Blog Tour | SCANDALIZED by Tara Frejas

Scandalized

by Tara Frejas

Publication Date: May 5, 2016

Genre: NA/Contemporary/Romance

SYNOPSIS

Fi Legaspi is living the dream working in Seoul as a road manager for one of South Korea's hottest bands, East Genesis Project. Until she isn't.

When she finds herself in the middle of a scandal and a hostile fangirl witch hunt, Fi seeks the comfort of home, and to her surprise, not the person she had been pining for for years. All too suddenly it's no longer her career on the line, but also her heart. Will she walk away from everything that matters to her or fight to keep her dream alive?

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Are you into Korean idol groups? If yes, you need to read this.

Are you a fangirl? If yes, you must read this.

Or just looking for a good book to devour in one sitting? Then better check this book out by Tara Frejas, Scandalized. This book is all that and more.

I’m sure you’ve encountered books out there with just by reading the first sentence of their synopsis and you’re thinking that, “Okay, done deal. I’m sold with this one.”, right? Scandalized was like that for me and so I immediately grabbed the opportunity to join this blog tour. “Fi Legaspi is living the dream working in Seoul as a road manager for one of South Korea's hottest bands, East Genesis Project.” totally lured me in. Maybe this is also because of the fact that I’m currently hooked with the K-Pop group, EXO, and I badly needed a reading material that will feed off my Korean entertainment feels. Scandalized was just the perfect read for me. No-brainer, I breezed through it and enjoyed reading something that I have knowledge and feels to.

With 18 chapters, Scandalized was able to touch base on a lot of things concerning the entertainment industry, the artists and the general public. Readers are given a quick and easy to understand run through on how Korean management works when it comes to nurturing their artists since trainee days. Road managers, hardworking PR people and other non-artist personnel were also highlighted. But beware, not everything behind all the glitz and glamour are real pretty. Scandals, manipulations, cover-ups and power-plays are things that sadly exist. Fi Legaspi and Jo Yihwan had a taste of that here in Scandalized.

Dispatch, a well-known website that breaks the biggest dating news and scandals in the Korean industry, makes an appearance in this book and stirs all-kinds of issues towards Jo Yihwan’s ways. In which brought on a chaotic atmosphere in their fandom, Originals, and for the people near Yihwan vulnerable to the eyes of the public. I won’t talk into details about the events that happened in the book but Tara Frejas took such a refreshing spin to this whole fiasco.

We live in the age where everything is most likely at the tip of our fingers. One-click, we get answers to our queries. Send love to our idols? We can do it just by hitting up their social media accounts. Send hate and disappointment? Easy as one, two, three too. Social networking sites made it easier for us, fangirls, to feel like we are closer to our idols. It enabled us to keep tabs on what’s going on with their lives and their future plans through those various platforms that they use. That’s the power of social media, right there. But with the familiarity of its existence, people tend to forget the lines that we must not cross and most especially, respect. Without batting eyelashes, we are now quick to jump to conclusions, judge and drag others down and that’s just because of a published article and our fondness towards these artists going way overboard. We only know what the media feeds us and not the entire (with Fi’s situation; real) story. Yet toxic comments are bound to float around the web. How about some reality check? These artists have their own personal and private lives that we know nothing about and that at the end of the day, we are just mere fans. Hard pill to swallow but that’s just it. Though, I’m not saying that I don’t get my heart broken whenever there are  dating news concerning artists that I love and support because I do. Support group anyone? It’s normal to feel that.  

So Fi succumbing to the negativity surrounding her and showing her weakness was very realistic. I expected that. People can only take so much and for someone like her who isn’t accustomed to the limelight, being involved in a scandal will surely take a toll on her. She may have experienced a fleeting downfall but what matters is how she used this particular time to evaluate herself, her career and think on how to bounce back on her feet. Similar with East Genesis Project, I’m in awe with how they were able to turn things around. It was very impressive how they used one of the lowest points of their lives/careers as an inspiration to start-up and successfully come up with a campaign to combat the problem that they’ve noticed. Channelling it through their music and using their band’s image to create a ripple effect for change was a pretty clever thing to do. Kudos, EGP and Tara Frejas!

How did the romance aspect of the story fair? As I’ve said, this book is refreshing. I was a bit surprised that the story took a turn there but it was kind of obvious too that Fi and this guy character is perfect for each other. They were confidante from the start and it’s a good foundation for a relationship. He thinks about her, cares for her and acts very sweet towards her and I’m okay with that. They fit.

Scandalized was not that big on the feels but what packed the punch is that this story could make us ponder on how we, you, me, act as a fangirl and the fact that there’s an advocacy at the centre of it. I’m sure the message Tara Frejas wants to impart towards the fans of EGP will not only remain enclosed in this book but it’ll live through with every reader who chooses to read Scandalized.

Go read it, now!  

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tara Frejas is a cloud-walker who needs caffeine to fuel her travels. When she's not on work mode, she keeps herself busy by weaving her daydreams into stories.

Aside from her obvious love affair with words and persistent muses, Tara is very passionate about being caffeinated, musical theatre, certain genres of music, dancing, dogs, good food, and romancing Norae, her ukelele. She owns a male bunny named Max who sometimes tries to nibble on her writing notes. Scandalized is her second novel after Paper Planes Back Home.

Fun fact: She's a Piscean. Go figure.

Facebook: Author Tara Frejas
Twitter: @tarafrejas
Blog: taratriestowrite.wordpress.com

East Genesis Project’s website: eastgenesisproject.rocks
Twitter: @eastgenproject

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