Thank you so much to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Christmas Clash is a holiday romcom set in the Riverwood Mall following Chloe and Peter, whose families have rival restaurants in the food court. The restaurants aren’t the only rivals, both families hate each other. Especially Chloe and Peter. The mall is being demolished and it’s up to Chloe and Peter to set aside their differences to save it.

This was a classic holiday rom-com! It got me into the holiday spirit months early. Chloe and Peter were a cute couple and I enjoyed their rivalry. All the characters were very likable and I have no complaints about this book!

Overall, it’s a light, sweet read and definitely one to pick up this holiday season!

(My Instagram review will be posted on publication day, October 4th, @starsbookishhollow.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CjSzkETr3_O/

I think this is a great YA holiday romance book. Peter made my heart melt so much. However I felt like this wasnt an enemies to lovers but their parents were so they were expected to be. I did love the representation the book had with the characters! 4/5

Very cozy and funny Christmas romcom! I really enjoy reading this book, I love the story and the characters!
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the book

A rivalry between two family-run restaurants leads to an unlikely partnership when the mall that houses them both is scheduled to be demolished.

In this fast-paced enemies-to-lovers romance, Peter and Chloe argue and sneak glances at each other across the mall food court until a new landlord threatens both their parents' business. A business partnership leads to trading favorite dishes behind the mall as each begins to feel butterflies and Christmas warmth. Parental expectations loom over them, however, both in choice of friends and their future. Chloe dreams of becoming a photographer, while Peter longs to best his brother in something that would matter to his parents. Chloe and Peter dig into the history of their family feud as they struggle to get their parents to leave the past behind them and build a new future - together.

This is more a book that happens to be set at Christmas-time than a true Christmas romance that dives into all the kitsch and nostalgia of Christmas. While Peter works for a Christmas virtual reality ride (Who wouldn't want to go on an epic run with Rudolph, soaring over rooftops and diving towards the ground?) and Hannah takes photos of children with the mall Santa, I'd say this book is Christmas-lite. Instead, it's a cute YA romance that can be read at any time of the year.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Suzanne Park is just a delightful writer. I read her when I want to see some authentic Asian characters doing life hilariously and with a lot of love. There are always hijinks in Park's books, and this one, with feuding families. is no different. It has the added bonus of Christmas and holiday-themed fun. This book reminds me of the joy of the holidays--of being around people you love, of family drama that ensues but is also just what happens when so many people get together, and of all the treats you get for the season. Put it on your wish list!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the digital ARC of this book.

The Christmas Clash follows Chloe and Peter, the children of two rival restaurants in Riverwood Mall. The feud goes back decades and neither knows why their parents hate each other so much. Still, they're happy to continue the rivalry until a chance photo opportunity reveals the worst Christmas gift possible - the mall is closing. All the traders will be evicted just after the holiday season.

Chloe and Peter learn to put their rivalry aside through secret dinner swaps, stolen moments and a whole lot of research into the history of Riverwood Mall and those who own shops inside. Chloe has her own troubles as she entered the Junior National Art Council competition whilst Peter is dealing with his own feelings of inadequacy and what comes across as imposter syndrome.

This was such a fun read and perfect for the run-up to Christmas, the theme of Christmas is present but not too heavy (apart from scenes where Chloe and Peter are at their respective part-time jobs)! The enemies-to-lovers trope was done well and the world felt fleshed out, this book will definitely make you hungry so make sure you keep some snacks on hand - I really want a bowl of spicy pork now! Character-wise both Chloe and Peter developed throughout the book and Chloe in particular really blossomed as she got over her fear of public speaking and developed her photographic skills.

Overall this was a sweet and fun read perfect for those who love enemies to lovers, good food and a family centered read - 4.5 ⭐.

Thank you to Netgalley and Suzanne Park for my review copy - all opinions are my own.

This was a cute YA holiday romance that I think many teens would really enjoy. I will say that this did remind me of several other YA romances that I have read and that did impact my enjoyment a little.

I really liked the Asian American representation and the 'save the family business plot'. I also enjoyed the way the friendship between Chloe and Peter grew. I did not really see much of a romantic connection between them though.

I would recommend this to teens looking for a fun, heart-warming book for the holidays!

This YA story is about 2 enemies-turned-friends trying to save their respective parent’s restaurants from being evicted from the local mall during the holiday season.

