Seoulmates
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Her ex-boyfriend wants her back. Her former best friend is in town. When did Hannah's life become a K-drama?
'The perfect childhood friends-to-lovers story - full stop.' - Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners and The Soulmate Equation
'Adorable, heartfelt, and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!' - Gloria Chao, author of American Panda and Rent a Boyfriend
Hannah Cho had the next year all planned out - the perfect summer with her boyfriend, Nate, and then a fun senior year with their friends.
But then Nate does what everyone else in Hannah's life seems to do - he leaves her, claiming they have nothing in common. He and all her friends are newly obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas, and Hannah is not. After years of trying to embrace the American part and shunning the Korean side of her Korean American identity to fit in, Hannah finds that's exactly what now has her on the outs.
But someone who does know K-dramas (so well that he's actually starring in one) is Jacob Kim, Hannah's former best friend, whom she hasn't seen in years. He's desperate for a break from the fame, so a family trip back to San Diego might be just what he needs ... that is, if he and Hannah can figure out what went wrong when they last parted and navigate the new feelings developing between them.
'Meaningfully examines issues around Korean American identity, code-switching, objectification of Asian culture and people, family dynamics, and finding inner strength. An honest, fresh, and thoughtful summer romance.' - Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Told in alternating perspectives, Lee's stirring debut follows two estranged Korean American childhood best friends' rekindling as they navigate identity and blossoming first love. After her boyfriend Nate, who is white, dumps her, stating they have nothing in common ("You just don't know anything about K-pop or Korean dramas," he says), 17-year-old Hannah Cho's dreams of their carefree summer together are ruined. To win Nate back, she endeavors to learn more about Korean pop culture, but the arrival of her former best friend Jacob Kim, 18 and now a K-drama star, throws a wrench into her plans. Unaddressed feelings of hurt and abandonment resurface, stemming from Jacob's move from San Diego to South Korea three years prior, as the duo help each other through individual internal conflicts, including Hannah's fears of being left behind by the people she loves and Jacob's feelings of isolation and anxiety caused by his career. Recalling the effusive expression, fast pace, and dramatic moments of a K-drama, Lee celebrates Korean culture, and examines its objectification within the U.S., via a good-humored and tenderly written second chance at love. Ages 13–up.
