Super sweet rom-com that included all the tropes of a traditional K-drama. Fun, light-hearted read. Would recommend for those who enjoy their romance with a slice of real life and humor.

When Merri comes back from vacay and is deceived by her boyfriend and best friend, she finds solace in the neighbor who has his own secrets. Hart & Seoul was a cute novel and my first trip into KPop territory. I think the story had a cute premise but I couldn't get completely into it. It took me a long time to push through and I don't know if its the narration style or what, but it was definitely just a little difficult and lagged on.

“Hart & Seoul” by Kristen Burnham was such a great read, absolutely just so fun and sweet. Left me smiling. Definitely recommend!

I've had this book for a long time on my TBR, since I received it from Netgalley (very grateful, btw), but recently I wanted something different and this was the perfect choice for me.
Hart & Seoul was a nice read, with character growth, a bit of tension and drama, romance and everything in between. Merilee Hart is a sweet and caring girl, a good friend, an artist, with problems like every teenager we know and love. Then we have Lee, our unusual next door neighbour, a Korean guy who is too perfect to be true (like every artist we follow on social media), who also has a past that we know nothing about. The plot wasn't really a surprise, unless you don't read the synopsis and I actually expected most of it, but my joy came from the details about the food, the life of Korean artists, the crazy fans, the perfection they sell and the cost they have to pay for it.
I really enjoyed watching Merri discovering the world of k-dramas and K-pop, kind of reminding me of my first time too. It didn't come with a cute guy for me, but a girl can dream, right? 🤭
I would very much like a part 2 of this, but for I guess that might take a while.
If this might be your cup of tea, then I recommend it to you.
Have a great day!

This book’s got sugar and spice and all things nice, just like a K-Pop band and a hot plate of kimchi!

When budding artist and typical teen Merilee Hart returns to her home in the USA following a fun-filled summer in Australia with her dad, she can’t wait to see her best friend Bree and her boyfriend Luke again after two months apart.

Both of them are acting really weird though… but there’s no time to worry about that because a mysterious and very sparkly stranger shows up at her neighbour Mrs Park’s house. It‘s her nephew Lee from Korea, come to stay for a while.
This handsome but rude boy next door proves to be a great distraction, and Merilee’s cartoon panels of his hilarious mishaps are a huge hit online. But when she’s hit with a bombshell of bad news, she realises Lee is more sensitive than she first thought.

As they spend more time together, however, something doesn’t quite add up about him. Clearly both of them are keeping secrets from each other, but what’ll happen if they decide to come clean?

Did I like this book? DEH!! 🤩

It’s a funny and touching read which will especially appeal to fans of K-Pop, K drama or teen culture in general! Under the sparkly bubblegum surface it has serious themes at its heart, but they’re presented in a sensitive way which makes this book ideal for teenage readers. And happily, the ending leaves plenty of room for a sequel…

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I was looking for an uplifting romance novel but this was far from it. I don't know any teens I would recommend this to.

I love a good trope, and so I don't quite mind a predicable story. But as I was reading this one, I was just wanting for more. More from the story, more from the characters. More from our main characters. Its a quick and pleasant read, but it just didn't quite get there for me.

A cute, fun romance!
I don’t usually read romances and I haven’t fallen into the K Pop craze, but I could appreciate it for its genre

This book was borderline racist at times, quite uninformed at most times. As a person who's been a fan of K-pop and Korean mainstream media in general for several years now, following the innerworkings of that business very closely, this just felt like the author hadn't done any kind of research at all. Not just into the way K-media works, but also into the way Korean culture works as a whole. It's K-pop, but make it Western - if the Jonas Brothers were exactly the same, but K-pop, if you will. I was highly disappointed, unfortunately.

This was such a fun read. Who doesn’t love a story about a runaway pop star in hiding!!!! The author really knows how to tel a great and interesting story.

This is so cringey... Feels like the author didn't do much research into Korean culture, just enough to fetishize it. DNF'd at 25%.

Received an Advanced Reader’s Copy from the publisher, Mascot Books, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

First and foremost, ladies and gentleman, after almost one whole month of the hardest slump of my life, I have successfully read a book.

Now, I chose Hart and Seoul because I’ve been wanting to read it since forever, and it’s just cruel that I had the book but had yet to get around to reading it. So I brought some justice into the world and picked it up.

Straight off the hat, I’m going to say, the book is cute. It’s not a KDrama the way we’d expect it to be. It’s an almost normal story, a hate to love kinda romance and everything blowing up before piecing itself back together again. Simple. Except…what made the book absolutely fantastic for me was the heroine.

