Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick is very much a family and romance driven book. I loved learning about Korean culture and Seoul. I found myself constantly looking up the places Hara and Yujun went. Also I loved Hara’s roommates and the friendship developed between them, Jules was my favorite! One quote from the book that really stood out to me was, “Being adopted is when everyone is wearing a striped dress but all I own are polka-dotted dresses” This book had a major plot twist that I did not see coming. Overall, this was an enjoyable and quick read. Can’t wait for the next in the series. Giving this a 3.75 because I wanted more from the endings.

I look forward to sharing this with our blog audience through summer recommended reading lists. In addition, I will keep it as a potential contender for our organization’s virtual book club of over 2,000 members. Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I think it’s a big misstep that Heart and Seoul is being marketed as a romance. This is fiction/women’s fiction at best. Romance publishers should know you cannot call a book romance if it doesn’t have a HEA/HFN ending! I went into this thinking it would be a contemporary romance, and it just was not. Maybe i would have liked it more if it was marketed properly and I wasn’t expecting an HEA ending.

I read this cover to cover in one shot and have not shut up about it. With enough twists and turns to sit at the table with even the most addictive K-dramas, Heart and Seoul is a romantic, heartclenchy, soapy delight. GIVE ME BOOK 2!

I think the author did her best to be fair while also trying to tell an entertaining story. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of vilifying (of both bio and adoptive families) and Hara is the dumbest MC I’ve met in a while. The love story is terrible and has a terrible outcome, the most ridiculously contrived… You know what, I don’t care. Hara’s love interest turns out to be her step-brother and in Korea that's the same as a biological brother and so that means they can't be together in Korea.

I can’t and won’t speak to any other adoptee’s experience. As a South Korean adoptee, I’ll just say that I don’t relate to the perspective in this book. That’s OK. What I don’t really find OK is the surface-level presentation of international adoption, where there are a host of really big concepts related to identity—culture, customs, ethnicity, race, ideology—that are involved. They’re touched on in this book, but not given the depth they deserve. ALL the major adoption stereotypes (lying, rejection, forcing an adoptee to choose one or the other set of parents) are perpetuated, but not resolved. Where we should stand on adoption vs. bloodline is ambiguous and left open-ended, even though an attempt was made to explore various aspects of international adoption. I don’t like that message.

The portrayal of adoption is negative and shallow and soap-opera-level dramatic. The identity crisis aspect of adoption is real and varies between adoptees; it's an extremely individual and personal process. That's not what I'm criticizing. It's the approach to reconnecting that I have a problem with, which is unhealthy and unrealistic. There is a lot of guilt, shame, and fear attached to giving up a child and, yes, some may do it for less noble reasons than others. But the majority of bio families live with a wound. Most people don't want to reopen that wound, but if they did, it still shouldn't be sprung on them by someone like Hara, who shows up and INSISTS, with no other evidence than a photo, that "HEY, YOU'RE MY MOM!" The fact that she does this to three different women is awful.

As an SK adoptee who, like Hara, has had to deal with ignorant comments (“who are your real parents”, “why did your real parents not want you?”, “where are you really from?”), this is a really disappointing adoption narrative and I would not recommend it.

Hara Wilson goes on an adventure to discover her roots, her family history. Will she find the answers she seeks, or so much more?

This the first book by Jen Frederick I have had the pleasure of reading. The overall story was very powerful and moving, however it wasn’t what I was expecting. This book is billed as a romance, but it was very romance-lite. If you are a fan of traditional romance novels, this book is not for you. If you are looking for more of a coming-of-age story and contemporary fiction novel, this is for you. Hara will take you on a powerful journey, so get ready for a fun ride. Not sure if I will read the next one in the series, it will depend on where Frederick decides to take Hara. 3.5 stars.

I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

This was not a book for me. I went in expecting a cute adult romance and I definitely felt it read more like a YA book. The main character acted very immaturely for her age and I had a really hard time connecting with her. The romance felt underdeveloped and had an instalove feel to it.

I did LOVE the guy and the Korean culture that was shared but overall this was not my kind of book..

Jen Frederick's stories are always an automatic one click for me. I have fallen in love with her romances and could not wait for another love story from her. For that reason, I was super excited to read Heart and Seoul . This novel however, while uplifting and poignant at points was a bit of a mixed bag for me as it was bittersweet and almost depressing in some ways. 

