ASAP by Axie Oh
Genre: Realistic Fiction; Romance
Reviewed by Julia W., 10th Grade
Rating: 9/10
Axie Oh describes ASAP as an "encore novel" that takes place after the novel XOXO. It follows Min Sori, daughter of Assemblyman Min (a politician with presidential aspirations) and Seo Min Hee (former idol who went on to found and run the K-pop music label Joah Entertainment). Although her parents are still together in writing, having not filed for divorce, they no longer live together and are on unpleasant terms. Every now and then, the family gathers for dinner with the intention of showing the public they are still a happy family. However, once the photos are taken and any pressing matters are discussed, Sori's father is out of the picture. Sori is very closet o her mom though, and would o anything for her and her company.
Sori has been training at Joah Entertainment since she was in middle school and now that she has just graduated high school, her mom thinks she is ready to debut in the new girl group ASAP. Although Sori has worked for years to become an idol, it has recently become apparent to her that she now longer wants to be one. Rather than being a member herself, Sori agrees to be a mentor to the group and specifically to the newest member. Her mom agrees that if she helps the newest member become debut ready in the next two weeks, she will let Sori out of her contract with Joah, no strings attached. Sori would be free to choose her own future.
As Sori has been a trainee at Joah for years and with her mom being the CEO, Sori has become close to the members of XOXO. Sori even went to the same performing arts school as them. There is one member in particular that caught her eye two years ago. Nathaniel and Sori dated for some time in secret. When Sori's mom found out, she made them break up because she couldn't run the risk of damaging XOXO's reputation. Additionally, even though Sori hadn't debuted, at this time she was still a model and on track to become an idol. She was still very much a public figure with not only her own reputation to uphold but also her parents' and, by extension, Joah's.
When XOXO has a three week hiatus, all of the members temporarily move out of their dorm to go and stay with their respective families. Nathaniel, though, doesn't have any family in Seoul, as they live in the US, so he plans to stay in the dorm alone. When paparazzi and loneliness become issues, Sori offers Nathaniel the opportunity to live with her until the hiatus comes to an end. He agrees and it quickly becomes undeniable that the two still have feelings for each other.
For awhile, everything is perfect. Sori helps the ASAP girls during the day and comes home to Nathaniel in the evening. However, when Nathaniel and Sori come close to being caught together and Sori finds out that Joah is financially struggling, she realizes that she is going to have to make a choice. If she stays with Nathaniel, problems will arise for both XOXO and her mother. It would also hurt the debut of ASAP and jeopardize Sori getting out of her contract. Sori loves Nathaniel but she doesn't know if her entire future, as well as her mom's, is worth risking.
I loved reading ASAP so much that I really couldn't put it down! My immediate reaction was that it was so good getting to reconnect with characters form XOXO! Getting to read about them again was a lot of fun as I recalled some of the characteristics of each of them. I found myself thinking, "That's totally something they would do!"
Additionally, similar to XOXO, I really liked that ASAP wasn't about just any one thing. While it did unquestionably revolve around romance, it also had several different aspects like running a business, the world of entertainment, family trouble, and overcoming loneliness. Unlike in XOXO and other similar novels I've read, the main characters are technically adults, around age 19, which I think contributes to the story as it becomes clear they are new to the responsibilities they now feel they have to shoulder. If I were to describe ASAP as a whole, I would say it's more of a story about finding what really matters to oneself and taking risks rather than just romance.
I also liked how parts of the K-pop world were included because I am a huge K-pop fan! Within the first few pages there is a mention of one of my favorite K-pop groups which made me smile. It's little aspects like that which help me relate to a novel. There are also chapters were the characters are at Joah practicing, in a recording studio, on a music show, or filming a drama, radio show of variety show. Although K-pop doesn't play as huge of a role in ASAP as it did in XOXO, subtle references that only K-pop fans would truly understand are sprinkled throughout the novel which just gives it a little something special for fans like me! I also have no idea if this has anything to do with the titles of XOXO and ASAP or not, but both are the names of K-pop songs! Whether that was intentional or not, it's just a fun aspect I noticed.
Overall, I think ASAP just really made my heart happy! I think it has a piece of everything I enjoy in a novel, and while I honestly doubt there will be another addition to the XOXO/ASAP world, I certainly am hoping for one! I would love to know more about the two members of XOXO that aren't focused on during XOXO/ASAP, as well as see what the future holds for the characters I'm more familiar with. I would love to stick with them a little longer. While these characters are fictional, I can't help but root for them as if I were their real life fan.
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