Despite it being quite lengthy, this rom com about a lawyer and a K-Pop idol is worth reading. Ari’s life is cut and dry. Well planned out and well on the path her father wants for her. Jihoon comes to stay and he upsets the order of her life. Along with family drama and life in the limelight, this story has lots of depth. Ari must choose between expectations and her real dreams.

The line that really resonated with me at the beginning is when Ari stated "She wrote memos that no one read and now she is dead." At the beginning of the book, Ari's life was completely void of actually living. Her life was totally regimented, wore only black and never stopped working. She created travel itineraries for others but would not permit herself to travel and see things because she had to make partner. Jihoon changed all of that. She started laughing, wearing her hair down, and expressing emotion. She fought for herself and what she deserved. And in finding herself, her life became full of color. Yes, there will always be ups and downs, but this book reminds the reader that a person can change and create a comeback. There is always time to truly live and love.

Ariadne Hui is living what she thinks is her best life. She is a lawyer at one of the most prestigious firms in Toronto and thrives on routine. That changes when her roommate (and best friend) invites her cousin to stay for a few weeks. He had a bad breakup in South Korea and needs a place to lay low while he heals. Her roommate forgot to tell Ari, and she freaked out; she came home to a strange man sleeping on her sofa. But, as she got to know Choi Jihoon, she realized he was a sweet man who had been badly hurt. Soon, Ari falls for Jihoon. But Jihoon isn’t precisely who Ari thinks he is, and she is shocked to find out who Jihoon is. With rumors and lies swirling around her, can Ari cut through everything and see what she has? Or will she give everything up because she can’t handle who Jihoon is?

The Comeback is a fast-paced book that takes place mainly in Toronto, with Ari traveling to Seoul towards the middle of the book with Jihoon. She spends a couple of chapters there before traveling back home. I was thrilled that the author had some of the book set in Seoul, but at the same time, I was a little disappointed. There needed to be more travel (which I get because of Jihoon’s KPop idol status) around the country. I did like that the author took us to some off-the-beaten-track places in Toronto. It made that city more appealing and made me want to visit.

There are trigger warnings in The Comeback. They are:

Racism: Hana, Jihoon, and Ari are subjected to overt and not-so-overt racism throughout the book. Some of the best examples come while Ari is working at the firm. The white daughter of a woman who is friends with the partners is picked over Ari for cases. That woman is tone-deaf regarding Ari’s race (she is Chinese), and there is a conversation with another coworker that Ari overhears talking about her race.
The main storyline of The Comeback centers around Ari, her journey of self-discovery, and her relationship with Jihoon. At the beginning of the book, Ari is a workaholic lawyer doing everything to make a partner in her firm. But, it was very apparent early on in the book that it wouldn’t happen. The overt and not-so-overt racism (looking at you Brittany and Meredith) was sad and even sadder that Ari thought she had to deal with it quietly. She found joy in planning trips, and she was good at it. But she felt she couldn’t do it as a job because she needed to follow in her father’s footsteps. I did feel awful for her because of all that pressure she kept putting on herself. It took Jihoon scaring her and then living with her to open her eyes to the fact that there might be more to life than her job. And it wasn’t until after Seoul, when her boss fired her for dating a KPop idol, that she realized she could do what she loved. Her relationship with Jihoon was based on a lie, and then Jihoon told her to keep it a secret. She did the right thing the last time she broke up with him.

I like Ari, even if she did come across as a rigid workaholic at the beginning of the book. It is explained that she felt that if she did what Ari loved (planning trips), she would let her father down. She also was furious at her sister for leaving her with that burden. Her relationship with Jihoon was a huge turning point for her character. I didn’t blame her for being angry or not knowing what she wanted when having a relationship with him. She also understood the need for secrecy. But when everything blew up (because of a picture) and what Jihoon said to take care of the backlash, I was on her side. I would have done the same thing as she did. What Jihoon did was demeaning and gave their relationship zero value. But, in a way, it did work for her. She was able to get out of that toxic work environment and start a career that she loved. She could heal from Jihoon’s actions and accept that higher powers controlled him. Of course, I wasn’t a fan of what she did next, but I figured it would happen sooner or later, with this being a romance novel.

