Review of Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho

*Once Upon a K-Prom* by Kat Cho (2022). Published by Disney.

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

This blog post is interesting to me because lately, I’ve been struggling to get in my reading time. I was working for the longest time as a freelancer and contractor, but recently pivoted to an 8-5 job where I’m in an office. It’s not hybrid, so I’m always at home trying to put the puzzle pieces together of how I’ll get my reading done. I also continue working on this blog when I’m not at work, so the Instagram reels I’m fed about a 5-9 feel too real right now.

Anyways, I am trying to find that time to read here and there. Somehow I’m still on track for my Goodreads goal, even though I’ve been slowly giving up on the notion of reading goals in life. I think they can be a little too much pressure and takes the fun off of reading at the end of the day, and I want to read because I want to stay in touch with literature while also pursuing my side career as a writer.

Today’s book was an audiobook I specifically listened to while I was driving to and from work. Audiobooks can be something I often turn to in these times—and yes, I do consider them to be reading. I remember most of what I listen to in an audiobook, even when I’m doing laundry or cooking, and I’m able to break down the language as needed, so I consider this to be a form of reading.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction, as I know these can get quite long and they’re often not what you’re here for.

For one suburban Korean-American girl, her former best friend, now a famous K-pop star, is going to turn her world around when he asks her to prom.

According to Elena Soo, Robbie Choi is in the past. Once her former best friend when they were childhood friends, before he moved back to South Korea and became a mega famous K-pop star in one of the most popular boy groups on the planet, Robbie Choi is just someone she used to know.

Now she’s in high school and moved on from his existence—except when he appears in people’s social media feeds or when girls talk about him at school. Elena doesn’t care though, as she has other things to worry about. The community center she volunteers at after school is in dire need of funds and she wants to help them get the money they need.

While everyone else is talking about prom, who they’re going with and what they’re going to wear,Elena spends her days at a table trying to raise money for the community center. She ignores the fact her twin brother is so much more popular than she is at school and that she basically lives in his and her sisters’ shadows.

Everything is about to change for her though when Robbie Choi shows up with a camera crew to ask her out to prom. Turns out he had made her a promise when they were little kids that were going to go to prom together, and now he’s seemingly intent on making that a reality. More on why this is actually happening later in the novel, which makes you side eye some of the other characters for their intentions.

But for now, Elena is so shocked and mortified that she turns him down. She’s now the girl who goes viral for turning down the dashing Robbie Choi, which sets off the saga of the rest of the novel. Robbie isn’t just going away so easily, even if he tries to ask her again, and they two might even learn how to rekindle their friendship…potentially in romantic ways.

A lot of the novel is the back and forth between these two and their relationship. It kind of unfolds like a Korean drama to me, but after a certain point I did find myself rolling my eyes and finding that the novel dragged on a little too long for comfort. I wanted it to end after that, as it felt like the plot was being stretched taut in terms of story.

There’s an eclectic cast surrounding these two, but I found these characters to be quite static if we’re going to be honest. They’re kind of background noise propelling the plot forward at times, adding commentary or new events when needed, but I didn’t personally find any of them memorable enough in the end. Our main characters, too, struggle to be distinct for me as well, which isn’t a good sign either.

Overall Thoughts

I would say that I enjoyed the process of reading this novel, but I found it to be quite flawed in terms of my own taste. I don’t want to be negative in this review too much, as I know taste is incredibly subjective. What I might not love other people could find to be their favorite book, which is why you shouldn’t take up too much stakes before trying something for yourself.

Anyways, I just thought this book was too long for what it was, as the plot was stretched thin, and I did not care for the characters. I think Cho is a great storyteller in the sense that I could see this world really coming alive on the page, which is great to see as a reader, but because I was unable to connect with the characters I was ready for it to be done.

I say give it a chance if it interests you as a reader. You might regret it if not! One bad review shouldn’t convince you to not read a book—that’s a disservice to yourself if it genuinely seems like something you might want to read. Go find it at your local indie bookstore or library.

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