As soon as I heard about this book, I knew I had to read it! The premise, the cover, everything about it sounded like so much fun to me. Made in Korea features rival K-beauty companies and the two students behind them falling for the competition.

Valerie Kwon has run V&C K-BEAUTY, a student business, successfully for the past three years. She plans on using her profits to take her grandmother on the trip to Paris she’s always wanted. Senior year is looking like there will be a boom in business…until the new kid shows up. Wes Jung has moved multiple times in the past 10 years because of his mom’s job as PR of a popular K-pop group. When people accidentally see the merch his mom gave to him, they immediately buy everything from him, leading Wes to realize that he can make the money he needs for his saxophone repairs and his music school applications from this. However, Valerie might not appreciate this sudden arrival of a rival.

I really liked the protagonists! The characterizations seemed a little simple at first, but that changed over time. Valerie is single-minded about her business and upset that her family, other than her grandmother, doesn’t take her and her dreams seriously. They constantly compare her to her older sister, which Valerie hates. Meanwhile, Wes wants to pursue a music major, but his dad wants him to be a doctor. Both were a little typical of Asian-American stories, but I liked how they grew throughout the book. Valerie realizes that her business isn’t everything, especially when its success came at the expense of her relationships. Wes learns to stand up for himself and tell his parents what he wants to do.

The side characters were great as well. Valerie’s cousin Charlie is the co-owner of V&C K-BEAUTY and the supplier of the products. For years, he’s been in love with Pauline, who ends up helping Wes with his business. They’re both supportive and critical of Valerie and Wes, aiding in their character arcs while having their own characterizations. A mutual friend Taemin helps both Valerie and Wes, although maybe not in the way they want. Also, Valerie is really close to her grandmother, which was a nice bond to see.

The premise was really fun! Reading about Valerie and Wes try to one-up each other throughout the school year was entertaining and a little concerning seeing how far they were willing to go. There’s also some comedic relief with Taemin, who is such a chaotic character.

I would technically classify this book as a rivals-to-lovers romance, but it’s not really hate to love, at least from both sides. Valerie does dislike Wes at first, but that’s more her disliking anything that’s an obstacle to her business. Wes doesn’t have any hard feelings against Valerie really; he competes against her because he needs the money for his music school applications since he hasn’t told his parents about wanting to go into music. They had some soft moments though, and I really liked them together.

Overall, Made in Korea was a cute contemporary about two students and their rival K-beauty companies. I really liked the characters and their dynamics, as well as the romance. If you like rivals-to-lovers romances and/or Korean-American representation, I think you’ll enjoy Made in Korea!

I’ve never read a book about teenage entrepreneurs before, so the business rivals-to-lovers dynamic was a super fun setup for a rom-com. Wes and Valerie’s rivalry felt very real in that their motivations for competing with one another were convincing; I liked that they both had real reasons to want to outsell the other so that there was no clear pick as to who the reader should root for. (The dual-perspective narration was helpful in that area.) though at times it felt a bit surface-level, I felt like “Made in Korea” really cashed in on a lot of the possibilities presented by the premise of rival business owners falling in love.

I wanted to enjoy this book but it just left me feeling like something was missing. I didn’t get attached to any of the characters, maybe because their “personalities” fell flat or they were just unlikeable. When Valerie decides to buy counterfeit skincare to sell because she lost her plug, and her friends tell on her/stage an intervention I just thought “Seriously? This is a plot point?”
It felt cheesy and rushed, it would probably make a cute graphic novel but did not like it for an actual YA romance novel.