This book had a slow start for me. It felt really cheesy in the beginning and I found myself wondering if I was going to like it or not. I am so glad that I continued to read it, because the more I read, the more I liked this book. Lee obviously stole the show, and he is a character that is so hard not to fall in love with. This book touched very lightly upon the topic of self harm, which is a very real struggle many people face. All in all, this book went above my expectations.

I am not much of a Kpop listener, but Kdramas I have watched and this book reminded me of one. It was very entertaining and I really loved Merri and Lee. Merri was great, she had a backbone and Burnham really made her reactions to things very believable there was never one time where I thought 'really!? why are you doing that?'. Lee was great and exactly what I thought a leading Kdrama boy would be like. I wish Burnham gave us something with his point-of-view but it isn't anything to gripe about

The one thing I really wish Burnham did was give me moments of Merri with her friends before they betrayed her because I just could not see what Merri had seen in them before this betrayal. Maybe that was the point? Maybe it's Merri who was opening her eyes and seeing what I was seeing this entire time? Maybe I just wanted the book to be longer because this was a really short book. I read this in one night, and I am really glad it is not a standalone because I really to see Merri and Lee's relationship goes, and how it will get past the obstacles they now face. Just know that I will be picking up the sequel when it comes out.

Wow, I chose this ARC as a K-pop fan and was not disappointed! Merri's romance with Lee was great, they had all the chemistry and banter that I expect from a romance novel and I loved the way that it wasn't all smooth sailing; all the obstacles in their way made their relationship stronger and more believable. I especially loved the author's descriptions of Korean food and references to other K-pop bands, it was a good way to get immersed in the world of the characters.

The side characters were well drawn too, not totally good or evil, but always somewhere in between. I also liked Merri's conflict with her father and resentment towards her absent mother, and Lee's surprisingly dark past. This is a fluffy romance, but it also gets quite deep and I loved that the characters were more complex than they first appeared. This book was a really good read and I highly recommend it to all YA readers!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Yet another book that I loved. I’m so grateful for these books that I get the opportunity to read and fall in love with. Merri and Lee were such great characters, and I loved the development of their bond. Some people might find this book cheesy, some may have issues with character portrayals or general plot lines, but I can’t fault this book. I would recommend it to lovers of love-stories.

This is a really cute romance that works into it, ideas of cultural and social identity and how that can affect the way we see and think about others. I loved reading this and really enjoyed not on the overarching story but also the development of the characters and their relationship.

This book is modern (hello k-pop, deviantart) and cute. While it's somewhat predictable, it's also catchy. Reminiscent of soap operas and k-pop dramas, it's filled with break ups and drama. But in a good way. It also touches on depression and suicide, especially in how it affects celebrities and their lives.

Honestly, I wasn't sure about this, but I'm so happy I gave it a shot. I look forward to a sequel.

I received a copy of Hart & Seoul free from NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

What a cute book! Kristen Burnham’s debut novel has everything my sweet-love-story-suckered heart adores. There’s a lot to love here, especially the enemies-to-lovers trope that leaves the reader quite satisfied without too much slow-burn and madness. This is such a fun, sweet, entertaining book! I’ll be honest, I loved the ending, but I wasn’t completely ready to accept that it was over… and then I realized that there will be a sequel! I’m so excited! If you love feel-good, easy to read stories, you will adore Heart and Seoul!

I haven't decided if I'll review this book or not. I just finished reading it and am unsure of my opinion of it. I'm not positive that I loved it and want to revisit elements before making a final decision. But thank you for the review opportunity!

This book was exactly what I had expected it to be and I really enjoyed it. I always love books that have a musical element to them. I really liked the plot development and watching the characters grow over the course of the story.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me an arc. It’s been far too long since I felt like reviewing again.

This book followed the basic tropes and stereotypes as found in the Hollywood romance sub genre. However, it was very well written and easy to read. The story itself is something everyone probably dreams of with their celebrity crush as a teenager/adult.

I thoroughly enjoyed delving deeper into the kpop world that wasn’t in Korea for once. It was good to see the impact of kpop in America - although can someone write a uk one soon?

But most of all, this book made me miss Seoul so much. I loved how the author brought bits of Korean culture and language into the novel in easy to understand bits. It made me as a reader feel like I was entering the same world as Merri and Lee.

Thank you again for letting me read this. It was a pleasure!

