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While she was born in Florida and lived there for more than a decade, Hana has moved with her parents to South Korea so she can pursue her dream of being an actress. At 16, she’s landed a lead role in a K-drama, opposite a boy famous for being in a K-pop band. She’s proud of her work, but the show’s ratings aren’t what producers want early on. So they suggest Hana and Bryan pretend to be a couple in public. Hana dutifully goes along with the scheme. It’s not too bad, but she just doesn’t have feelings for the swoony star (though he seems to be developing feelings for her). Awkward.
Then the producers decide to bring in another female lead. Minjee and Hana used to be close friends and had friendly competitions at their performing arts school. But for some reason, they stopped talking. And now they are starring on the same show, acting out a love triangle.
Hana expected their situation to be uncomfortable, but it surprisingly turns out to be a lot of fun. The two girls reconnect and go out and do fun things together. Hana would much rather spend her free time from work and school being with Minjee, but she’s still having to do occasional outings with Bryan.
Then she realizes she’s falling for Minjee. But there are a number of problems: Minjee probably doesn’t like her that way, for one. For another, everyone, including Minjee, thinks her relationship with Bryan is real. And openly being in a same-sex relationship in South Korea is not common or accepted. For Hana to date a girl could ruin her show and the livelihood of those working on it, as well as end her fledgling career.
So big decisions have to be made that could have big repercussions. But they could also make a real difference for not only Hana and Minjee but for other young people throughout Korea.
Flip the Script is definitely a “message” book; gays/queers in Korea aren’t accepted openly. The author writes on Goodreads that “most queer people in Korean films/TV shows end up dying tragic deaths.” She wanted to “flip the script” on that and definitely would like to see gays (both teens and adults) be able to live openly in that country and be represented in shows. Some of the dialogue seems a bit heavy-handed; I wasn’t entirely sure the teens in this book would say some of what they did.
The book also feels like it’s more for younger young adults: the writing is fairly simple.
But overall, I enjoyed this young adult romance book. Reading about the various tourist attractions the characters visited was interesting. I haven’t been to South Korea and don’t know a lot about those famous places to visit. It was also fun to learn more about the famous K-dramas and some of their common plots.
Rated: Mild. There are two instances of moderate language, two uses of mild language, and eight instances of the name of Deity in vain. Characters kiss a few times; some are boy-girl and some are girl-girl.
