Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 01/17/2024 Back then, Sunny had everything: fame, as a member of the pop group Sweet Cadence, and true friends in costars Candie and Mina. But now, Sweet Cadence is over, a highly publicized scandal has destroyed Sunny's life, Candie and Sunny don't speak, and Mina is dead. When Sunny learns that Candie is doing a K-pop competition, she rushes to sign up for it, too, though recapturing their old fame is the last thing on her mind. She's determined to reconnect with Candie and learn the truth about the strange, spectral energy that the three girls once harnessed that may have led to Mina's death. But as the cutthroat workshop goes on and Candie continues to hold Sunny at arm's length, eerie and violent occurrences threaten not just the workshop but Sunny's very reality. Cheng infuses the narrative with dread, skewering a culture obsessed with fame and disinterested in the safety of the girls it claims to love. At the same time, Sunny and Candie's journey to reconnection, romantic and mystical, is propulsively readable. A noteworthy debut. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.