10 00 p.m.: Lucky is the biggest K-pop star on the scene, and she’s just performed her hit song “Heartbeat” in Hong Kong to thousands of adoring fans. She’s about to debut on The Tonight Show in America, hopefully a breakout performance for her career. But right now? She’s in her fancy hotel, trying to fall asleep but dying for a hamburger.
GENRE:
Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
PAGES:
320 pages
PART OF A SERIES?:
Standalone Novel
RELEASE DATE:
May 7th 2019
PUBLISHER:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
SOURCE:
Library Ebook
YOU CAN FIND THE BOOK AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE/LIBRARY OR THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
Audible
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
10 00 p.m.: Lucky is the biggest K-pop star on the scene, and she’s just performed her hit song “Heartbeat” in Hong Kong to thousands of adoring fans. She’s about to debut on The Tonight Show in America, hopefully a breakout performance for her career. But right now? She’s in her fancy hotel, trying to fall asleep but dying for a hamburger.
11 00 p.m.: Jack is sneaking into a fancy hotel, on assignment for his tabloid job that he keeps secret from his parents. On his way out of the hotel, he runs into a girl wearing slippers, a girl who is single-mindedly determined to find a hamburger. She looks kind of familiar. She’s very cute. He’s maybe curious.
12:00 a.m.: Nothing will ever be the same.
MY REVIEW
Look, I would’ve read Maurene’s book regardless of what it was about. I remember when Maurene’s first book came out years ago and how unknown she was at first and then as soon as people realized that she’s just an absolute standout at contemporary romance. Every book that she releases just gets better and better than the one before. That is absolutely true of this one. The synopsis is so vague but as soon as I read it, I knew exactly what it was based on, one of my absolute favorite movies of all time, Roman Holiday.
Because I like RH so much, I think that attributed a lot to why I absolutely LOVED this novel. I recognized different pieces of the original movie retold in this fantastic book. I loved that it started in a similar way, that Lucky was so similar to Audrey Hepburn’s character, Ann, and Jack is so similar to Gregory Peck’s Joe but they also stand on their own. Its a fantastic twist on a movie that came out over 50 years ago and still remains a favorite, still remains a classic.
One big thing that I loved about the book was how its not just a love story between the two characters but a love story to the characters. I love a book that has the setting come to life, shows me places to visit and places to eat and makes me think that the person writing the book loves this place and the book distinctly feels like that. I felt like I was there and I’ve never ever been out of the country, besides Mexico, so it is a testament to Maurene’s writing. She makes China jump off the page and if I ever get to China, I want to plan it around Lucky and Jack’s adventures.
I’m also a sucker for a good romance, especially one built over an adventure like that. I think days like that are perfect for chemistry blooming. I also like fictional celebrities. There’s always this fascination with celebrities and what goes on in their lives and I love books where the main character is a singer or actress or a modern day princess or something like that. Its so fascinating to me and I really loved seeing Lucky like that and I loved her strive to be normal and I loved loved loved her connection with Jack. Their story was similar to Ann and Joe’s in that there were moments where it broke my heart but I liked that Jack and Lucky’s ending was different.
Straight up, I think Maurene is a powerhouse in young adult contemporary and I truly think that she only gets better and better as time goes on and she writes more books. She’s really become one of my instant buy authors because she writes these super relatable characters that are always so hugely stemmed in Korean culture and I just super appreciate all of it. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
RATING:
5 out of 5 Stars
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