When pop singer Katie Wu returns to Seoul after escaping an abusive relationship, her longtime friends, rapper Jung Do-won and singer Kitahara Akihiro, are stunned by just how much she’s changed.
Her scars run deep, but even Katie is surprised by how often her trauma resurfaces, threatening her attempts to make music and find love again. At least this time, she isn’t suffering alone in secret. Akihiro's determined to prove to Katie that he's nothing like her ex while his bandmate Do-won buries his emotions, focusing on his music instead.
How will Katie overcome her dark memories and create a brighter future?
Take a peek behind the glamor of the K-pop industry, and join Katie as she fights to rebuild her life in the witty and steamy Illusive, part of the Her Multiverse series.
Virginia Duan is an Asian American author who writes stories full of rage and grief with biting humor and glimpses of grace. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Virginia lives with her husband and five children. (Yes, five.) She spends most of her days plotting her next book or article, shuttling her children about, participating in more group chats than humanly possible, and daydreaming about BTS a totally normal amount. (Photo credit: Susanna Stroberg)
This book took me through an emotional journey.
I was angry, sad, happy and stayed up until 2am because I just couldn’t sleep without finishing it.
The protagonist is a woman who did NOT get on my nerves making unwise decisions. There was so much to her story. There was a lot of great in this book but the one thing I wanted was more of the characters back stories to understand more of who they are.
I finished this book in a single day because I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down.
Duan brilliantly utilizes entertainment review snippets, album track lists, and song lyrics to enrich the dynamic story of pop singer Katie Wu, mirroring her character’s journey and transformation. Strap in for an exciting ride that delves into love, friendship, passion, all things KPOP, the wounds parents inflict, and how healing isn’t a linear journey, imbued with wit, humor, and cultural nuggets that made me feel so seen as a first gen Asian American.
The dialogue in this book is unbelievable! The characters felt so real, and I actually CARED about what happened to them. I ordered the hard copy because I want to read it again, slowly, and mark it up!
Not sure why Amazon has this fantastic book marked as poetry unless it's going off the few poetic song lyrics Duan has crafted for her characters and shared throughout? The book is actually a fictional story around K-Pop stars, their music, lives, vulnerability, & love. One thing that really stuck out to me was the true depth of the friendships in this book. May we all be so lucky to have people that care so hard in our darkest of moments.
Park Jae-sung was seeing things.
The rapper could have sworn he just saw Katie Wu exiting one of the conference rooms and heading down one of the SB Entertainment carpeted hallways. Jae-sung would know Katie’s body anywhere — petite and lean but soft and curvy in all the right places. He had spent his twenties with her, worshiping her naked form. Sometimes, he still dreamed of her.
But that couldn’t be. As far as Jae-sung knew, Katie was based out of Los Angeles now and wasn’t slated to return to Seoul ever again. She had let her contract at SB Entertainment lapse a few years ago, choosing not to re-sign when her term had ended.
Jae-sung had been secretly relieved when he’d heard the news a year after she’d vanished. Even then, hearing her name had still stung. If he was honest with himself, it still did.
His body moved without his own volition, and before he knew it, Jae-sung was chasing after the ghost of Katie, eager to prove his eyes wrong.
OCTOBER 2024