As the duo team up to save their parents and the other mall residents, sparks fly and they begin to fall in love. But can their budding relationship survive their parent’s feud and the impending closures?

I thought this book was very cute and quite fun. Chloe and Peter's story was easy to read, and I loved the sparks that flew between them. Light and funny. This book is a great way to bring some joy into your day and to start get you in the mood for the holiday season.

This is my first time reading a Suzanne Park book and i really enjoyed her style of writing. I was intrigued by the title and i was looking for a nice light read as ive been reading heavy crime based books recently. This book featured two main characters Chloe Kwon and Peter Li. Both high school students parents own restaurants located in their local shopping mall. Both teenagers are in the final year of high school and while dealing with normal teenage issues such as exam pressures and trying to figure out their place in society and what they will do with their lives going forward. Chloe brings an artistic and creative aspect while Peter is sporty,studious as well as an all round general nice guy whom i personally grew to love as a character over the course of the story. Chloe works as a santa village photographer and Peter works in a santa vr experience located next to each other at the mall and they also give a hand with their family restaurants. However they come on hard times when they find out that the mall is being purchased by a developer who plans on demolishing it soon after Christmas. Chloe,Peter and Chloes sister Hannah who works as a paralegal decide to get on the case to see what they can do to help and without any major spoilers they really do go above and beyond for the community at large. Chloe and Peter also have several dinner swaps and secret meetings during this time as time to try and sort things out as both of their families havnt got along in the last 15/16 years. During their extensive research they find out their parents were once business partners and for the good of the community they are determined to bring them back together on talking terms. Chloe was also selected to take part in a Junior National Art Council competition during this time and i love how she grew and developed during this stressful time and how she juggled her priorities accordingly. I would love to see a follow on from this story real soon.
I will be adding more of Suzanne's books to my collection. Id like to thank Suzanne and source book fire for allowing me to read this book in advance of its publication.

This YA novel by Suzanne Park is a fun and festive read.

Chloe and Peter are both in high school and have never been friends as their parents have been feuding for years but the kids do not know the reason why. Both families run a restaurant in the food court of the local mall. Chloe and Peter find out that the owner of the mall wants to close it and they need to work together to save the businesses of their parents. Why are their parents fighting? Will Chloe and Peter be able to work together? Can they find common ground via food?

I received an early digital copy of this book.

Looking for a fun holiday theme YA read? The Christmas Clash is it! Things that j enjoyed about the book:
- Enemies to friends to young life
- Life for a child with parents that own a restaurant/small business

This book brought back a lot of memories when I worked at the mall in high school. Suzanne did a great job of showing the life of an immigrant and the differences in generation.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the book.

The Christmas Clash is a cute YA romance between artsy Chloe Kwon and all around nice boy Peter Li. When both discover the mall is set to close and the fate of their families’ restaurants hang in the balance, Chloe and Peter will have to set aside their differences to find a solution before the holiday deadline.

Chloe and Peter inherit the Li and Kwon rivalry, and it leads to some entertaining pettiness with an even better laying down of arms. I expected an enemies-to-lovers story, but this was more a rivalry with irritation and attraction mixed in. Because their rivalry was not written in such a way that it would be insurmountable for them to become allies, when they started working together and eventually discovered their attraction to the other person, it was believable. 

While I enjoyed the book, I missed the humor and some of the funny antics that were more overtly present in Park's previous novels. There were still plenty of cute moments that made me smile. Read this if you're in the mood for a cute holiday romance, but do it on a full stomach. You might get a little hungry.

Chloe Kwon is a busy teenager. Beside her classes and spending time with her friends, she also has a job as a Christmas photographer at Santa’s Village and helps out with her parents’ Korean restaurant in the mall’s food court. And as if all that wasn’t enough, she was also entering the National Arts Council Youth Photography Competition, which could win her a mentor as well as a cash prize and public acknowledgement of her talent.

Peter Li is also a busy teenager. He helps his parents out with their Chinese restaurant in the mall. He has high school and his friends, and he also works at the North Pole VR Experience, offering customers a chance to ride around in Santa’s sleigh in several different levels of excitement, from mild to needing a mop. His older brother Sam gave him some advice before he left for school. and Peter has followed that advice and tried not to rock the boat. He has been personable and easy-going, and that has worked for him so far. For the most part.

