**I received this book from the #bookishwish tag on Twitter. These are my honest opinions, and in no way was I compensated for this review.**
Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo
Release Date: May 7, 2019
My Rating: 4.5 stars
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.
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"Having a chance to spend a day with a girl like Lucky? It's the magic, the adventure, the opportunity of a lifetime.""Because she's famous?""No, you fool. Because she likes you and you like her and that's special."Look, I already knew I was going to love this book just because I love all of Maurene's books (well, I still have to read her debut, but still), but I didn't know just how much I would adore this one! I couldn't put it down. Somewhere Only We Know is a soft, heartwarming romance that shows us that we don't have to do what's expected of us.
The tone of this book is so introspective and had such a nice, calm, quiet feeling to it. You know that feeling of complete peace at night, even in the midst of complete chaos, like standing on the streets of a major city late at night? That's exactly the vibe this book captures. Quite literally, because part of this book takes place in Hong Kong at night, and the city life there is quite hectic.
Besides that, we get to follow two points of view, Lucky, an up and coming K-pop star, and Jack, a tabloid journalist who senses the story that will make his career. Lucky is grateful for her fame and success, but she's starting to feel stifled by the rigidity of the expectations that K-pop has. Jack wants to be a photographer, but his parents want him to follow after his father's footsteps into the family business as a CEO. Both of them are at tipping points; do they pursue what their dreams or do they do what's expected of them? This is such an age-old struggle, one that so many first/second-generation children of immigrants face, which is probably why I related to them so much. Both characters are Korean-American, living abroad in Asia, incidentally.
I always love books that deal with famous people dealing with being famous, which is a very specific taste, I know, but I guess I like feeling that anyone, no matter how successful, can struggle (within reason, of course; I have no patience for entitlement). It's particularly interesting in Somewhere Only We Know because we delve into the world of K-pop, which I'm not much familiar with. The benefit of this being an #ownvoices novel is that Goo explains K-pop and all its differences from the western music industry without fetishizing it or making it seem faultless.
The romance was so cute and heartwarming; it really swept me off my feet. Lucky and Jack, having met under such weird circumstances, could be weird and open and weirdly open with each other without being too self-conscious. That gave their interactions such an honest, raw feeling. Although Jack is lying to Lucky . . . but we'll get past that for now, okay. I thought the ending was super realistic too, and I'm glad that they got to pursue their desires despite the consequences.
Somewhere Only We Know is the rom-com we deserve; featuring Korean-American protagonists and set in Hong Kong, it brings some new perspectives to this genre in YA. It's possibly now my favorite of Maurene Goo's books, and I absolutely adored her novel I Believe in a Thing Called Love. If you like K-pop, or you want a cute, soft romance, I wholeheartedly recommend Somewhere Only We Know!
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About the Author: Maurene Goo grew is the author of several acclaimed young adult novels, including I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE and THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and cat, Maeby.
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