I liked Jihoon a lot. He had spent almost his whole life under a microscope and was suffering from burnout. So, he jetted to Canada and ended up crashing with Ari. In the beginning, he was the perfect blend of innocent and worldly. He loved talking about his shoe and earring collection (at this point, Ari had zero clue he was in a KPop band). He tried to do things himself but failed massively (turning Ari’s bathroom blue was freaking amazing). My only issue is that he lied by omission. When his cover was blown (in a grocery store, of all places), he had to tell Ari who he was. He didn’t tell her until she was forced to leave her home and go into hiding. Then he left for Seoul. When Ari met him there, he explained more about his life (he had zero downtime, everything was scheduled). He also told her he didn’t want to be in the band anymore (neither did his other bandmates), but their contract held them. Then Jihoon and Ari are spotted as tourists, and everything goes to hell. Jihoon told Ari that he would take care of everything and for her to trust him. I didn’t like him at this point in the book because of what Jihoon did. He broke Ari. But he also set her free (if that makes sense). The daily emails (along with the apology) were a step in the right direction.

I liked Jihoon and Ari’s romance, even if it started with a lie and was kept secret until Seoul. You could tell that Jihoon adored Ari and that Ari adored him back. It was sweet. I liked that the author kept the sex scenes PG-13. There was a lot of kissing with the chapter ending and the next one beginning with them in bed. And let’s not forget the sexual tension between Ari and Jihoon. You cut it with a knife during some parts of the book.

The end of The Comeback felt rushed. I liked that Jihoon and Ari got their happy ending. But I didn’t buy that the band’s rabid fans did a 180 when it came to their relationship. It didn’t make sense to me (considering they hated her). That was my only quibble. I did love the epilogue!!!

I recommend The Comeback for anyone over 16. There are nongraphic sex scenes (lots of kissing), mild violence, and language. There are also some scenes of overt and not-so-overt racism.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca, NetGalley, and Lily Chu for allowing me to read and review The Comeback. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

An interesting read about a young woman who has a challenging career yet is still unsatisfied.
I identified with Ariadne as I like my life is very structured.
But she finds herself in a situation where she had to be flexible and it brings all sorts of changes.
It’s a good read.

I think I would have gotten more out of this book if I had listened to an audiobook from it instead. It would hold my attention for a little bit, and then I would find myself not super interested. Because I read Chu's other book via audiobook, I know that I would have liked this one better in that format.

Advanced Book Review! Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebookscasa for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this book. At first it really reminded me of The Partner Track – about a young, Asian, female lawyer, trying to make partner at a big law firm. As you know, I love when books are set in Toronto. It feels like I can totally picture Ari’s life here.
When she meets Jihoon, she has no idea he’s a famous Korean pop star, but the reader knows. So when he’s talking about his life, we make the connection and it makes sense in that context, but Ari doesn’t know to see it that way. It honestly takes a while for her to learn his identity and I had so much anticipation that made me want to keep reading. I think it was worth it for the way she finds out and the bond they are able to establish in the meantime.
I honestly know nothing about K-pop (Korean popular music) so this book was pretty eye-opening about that. I wish a few more things had been more thoroughly explained – for example what exactly is a Korean idol and how does one achieve that status? But I did some background research and it’s fascinating that pop stars in Korean are manufactured in what seems to be a similar way to what we’ve heard about Olympic athletes. After reading about this idol system, The Comeback does seem to portray it pretty accurately.

I liked the overall idea and premise of this book, but I think that the overall execution of how it was written was a bit clunky. Ari has a complicated work and home life that gets more complicated when a mysterious cousin of her roommate shows up to take a breather from his life in South Korea. I loved the bond that Ari and Jihoon had together and how until everything imploded the first time in South Korea, they were the best travel companions.

The one thing that I wished had happened in this book was that Brittany had a comeuppance in her jobs. (I'm hoping that she was the vacuous lawyer that had been sent to replace Ari.) It was amazing to me that Ari kept getting assigned all of these different clients even though Richard, her boss, thought she wasn't doing a great job. That didn't make sense, but that also doesn't mean it doesn't happen in real life, but I did want that wrapped up a bit more nicely for book life.