Hart and Seoul will have our high school students squealing when they read this book. It has the perfect mix of realistic teenage angst, romance, and Kpop. The writing is aimed at high schoolers as it is easy to read but has a great influx of vocabulary to keep it interesting. This book will be well received in our library.

This was a very cute quick read! I really like the different tropes used within this book! Enemies to lover and fake dating? What more do you want from a YA romance. A good read and I'll be interested in reading the next one!
Thanks again to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for an honest review! :)

If I had picked up this book as a teenager I would have loved it! I have always loved Asian culture and was addicted to everything Korean before K Pop became a huge deal.
As an adult, I enjoyed this book. But I could tell it wasn’t aimed at me. Not my age anyway. It was aimed at 16 year old me who believed you could really meet and fall in love with your celebrity idol.
I would recommend this book mostly to teenager and young adult readers but try it no matter what. You might just find yourself devouring it!

* Solid 3 stars. *

Now that may sound like a low rating, but hey now, 3 stars means that I liked it!
I think if I had read this in high school I would have easily given it at least 4 if not 5 stars, but I have left my K-Pop obsessed past behind and have a desire to read more detailed novels.
That being said, I truly enjoyed this story and read it all in one sitting. I enjoyed the main characters and their quirks. I identified a LOT with Merri "Christmas", as I was an artist on Deviantart in my teenage years, and was obsessed with being an artist, though I was definitely a K-Pop obsessed drama watching fiend at the same time, and had an extensive knowledge of all the K-Pop groups in the early 2000's.

I thought Lee had a very charming character, and enjoyed the scenes with him very much. I also really enjoyed the little news articles and comments from messaging boards that the author included in the story.

What I could have done without was the whole Bree/Luke debacle. I knew IMMEDIATELY what was going on there at the beginning of the book as soon as Merri first mentions Bree's mystery ice cream boy. That whole part of the story line was a huge cliche, and I think the book would have been much better without it, but it definitely made the book read very much like a K-drama, which may have been what the author was going for.

Overall I enjoyed this book and recommend it for teens and young adults who want a very light read and enjoy Korean entertainment.

"Hart and Seoul" is a roller-coaster love story between Lee, a K-pop star in hiding, and Merri, a suburban Virginia highschooler.
This book was a pleasant surprise! It turned out to be a total binge-read that I couldn't put down. The story is sweet and the characters are strong and lovable. I admit that I had trouble getting in to the first couple chapters and when I realized the MC was a suburban white girl I was prepared for the worst - cultural stereotypes and tokenism, etc. But it was pretty good! I've spent time in Korea and I can attest the the pop culture accuracy. I also loved the use of the phonetic Korean instead of the strict translations - that's actually what it sounds like most of the time, yall!
My major qualm is with the somewhat prudish language, but it is YA so it's not too out of line for the genre. I hate when books don't use real curse words ("gosh," "shoot," "crud," "kaka," etc.) because it feels inauthentic to the real high school experience and a bit patronizing to readers of that age, but it's certainly a good choice for readers of a more conservative nature who dislike smut and are looking for that sweet, toe-tingling slow burn.

Recommend for fans of: YA contemporary lit, K-pop, K-drama, Korean pop culture, chaste romance

We are a kpop loving household so when I read this description I KNEW I had to read this book! Who wouldn't want to live next to and befriend a (secret) runaway popstar?! The book was really cute and fun but didn't pull any punches when it came to the dark side of the kpop industry. You could tell that the author is a fan and not just jumping on the bandwagon. Perfect beach read for any kpop fan, but those who aren't will still enjoy it!

Wow. I was not expecting to roll my eyes at this as much as I did. But I was just massively underwhelmed. This read like a really bad K-Pop fanfic written by someone who did little to no research into Korean culture and tried to gloss over that fact by using the same three Korean words and the ritual reminder of "Kim-chi" to pretend they knew what they were doing.
The plot was so predictable, and to be completely honest, way too early 2000s. The sparkly guy-trope? Twilight did it better, sorry. The best friend and boyfriend getting together behind the protagonist's back while she's out of town? Been there, done that. And to top all of that, the protagonist (yes I have already forgotten her name) didn't even seem to care as much about that betrayal than the fact that her new, hot neighbor was mean to her?!
What even? She was so naive and ignorant and childish, I thought she was a thirteen-year old for half the book.
I was promised a lot more from the synopsis of this book and the story just did not hold up to my expectations.
Not to mention the potentially harmful mental health/suicidal ideation plotline that was basically resolved within half a page. Nope.
Definitely not up my alley.

