Disney’s Starstruck meets K-Pop? Fireworks by Alice Lin

clsimpson430
Aug 1, 2023
2 min read

My Rating: 4 Stars

“Am I dreaming, or have I been unwittingly cast in a K-Drama?”

This was adorable!!! I just recently binged Netflix’s XO Kitty and have gotten a little bit obsessed with BTS (see pic at end of review), so this little K-Pop romance was exactly what I was in the mood for.

Fireworks is a light, easy read that basically lets you imagine the whole storyline with your personal K-Pop bias in place of the main love interest, Kai. It’s accurate to the fun-yet-slightly-scary K-Pop fan base and has more depth than expected.

When I first started this, I was feeling regret for the precious $2 I spent on it. However, as it went on, I did get genuinely invested. There’s good family relationships, coming-of-age moments, and the twist is not the predictable moment you would think!! I just knew 100% that it was going to follow the obvious “Oh no, we’ve been seen in public, it’s all over!“ storyline, but the twist actually shocked me and wasn’t what I expected at all.

There is a bit of gen z wokeness in this storyline, but it’s pretty easy to overlook and can still be enjoyed. All of the main characters are likable and there are some really cute moments between Lulu and Kai that give those middle school feels that you used to get when watching Disney’s Starstruck or Stuck in the Suburbs. You know, all the movies that actually had us believing that we would meet and/or fall in love with our celeb crush :’) But it's also slightly more realistic since Kai and Lulu are childhood friends.

The only thing lacking is the classic South Korea setting...but I suppose having Kai come back home to the U.S. makes the book more relatable its American readers. It would be hard to imagine many of the South Korea settings if you knew nothing about them.

Overall: Fireworks is an adorable rom-com for all K-Drama and K-Pop fans—even the new ones like me—that lets you live vicariously through Lulu and thoroughly enjoy all of your Wattpad-fangirl feels.

Synopsis:

A pitch-perfect K-pop rom com! Fame and friendship can get complicated, especially when there are more than platonic feelings at play. Seventeen-year-old Lulu Li has her last summer before college all planned out. But her plans go awry when she learns that Kite Xu, her old next-door neighbor and childhood friend, will be returning home from South Korea. Lulu hasn't seen Kite since eighth grade, after he left the country to pursue a career in K-pop, eventually debuting in the boy group Karnival. When Karnival announces that Kite will be taking a break from K-pop activities for mysterious reasons, the opportunity to rekindle their friendship arises. Star-struck and nostalgic, Lulu tries to reconnect with Kite. As they continue to bond and reminisce over the past, Kite's sister, Connie, warns Lulu not to get too close to her brother. The harder Lulu tries to deny her feelings, the stronger they get. But how could a K-pop star ever fall for a nobody from home? And even if he did, is there any way for their relationship to end but badly?