3/5 ⭐️

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for giving me a copy. All opinions are my own.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
The Comeback is yet another print/trade release of an Audible Original, and one that does work well in the “traditional” format. I liked Lily Chu’s prior book, which I listened to on audio, and while there’s no real connection between the two, there are some similar themes.
I did wonder at the slight implausibility of the premise: while it’s possible for a megastar to go under the radar for a bit, I couldn’t imagine a possibility that most people wouldn’t recognize him, thus making the premise fall flat, and that him being the protagonist’s cousin also could complicate things further. But Chu thought of plausible explanations for these issues that made it work for me, even if I was initially perplexed as to how Ari didn’t see the signs sooner.
I really liked Ari, especially her biting humor that comes out in response to stereotypes about her heritage or the occasional microaggression (her mockingly nicknaming a coworker who intentionally messed up hers is comedic gold!) I like the unpacking of her professional aspirations, and how they are connected to her father and what he wanted for her. She also has some complicated relationships with the rest of her family, which come into play in the narrative. She’s a great rendition of the cynical heroine with a lot of personal baggage who finds love and personal happiness.
Jihoon is a pretty solid love interest, and I really like that, while he wasn’t honest about who he was at first, he did it for good reason, wanting Ari to get to know him for himself. He’s also dealing with some challenges with his career, as while has solid relationships with his fellow group members, their management is stifling and controlling them. While their story doesn’t parallel one specific group, there are some obvious parallels even casual fans of real-life groups will be aware of. I was particularly struck by how out of his control the narrative his management and the press were spinning about his relationship with Ari was.
In spite of the obstacles, I did really like the two of them together. There is some melodrama, where it goes through some cyclical arguments where they trod over the same issues without really resolving them. However, their mutual growth and decisions to do what’s best for them help them to move forward.
This is a fun story, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys romances about revolving around the world of K-Pop.

The Comeback is a sweet light-hearted rom-com that I think many people will enjoy.

I personally enjoyed the beginning of the story, but did find the book a bit long and dragged in the middle.

If you’re looking for a cute celebrity romance (K-pop) look no further!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the advanced electronic copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Last summer I read the Stand In by Lily Chu and loved it. When her upcoming book, The Comeback, was available on NetGalley I immediately requested it. And now it’s official for me, Lily Chu is going to be an auto buy author for me.

What I so enjoy are the well drawn characters that navigate complex situations. There aren’t always simple answers and it’s so interesting to see how they arrive at them. Several things to stood out to me for this book. Ari figuring out what she really wants in life while working in a predominantly white law firm and dealing with family that aren’t al ways able to express their feelings. And the world of K-pop. As someone with little knowledge of it, I was fascinated.

Ari and Jihoon are meant to be, but there were many misunderstandings and hurdles to get through and I was there for each one. And can I say the Ari’s best friend Hana should have her own story told next?!

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for my DRC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 rounded to 4

Ari Hui is living her best life in Toronto, Canada…or maybe it’s her worst life, but she just doesn’t know it yet. However, all that’s about to change when her roommate Hana’s “heartbroken” cousin Jihoon comes to stay at their apartment while Hana is out of town. Unable to deny their growing attraction to each other, smexy times soon erupt, but just as things begin to heat up, Ari learns that Jihoon hasn’t traveled from Seoul to Canada to mend a broken heart but to get away from his own life. You see, Jihoon is in the mega-popular K-pop group, StarLune, and instead of telling Ari like he should have, she finds out when hoards of reporters show up at her apartment and she has to be whisked away into a sort of StarLune witness protection program.

Will everything be smooth like butter between Ari and Jihoon—see what I did there? Or will their different lives force them apart?

Okay, so I had mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, I loved the MC. Ari is very witty and funny, but Jihoon just made sooooooo many boneheaded moves that it was really hard to root for the two of them to be together. One move in particular made me lose respect for him. I also wasn’t feeling the chemistry between the two of them, probably mostly because I didn’t care for Jihoon as much. By the end, I felt like any gestures he made were too little too late. Ari’s interactions at work were also very eye-roll-inducing in that for as strong as she was, I felt like she wouldn’t really have put up with the crap she did.

On the plus side, I loved all the female relationships in this book, which I felt were real and very well done. Honestly, there really didn’t need to be a romance at all. This book could have been about one young woman’s journey to find herself, and I think I would have liked it more.

All in all, I recommend this one for rom-com fans who appreciate all the shebanging taking place behind closed doors.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

With K Pop groups being super popular right now I’m surprise that there aren’t more books with a love story featuring a K Pop Idol but this is the first one I’ve read! I actually really liked both Ari and Jihoon and watching them come together in the beginning of the book was very sweet. I also liked that the author spent time setting up their relationship before any twists happened. For me it made their connection understandable even though only a short amount of time had elapsed in the book.

The book is also pretty chaste. There is the illusion of intimacy but no real scenes which makes this a safe recommendation for anyone who looks for closed door modification. To be honest, I had to check the genres cause I thought this was a YA novel.

