Overall, this book was a delight and a really fun time! It’s definitely not my favorite book I’ve ever read but it wasn’t a book book either.

I loved seeing all the Kpop mentions and Korean culture, this was probably my favorite part!

I thought the communication between the two main characters could have been a bit better but it all got resolved nicely so I was okay with it all in the end!

I enjoyed Seoulmates as a lighter read and balm for a tough time I was going through last year. While I found the characters a little underdeveloped, I did like how Hannah expressed how frustrating it can be when things that were once very unpopular come into vogue, such as K-pop and K-dramas. Some of the miscommunication could have been tidied up but all in all, a very satisfying read.

This is a cute story and it is full of Korean references which I love. Unfortunately, I felt the plot was a little weak - the break ups and miscommunications quite frequent. The writing is okay but again seemed repetitious at times. Overall this is a good story and fun to read but not memorable!

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC of this title. I enjoyed reading this title. Would recommend for my library.

I wasn't sure what to expect when reading Seolmates since I had never read a book featuring a celebrity romance. I was pleasantly surprised because this was an adorable read. I liked the characters and felt myself rooting for them. I would recommend this book to anyone.

An absolutely amazing romcom. A lot of heart and humor went into this lovely story. It was also refreshing to find a kdrama based book rather than a kpop based one.

This story is perfect for fans of international settings and romance.

I haven't read many books that feature celebrity characters, so I was excited to see how it was incorporated into Seoulmates. The overall concept of the book was intriguing, unfortunately I found the plot to be repetitive, especially when miscommunication came into play. I enjoyed learning about the K-drama industry through Jacob's perspective, but I wish we explored that more. The plot was mostly focused on Hannah and Jacob's relationship, and this led to some areas of the book lagging. I also found the characters to be very one dimensional, especially Hannah. I would have liked to see more of her personality and see her grow on her own instead of needing Jacob to guide her. I found the romance to be cheesy but cute at times. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if the characters were more developed.

Seoulmates was such an adorable read!!! This made my K-Pop loving heart so happy!!!

Hannah and Jacob were childhood friends who were separated when he moved to Korea. Three years later, he’s a huge K-Drama star and they aren’t speaking. When an opportunity arises for a reunion, these two have to overcome their differences of the past and may just fall in love in the process.

This book was so cute and fun! I loved all the references to Korean culture (even the acknowledgements mentions BTS!!). Hannah and Jacob were both so likable and I was rooting for them the entire time. The side characters were also well developed and the plot moved along at a great pace. @susanleewrites writing style is fun and easy to read, and I cannot wait to read more from her! If you’re looking for a fun, cute and entertaining YA romance, pick this one up!!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was cute, fun, and heart wrenching all at the same time. I would definitely recommend it!

I loved this book so much! Susan Lee’s debit is everything good about the YA RomCom genre. Sweet, and funny, and heartfelt. It’s all about identity, finding your place in the world, and who you want to be in it.

The friends, to enemies, to friends, to lovers was done SO WELL. The perfect amount of lining and tension and growth for both Hannah and Jacob as individual people and together. Susan so perfectly captured how hard it is to understand your emotions at that age, and to forgive the people you love who hurt you. I can’t wait for what comes next from Susan!

Seoulmates by Susan Lee follows Hannah Cho. She had the perfect summer before senior year of high school planned out with her boyfriend, Nate. Nate unexpectedly dumps her, stating they have nothing in common. Hannah has spent her life embracing her American side and shunning her Korean side in order to fit in, but the world’s newfound obsession with K-pop and K-dramas leaves Hannah in the dust. Hannah wants Nate back, so she plans to learn about these things to prove to him that they do have things in common. Hannah’s former best friend Jacob Kim, whom she hasn’t seen in years, is an expert in K-dramas. He stars in one. He and his family take a trip back to San Diego in an attempt to get a break from fame. When Jacob and Hannah reunite, they need to work through some things, such as Hannah feeling Jacob abandoned her for fame. They also must deal with new feelings blossoming between them.

This story is quick and cute. It was nice to see Hannah and Jacob go from friends to lovers.

Fun, romantic, sweet.
What more could you want in a book?? I read this on my plane ride and- boy was it an exciting element to said plane ride. I found myself squealing whenever the characters were on page together, and kicking my feet at whatever the MMC said. Please? Hand in marriage?
Overall, this book was a wonderful romance book and I hope to read more from this author.
Final rating: 4.5 stars!

I think I need to start watching K-dramas, because every book I've read that was based on them I've loved, and this one was no exception. Jacob and Hannah were totes adorbs, and I want more from Susan Lee!

SUCH an adorable rom-com with K-Pop vibes. I love the two main characters and their chemistry. Can't wait to see what else the author writes.

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately I just couldn't like the main characters and I kept getting annoyed at the how the plot-line dragged too. The writing also was too lengthy and just didn't keep my interest.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

If you need a happiness boost, you have to read Seoulmates.

I absolutely devoured this book from start to finish. It was light, fluffy, absolutely readable and I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with it with every page. It had everything I wanted: a summer romance, friends to lovers, angsty teenage main character and soft, actor love interest who honestly just needed a hug. This book has been on my to-watch list of 2022 and when I managed to get the ARC of it on NetGalley, I practically screamed in delight.

