Desi Lee knows that anything is achievable if you have a plan and stick to it. So far, it\u2019s gotten her everything she\u2019s wanted – straight As, the student body presidency, and the varsity soccer team star role. The only thing she doesn\u2019t have is a boyfriend, preferably the hot new guy at her school, whom she pantsed herself in front of. After a weekend spent binging K-Dramas with her dad, she resolves to follow her \u201cK-Drama Steps to True Love,\u201d win over the guy, and conquer her flirting failures, or \u201cflailures\u201d as she calls them, once and for all. <\/span> Find this book in our catalog: I Believe in a Thing Called Love<\/a><\/p>\n Call Number: YA FIC GOO,M<\/p>\n 325 pages<\/p>\n More Recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n review by\u00a0Sylvie Bower, age 16 I Believe in a Thing Called Love by\u00a0Maurene Goo Desi Lee knows that anything is achievable if you have a plan and stick to it. So far, it\u2019s gotten her everything she\u2019s wanted – straight As, the student body presidency, and the varsity soccer team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":4014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/09\/I-Believe-in-a-thing-called-love.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-12I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4530,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2018\/the-sandcastle-empire-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4012,"position":0},"title":"The Sandcastle Empire — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"January 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"review by John Chon, age 15 The Sandcastle Empire\u00a0by\u00a0Kayla Olson Summary:\u00a0When all hope is gone, how do you survive?\u00a0Before the war, Eden\u2019s life was easy\u2014air conditioning, ice cream, long days at the beach. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed. Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/01\/the-sandcastle-empire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7889,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2024\/one-true-loves-teen-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4012,"position":1},"title":"One True Loves – Teen Book Review","author":"Nathan Wang","date":"July 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviewed by Jasmine Sov, age 18 One True Loves by Elise Bryant Lenore Bennett is staring her future in the face. Though she\u2019s committed to NYU, she\u2019s still unsure of what she wants to major in\u2014she could never tie herself to just one thing for the rest of her life,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/57698597.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/57698597.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/57698597.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/57698597.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/57698597.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4664,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2018\/that-thing-we-call-a-heart-teen-review-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4012,"position":2},"title":"That Thing We Call a Heart — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"June 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"review by\u00a0John Chon, age 15 That Thing We Call a Heart\u00a0by\u00a0Sheba Karim \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim is an interesting novel about the modern Muslim family. 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Courtney \u201cCoop\u201d and Jupiter \u201cJupe\u201d are very close, with Jupe\u2019s parents being gay fathers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2019\/01\/odd-one-out.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4208,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/the-best-kind-of-magic-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4012,"position":5},"title":"The Best Kind of Magic — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"November 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"review by\u00a0Alicia Zhang, age 13 The Best Kind of Magic\u00a0by\u00a0Crystal Cestari \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the novel The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari, teenager Amber Sand is overwhelmed by the intensity of the two worlds she straddles\u2014one of magic, which is not as glorified as one may think\u2014and the other regular\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/09\/the-secret-of-a-heart-note-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4012"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6527,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012\/revisions\/6527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hear me out: I know this book sounds beyond cheesy, and it is, but don\u2019t let that stop you from picking it up. Sometimes all you need is a rom-com in the form of a book, and that\u2019s exactly what this is, except even better because there\u2019s actual representation! Before you even read the book, there\u2019s an Asian model on the cover, which, disappointingly, isn\u2019t seen often in YA fiction. Once you actually pick up the book, you\u2019ll find that Desi is Korean, and throughout the book, you are exposed to her experiences of watching K-Drama, which is the basis of the plotline. I had never read anything, or even watched anything, remotely to do with K-Dramas, and so Desi\u2019s hilarious scheme to use K-Drama love stories in order to help her own was really original to me, and I enjoyed experiencing it for the first time. Her methods aren\u2019t ones I\u2019d recommend, but as a fictional character, I can laugh and squee at them without getting secondhand embarrassment.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While at the beginning, Desi irritated me, as her \u201cflailures\u201d and need to succeed seemed a little too exaggerated; however, as the book went on, it became clear that that was intentional. After all, this was inspired by K-Dramas, and as Desi notices, the characters are often, well, dramatic. But she\u2019s not just a goody two shoes from the start. Her mother died when she was seven, and she has basically been taking care of her father from then on. Even though she may have been slightly irritating in her lofty aspirations, she\u2019s still really spunky. That\u2019s amazing, especially since Asian girls are stereotyped as being meek. The side characters were hilarious, especially Desi\u2019s dad, as his obsession with K-Dramas was absolutely adorable.
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Overall, I\u2019d give this book a 4 out of 5 stars because the romance, while exaggerated, was adorable, and Desi is a bold and inspiring heroine, especially as an Asian woman.<\/span><\/p>\n
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