Comeback: A K-Pop Novel Review

Comeback: A K-pop Novel is a book by Lyn and Rachel about a K-pop star and a stranger he met one night. Emery is a star, but his family never approved of his career. He almost quit his group NEON in their early days because of their first album’s failure, but he met a stranger one night whose love for music convinced him to not quit NEON. They felt an instant connection, and now he is a member of one of the most successful K-pop groups in the industry. When the girl shows up again as a staff person at one of his music shows, he knows that he has to speak to her and thank her. A scandal would ruin NEON as a whole, but Emery just can’t help but get to know her. On the other side, Alana used to love music. Then, her brother Alex died, and music reminded her of him. Then, she runs into M, the member she met that night. He seems to show up everywhere she is, but she can’t let herself get close to him.

I am a huge fan of many different K-pop groups, and my phone is full of bookmarked fanfiction about those groups. When I heard that this book about a fictional K-pop group was coming out, I knew I had to read it. Lyn and Rachel have managed to write an accurate portrayal of K-pop culture.  They show how hardworking K-pop groups and their staff are, the stigma against Korean music artists, and the fan culture. I could understand every part of this book and relate it to something that happened to one of my favorite groups in real life. It’s not all pretty, but it does show why some groups have such a strong connection with their fans and vice versa. It was also awesome to see how the members of NEON interacted with each other, I started feeling as if they were a real group rather than being fictional, the characters just jumped off the page.

This book discusses serious issues, like how having unsupportive parents can affect someone’s mental health. Emery didn’t have supportive parents and the only thing that kept him from a miserable life was Alana and her love for music. Her brother loved music, and then he was gone, and she was forcing herself to be miserable to have a “real” job as a makeup artist. Emery and Alana could help each other by just being there for one another. No one was there for them the way they needed, so they were there for each other. It was really a sweet friendship/romance, and I definitely would love a sequel with these characters!

This book flows smoothly from chapter to chapter. Even though there are POV switches, I could always tell who was talking. There were no giant time-skips that made me confused, even though the book does take place over the course of several months. Also, there were no grammar errors that I noticed in this ARC, which is impressive!

I loved this book, and I can’t wait to read more by these authors. I would recommend this novel to any YA contemporary romance fan or any K-pop fan who wants to read a novel about the secrets of a fictional group!

I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 5 books