Saturday, January 15, 2022

Book Review: A Million Beginnings by Sabrina T. Rudolph

Book: A Million Beginnings by Sabrina T. Rudolph

Genre: Romance

Rating: ★ ★ ★ 


I first heard about this book several months ago when I saw a tweet that looked like it was promoting a new kpop band. I was all... WHAT? WHO IS THIS? And Sabrina answered me to explain that it was the band she and her friends (and sister I think?) were creating as part of a new kpop romance book series. 

So from there I followed this band (because yes they have their own twitter! @Millions_ivp) and the company created by these guys to promote the book and series. It's been fun to watch! And I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy and can tell you about it here and now!

(I did a little video shout out about this here if you are interested.)

 This story introduces us to the kpop band Millions, who are coming back after taking a two year long  break (forever in kpop land.) Their previous company treated them like crap and so they have decided to start their own company and promote themselves. We join Seohee as she is approaching this new company to interview for a position there. 

They end up hiring her as their manager (not exactly what she wanted, but she figures it will get her foot in the door) and she starts helping them get ready for their comeback and working on their promotions.

In the meantime she is learning all about the members, which of course we get to do as readers also. So  much fun. The book flips back and forth from the points of view of Seohee and one of the members, Taejun. And each one of the other members has a turn or two with their viewpoints also. The chapters are divided into "tracks" instead of chapters, all named after a kpop song. So awesome. 

Taejun is especially flirty, and especially with Seohee. She blows him off for a long long time, assuming that's just how he is, but deep down she is loving it and eating it up. And soon he is getting hard to resist. Meanwhile Taejun is flirting in earnest, and not just for fun. But he knows it's going to be hard to change her mind and convince her to be more than friends because she is so determined to keep things professional. 

And so it goes! The romance of these two, with the backdrop of a group trying to start over again and deal with the painful and sad backstories that they all bring to the table. It feels like a very authentic look into what it might be like behind the scenes. And this is why I think we kpop fans love these stories so much (well, and the romance of course!) because it's really interesting to imagine what it's like for these guys in their real lives. 

I totally enjoyed this story and loved falling in love with yet another band, even if it is fictional! 

Sabrina and her friends are funding this whole endeavor themselves, so if you are interested in this book and helping them out, check out their Kickstarter site here where you can also learn a TON more about this book and their project. 

In the meantime, I will be looking forward to the next installment to see who conquers their demons and gets to fall in love next!


5 comments:

  1. That is really creative and clever to make your own band and promote it on social media. I'm sure is sparked a lot of interest.

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    1. Seems like they are getting a great response. It will be fun to see this journey!

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  2. Is there any actual music out there by this fictional band? How funny, and smart.

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    1. Not from this one that I know of. But there is a fictional band in a drama recently that is made up of real idols.. .and they are making some amazing songs. I want them to be a real band to bad! Here's an example if you're interested: https://youtu.be/iJQAUKIS36s Gah I love that song. The drama is called Let Me Be Your Knight, and it's next up on my watch list.

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  3. Interesting. I totally get that an author would make up a band for their story. I’ve just never seen it taken this far. It’s not a bad thing. I’m just saying. It sounds like a cool idea, especially for fans of K-pop.

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