Review: Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous

by Suzanne Park

June 1, 2021

352 pages

Goodreads Summary:

A social media influencer is shipped off to a digital detox summer camp in this funny coming-of-age story, perfect for fans of Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty and Love and Gelato.

Sunny Song's Big Summer Goals:

1) Make Rafael Kim my boyfriend (finally!)

2) Hit 100K followers (almost there…)

3) Have the best last summer of high school ever

Not on Sunny's list: accidentally filming a PG-13 cooking video that goes viral (#browniegate). Extremely not on her list: being shipped off to a digital detox farm camp in Iowa (IOWA??) for a whole month. She's traded in her WiFi connection for a butter churn, and if she wants any shot at growing her social media platform this summer, she'll need to find a way back online.

But between some unexpected friendships and an alarmingly cute farm boy, Sunny might be surprised by the connections she makes when she's forced to disconnect.

Review

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous stood out from my to-be-read pile when I was looking for a quick and cute read. It was exactly what I wanted. The story brought up important relevant issues but was also sun and fun.

Maybe because I've never been to camp but I've always enjoyed stories set in camps. To me, a camp setting symbolized laughter and promised mischief. True to that, I smiled a whole bunch while reading Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous. I was also left pondering a lot. The digital detox process felt real and pertinent to today's world. The way the story addressed the addiction problem had me nodding my head. From the counselors' willingness to help to all the hands-on farm activities, I loved every second of it.

A classic overthinker, Sunny is a character that will resonant with a lot of people, myself included. In order to take a break from our own endless thoughts, we turn to digital devices. "When I didn't have my phone as a distraction, I had a lot of time to think about these things. Maybe too much time." (ARC, p. 120) How ironic but so true that social media is the tool most people use to take their minds "offline".

The cute and sweet romance in Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous often had me squealing happily. Sunny and Theo were as adorable as awkward-teenagers-who-fancied-each-other-but-are-both-quite-shy can be. I thoroughly enjoyed their every moment together.

Refreshing and insightful, Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous raised a lot of questions relevant to the world today. It's a story that kept things on the light side with laughs but also manages to get you thinking. I need some more Sunny Song in my life!

*I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not affected in any way. Any quotes included in my review were taken from the ARC I received.