A Seventeen.com Best YA Books of 2017 A Publishers Weekly’s Best YA Book of 2017 A New York Public Library Notable Best Book for Teens 2017 A 2018 CCBC Choices Book “Hilarious.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review “Powerful messages of inclusion and acceptance.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review Desi Lee believes anything is possible if you have a plan. That’s how she became student body …
Desi Lee believes anything is possible if you have a plan. That’s how she became student body president. Varsity soccer star. And it’s how she’ll get into Stanford. But she’s never had a boyfriend. In fact, she’s a disaster at romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation magnet whose botched attempts at flirting have become legendary with her friends. So when the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi finds guidance in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years–where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. It’s a simple formula, and Desi is a quick study. Armed with her “K Drama Steps to True Love,” Desi goes after the moody, elusive artist Luca Drakos–and boat rescues, love triangles, and staged car crashes ensue. But when the fun and games turn to true feels, Desi finds out that real love is about way more than just drama.
A Margaret Ferguson Book
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I thought this book was adorable. There were so many hilarious and cute parts. I loved Desi. She is a flawed over achiever. Her dad is just so awesome. Luca is a cutie. I love the kdrama! I definitely recommend this and will be reading more by this author.
This contemporary romance brought back that feeling of having a mega-crush in high school.
It really captured the feeling of senior year, and the friends who stick by you even when you’re not always making the best decisions.
Desi is smart and motivated and good at everything except for romance. So she uses the K-Drama formula to get her dream guy interested in her. Please note that “drama” is in the main influence of her plan, so OF COURSE things go bonkers.
It’s funny and sweet and cringeworthy and adorable.
Bonus: if you want to start watching K-Dramas after reading this, there is a whole list of them in various styles for you to choose from!
When overachieving high schooler Desi Lee gets a crush on a new classmate, Luca, she determines that all she needs is a good, solid plan to land her first boyfriend. Her father’s beloved Korean soap operas, er, dramas, provide all the steps she needs to put her plan into action.
Her plan is a little bit crazy, but Desi is determined to succeed. (By the way, if you’re wondering why Desi doesn’t sound like any Korean names you’ve heard, it’s because her parents choose her English name after Desi Arnaz.) So, whether she’s staging a car accident, convincing her pal Wes to be her Second Male Lead pretend boyfriend, or untying a boat to drift out to sea, Desi follows the beats of a K-drama, no matter the cost.
I Believe In A Thing Called Love starts out like a typical high school YA. I’d already gotten to see her watching TV with her Appa, studying with her friends, and suffering flailure (flirting failure, obvs). so by the time Desi starts doing truly crazy stuff, I already cared for this character enough to roll with it. Besides, some of the novel’s beats are a cute tribute to K-drama staples, like when Desi conveniently overhears a very important private conversation, while trapped with her rival.
Still, there were a couple twists that felt a little too rom-com for me. I’ve never really connected with the part in rom-coms where the couple has a fight for no reason, I know it’s a genre staple but ugh. Just talk to each other like normal people! So, the part where Luca flipped out at Desi just felt less like an actual argument and more like a labored set-up for a dramatic reconciliation.
But it’s such a fun dramatic reconciliation (PROM), and such a fun book.
Pairs well with the Netflix series Dramatown, a TV show riffing on the specific scenes and beats of K-dramas. Dramatown is about an American girl who loves Korean dramas and falls into a world of drunken piggybacks and romantic misunderstandings. Also works with My So-Called Bollywood Life, in which an American-born teen looks for romantic guidance from Bollywood films.
4 Stars
Somewhat of a fluffy YA romance, but with subtle emotional depth dealing with death of a parent and child/parent relationships. There were a number of true LOL moments and fun banter that kept me turning pages. I thought about throwing in the towel after the first few chapters, but was happy I didn’t and ended up enjoying the lighter romantic story line.
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.
I haven’t yet watched a K Drama myself, but Maurene provides a guide in the back of the book to get you started. I loved everything about this book. Perfect for teens. Desi is the class president, valedictorian, in a lot of clubs, the best soccer player, and everyone likes her, But she sucks at relationships. Even just talking to a guy in hard. She decides to turn to her favorite K-Drama and figure out what she’s doing wrong.