Somewhere Only We Know
A Cosmopolitan Best Young Adult Book of 2019
A BuzzFeed Pick for "YA Books You Absolutely Must Read This Spring"
Sparks fly between a K-pop starlet and a tabloid reporter in Somewhere Only We Know, a heartwarming rom-com from Maurene Goo.
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.
With her trademark humor and voice, Maurene Goo delivers a sparkling story of taking a chance on love—and finding yourself along the way.
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Community Reviews
But first, how I got here.
How I got here was a BTS fan account I follow on Twitter posted about an article talking about Rebel Wilson making a movie about K-Pop. The preliminary assessment of that movie? It's gonna be racist AF and we as a K-Pop community are going to have to do a lot of pushback against it. Again. Probably especially for BTS. But we will, because racism, casual or otherwise, cannot stand. Also, does Rebel Wilson know what kind of bear she's poking if she tries to poke the BTS ARMY? It is not a road she wants to go down. Beneath the tweet that linked the article and the fan account's concern, there was a link to another article about much worthier books that could be turned into movies... Books about Korea and Korean culture written by -- shocker -- ACTUAL KOREANS or Korean-Americans. It was from that list that I found this book.
It was the only book on the list that I hadn't read already AND could find electronically on my library's website, because waiting is such a Gen X thing. I'm a Millennial, damnit. Anyhow, I got totally sucked into this book immediately. It has all the hallmarks of a great romance novel: a little lying, a lot of spontaneity, some really great kissing scenes. But what I really appreciated about this book was its ultimate perspective on K-Pop and K-Pop idols.
1.) K-Pop is and can be more than just sugary-sweet canned music. It's true for more acts than BTS, but BTS really hits the nail on the head. Their songs are layered, beautiful, meaningful, raw, vulnerable, and connected so intricately together across eras of expression, music videos, and albums. And through it all, they always bring it back to us, their ARMY.
2.) K-Pop can be a symbiotic relationship. We love BTS, and that also means loving them enough to let them be happy, if that means taking a break or a vacation, writing the kind of music they want to write, trying to be respectful of their privacy, etc. We do actually want them to be happy. I cannot tell you how excited I get when I watch videos of them eating (I almost always end up shouting, obnoxiously and super happily, "Feed BTS!!"). They've already given us so much. They deserve something in return. They deserve everything.
3.) It's okay. There is balance in life, and you can find it. And it's okay if it's a process to find that balance.
In the end, this book was exactly what K-Pop is: looks like a shallow, fluffy romance book on the outside, actually deep, introspective, wise, thoughtful AND fun in reality. A job well done. Also, thank you for not including swear words or overly sexy things. I can definitely recommend this one to the tweenie bopper K-Pop fans in my life without worrying about it.
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