kpop book reviews

selfless self love by @armyforlife12

armyforlife12 thank you so much for requesting a review - I hope you find it useful!

⭐️ COVER ⭐️

5/5

I personally love this cover. The aesthetic is so beautiful, and I love how the orange and the blue go together in such a subtle but very complementary way. It's also a very interesting cover in the way that the text is laid out, and overall I think it has a brilliant effect.

⭐️ DESCRIPTION ⭐️

3.5/5

While I do like the quotes from the book and the explanation of the general message of the book, I think it is a little long and clunky. I think the moral of your book is great, but especially considering you explain the concept further at the start of the book I think you could cut down on some of the description.

Btw, I love you chapter at the start explaining the inspiration and the message of the story. I thought it was a beautiful touch!

⭐️ PLOT ⭐️

4/5

I really love the link between the story and BTS' overall message. It does feel quite authentic and realistic, and I like how you develop the relationships within it. I do have a slight problem with 'instant love' in books, and while you acknowledge they don't fall in love immediately, there is something a little artificial about how quickly they fall for each other.

Other than that, I did enjoy the storyline!

⭐️ WRITING ⭐️

3/5

I didn't notice any huge grammatical errors in the chapters which helped it flow nicely. I felt as though in some chapters there was quite a lot of dialogue and not enough expansion on the thoughts of the characters, so many try to fully immerse yourself in the feelings of the characters.

As you said at the start of the book, learning to love ourselves is one of the hardest thing a person can do so channel this struggle more through the character of Namjoon.

Also, (just a small point), the changes in focus in the chapters can feel a little sudden and abrupt so make sure to expand on these changes so that they seem necessary to the plot. Sometimes, the change to focusing on Taekook or Sope felt a little unnecessary so expanding on these relationships would stop this happening.

⭐️ CHARACTERS ⭐️

3.5/5

I do like your characterisation, I just think in some of the characters it could be developed further. With the side ships, I think there can be more development of their relationships and why they work so well together.

But I really liked your characterisation of Namjoon, and I thought it was really interesting to present a male character with self confidence issues as I think it isn't discussed enough in books.

⭐️ SPECIFIC POINTS ⭐️

My main piece of advice would be to expand upon the emotions and feelings of your characters. I feel like we are told how they feel, but it would feel a lot more realistic if you delved into their thoughts and inner workings. I assume you're going to do this more later on in the book due to the hints given, and so my advice would be to really focus in on their emotions as well as the plot.

Especially with the character of Namjoon. You have so much to explore there with the issue of self love, and I think it's worth spending a lot of time showing what a long and complicated process learning to love yourself can be. 

⭐️ OVERALL ⭐️

Overall, I really like the message your story has. I think it can move a little too fast sometimes, and so slowing down to focus on how the characters feel and react to events would be beneficial. But other than that, great work!