In The Christmas Clash, we follow Chloe Kwon (Korean-American) and Peter Li (Chinese-American). This book is dual perspective. The time line is before American Thanksgiving to a little before Christmas. Young Adult Romance, with Family Values and great Friendships.

They both work in a mall and their family owns rival restaurant in the mall food court. The Mall is about to be demolished. Chloe and Peter get together to try and save the mall.

From the start you can tell their parents are rivals. Even their older siblings hate each other. However, Chloe and Peter although suppose to be rivals don't really act like it. Peter always liked Chloe and Chloe realizes her feelings pretty fast. After they realize their feelings is when the Mall saving really happens.

All though we meet lots of people at the Mall we don't really get the know them. Just the idea of them being there a long time was all that mattered. I wish their was more on the mall and it's tenants. But instead the author decided to put in something about Chloe entering a photography contest. I think this was not needed.

The best part (besides the steps to save the mall) are the best friends. They are amazing and I would love to have friends like them.

Side Note: I also didn't like the siblings bond. They say they are always compared to they siblings. Which made the main characters not really like their siblings. I don't know if that's a culture thing but I didn't grow up like that and I don't like to read it.

3*

While the idea of a holiday romance set in a mall really spoke to me and I usually very much enjoy the rivals to lovers plot, this book didn't grasp me. I enjoyed reading the book, but in my opinion it dragged on and on. The only reason why I kept reading was that I really wanted to find out what happened between the Kwon's and Li's, which is a good thing for a book. Keeping you reading. However, this could have been better.

•• R E V I E W ••
This YA romance was fun to read during the holiday season. The story and setting were both fitting. It has an enemies to lovers trope which made the interaction between the two main characters comedic & has dual POV.

It has a very deep Asian representation so there were also some issues of racism and bullying in the story—some felt way too familiar for me so it kind of threw me off a bit.

Overall, i’d still recommend this. Definitely easy to finish.

Man, I love Suzanne Park. I don't pick up many YA books these days, but I'll always read hers.

A holiday romance set in a mall? Chef's kiss. Rivals to lovers? Even better.

I did enjoy reading this book, but I think it could’ve been a bit shorter. The start was great but then the story dragged a bit which was when I lost interest. The diversity was really nice, but there were definitely things that could’ve been explored further, such as the sibling rivalry. I did really want to find out what happened between the Li’s and Kwon’s though, the mystery aspect was definitely a nice addition for me.

Suzanne Park does it again!! I honestly am obsessed!! This book was fun, charming and everything I wanted in a YA holiday romance, enemies to lovers, Romeo and Juliet vibes!! And I just have to say, this book brought back the nostalgia of mall food courts when I was younger. I miss those days!!! 🥹

I’m so excited to read anything she writes!!! AUTO BUY for me!!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this wonderful book!!

Enemies to lovers in a Romeo and Juliet situation between two rival food court restaurants? This was such a fun and cheerful holiday read!

This Christmas book is filled with holiday cheer but also community activism, friendship, and family!

I am such a sucker for competing restaurants or anything dealing with food in romance books. It was a fun twist that this also took place in a mall because we saw a different side of the restaurants and other businesses. However, I didn’t feel like the “feud” because Chloe and Peter was shown enough. It seemed like they fell for each other really quickly.

I loved how this was more than just competing restaurants, and it also involved saving the mall and Chloe’s future in photography. However, I feel like there was so much going on in this story and so many problems, it almost felt like too much. I also didn’t like the third act break up.

Overall, I had a fun time reading this book. A mall is such a fun setting!

This cute Romeo and Juliet of mall businesses was a fun holiday read. I was having a hard time getting through novels, but this had me hooked and feeling ready to jingle bells and be merry. The best part of the book? Food always brings people together.

Enemies to lovers as only Suzanne Park can write. The total package: families, fun friends, and loads of laughs, all while pulling every one of the heart strings.

I wanted to love this - truly. But I honestly have a lot of complaints.
It’s YA, but reads MG.
The plot is cohesive at some points and a mess at others
The writing is kind of cringey and very very repetitive (literally numerous times I end up feeling like I’ve already read/heard exact lines)
The first person dual povs are identical in voice and it became boring.
And the “rivals to lovers” is so contrived and mild and they stop being rivals like 6 chapters in.
And there are just other elements in the book that feel like they were added to be added and honestly don’t really feel like they add anything to the narrative.

This is a cute Christmas read. It wasn't my favorite and I did struggle with finishing it. Neither of the characters had much depth and their dislike of each other seemed vapid at best. It had all the things I liked of enemies to lovers, family feud, cutesty holiday theme and the fun banter. The problem is, even with YA, this felt younger than High School level and just was hard to even accept a romance into it. It just read way too young. Because of that I struggled to finish it and even more so struggled to review.

This was such a great YA rom com that I forgot for a hot second that I don’t normally read YA books.