It’s not often I say this in a young adult contemporary book, but I absolutely enjoyed the heroine’s characterisation. Merilee Hart wasn’t the perfect, whip smart, got everything going for her, does everything the right way, says the right things at the right time kind of girl. She was absolutely normal. By which I mean, she’s got problems, doubts, strife, confusion, all of it. But what I absolutely loved was how she’d work things out inside her head. Her introspection moved me and I connected to it immediately. A large part of the poignancy in this book comes from her; her thoughts on her mistakes, her immediate admission to them and how she always remembers to see a little bit of herself in the person she doesn’t understand and while she may take the decision to put herself first, she certainly won’t do it with a sense of superiority.

Lee reminded me a little bit of the person I’ve always wondered if K-Pop idols are outside the spotlight. Exhausted, drained and wanting for a break. When the author made a mention of Kim Jong-hyun from the popular K-Pop group SHINee, I knew that I had understood exactly what she was trying to say. I think the whole world was shaken after the suicide of the famous K-Pop singer and it brought a lot of darkness in the spotlight to our eyes. I always wonder what it must be like, whether the price is too high and with everything I further hear about the industry… perhaps it is.

There were some very interesting secondary characters, some supportive and some not, but no matter their role they always brought something very very important to the protagonist’s understanding of herself. I won’t mention further because I think it’s best that it unfolds candidly to the reader.

The writing is definitely young but it is peppered with surprising moments of depth. The plot is simple but it doesn’t fail to keep you reading and the references to Korean culture are many (expect a lot of Aiish‘s *chuckle*). There were also some very natural cultural differences at many points in the book and the author also shows how that distance starts to melt away and there’s a beautiful sharing of special parts of one another’s culture with each other

Four stars! A very happy reading and stay super super safe! ❤

Did not get to this title, so can't leave an honest review. It sounds very cute though. But I don't read much YA.
The premise is intriguing and seems like a low key THE IDEA OF YOU.
Again, wasn't able to get to this because YA becomes last priority in my reading stack. What about you?

Not my cup of Soju....

I really liked the idea of an romance novel aimed directly at Kpop stans, and was genuinely interested in seeing how this author would approach this topic. However cute the story is, during my read I did discover some cultural snags that lessened the reading experience overall.

I think the author definitely has potential for this genre, and that this particular definitely has a growing market, but this story and its missing ingredients was not it for me.

I am curious how die hard Kpop stans, and especially Korean Kpop stans felt about this book, as I am not Korean myself.

I just think ultimately this book wasn't for me. I went in with high hopes, but couldn't connect with the character. I was also a little put off by the main character's voice. Some will enjoy this, but unfortunately, I didn't.

What a fun fast-paced read!

Merri has just returned home from a brief stay in Australia to find that her best friend and boyfriend have betrayed her and had an affair. With her trust broken Merri turns to her neighbor's newly arrive nephew, "Lee". A fancy dresser with attitude to boot, Lee and Merri find themselves drawn into a deep and genuine attraction but how will Merri react when she finds out that Lee is a runaway K-Pop star with gaggles of girls following his every move?

Merri, or Christmas as Lee likes to call her, and Lee were sweet and genuine young loves. They both have trust issues and have to navigate those issues in their relationship but I thought they did it very well. The novel is fun and quick but at times does read like a fanfiction. I loved it anyway!

I really wasn't expecting much from this book, in fact I thought it was going to be some cringy fanfic about K-pop. But it actually wasn't too bad. Despite the plot being kind of predictable and cheesy, it was engaging. But I think what really made this book stand out for me was the way it mentions self-harm and suicide, particularly when in recent years we've seen this occurring in the K-pop industry. 'Hart and Seoul' really highlights the pressures of being in this industry and I saw it as a reality check for the fans.

Overall, if you're a K-pop fan then you have to read this! But otherwise it was a really good, unique read!

For fans of Korean pop culture and lovers of Korean music fan culture, Hart & Seoul is the book to check out. It ties in aspects of idol culture into a more familiar setting, essentially amplifying the trope of "bringing the big city boy to the small town girl". While this story may feel familiar to those who are already immersed in Korean pop culture, the style and writing may be jarring for first timers. The constant usage of Korean phrases sometimes distracted from the plot and dialogue. Overall, if you're looking for a fun contemporary read and you have a deep interest in K-pop, Hart & Seoul may be just the right book for you.

I thought I would really enjoy this book but I found it hard to connect with. I think it is very age specific and I'm a bit older for the book. I read a lot of YA, but this one just felt really young. I think it's definitely a cute enough, easy read but just not for me.

This book is such an interesting one, it has a unique premise and I was so excited to see how idols are like in real life too so this is such a refreshing take on the contemporary genre. I am a little annoyed with the main character in the beginning as she seems like a childish person but she has matured and grown so much throughout the book! The writing style was simple and sweet so I had no hard time getting into the book. Overall, I think it is a fun, quick read for anyone who wants a refreshing and cute read!