News

It’s been over a month now since I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE hit the shelves and it’s been such an eventful, busy, and lovely time!

First, release day was full of so much love and well-wishes I’m not sure I was able to thank everyone. So, THANK YOU. I appreciated every tweet, DM, instagram, and FaceBook post. It is so so appreciated.

Second, my launch party was SO FUN. Thanks to Vroman’s for hosting me and to the best interviewer in the West, Sarah Enni. I loved seeing my family and friends from both IRL and book world all in one place. Launch parties are always emotional. You spend months, sometimes years!, working on these books by yourself and then you’re suddenly allowed to share it with actual human beings that care about it. What a gift, dudes.

I did a couple more great events in L.A.—Book’d in Burbank and a panel with Cindy Pon and Sherri L. Smith and then was off to celebrate my wedding anniversary in France! What a truly wonderful way to celebrate everything happening June.

A mere two days after returning from France in a cheese and wine coma, I was off to Chicago for an event at Anderson’s Bookshop with Adi Alsaid, Julie Eshbaugh, E. Lockhart, and Neal Shusterman. What a perfect welcome to Chicago.

Then soon after, ALA! It was my first time there and I had a lil’ too much fun. Thanks to all the wonderful book people who came by and chatted with me at my signing. Book people are the best people.

I also got to watch my good friend (and hot date!) Vera Brosgol get presented with her Caldecott Honor for her charming, perfect picture book, Leave Me Alone.

Literally two hours after my feet landed back in L.A., I headed off to a writing retreat to get some major work done on my next book’s revisions. MORE ON THAT SOON!

Happy summer, all.

xx

My blog tour started yesterday, HURRAY!

Yesterday I talked about my favorite romantically awkward characters at YA Bibliophile.

Today my characters were interviewed on Love is Not a Triangle—you can imagine it got a little silly.

Here’s the rest of the schedule!

26-May – Kristina @ https://gonepecanla.wordpress.com/

27-May – Melissa @ http://livelovereadya.wordpress.com

28-May – Rachel @ http://aperfectioncalledbooks.blogspot.com/

29-May – Carmen @ https://yawednesdays.com/

30-May – Angel @ avdreader.wordpress.com

Happy reading!

x x

Release day is now one week away (HOW? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN.) My current feel:

To offset this feel, I wanted to share the latest awesome review of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, from School Library Journal:

Gr 7 Up—While she is an overachiever in the realm of academics and extracurricular activities, Desi Lee is socially awkward when it comes to romance. She has perfect SAT scores and is possibly Stanford-bound. Yet when boys are involved, Desi is an accident-prone wreck. She lives with her dad, who loves Korean dramas. Both are still struggling with the loss of Desi’s mother years earlier. When an embarrassing incident involving a crush occurs, a miserable Desi hunkers down and spends a weekend binge-watching Korean dramas. The teen comes up with a 24-step plan to snag a boyfriend, which is based on the formula of success for every K-drama television show. Desi has her heart set on the new kid in school, Luca, and puts her scheme into motion. This book extends beyond a typical romance story, as it also deals with parent/teen relationships, grief, and the stress of college admission. VERDICT A humorous romantic comedy with a Korean drama twist that should be on all YA romance shelves. Purchase where Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han are popular.Vivian Ho, Port Washington Public Library, NY

Will you be at Yallwest this weekend? Because I will!!! Check out my schedule and I hope to see and chat with some of you! (Have I mentioned…I’ll be giving away galleys and buttons!)

I am woefully behind on reporting on a few lovely reviews that IBIATCL has received! First, another starred review, this time from Publisher’s Weekly!!!

“Goo (Since You Asked…) simultaneously honors and deconstructs romantic tropes, both in general and specific to K dramas, and does so using a wonderfully diverse cast.”

And this lovely review from VOYA!

Also! Check out my events page, I’ll be at the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend, on 2 panels!

I’ll also be signing advanced copies of I Believe in a Thing Called Love at the Once Upon a Time booth on Sunday at 2 pm, booth number 732! Other giveaway items include these cute buttons!

Whew, that’s it for now! But as release day gets closer, expect to see more frequent updates!

x x

I Believe in a Thing Called Love got its first trade review—and it’s a STAAARRRRREEEED review from Kirkus!

A talented overachiever resorts to lessons gleaned from Korean pop culture in hopes of finding love.

Korean-American Desi Lee is a remarkably self-aware high school senior who finds that as long as she has “a plan—all’s well.” When she swoons for Luca Drakos, an alluring white transfer student, Desi doesn’t hesitate to share with him that she’s “school president, on varsity soccer and tennis, in five different clubs,” and “pretty much slated to be valedictorian.” Desi’s confidence knows no bounds, except when it comes to the opposite sex. Repeated attempts at wooing would-be suitors having backfired, Desi finds Luca too good to lose, so she turns to an unlikely mainstay of her home life for help: the Korean dramas her widower father has watched obsessively for years, where star-crossed lovers seem always to win in the end. (A starter guide is helpfully appended.) Previously dismissing the formulaic K dramas as the “white noise” of her life, Desi begins to study their plotlines intently, going so far as to craft 24 “K Drama Steps to True Love.” Desi’s implementation of measures such as “Be Caught in an Obviously Lopsided Love Triangle,” yields hilarious, at times unintended results, lending this teen rom-com a surprisingly thoughtful conclusion.

Plot-driven as the K dramas Goo’s protagonist seeks to emulate, her funny, engaging narrative also delivers powerful messages of inclusion and acceptance. (Fiction. 12-18)