Falling For YA: Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo

Somewhere Only We Know
Author: Maureen Goo
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: May 7, 2019
Goodreads

Review
Somewhere Only We Know is about Lucky a K-Pop star on the cusp of making her American debut and Jack a photographer who has been taking odd jobs as a paparazzo while trying to figure out what he wants out of life. These two characters meet cute and spend a whirlwind day in Hong Kong discovering things about each other but most of all themselves.

Lucky and Jack were likable enough. They each had problems they needed to overcome but were afraid to tackle on their own. Lucky is unhappy as a K-Pop Superstar and needs to rediscover her passion for music and Jack wants to study photography but is afraid his parents won't approve. These are very real issues but I felt like they were glossed over and too easily solved. I wished there had been more depth to these characters and this story. It all felt too cutesy.

I usually love books set in cities I've never been to. I enjoy the feeling of exploring something new and getting to know a real place in a fictional book. I visited Ireland last year because I read A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane when I was 12 thought it would be cool. You can say I get travel advice from books.

The problem was that the setting didn't {POP} in Somewhere Only We Know. It felt like the characters were just hopping from one tourist trap to the next and we never got to know Hong Kong. The soul of the city. The setting in this book was like having a layover, you get to see a city's airport but nothing else.

Despite the little issues I had with this story I still enjoyed reading it. It kept me engaged until the end and I wanted Lucky and Jack to get their happily ever after moment. If you're in the mood for a light-hearted romance or a quick read at the beach, you'll enjoy Somewhere Only We Know.