Chloe is fond of rolling her eyes at Peter and the way he runs the VR experience. Right next door to Santa’s Village, he is known for poaching customers sometimes when Santa’s line is longer. But Chloe is known for her ability with crying babies and toddlers, so people show up for her photos specifically. She uses humor and squeaky toys to get the kids’ attention, but the way she captures the joy on their faces is all her photography talent.

Her parents don’t really understand her interest in art, but they’re super busy with the restaurant too. And they definitely don’t like the Li family and their restaurant. So when Peter and Chloe suggest a dinner swap, they have to keep it quiet. The Kwon’s spicy pork for the Li’s shrimp lo mein, and both teens are happy. But when Chloe finds some paperwork in the restaurant office about eviction, Peter is the first person she talks to about it. They find out that his parents have received the same eviction notice, and with a little mire investigating, they discover that the mall’s owner is planning on selling the mall to someone who wants to tear it down and put up condos.

Despite their parents’ animosity toward each other, Peter and Chloe decide to work together to try to save the mall. Chloe recruits her older sister Hannah to help because she’s a paralegal, but she’s also working 60+ hour weeks at the law firm, so she can only do so much to help. Chloe and Peter understand that if they want to save the mall, and their family restaurants, then they will have to figure out how to convince the owner not to sell. That means they have to unite the shop owners, research the history of the mall, gather the leases from as many of the mall’s tenants as they can, and brainstorm ideas to bring more business in.

And when some surprising and warm feelings start to bubble up between them, Chloe and Peter have to decide how to balance all their responsibilities with the flirting. But when they find out a secret that their parents had kept from them, that they once had a restaurant together, Chloe and Peter know they also have to get to the bottom of the feud their parents have been stoking for so many years. Will Chloe and Peter help their parents put the past behind them, or will the family feud keep them apart?

The Christmas Clash is a fun enemies-to-crushes story, with lots of family love and holiday fun. There is a lot going on, between regular high school kids stuff, trying to save the mall, all the work Chloe and Peter put in both in their family restaurants and at the holiday kiosks, and the adorable feelings growing between them. It is filled with sweetness and fun, intelligence and heart. From master storyteller Suzanne Park, this charming holiday rom com is perfect for fans of holiday movies or anyone looking for a quick, charming Christmas love story.

I really loved The Christmas Clash. These characters are so much fun to read about, and stepping into a real, old-fashioned mall adds so much texture to this story. The sweetness of the love story and the mystery of their parents’ animosity add extra drama and intensity to this YA romance. There are lots of funny moments, but mostly there is just a story that rolls along beautifully, that drew me in chapter by chapter, rooting for these high schoolers and (I never thought I’d say this) for them to save the mall. This is one not to miss this holiday season!

Egalleys for The Christmas Clash were provided by Sourcebooks Fire through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I’ve been saying that we need more YA holiday books and this teens-from-rival-families-who-must-work-together-to-save-their-mall romcom hits the perfect balance of holiday cheer, comedy, and romance while weaving in deeper topics that will have you thinking about history and the lasting effects of casual racism.

Chloe Kwon and Peter Li’s families have never gotten along, and neither do they. Both families run restaurants in the local mall’s food court and both Chloe and Peter work at the mall’s Santa’s Village when they’re not helping out at their family’s restaurants. Chloe, who wants to be a photographer and is applying for a prestigious national award, is great at her job taking pictures of kids with the mall Santa, and Peter, who’s just trying to prove to his parents that he’s as good as his brother, uses his charm selling virtual reality North Pole experiences. When they find eviction notices their parents have been hiding because the mall’s new owner wants to have it demolished to build condos, Chloe and Peter hatch a plan to try to stop the demolition and, in the process, learn that they might have more in common than they think.

I love the way Park always discusses harder topics in her funny books. Somehow the messages go down a little more easily when they’re wrapped in such a fun package—which is not to say that these messages should or need to go down easily. I think we should be talking about racism in all different ways in hopes that some version of the message will get through. The two main characters were both so sweet and I was completely rooting for them. I think teen readers will fall in love with them too and will be outraged when a schoolmate’s microaggressions are on display or when Chloe has to deal with racist comments online. And I think they’ll be equally impressed and inspired by the grace with which both characters handle the situations.

I’d definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for a sweet YA holiday romance!

Christmas Clash was an engaging YA romance. Less Christmas and less clash, more teens figuring out how to grow up and be their own people. The tagline ‘Tis the Season to be Enemies is cute, but not actually reflective of the book, for which I am grateful.

