Review: Comeback by Lyn Ashwood and Rachel Rose // A K-pop Novel!!

Title: Comeback
Author: Lyn Ashwood and Rachel Rose
Standalone
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, [New-Adult]
Heat Rating: Cool
Format: 312 pages, Ebook
Published: June 8th, 2019 by Ashwood & Rose
Source: I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Rating: 

Blurb (from Goodreads):

Emery Jung is living his dream. Known by his stage name M, he is loved by millions of fans around the world as a member of the rising K-pop group NEON, but all fame comes with a cost, especially when one slip up can have viral consequences.

Alana Kim is trying to forget. After a tragic loss sends her spiraling, she escapes to her family in Korea, abandoning her love of music along the way. However, her plans are derailed when she literally runs into M, the famous K-pop idol.

When their paths collide, Emery and Alana must work together to prevent a scandal from ruining NEON’s success, sparking a journey of friendship, love, and healing. Unfortunately, fame and love aren’t easily compatible, especially in the world of K-pop.

---

I am reviewing a book after eons!! I did read a few books during my hiatus period. Hopefully, I can post them one by one, soonish! Anyway, I am gonna jump straight in!

Reasons to read this book:

It’s Kpop!

If you’re a Kpop fanatic like me, you are bound to fangirl throughout this book. There are so many relatable moments where you can identify yourself as the female protagonist! And in general, it’s just, well Kpop you know. 🙂

Journey of a Kpop boy band

Neon of Solar Entertainment is the main focus of this novel. There are a total of 5 members in this boy band and it definitely reminded me of my boyos. Being a hardcore ARMY (I stan other groups too!), I could relate many instances, the struggle they daily have to go through, the thin line of balance they have to maintain every single time they are on-stage/on-screen.

Most importantly I loved the relationship between the boys. Treating each other like family is one of the most precious things I love about Kpop bands. The thing is… this is how we fandom become family as well.

The dream of being a staff in a Kpop band!

Tell me you haven’t thought about what it would feel like to work as their stylist?! I know I have. LOL. 
The main protagonist of the book exactly has this role. Alana is a Korean-American girl who works as a stylist for a girl group called LilyRed. However, after a scandal blows through she joins Solar Entertainment where Alana’s friendship with Emery grows. I liked the flow of how their friendship evolved into something meaningful. 

Love stuff

Those who are into the Kpop world know how significant the impact the word “dating” has. Basically, it is a forbidden word in the Korean music industry. In the first few years of a band’s contract, they are basically forbidden to date. After they cross like 5 years into the industry, then they are allowed I guess but it’s still considered scandalous since Kpop fans usually hate when their favorites are taken.
This is something I have come to understand now. However, those people are still human beings and they deserve to live a normal life, at least have a love life, they do deserve that. But I won’t disagree there are some serious fanatics who take this to the next level which makes it really difficult for our favorite artists to enjoy some amount of normalcy.
Anyhooo, Emery falls for Alana who he finds to be really genuine. Emery finds out she used to be a fan of their band, he finds himself sharing stuff with her. And well… stuff happens.

They fall for each other. xD This brings about some internal tension among the boyos. Although I did like how this was dealt with. 

Things I wanted more of:

The relationship

Although I liked how the relationship between Emery and Alana developed but I was not head over heels over the romance (Ya guys know how much I dig romance). Somehow, I felt something, the chemistry was lacking. However, it was something most of Kpop fans have imagined once in their life I suppose. I did get to live that through this book which I definitely loved.

More positive representation of the fandom

I definitely loved the fandom name of NEON. It was GLO!!!!
However, I wanted more of how NEON felt towards their fans. I felt the representation was too negative in some aspects. The positive parts of the fandom were definitely shown but I wanted more from the band’s perspective too. Though I can understand these idols have to present themselves in a certain way in front of their fans but still, they show us a big part of their lives. This is something I was not satisfied with, in this book. 

Overall, apart from these aspects, Comeback was a pretty enjoyable read! The flow was steady through the book and the characters were fleshed out pretty well. The Korean culture was depicted really well and I am definitely glad I picked this book up!

Recommend it?

Yes.

---

So guys what do you think about this book? Are you a Kpop fan? Are you interested in reading this book even if you are not a Kpop fan? If you stan a group or groups, leave a comment down below! Also, any recommendations?

 

• 4 stars
• 4 stars out 5
• A K-pop Novel
• advanced review copy from author
• Comeback
• Comeback: A K-pop Novel
• contemporary
• eARC
• korean band
• Korean music
• korean pop music
• Kpop
• Lyn Ashwood
• music
• NA
• New-Adult
• Rachel Rose
• review copy
• romance