Heather’s Bookshelf: Trick of the Spotlight & Face the Music
Author: ML East
Released: 05/05/20 & 06/06/22
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance/Kpop
“I dreamed of him onstage. His toes writing calligraphy in ice. Every movement so effortless, like physics just didn’t apply to him. He knew no gravity, no strain, no friction. Liquid with edges, fluid into each beat, and then flashing with stillness, frozen until the next snap. And his voice…Prismatic, clear as a midwinter night.”
“Trick of the Spotlight” introduces Kit Allister, a young woman from Ohio who’s in to k-pop like millions of others around the world. She’s especially a fan of the group, Vortex. When a video of her singing their biggest hit song goes viral, she finds stardom at the same agency as her idols.
The agency does their best to setup Kit with a flawless background and squeaky clean image. While interviewing on a popular talk show, Kit is surprised by a couple members of Vortex and a rumor which threatens her image. Soon she’s invited to one of their concerts where she comes face to face with a couple of their members including the man of her dreams Saichi.
Against her better judgment, she goes with the group to a nightclub Sevens where she gets closer than she could ever imagine to Saichi. A series of events sweeps Kit into a whirlwind romance but secrets threaten to ruin everything including her relationship and career.
Trigger Warning: adult/offensive language, drug/alcohol use, references to sexual assault and miscarriage
Face the Music begins where Trick of the Spotlight left off. Kit’s life is basically falling apart. She’s caught in the middle of trying to keep Vortex together, helping her friends, and appeasing her super-controlling/self-consumed boss. She and Ryo have agreed to a plan to keep Saichi out of the spotlight, but will it work or will it destroy everyone?
Meanwhile, Vortex is trying to get ready for their world tour. But Saichi has escaped to New York, the rest of the group is in disarray, and dangerous situations keep happening around them. Not to mention all the secrets that just don’t seem to want to be secrets anymore…
Trigger Warning: adult/offensive language, drug/alcohol use, references to kidnapping, sexual situations, reference to assault, attempted sexual assault
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. Anybody who has been a fangirl of a musician, group, movie star, etc, will get a kick out of how Kit reacts when meeting her idol group and then dreamboat. I laughed at loud several times at her absolute irrational emotional giddy. Amazing. Kit herself is the narrator and more than relatable, she is also very likable. The beginning of the story throws a lot of characters and names out there. It’s a little confusing at first, but about a quarter of the way in they all start to show their individual personalities - do they ever! Super memorable characters and interaction/relationships between them. In Trick of the Spotlight, I wanted so much to be a friend and confidant to Kit. My heart went out to her and all of the emotion that surrounded what happened. I equally loved Saichi and felt connected to both of them. I also liked how the author showed the main characters out of the spotlight- what they actually loved, hated, and their vices. There’s a twist I didn’t see coming which sets the stage for future books. Unfortunately the ending felt completely abrupt. Clearly a setup for the second book, but it just felt inorganic and unresolved.
Which brings me to book 2… This one kicks off basically where the first one left off and is told by many different narrators- Kit and members of Vortex. The voices are all different which is a testament to the author, but also a little distracting. Mino is hilarious, but a straight up potty mouth. Namgi is adorable. Jaeyoon is super serious. Ryo…is Ryo. While the different POVs help give insight into the motivations of each character and push the plot forward, I didn’t find it helped with connection. After finding this was done so well with Kit in the first book, I felt she was pushed aside in the second. The sequel builds off of the character development of the first one, which is crucial as this book mostly focuses on the relationships between all of the main characters. There is so much angst in this book and between so many characters that I felt it took a little away from the focus of the first book and Saichi’s development. There is a point in this book with Ryo’s family that seemed completely unbelievable, but I still enjoyed it from a drama standpoint. I did feel the pacing of the sequel was a little more drawn out than the first novel and the ending through me off again. It just ended with so many things in the air. I do wish there was some resolution for these characters and readers!
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A fan girl turned idol meets the man of her dreams, but secrets threaten everything. Amazing characters and a twist with an abrupt ending. The sequel starts where the first left off, with multiple POVs this time and 3x the drama. Unfortunately loses a bit of the character magic from the original.
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Check out my interview with ML East
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