Seoulmates follows main character Hannah whose boyfriend just broke up with her, claiming they have nothing in common. When Hannah's childhood best friend, and now up and coming K-Drama actor, Jacob Kim comes back from South Korea, Hannah uses his knowledge to aid her in getting Nate to be with her again. What Hannah leaves out of the equation is her developing feelings for Jacob as they uncover what really went wrong that caused a rift in their friendship previously.

This book is told in two perspectives: Hannah's and Jacob's. I think this worked perfectly with the story and it allowed us to get further glimpses into their characters including their vulnerabilities and their desire, ultimately, to be loved. Hannah was trying to fit in with her American friends thinking that in order to do that, she needed to shut out the Korean part of her Korean-American identity. This in turn made Nate and his friends drift away from her, making the very thing Hannah was shunning out the thing that set her apart from the others. You could see the toll this took on Hannah and how underneath that angsty girl facade, there was a girl who just felt scared, sad and vulnerable. I could see how she just wanted to feel okay again and how she felt like in order to do that, she needed to prove herself worthy of Nate's affections. In the end, I'm glad she developed on her self-worth and self-esteem, realising that maybe things would never have worked out with him to begin with.

Jacob on the other hand was seemingly living a dazzled life in South Korea but the truth was far from it. He was an actor in a popular new K-Drama show which just got renewed for a second season. After a PR disaster, his management tells him to take a holiday while they deal with the problem. Jacob and his mum and sister decide to head back to San Diego for the first time in years. While Jacob questions his future on a TV show with restrictive rules on what he can and can't do, he starts to feel a little bit stressed from the pressure his manager and co-star put on him, telling him he's not good enough at his job. Eager to take a break, Jacob tries getting as far away from the spotlight as possible with the company telling him not to bring any attention to himself. Jacob's internal struggle was with being good enough for other people and you could see this conflict between what he loved doing (acting) and the expectations others had on him to be up to par.

I loved how both character's flaws were really shown in this book and I think that's why I found I could relate to the characters as much as I did. Hannah was angsty but you could see how much she cared especially with how she wanted to become an immunologist to help people with allergic reactions after seeing how it affected someone she knew. While she tried hiding it on the inside, you could see past the facade and I liked how the book dealt with breaking down those shields Hannah put up around herself. Jacob was slightly more transparent in my opinion, but I loved seeing how gentle he was with Hannah and his compassionate and warm nature.

On top of the characterisation, I really liked the family dynamics between the Cho's and the Kim's. I love books with family at heart and great banter and it makes me so happy when said family dynamics also come with home-made food and cooking. This book made me hungry for Korean food so my recommendation is to have a few snacks on hand while reading this.

All in all, this book made me happy, with cute, relatable characters and deep themes. Minus, the vomiting scene at the start, this book, to me, is close to five stars.

ACTUAL RATING: 4.7 STARS

First of all, I LOVE all of the K-drama vibes! Childhood friends meeting again as young adults for the sweetest friends to lovers vibe. CHECK. A budding K-drama actor as the male lead finding love with a regular girl. CHECK. So many cute romance moments I lost count. CHECK. I loved the ideas here and the cover is absolutely beautiful so I was extremely excited to get the chance to read an ARC!

As much as I loved the premise, the characters themselves fell flat for me. Not only did Hannah seem extremely one-dimensional and unlikable, but her non-Korean friends gave me very uncomfortable Koreaboo vibes. The main relationships also felt unnecessarily turbulent to the point where we just had drama for drama's sake rather than meaningful moments of disagreement and then growth. Although, I must admit, that is very common for K-dramas.

Overall, I think this book accomplished what it was aiming to, and it was a fun, quick read. Thank you to NetGalley, Susan Lee ,and Inkyard Press for the e-ARC.

I loved this book. As a fan of K-pop and K-dramas, it was a nice Venn diagram of the two topics. The book was similar in vein to Kat Cho's Once Upon a K-Prom; however, compared to the former, this book's plot and characters felt comparatively more fleshed out and nuanced.

I look forward to reading Susan Lee's next novel.

If you like a little friends to enemies to lovers trope, then this is the story for you. Hannah and Jacob were the best of friends through their childhood and early teens. That is until Jacob moved to South Korea and left Hannah alone. Hannah couldn’t forgive him for leaving her. When they meet again, Hannah gives Jacob the cold shoulder, though he misses their friendship.

Jacob may be a star in Korea, but his life is not his own and he feels trapped. He’s also lonely and is so happy to escape back to San Diego and his old friend. As the story progresses, it is very clear that Jacob does not enjoy his life, but he doesn’t feel like he has a choice but to do whatever “the company” tells him to do. He feels like he has signed his life away to them, and to take care of his mother and sister.

Hannah feels like everyone keeps leaving her… her father, sister, Jacob. She hides her insecurities behind anger.

I enjoyed the chemistry between Hannah and Jacob. They know each other so well, and were so close, that it’s hard for Hannah to keep up all of her walls around him. But his need to do whatever “the company” tells him makes it hard for her to fully trust him again, and she keeps looking for signs that he doesn’t care.

I also enjoyed the bits and pieces of San Diego thrown into the story. I grew up there, so it was incredibly nostalgic for me.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more from Susan Lee.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley on behalf of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Such a fun YA. Full of heart and cuteness. We need more books like this! The culture was rich and I felt like I ended the book more informed than before. So cute!