I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee

I’ll Be the One

Lyla Lee

HarperCollins · Paperback · January 4, 2022

Diverse book recommended by The Today Show * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year * Bank Street Best Book of the Year * YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults * ALA’s Rainbow Book List Top 10 for Teen Readers The world of K-Pop has never met a star like this.

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Who it’s for
A K-pop competition rom-com brings body confidence into the glare of fame.
Themes
Body positivity, Challenging beauty standards, Staying true to yourself
Pacing
Fast

About this book

Diverse book recommended by The Today Show * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year * Bank Street Best Book of the Year * YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults * ALA’s Rainbow Book List Top 10 for Teen Readers The world of K-Pop has never met a star like this. Debut author Lyla Lee delivers a deliciously fun, thoughtful rom-com celebrating confidence and body positivity—perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Julie Murphy. Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance.

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Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her. She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else. When Skye nails her audition, she’s immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn’t count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, her sudden media fame and scrutiny, or the sparks that soon fly with her fellow competitor, Henry Cho. But Skye has her sights on becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition—without losing herself.

Spotlight and Sparks

A K-pop competition rom-com brings body confidence into the glare of fame.

Come here for

  • K-pop ambition challenging narrow beauty standards
  • Reality-TV pressure, performance, and romantic sparks

Expect

  • A fun, thoughtful focus on confidence and body positivity
  • Media scrutiny alongside the rush of competition

Where it sits

Romantic Comedy for Teens43%
Music Stories for Teens31%
YA Romance - LGBTQ+31%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Coming of Age
  • YA Family Stories
  • YA Stories About Girls & Women
  • Asian American YA
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Dance Stories for Teens
  • Music Stories for Teens
  • Contemporary YA Romance
  • YA Romance - LGBTQ+
Authors
Lyla Lee
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
January 4, 2022
Format
Paperback
Theme
Body positivity · Challenging beauty standards · Staying true to yourself
Reading lane
Coming of Age