K-Pop Confidential

You don’t have to be a K-Pop fan to get Stephan Lee’s K-Pop Confidential. You do have to be up for a YA story that centers a Korean-American girl from Fort Lee, New Jersey following her dreams all the way to Seoul. I loved that Candace isn’t just an AP student forced to play viola (yep, we’ve all been there, well except for getting 5s on the tests), she’s also talented and fierce and funny.Going inside the world of K-Pop trainee programs, Lee doesn’t shy away from the uglier parts: a system that chews up and spits out talent without giving it a second thought, that prioritizes boys over girls, that imposes crazy diets on young people who are busting their butts all day in dance rehearsal.And yet, what K-Pop Confidential wraps around that is a story about a teenager realizing her own value, her own power. Candace never loses herself as she climbs to the top, even when it’s debut or die trying. I cheered for her the whole way through.With glamour, romance, and sometimes a sharp dose of reality, K-Pop Confidential is an irresistible debut, and so flipping fun. I can’t wait to read more from Stephan Lee.