This book has two high achieving high school juniors whose family has been bitter rivals working together to save the mall where both sets of parents own restaurants.

I know that the culture of indoor malls have changed since I strolled around as a teen in the early 1980s so that part of the book I felt a connection to.

There are also spots of prejudice against both the main characters and both their families who are Korean and Chinese. I’m glad that was addressed in this book.

The two main characters, Chloe and Peter, do dinner swaps from their parents’ restaurants and I loved that.

The dialogue was great, all the characters were interesting, and the reader through the course of the read finds out why the families have been rivals for as long as Peter and Chloe have been alive.

The Christmas Clash

By: Suzanne Park

Publish Date: 4 October 2022

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Multicultural Interest/Romance/Teens and YA

100 Book ReviewsProfessional Reader

I would like to first thank both NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to read and review this book.

Good Reads Synopsis:

Who’s naughty and nice at Riverwood Mall? In this hilarious holiday rom-com, two rivals get together to save their families’ livelihoods, and Christmas, too!

Chloe Kwon can’t stand Peter Li. It’s always been that way. Their families don’t get along either: their parents operate rival restaurants in the Riverwood Mall food court―Korean food for the Kwons and Chinese food for the Lis. Now it’s the holiday season and Chloe’s the photographer at the mall’s Santa Land, and Peter works at the virtual reality North Pole experience right across the atrium. It’s all Chloe can do to avoid Peter’s smug, incredibly photogenic face.

But it turns out the mall is about to be sold to a developer and demolished for condos. Eviction notices are being handed out right before Christmas. Their parents don’t know what to do, and soon Chloe and Peter realize that the two of them need to join efforts to try to save the mall. Just when it seems like they can put aside their differences and work closely (very closely) together, they discover that the Kwon and Li feud goes far deeper than either of them realize…

Book Review:

I read this book in December for Christmas. I gave it 4 stars.

The mall is closing, and the teens are trying to save it and their families restaurants. The teens use to be friends just as their parents use to be friends, but something happened 15 years ago to break up the friendship. Can the teens work together to save their family restaurant. This is happening around the holidays.

Chloe gets here sister involved because she is studying to become a lawyer. The parents never told the kids about what is happening. Chloe just happened to find the papers and is only given a couple of weeks to fight this.

I enjoyed this book because of the two-sibling working together to help their parents and also the supposed enemy of the young teen son of the enemy. They are able to work together to get things done.

The sad part is there isn’t much about the holidays mentioned in the story. Just that it is the holidays.

I’m going to come right out and say the paragraph regarding restaurant reviews (which pretty much was an attempt at reviewer shaming for less than 4 Stars) put a bad taste in my mouth. But I would have overlooked it and went on to give my usual 3 Star review with zero guilty conscience had I liked the story. (And let’s clear things up - 3 Stars is perfectly okay. For me it means I liked the book and wouldn’t steer other away from it.)

The problem here was too many ingredients spoiling the soup. What should have been a cutesy teenage holiday enemies to (strictly PG) lovers where the two children of feuding restaurant owner parents join forces to save the local mall and said businesses hit bogged down in side stories regarding a photo competition and workout sessions and part time jobs at Santa’s photo booth and a holiday arcade. When it comes to holiday books the old KISS method should be followed. Keep it simple.

I thought this was a really cute book. I didn’t feel like it was very Christmasy though. This book brought me back to my young adult, high school days. The romance is clean and light in this book. The characters go through a-lot of challenges in this book. I felt like the cover didn’t portray that. But overall, I enjoyed it! I recommend checking it out.

As always, Suzanne Park nails it. I loved every second of this book and found myself laughing and crying along with the characters. Chloe and Peter were such delightful partners in crime. I loved the family rivalry and the way we got backstory for all the different store owners — would definitely love to see a part 2 where the Kwon and Li families find Uncle Joe and confront him. This was definitely a fun read with a delightful holiday vibe.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book follows Chloe and Peter - two teens whose parents own rival businesses - as they team up over the festive season to save the mall where their families' restaurants are located.

The plot wasn't the most unique thing I've ever read, but I think the writing was good, and it was a fun, fluffy YA filled with wholesome Christmas moments. While it is a lighthearted read, it does still touch on some more serious topics, which I appreciated.

Overall, I don't have much to say about this one other than I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would!

This was fun but not my favorite by her. I was hoping for more Christmas as it's in the title. But I really liked that these two "enemies" (well mostly their parents are at odds so that didn't give the kids a chance to never meet before) took a seemingly impossible task to save their respective family restaurants from a mall closure.

I liked Peter and Chloe all right and was ok with their relationship progression but I didn't totally vibe with their connection to each other. But I did grow more in appreciation for their culture and what it really means for (whenever in the family line) their coming to America.

This book came at an important time for the author and I really respect that. She brought in a bit of racial inequality and it's important for this day and age.