While I don't usually care for highschool-setting stories, nor am I that well-informed in the K-pop world, I found myself falling in love with Merri and Lee as they slowly began to fall in love with each other. The highschool scenes weren't in the forefront, they were just parts of Merri's life that needed to be seen.

I related to Merri extremely well on the topic of her art and wanting to go to college for what she wanted, although I feel the backstory with her mom was a bit overlooked and could have been fleshed out more.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. And I'm grateful of the author speaking about anxiety and depression the way she did, and giving strong support systems for the characters that needed it. I'm looking forward to the next book!

a cheating boyfriend and best friend to isolate the protagonist is hardly original, but it does the job, and it is hard not to be on the side of a teenage girl who returns from two months abroad to learn that her best friend and her boyfriend are hooking up, especially after learning her mother walked out on her family a year before. It's a trope because it works, and it works here. This is the kind of story that would not work as well if Merri had a bunch of other people to spend time with, or a bunch of extracurricular activities. If she had those things, she would never spend all her free time either with her father or with the nephew of her nearly-a-stranger neighbor.

Merri's relationship with her father is one of the things I liked about this book. Mr. Hart, too, is clearly dealing with his wife's desertion as best he knows how, while taking an active interest in his daughter's life. Merri's plot-imposed isolation allows the writer to showcase that their relationship is at times awkward (because Merri seems to remind her father so strongly of her mother), discordant (because Merri wants to pursue art in college), and ultimately supportive (literally, when he carries her up the stairs so she can change clothes more quickly). Their relationship is pretty sweet, all in all, and seems about as healthy as one might expect.

The relationship that forms between Merri and Lee is also fairly saccharine. He swoops in to save her several times early in the book when her ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend put in sudden appearances, but he does not exist to fight her battles for her, and as the beans incident and several interactions with her ex-best friend make clear, Merri doesn't really need someone to fight her battles for her. Just someone to support her (again, literally, because she spends about half of the book on crutches it seems). Their first kiss was so very cute, but some aspects of their relationship are almost too sweet. For instance, Lee nicknames her Christmas, which is a very weird thing to call another human being, even if their regular nickname is Merri ("like Christmas?"). The fact that Merri calls Lee by his last name because she doesn't understand Korean nomenclature at first seems markedly less weird, and serves as a good way to introduce readers to Korean cultural norms.

On that note, Hart and Seoul does well at easing neophytes into the world of K-Pop. It describes the training academies for aspiring K-Pop stars, the apparently common practice of cosmetic plastic surgery to achieve a certain "look," and the high pressure such stars face from their labels, and the toll that can take. Scenes where Merri watches semi-related K-dramas like Boys Over Flowers or Fated to Love You show readers who may have discovered a hitherto unknown interest in Korean culture an easy in. It also has the most wonderful succession of Korean dishes peppered throughout the text as the two leads get to know one another better. Seriously, jjajangmyeon sounds absolutely amazing.

To return to the depiction of K-Pop artistry and its pressures, when discussing the reason Lee is even in the States, instead of back home with his group, Burnham is not subtle about hinting there is darkness there, and throughout the text characters in emotional or mental distress are encouraged to seek counseling. The author's note includes information on her personal struggle with anxiety as well as resources for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. She also mentions that Lee is fictional, but his struggles are based in fact, citing the 2017 suicide of Kim Jong-hyun.

For such a short, sweet book, Hart and Seoul really touches on many topics of importance to teenagers and many adult readers in the YA genre. I think it will be easy to find an audience for this book, and I really hope there will eventually be fanart.

As a small-scale BTS fan, I went into this novel with middle-of-the-road expectations. I knew there would be romance, and I knew pretty instantly with the boyfriend/bestfriend arc. I didn't feel too much towards the main characters until quite a bit further on. I did enjoy the book though, but it would have been much better if the author had actually done research instead of writing the book leaning on her very superficial knowledge of Korean culture; knowledge that comes from listening to K-pop and watching a kdrama episode here and there only.

The rest was fine. This book didn’t blow my mind or anything, but it entertained me for a while. I would consider going into it knowing that it’s not the best young adult K-pop book out there in any way, though. And that the Korean representation is not super problematic but it goes in that direction, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a Korean reader felt a bit insulted by this book.