Once Upon a K-Prom Review

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander month, so it was a perfect time to read Once Upon a K-prom by Kat Cho. I was pleasantly surprised by the book. I had been wanting to read it for a while. I mean, a YA book with a K-pop star as the main love interest? Yes, please! But Once Upon a K-prom still managed to surpass my expectations, which is high praise coming from my overly critical self!

Elena Soo and Robbie Choi were best friends as children, but when Robbie moved to Korea when they were ten years old, their friendship wavered and then eventually disappeared.

Elena always feels invisible, whether it's at home where her older siblings and twin brother are the center of attention, or at school, where she feels like a wallflower, invisible next to her popular brother.

But when Robbie Choi, who is now an insanely popular K-pop star, shows up at her front door with an invitation to the prom, her whole world turns upside down. After another extravagant promposal from Robbie at Elena's school goes terribly wrong, she's not only seen but suddenly the main center of both negative and positive attention not only at her high school but from countless fans of Robbie.

This gets the ball rolling on a wild rollercoaster that Elena is reluctantly pulled onto. A flirty, hilarious, yet sweet and simultaneously serious will-they-won't-they trope ensues, drawing me right in from the start.

One of the things that I enjoyed about the novel is that Elena and Robbie both had solid arcs, yet they still remained true to themselves. It was a simple yet engaging read that I sped through since I could barely put the book down.

It definitely has a flavor of a K-drama intermixed with a heartfelt teen rom-com. And of course, the dive into a K-pop star's life is also a huge appeal. You don't have to be familiar with K-pop to enjoy this book, but fans of K-pop will certainly enjoy the mentions of real-life K-pop stars and bands. It's a fun read for anyone looking for a sweet and funny teen romance novel. 5 out of 5 stars for me.