I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.
Skye Shin knows the standards. She knows the twisted idea of beauty in this society, the rules imposed upon her: fat girls shouldn’t dance. They shouldn’t wear shorts, stripes, or flashy clothes. They definitely should not enter K-Pop competitions.
But Skye doesn’t care, and so that’s exactly what she does.
Swept up in a whirlwind of performances, costumes, and publicity, Skye is trying to stay true to herself. But it’s not easy when the K-Pop industry, her competitors, even her mom are constantly trying to tell her that she’s not good enough. That she will never be good enough. That she could never deserve this, because she’s fat, and a fat pop-star, no matter how talented, is the last thing anyone would want to see.
But Skye is determined, and through self-hatred and doubt, she pushes back against the expectations of worthlessness, because she is set on being the world’s first plus-size K-Pop star, and she’s determined to love herself and never lose herself in the process.
This book is reality TV. This book is romance, friendship. This book is entertainment industry and media and beauty standards. This book is singing and dancing and crying and shouting and voices lost and voices heard.
This book is breaking the mold.
And you should read it, because Skye is awesome and Skye has a voice and Skye can dance and tell you about K-Pop, and about being a teenager, and about loving yourself: because, ultimately, isn’t that what life is about?