I absolutely loved learning about Hara's Korean culture and seeing her character's progression throughout the story. But as a diehard romance reader, this was not the Jen Frederick story I am used to. In all transparency this story is not really a romance. It is a story of a woman looking to find herself and her roots after the death of her adopted father. While heartwarming and hopeful, I was expecting more from this story. Quite frankly, from the cover and the blurb I was expecting more of a "new life/new love" kind of storyline set in Seoul. But this story was heavy on the family dynamics and secrets with little to no romance. I actually finished the story very upset and sad for Hara which is the opposite of how I usually feel when reading stories from this author.

While I enjoyed Hara's character development from a timid woman not knowing her worth into a strong and assertive woman, I would have loved a little more development on the romance side. Overall, this was a nice and different kind of read from this author. 3.5 stars ~Ratula

If K-drama is your thing, then 'Heart and Seoul' will speak tons to your heart. Tons of ups and down, loads of angst and shirt-tearing-wailing moments, as dramatic music plays in the background...and then the credits roll.

But I threw in the towel after skimming through, because it's mistakenly classified as YA-romance...and 'Heart and Seoul' has an ending that is far from what my own personal definition of a romance is supposed to be.

Great coming-of-age story with some romance! Recommended for fans of Helen Hoang and Christina Lauren.

If I had a relationship status with this book, it would say "It's complicated." 

As an adoptee, I am always fascinated by books about adoptees. I'm always looking for something I can identify with in them. Heart & Seoul was a little different of an adoptee read for me since I'm not a Korean American adoptee. I connected with many thoughts Hara had, but obviously not all. I've read some information about what it means society wise to be a Korean adoptee a few times. In my early childhood, I spent a lot of time with two different families with white parents and Korean adopted children. I never really thought about how different their experience as adoptees would be compared with mine until I reconnected with one of them through social media. Their thoughts and feelings about their adoption are way different than mine. I knew how they grew up and wanted to better understand their feelings. That was one of the reasons I was excited to read Heart & Seoul, along with the fact that I am a fan of Jen Frederick's previous book. 

Heart & Seoul was an emotional read from the start with Hara losing her adopted father. Her desire to search for her birth parents, and the reasons why, were easy to relate to. The journey she went on to Seoul was fascinating. I loved learning about Seoul, the customs, and some of the history of adoption there. Hara's emotional journey was fraught with ups and downs. Her losses and gains were tough and had me hoping for a happy ending for her. 

Since I brought up happy ending, I want to point out that this NOT a romance novel. You're not going to come away with an HEA or HFN with this book. I didn't realize this going into this book. Honestly, the ending is why I didn't give this book 5 stars. I needed more resolution. Things ended too abruptly for me. The entire time I was reading Heart & Seoul, I kept thinking how different this book was from anything else I've read from Frederick -- until I got to the drama and climax. That was exactly what I would expect from a Jen Frederick book. It shouldn't have been shocking to me, but it was. That being said, I still enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it.

I was really excited to be approved for this one as I have been reading quite a few books set in Korea and the blurb just hooked me. I did like a lot of aspects of the book but the ending is really what made the rating a 3 star instead of 4.

Hara is Korean but she hasn’t grown up feeling like it as she was adopted and moved to America when she was young. I couldn’t relate to her on either level as I am white and not adopted but I do like reading about others experiences. It was easy to read and understand why she felt a certain way towards the situations of growing up in an all white community, being adopted, and just all of the not so great comments she got because of it. The topics in the book definitely resemble what is being spoken about now when it comes to the Asian community.

The setting is mostly in Seoul with just the first few chapters being in Iowa which setup the plot and her great escape. I really liked the setting of the book and the author does a great job including information about Seoul or even the language/customs of the people from there. One example of this is the difference between an American and Korean funeral.

I did enjoy most of the side characters but they are also pretty minor. A couple do play a bigger role than the rest but their development was still a bit lacking.

There is romance but if you don’t like slow-burn then it most likely wouldn’t be for you. I did find it to be to my liking and it very much resembles a K-Drama. He was just so nice and perfect!

As with any contemporary/romance book, there is drama. This one had quite a bit but it didn’t turn me off. It kept me engaged and I liked the reveals of the twist as the book went on. I honestly wasn’t expecting half of them! It really kept me on my toes.

My only complaint about this book was the ending. If it’s labeled as a hopeful romance then I would like more closure at the end. I want an HEA. This had such an open-ended ending that I couldn’t look past it and it really affected my rating.

Overall, this was good. I did like a majority of it but that ending just really screwed over the whole book.