Chlow Kwon and Peter Li have always known each other, sort of. Their parents have competing restaurants across the mall food court from each other. The Kwons and the Lis have hated each other for years, and Chloe does her best to uphold that animosity. Peter is pretty half hearted about the rivalry, he just want to be able to get some of the Kwon’s spicy pork sometimes, and he isn’t above bribing Chloe with some of the Li’s shrimp lo mein. As Chloe and Peter start to get to know each other better, some big things happen – they discover the mall is likely to be sold to a developer who will tear it down, and Chloe becomes a finalist in a National arts competition.

Chloe and Peter have a lot in common, including the way their parents’ restaurants and their cold war have dominated their lives. They are also the younger siblings trying to get out from under the shadows of their older siblings. The secret dinner exchanges and brainstorming to save the mall, and thereby their parents’ livelihoods, evolves into a secret romance. For all the external drama, it’s a really nice story about two kids gaining confidence in themselves and finding ways to be the good people their parents want them to be and also themselves.

Suzanne Park populates her mall with a cast of interesting characters and has a lot to say about the decline of the suburban shopping mall. It was a fun read, if a little outside my usual.

I received this an advance reader copy from Sourcebooks and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

Read this if you:
*Enjoy Christmas holiday RomComs
*Like coming of age, rival to romance novels
*Are fond of novels with family rivalry

Meet the Author: Suzanne Park is a Korean-American writer who was born and raised in Tennessee. In her former life as a stand-up comedian, she was a finalist in the Oxygen Network’s “Girls Behaving Badly” talent search, and appeared on BET’s “Coming to the Stage.” Park was also the winner of the Seattle Sierra Mist Comedy Competition, and was a semi-finalist in NBC’s “Stand Up For Diversity” showcase in San Francisco alongside comedians Ali Wong and Nico Santos.

Synopsis: Chloe Kwon and Peter Li join efforts to save the mall despite their families ability to get along with one another. Chloe and Peter soon learn the Kwon/Li family feud is much more than they ever imagined. The two families operate rival restaurants in Riverwood Mall. When the eviction notice is served so the developer can demolish the mall and build condos, Peter and Chloe are determined to work together.

Reader’s Thoughts: The Christmas Clash is told from the perspective of both Chloe and Peter. This Christmas RomCom was so pure and innocent. Despite the family feud and rivalry there wasn’t much negativity, which I liked. The relationship built between Chloe and Peter was very age appropriate considering they are young teenagers. I was disappointed that there was not much mention of Christmas other than the Santa Land and North Pole virtual reality references, but this wouldn't deter me from recommending this book to a friend. Otherwise I truly enjoyed the book. It was a quick, easy, afternoon read.

Available now in Paperback, eBook, and Audio book!
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Thank you, @NetGalley and @suzannepark for providing me with a complimentary review copy. In no way has that influenced my voluntary review.

The Christmas Clash
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Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook and Audiobook
Date Published: 10/4/22
Author: Suzanne Park
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire and Dreamscape Media
Narrators: Jay Lai; Jennifer Sun Bell
GR: 3.76

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire and Dreamscape Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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. 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...

My Thoughts: I had the honor of obtaining the ebook and audiobook and while I did switch back and forth, I preferred the audiobook. This was a very cute story. I love that it was told in a dual POV between Chloe and Peter. The author does an amazing job on representing the Asian culture and bringing it to life with its cultures and traditions. There are two subplots going on and Park does a fantastic job at exploring both of them. The characters were developed well with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and creatively woven throughout the story. The author’s writing style is complex, humous, intriguing, and flowed amazingly. I would recommend the audiobook, it goes quick and the characters are lively.

THE CHRISTMAS CLASH by Suzanne Park is a mash-up of ROMEO AND JULIET and a Hallmark Christmas movie, all centered around a struggling mall. It's a cute and breezy read featuring an enemies-to-lovers romance and an underdog story of small businesses standing up to big landlords. I especially loved reading Chloe's reflections on her Korean immigrant parents and being a first generation Korean-American.

Unfortunately this book fell flat for me. And when looking at the other reviews, I think this might be a case of 'it's not you, it's me'. I missed the Christmas vibes completely in the first few chapters, and as I mainly picked it up for that, I kind of lost interest after that. Some very important topics were discussed, but it was done in a light way, which I absolutely loved about this. But other than that, it wasn't for me sadly.