I have been waiting for this one for what feels like forever. I originally won an ARC of Jessica Jung‘s debut novel, Shine back in 2020. I passed it on to my sister because she loves K-pop, but ended up reading a digital ARC with her. Friend, I did not expect to be consumed by a K-pop book, but alas, I could not stop reading it long enough to board a plane, much less anything else. Obsessed.

Welp, here we are in 2022 and I’m totally trash for the sequel, Bright. Skipped sleep to finish it and can’t stop thinking about it, trash.

Shine introduced us to an American-born K-pop trainee named Rachel. She was caught up in the drama of a group of teenagers all striving to be the next big music star… and it was a delicious amount of drama in all the best ways. However, since Jessica Jung was a K-pop idol herself with the group Girls Generation, there were many questions about how much was real and how much was fiction.

I needed answers then and I need them more now!

Bright picks up more than five years after the end of Shine. Now, Rachel is part of a nine-member group called Girls Forever. They are the peak of K-pop girl groups and living the dream… mostly. There’s still some drama.

That drama escalates when Rachel starts thinking of what her life could be outside of the group. That includes talking to a new boy, Alex, and expressing interest in starting a fashion line. Needless to say, the group does not handle it well and it gets intense.

I really felt for Rachel’s character as she tries to balance her desires with a group of jealous teammates. There’s a genuine heartbreak on the page, which I swear comes from Jessica’s personal experience. Especially after the ending, I believe most of these novels are her real life with different names and you cannot convince me otherwise. I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL, OKAY! She’s telling her side of the story without getting in trouble. Boom. So, what’s clearly fictionalized fact has a depth of emotion that some other novels lack due to not experiencing the trauma first hand.

Bright is a quick and easy read, although some of the drama might raise your blood pressure a bit…. Oopsies? Anyways, it’s an entertaining read, even if you aren’t into K-pop. I knew nothing of it when I started the first book and still enjoyed it. Now that I know a smidge about the industry, it enriched the experience of the sequel. I’m interested to find out if there will be a third installment, since Bright seems to wrap things up pretty well. (There’s always the adult years, though….)

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