I decided to DNF at 25%. Sadly, the romance is very slow going and for me, I consider this book more women’s literature than romance. I had a hard time getting into the story and I decided to give the book a break for now.

this is billed as a romance right in the blurb, but it doesn't have an HEA, so not really sure what to say about that.

My heart broke for Hara Wilson at the beginning of his book. To be adopted and hear things about you that your departed father may have said. But, life moves on and so does Hara. She goes off to Korea to find herself and love.

I knew this was going to be a love story set in Seoul and that's what I came here for, and that's what I got. I appreciated what I call an "easy in" to learn something about the Korean culture and life. Some of the story defies reality, but that doesn't detract from it at all. The descriptions really helped me paint a picture of Seoul in my head and got me even more interested in Korea. As far as adoption stories go, this one is certainly an odd one, but again, this does nothing to detract from the basic story.

A dramatic story of family and identity. The romance really takes a back seat to Hara's journey of discovering her bio family after her adoptive father passes away, and it digs into how she begins to explore her identity and its ties to her self=esteem.

As a Jen Frederick lover, I can truly say this novel... was one of a kind when it comes down to her writing. I was expecting something, but got something else in return. A positive feedback of course, one that took my breath away from loving everything about Hara and her way of adventure when trying to find her real identity.

From her travels after her father's death, you can see the writing growing and her opening up to an emotional level that she never did before. Even in the writing you can sense and read the progress of character growth. At her, Hara is seemed as a timid individual who keeps her emotions to herself. Towards the end, the progression grows as her personality changes to being more bold and attentive.

Though I was expecting more romance, once again, only stating that because of past books by Jen. I was surprised to see the minimal amount. I was okay with that, just wanted a touch more. With that being said, I think Jen has done a great job and am looking forward to more of her writing!

<em>Heart and Seoul</em> is about the emotional journey of Hara Wilson. Hara was abandoned when she was just a baby, outside of a police station in South Korea. She was adopted and raised by Pat and Ellen Wilson in Des Moines, Iowa. She grew up being the only Korean in a sea of white faces and she was uncomfortable being the only one that didn't look like everyone else. Being teased about the way she looks, the way she smells and the Korean food her Mom tried to make for her made her want nothing to do with being Korean. So when you grow up rejecting your ethnicity, when it finally hits you in the face that no matter how far you run away from what you are, it doesn't change a hot damn thing.

When she hears an offhand comment at her father's funeral, Hara begins to question who she is and becomes curious about where she comes from so she books a trip to Seoul to find some answers for herself. What she finds over there is a whole lot more than she bargained for and her life is upended. The truth about her present, the truth about her past, and where she goes from here is enough to drive anyone crazy and it's driving Hara crazy. Her entire life has been thrown for a loop and she spends the whole of this book trying to sort through how she feels about the truths uncovered and it hurt my heart more than once.

Getting to know Hara reminded me a lot of myself when I was younger. Growing up in the states, as a person of color, your culture is always weird and the food you eat, the way that your home is set up is always a discussion that made me feel uncomfortable with my white friends. So I understood Hara when she said that she rejected being Korean in Iowa. I did pretty much the same thing when I was in high school because it was easier to blend in when you liked the same things that everyone else did. I remember getting so embarrassed when my Mom and Dad would speak Samoan when they came to my school or if we were out and about. I just wanted them to blend in with everyone else around us and speak English. Like Hara, I finally wised up and decided that blending in and denying that I'm Samoan was not something I wanted to do anymore. I never hated being Samoan, I just hid it when around my non-Samoan friends. So I really connected with everything Hara went through in this story. My heart went out to her and I rooted for her to really come into her own.

The love interest in this one melted me a little and I pictured Park Seo Joon from What's Wrong with Secretary Kim as Choi Yu Jun. I liked seeing him try to woo Hara and I really enjoyed seeing him try to get Hara to understand that no matter where she grew up or how little she knew about the Korean culture, she was still Korean. Nobody could take that away from her and their romance was just super cute and I enjoyed it.

I will say that while I did really enjoy the story and Hara's journey, there were parts of this story that I felt weren't needed and kind of dragged the story a bit. There was a lot going on with Hara's trip and everything she was going through internally that a lot of the stuff that happened directly to her felt unnecessary. I was also not super thrilled with the ending. It felt too unresolved. I get that this was more of a women's fiction story than a romance but I really just needed more of a solid resolution to everything that happened at the end. I'm wondering if there's going to be a follow-up book to this one. I'm so on board for another one if that's the plan.

3.5 out of 5