Fireworks by Alice Lin
Genre: Realistic Fiction; Romance
Reviewed by Julia W., 10th Grade
Rating: 8/10
Lulu Li is finishing up her last year of high school and is ready to check off all the boxes on her summer activities list. With the company of Stephanie and Ester, her two closest friends, summer vacation has never looked brighter. However, she soon learns her summer isn't going to go according to plan, not completely anyway. Lulu's mom tells her that their next door neighbor, who was also Lulu's childhood best friend, is coming home for the summer. Only he isn't just a childhood friend. He's now a K-pop idol with tons of fans. He goes by the stage name Kite and Lulu hasn't seen him since he debuted with his group, Karnival. Lulu wants them to be friends again, but it isn't easy. It gets even harder when Lulu starts to question what kind of feelings she has for Kite. Even if she does have romantic feelings for him, could they ever work together? Lulu has been thrown into a situation that has no answer. She'll just have to trust herself and do what she thinks is right.
To be completely honest, I was very skeptical about this novel in terms of its contents. When reading the summary provided on the back cover, I must say it felt familiar. It talks about a K-pop idol coming back to his home country and feelings developing between him and a girl he used to be friends with. I've already read at least three other books with the same theme so I felt as though this novel was going to lack originality. However, I was pleasantly proven wrong when I found that the summary I read barely scratched the surface of what this novel had to offer inside. I guess I shouldn't judge a book based on its summary- at least not entirely.
Additionally I love how Fireworks is told solely from the perspective of Lulu, but at the same time the novel isn't entirely focused on her. While Lulu is the main character, many secondary characters get a lot of spotlight. Namely, Lulu's mom, Stephanie, Ester and Kite all get several large sections of the book (as compared to other books of similar length) dedicated to them. This allows for readers to be invested in more than just one character which I think is an excellent aspect and further makes Fireworks worth the read.
Fireworks is a book that covers a lot of different topics such as romance, friendship, family, growing up and independence. I also think because it isn't about any one topic in particular, this novel is likely to appeal to a lot of teen readers. There is no single word in the English language that could possibly describe this complex novel which is one of the reasons I thoroughly enjoyed it.