Jenny, however, isn’t the only one who acts out of character due to love, Jaewoo, our mysterious singing boy from the karaoke bar who actually turns out to be a rising K-pop star, finds that he is also questioning everything he knows after meeting Jenny. She is fairly quick witted, and for being someone who is quite by the book, she becomes fairly rebellious when it comes to balancing her love life with her future. Our main lead is Jenny, who is a talented young musician, quick to make friends, and does her best to see the good in everyone, even when she isn’t met with the same kindness. XOXO is an enchanting book sprinkled with a charming cast of characters. XOXO is a coming-of-age story about a girl navigating a new country, rich with her family’s history while also simultaneously juggling her dreams of professionally playing the cello whilst wrestling with her feelings for a boy who isn’t even allowed to love her back. But who would have guessed, probably least of all Jenny, that this boy would turn out to be one of the most popular members of an up-and-coming K-pop group.

Well, that is, however, until she meets an unknown and mysterious boy in her uncle’s karaoke bar, and decides to loosen up, and live a little… at least for the night. She’s a junior in high school with her eyes set solely on a future as a professional cellist, but other than sticking to her excruciating practice schedule, she’s done very little else outside her small little bubble of Korea Town in Los Angeles.

XOXO by Axie Oh explores a world I had never dove into before, but as it turns out, it’s one that I don’t think I want to leave.

The Floating World by Axie Oh