Sidereal #1
Author: W.H. Rose
Published: 22nd September 2020
Format: eARC
Source: Received for Booktour
From Goodreads
Taein Kim, affectionately known as "Blondie", is an incredibly talented young man and leader of the rookie K-Pop group Eclipse. Tae has his whole life and career in front of him, but it comes to a screeching halt when a standard meet and greet leads to him finding his soulmate, a foreign girl named after the goddess of love.
Venus Woods is the young heiress of the largest tech corporation in Southeastern America. Her life revolves around meaningless events and empty white walls, devoid of color and purpose. She never thought she would meet her favorite idol group, Eclipse, let alone form the incredibly rare soulmate bond with their leader. As if that’s not life-changing enough, her absent mother is determined to have the two married, using her daughter as a bargaining chip.
Separated by lifestyle, culture, and language, the teens have wall after wall between them. None of it stops the blossom of love that blooms in their hearts when they lock eyes under the cover of a thunderstorm.
My Review
I always try to read books of various genres and settings and I was immediately fascinated by this love story that would have seen a Korean boy and an American girl protagonists. I was curious to know how the author might have developed the story and how she could solve some basic problems like communication impossibility and cultural differences.
I was immediately pleased by how the book started because I thought it was incredibly well written for being the work of a young , independent author. The style was easy to follow, descriptive enough and quite catchy. When reading about Taein finding his soul-mate in the book blurp, I couldn't imagine that the Soul Searching would have been an actual invention of the author: in fact, the encounter between soul-mates is transformed by the author in a serious medical, and not just sentimental, issue. Once met their correspondent soul-mate, one could not go on and live like nothing happened because separation would mean death. Not being an overly romantic girl, I thought this idea was brilliant, because it justified the deep bond the protagonists immediately create - that I would have otherwise considered exaggerated. Great coherence, could also be found in the way the author did not leave out important aspects of their relationships such as those mentioned before. The problem of communication occupies a great part of Taein and Venus' story, as well as arrangements and projects to try and make sense of what their future together would be.
So, if I was quite satisfied by how the author seemed to be handling the outline, I was later a little disappointed by the lack of things happening. I thought that after settling practical matters, we would have seen more of Taein and Venus's life, and not just their getting to know each other. I would have liked to have a glimpse of Venus's life in Korea and to have a hint about the HER issue. All book, practically centers on that month Venus and Taein have before leaving, and I would have imagined to get much more out of this first installment. Another thing that started to annoy me later in the book, is Taein's personality - or lack of? I couldn't relate to him, presented as a charming leader of a quite famous band that then accepts to be bossed around by her authorative mother-in-law without ever expressing his opinion. I didn't like how he did not show his "manly" side and agreed to let Venus pay for everything they did. Let's be clear, I believe in gender equality, but by a famous Korean popstar I would have expected a little more pride.
All things considered, I decided to give this book 2.5 stars because I could have stand the excessive romanticism if at least something juicy would happen during the narration, but it didn't. The author certainly set the premises for a good story but focused too much on the sentimental side to keep me personally focused. I'm sure that a more romantic audience and probably a younger target, would enjoy this book much more than I did.
Rated 2.5
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