So why 3 stars? The book was a bit along. I think some of the scenes could have been cut and the story would have remained the same. In fact the Meredith and Brittany gossip scene was totally unnecessary and nothing ever happens afterwards so why waste page space on it? I’d say for 85% of the book I was engaged but a few times I felt myself drifting or bored.

Jihoon blows Ari's carefully constructed and managed life out of the water when he shows up to spend time with her room mate, who is his cousin. She's working at a law firm and struggling a bit with the way she's treated. He's gorgeous, popular, and lives life on a different plane. This might have a familiar plot but Chu has spiced it up. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. A light read.

I picked up this book by looking at its cover and it turned out to be a cozy read for me. The story is kind of predictable, but still I enjoyed the story. THE COMEBACK contains less than 400 pages, that’s why it was ok for me.

THE COMEBACK discusses multiple topics such as

Personal growth
Parent’s expectations
Multi cultural aspect
Sibling’s relationship
Fame
I loved how the character’s growth occurs as the story further progresses. Both the protagonists are shown as those persons having difficulty with their career. But I like the way Lily Chu portrays the expectations of parents for their children through the characters in the novel.

Next, I liked how Lily described the city of Toronto. I have never been to Toronto, but I can imagine the places she described in the novel.

If you are a fan of K-pop then you might have guessed some parts of the story by just looking at the title and the cover. When I read the title, I was like 45% sure that I was right, but as I read the first few chapters of the novel then it turned out my hunch was 100% correct. Those who are non K-pop fans will also love this.

As the “THE COMEBACK” involves a Korean celebrity, you’ll get to read a lot about K-pop stuff. I really enjoyed this Korean twist of the novel. After reading this novel, I now understand how much hard-work, love and determination Korean lyricist tries to put in their songs🥹.

I despise those obsessive fans in the novel who give hard times to the idols because of their rude and obsessional attitude.

In the end, thank you so much Lily for a PS at the end. I got the answer to my question, otherwise I might have gone insane out of curiosity.

After getting to Zoom with Lily Chu about The Stand-In recently, it was a lot of fun to read The Comeback and picture the author’s voice and mannerisms. Both books revolve around an undercover celebrity, but in The Comeback the celebrity is the love interest–and the FMC doesn’t know he’s famous!

I loved Jihoon’s character. He was so sweet and loveable, especially compared to Ari who I found to be a bit prickly. I liked watching Ari’s growth throughout the book, although I do think she could have reconciled with some side characters a little sooner to help the book move along faster.

I loved the travel-planning aspect and wish we got to see more of it! I can totally relate to planning a trip to escape your daily life (although, I usually take my planned trips eventually!). It would have been cool to hear more about her journals–maybe the in-print book will have some snippets of it the way The Stand-In had snippets of the app??

I’m excited to see what Chu comes up with next. I love her lighthearted, easy-to-read writing style and can’t wait for more.

Ariadne "Ari" Hui is a Chinese Canadian working her way up the ladder at a prestigious law firm that her dad helped her get into. She's devoted to her job and works constantly to get ahead. But two things suddenly get in her way. First, her clientele are reassigned to the new caucasian associate who was literally just hired. Second, her roommate's cousin, Jihoon, comes to stay at their apartment after a "breakup" and Ari starts to fall in love.

Hopes of becoming more than friends get dashed when she finds out that he's an "idol". He's one member of a worldwide phenomenon K-pop group and people have figured out where he's been hiding.

Now Ari has to choose what is more important to her: her life in law and her reputation or her possible future with one of the members of Starlune and all of the baggage and fame that comes with it.

Final thoughts: Too much tell with not enough show. No real chemistry between Ari and Jihoon. And it feels like she's being very honest with her reservations, while he never listens but blames her for running.

Rating: 2/5

LOVED this book and devoured it in 2 days. As a K-pop fan, it was very relevant, and truthful and didn't focus on just the highlights of the industry. The romance and character development was everything I wanted.

I love me some Lily Chu, I really do. This one just didn't hit the mark though. It was so hard to empathize with Ari as she pushes everyone away and refuses to live her life. Jihoon was pretty hot though.

Overall the plot was pretty standard for a celebrity romance, just with a nice kpop spin. As proud ARMY, it was consistent with my expectations for rabid kpop fans. I just wish we'd gotten to focus more on her travel planning than all of the family and law firm drama.

*Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

This book was predictable. However it was a fun read. The characters were endearing, and the plot interesting enough to keep the reader turning pages.

I liked the story and the characters. I thought both characters showed development and personal growth over the course of the book.