Flip the Script

By: Lyla Lee

Narrated by: Greta Jung

In this simmering, joyous novel, I’ll Be the One author Lyla Lee delivers a tender romance set between two brave teens who decide that when the script isn’t working, it’s time to rewrite it themselves.

The first rule of watching K-dramas: Never fall in love with the second lead.

As an avid watcher of K-dramas, Hana knows all the tropes to avoid when she finally lands a starring role in a buzzy new drama. And she can totally handle her fake co-star boyfriend, heartthrob Bryan Yoon, who might be falling in love with her. After all, she promised the TV producers a contract romance, and that’s all they’re going to get from her.

But when showrunners bring on a new lead actress to challenge Hana’s role as main love interest—and worse, it’s someone Hana knows all too well—can Hana fight for her position on the show, while falling for her on-screen rival in real life?

A great LGBT story

This book is bound to be loved! Hana, Brian and Minjee are great characters with complex backstories and interesting arc developments. I was truly swept away into this set of a K-drama, while these teens try to navigate their true feelings for one another and are having adventures around Soul. The pacing isn’t great; the characters could be more developed and have more internal struggles. There could be way more drama and the Hollywood/ Korean film industry could have been explored more. I mean, I want the angst a teen actor life has! Real struggles with school, career goals, love and friendships! Being a teenager is hard! And being a teen working? Very hard!
The queer message touched me, though. I liked the representation but wanted more. More depth and more character backstory- I would have loved to see way more of Hana as a kid dreaming about k-drama. And more about the other characters too. This book felt too short for me.

Love but…

I love it so much, but the performance wasn’t great, overall, the story is amazing and I love it ❤️

Great story, odd narrator

I think the story was very lovely but the narrator constantly baffled me. Her pacing was so strange, she took unseeded pauses in the middle of sentences and often put emphasis on words that didn’t need it. I noticed that sometimes she had characters say things with incorrect emotions. For example one character says something like “I can’t believe we’re only number five in the ratings!”, but the way the narrator reads it is very upbeat and positive when clearly the character is supposed to be complaining. It wasn’t until the end of the audio book that I realized the narrator had been saying “fated destiny” as the title or the show the characters were starring in as she always pronounced it as “faded destiny”.
Again I loved the story but the narrator consistently bothered me.

I didn't know I needed this book in my life.

I love this book. It captivated me right from the beginning. The writing is great and the story is so wonderful and heartfelt. It is a perfect book to add to your queer reading list.

Delivers on its promises

What I love about this story is it doesn’t pretend to be what it’s not. It’s simply a sweet queer rom-com that asks Korean media to make space for queer people. There are lots of homages to K-drama and peeks into Korean culture and entertainment business for Western readers. If everything happens to works out in the end and the bad guy gets his due, isn’t that just like a K-drama?