Full Disclosure I was provided a Booksprout copy of this book by the author as part of her LIT Crew, however, have voluntarily chosen to write a review. All opinions are my own.
The Price of Fame
The international K-Pop girl group MAGIX has finally debuted. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, Mika, Ae Rin, Geegi, Izzy and Xiao Mei have succeeded in realizing their dream. But it will not be smooth sailing from here as the team learns that once you reach the top of the mountain, there will always be people attempting to knock you off. With opposition coming from rival trainees, anti-fans, corporate puppets and outside agencies, Izzy and Mika still find themselves faced with bias and assumption. Couple that realization with lingering animosities between the team members themselves and the MAGIX dorm is a divided camp of thinly veiled insults on a good day. When the Rising Moon agency’s ace group STARZ returns from a tour of America, things go from bad to worse when their lead rapper Chase falls completely smitten for an equally uninterested Mika. Will the girls be able to navigate this current round of scandals, slip ups, rivalries, and rumors to survive for their next comeback?
Melodic Whirlwinds is the second in the MAGIX series of novels by author K.McCoy. Set-in modern-day Seoul, MAGIX follows the formation and career of a rather unconventional K-Pop girl group. Consisting of members from America, Korea, and China with two of the members African American, MAGIX is a groundbreaking, status quo challenging concept. But not everyone is ready for this shift in what has typically been a strictly Asian genre with even stricter beauty standards. Melodic Whirlwinds sees Mika and Izzy still trying to find their way in this often cutthroat industry with only themselves and their team for support. While the initial book in the series focused mainly on the origins and formation of MAGIX, Melodic Whirlwinds layers in the sunbae boy group STARZ. I loved seeing the interactions between the two groups both on and off camera while attending schedules and events together in addition to their day-to-day activities at the company. For me, this added a depth to Melodic Whirlwinds that I felt was lacking in MAGIX. Also with this installment, McCoy delves into a bit of BFFs Izzy and Mika’s back stories which involved a shocking reveal that shed some light on the overall dynamic between this already charismatic duo. Izzy, while once over the top and cringey, was played with a more subdued but no less playful spirit. This was a definite character adjustment that I feel helped the likability of her character more as well as an improvement in the overall “feel” of the story.
So, while I was not totally in love with MAGIX when I initially read the story last year and was quite critical in my first review, the follow up Melodic Whirlwinds was not only worth the wait, but also a great next step in what is shaping up to be a larger series of books. I am not only interested to see how Mika and Izzy adapt to the changes in their lives, but also how Mika navigates the “Chase situation” including his devoted fanbase the STARlovers.
For all my K-Pop and K-Drama fanboys and fangirls out there, if you are looking for a story that you can relate to and be entertained by, I would recommend checking out the MAGIX series. I am definitely looking forward to the developments that are on the horizon for however many more books McCoy has planned
Jennly Reads 