A college girl catches the eye of a brooding actor and a mysterious billionaire. Stella Hart is just an ordinary student from Illinois. She’s the type of girl who leaves her hair tangled up and wears beat-up sneakers. At least until she arrives in Cheongdam, the most glamorous neighborhood in Seoul, and experiences a major culture shock. After Stella receives a makeover, she crosses paths with … Phil Oh, a gorgeous model-turned-actor. Fueled by alcohol, he lets her in on a little secret: underneath his picture-perfect smile is a tragic past. But just as she starts to fall for him, she becomes dance partners with Taehyun Seo, a modern day gentleman from the wealthiest family in South Korea. Rich Boyfriend, Famous Boyfriend is the first juicy, stand-alone new adult romance in the West Seoul University series. No cheating and a HEA guaranteed.
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Two to choose from
Rich Boyfriend, Famous Boyfriend is the debut book by Leigh Ban. I think she did a good job as the story and characters were both interesting. There were some things that I felt could be tightened up as it took me a bit to get into the story initially but on the whole it was a good first publication.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are all my own.
The well detailed characters and the well written storyline kept me totally engrossed in this story that I ended up reading this book in one sitting!
Hello everyone! This is the first time reading this author, and I guess this is her debut novel. I would say it’s more of a novella rather than a full length novel, because of the number of pages.
The reason why I chose to read this title is because, unlike many books I’ve read/I’ve seen on Goodreads and such, it is set in South Korea. It may sound stupid, but it isn’t. In a world where the majority of indie authors set their stories in America or in an English-speaking country, this is something new. I love Korea and I watch Korean dramas, so reading a book set in this world that is not known by many readers was refreshing. And I also had my “ideal” casting for this novel…
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The main character, Stella Hart, is American-Korean. She goes to Seoul as an exchange student at West Seoul University and like this she doesn’t only have the time to study, but she also can spend time with their grandparents who live in the city. Stella is 19, so it was no wonder that she acted like a teen who is about not to be a teen anymore, usually acts.
The story is told from her perspective as she starts going to Uni and goes out with her roommate and meets some guys who catch her attention. The first one she meets is Phil Oh (although I think the author Americanized the Korean name Pil, I don’t know). Phil is a model who works hard to become an actor. Stella is captured by his beauty and they soon get together. In another occasion I would have rolled my eyes at the way they become boyfriend and girlfriend, but since I’ve seen enough K-Dramas, I know that this is normal. In an American setting this would have looked like very unlikely, unless the protagonists were in middle school. This is just to say that those who are not acquainted with Korean culture may find it rushed and odd, when it’s ordinary for them.
But it’s not over here. Like the blurb says, Stella also meets another hot guy during her stay, Seo Tae Hyun. Unlike Phil, Tae Hyun is the heir to a big business, but this doesn’t mean he has an easy life.
I don’t want to spoil you anything about the story because you should read it, but let’s say it’s a triangle even if it isn’t for real (you’ll understand why if you read). I liked how the characters were written because they really sounded like the characters I watch on K-Dramas so they looked realistic for the setting, but like I said above, maybe not everyone will accept what they say or do because the culture is different. But I hope they still give it a try, because it’s worth it. I would have liked more character development, though. Because sometimes their actions seemed too rushed.
If is there a thing I didn’t enjoy, was how little drama there was. The book is short and easy to read, but in my opinion it should have more development when it comes to the relationships between the characters. Sometimes they could seem superficial, and the author used some cliches that may be overused to me because those are the tropes that K-Drama writers like to use. This is not a bad thing, of course, because it’s rare to see them used in novels set in America, but maybe they should have been used differently. I don’t know how to explain, but I think the story should have been expanded a bit. I understood why the characters behaved like they did because I know about Korean culture, but would it be the same for somebody who doesn’t even know what Korean sounds like?
I don’t want to be too critical, but this is my only quirk about this novel. More characterization and story. It seemed too rushed in some points and the characters may appear shallow.
Nonetheless, I liked this book, so maybe I’ll continue reading the next in the series.