and I wanted MORE. I would also just love to see more of WDB's life as a group. I feel like there is so much more in this world that I want to see. I liked the supporting characters and even wanted more of several of them (especially Sooyeon). The WDB member profiles sprinkled throughout the story were a super fun touch. If the book came with a CD, I'd probably have it on repeat and if there were real posters of WDB, I would buy them. This book really touched my inner fangirl and I've been fangirling ever since I finished reading it.  

The pacing was great, the story was engrossing, the characters were relatable, and the romance overall was very sweet. This book was everything I've been wanting lately and I'm so lucky I was able to get a copy of it (the interior poster on the cover is INCREDIBLE). I give Once Upon a K-Prom a Lone Star rating of ✯✯✯✯ stars. I highly recommend it to fans of YA and fans of K-Pop. I also recommend it to readers who want a nice, light romance that isn't insta-love or super adult. This is the kind of book that is like a mug of hot chocolate. It just makes your heart feel warm. This might just be a comfort read that I come back to multiple times. I already want to re-read it (or at least jump around to my favorite parts). 

 

About Kat Cho:

Kat Cho used to hide books under the bathroom sink and then sneak in there to read after bedtime. Her parents pretended not to know. This helped when she decided to write a dinosaur time-travel novel at the tender age of nine. Sadly, that book was not published. She currently lives and works in NYC and spends her free time trying to figure out what kind of puppy to adopt. Kat is the internationally bestselling author of the Gumiho duology (Penguin) and Once Upon a K-Prom (Disney).

 

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Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of ONCE UPON A K-PROM, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

5/1/2022	Inside the Wong Mind	Review/IG Post
5/2/2022	My Fictional Oasis	Review/IG Post
5/3/2022	YABooksCentral	Excerpt
5/4/2022	laura's bookish corner	Review/IG Post
5/5/2022	GivernyReads	Review/IG Post
5/6/2022	A Bookish Dream	Review/IG Post
5/7/2022	Tales Of A Bookbug	Review/IG Post

Week Two:

5/8/2022	Quill Tree Fox	Review/IG Post
5/9/2022	@bujos_n_books	IG Review
5/10/2022	The Book View	Review/IG Post
5/11/2022	A Court of Coffee and Books	Review/IG Post
5/12/2022	wilted pages	Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
5/13/2022	Dear Rivarie	Review/IG Post
5/14/2022	Ruei's Reading Corner	Review

Week Three:

5/15/2022	Nagma | TakeALookAtMyBookshelf	IG Review
5/16/2022	onemoreexclamation	Review/IG Post
5/17/2022	Lisa Loves Literature	Review/IG Post
5/18/2022	Fire and Ice	Review
5/19/2022	A Backwards Story	Review/IG Post
5/20/2022	The Clever Reader	Review/IG Post
5/21/2022	Nerdophiles	Review

Week Four:

5/22/2022	Library of Alexandria Archives	Review/IG Post
5/23/2022	The Momma Spot	Review/IG Post
5/24/2022	The Real World According To Sam	Review/IG Post
5/25/2022	two points of interest	Review
5/26/2022	Kait Plus Books	Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
5/27/2022	@drewsim12	IG Review/TikTok Post
5/28/2022	@thebookishfoxwitch	IG Review

Week Five:

5/29/2022	onemused	IG Review
5/30/2022	Eli to the nth	Review/IG Post
5/31/2022	@lexijava	Review/IG Post

Thanks for checking out another review here at The Real World According To Sam! Be sure to come back for another very special review next Sunday (May 29th)!