Summer in Seoul

One of the very few Indonesian books that I own. Indonesian writers rarely meet my expectations, since usually I don't really dig the themes of their books. The reason I bought this book along with the other three is because of the season-themed titles, and I think I made the right decision.

Sandy or Han Soon-Hee is a Korean-Indonesian girl living in Seoul. She meets a famous singer, Jung Tae-Woo, through a coincidence when his manager accidentally takes her cellphone instead of his. When she returns the phone to Tae-Woo's house, he asked her to pretend to be his girlfriend and have their picture taken for the media.

This is an attempt to clear the rumors about Tae-Woo being a gay, which brings negative effects for Tae-Woo's comeback after being absent from the entertainment world for four years. Sandy agrees to help as long as her face is not shown in the pictures, even though she's not a Tae-Woo fan. And so her summer days as Jung Tae-Woo's mystery ‘girlfriend' begins. Sandy has to keep her identity unknown by the public, which means that she can't tell anyone about her relationship with Tae-Woo.

While both Sandy and Tae-Woo never thought that they would really fall in love with each other, it does happen eventually. As they start to realize their own feelings, the painful truth of what happened four years ago starts to reveal. The truth that made Tae-Woo left the entertainment world for four years. The reason behind Sandy's initial reactions towards him.

Summer in Seoul is Ilana Tan's debut novel, and it's a pretty nice read. The characterization isn't very strong, which makes it a little hard to understand Sandy's thoughts. While some people may think that Jung Tae-Woo is rather boring, I think he's really sweet! ♥ If someone like him exists in the real world, I think he would be an ideal boyfriend.

As many people have said before, reading this book feels like watching a Korean drama. It's sweet and romantic — perfect for a nice, relaxing read. The overall storyline might be predictable, but the turn of events? Not at all. Highly recommended for those who enjoy light books that don't make your brains work too hard. :)