Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!
This was just okay for me, I found it hard to connect with the characters.

3.75 ⭐️

This was a cute YA romance book.
I loved the diverse representation and I think it’s the perfect read for teens.

I loved how food focused it was.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

premise: they're rival family-run food trucks at the farmers market. actually they all used to be best friends until the incident 5 years ago and now they can't stand each other. he's part of the korean food truck and she's with the dim sum truck. they're forced to interact when lumped together for a group project in school. they go from rivals to teammates to lovers who want to bring their families back together.

it's a very cute ya romance. their families are so openly loving, accepting, silly, fun, and delightful. mmc in this book is trans. they handled it really well where it's just a facet of his character but not the only thing about him. mostly everyone around him is super supportive.

I liked this! It was a cute and easy read. The love triangle was interesting mostly because it seemed like an open triangle BUT I liked it anways! I love the main characters who have to hide out their feelings from their families due to family drama. If someone says “family dramaaaaaa!” I’m there! That’s what this book was to me, a family drama filled romance.

Definitely happy this was my first read of June! Pride month 🫶🏻 this coming of age story was told amazingly and you could feel the pain and the love thru the changes

The beginning of this was fun, with a cute school project involving kids and gardening. I liked the idea of growing various vegetables and teaching elementary students about different cultures. Unfortunately, this part of the plot ended early and then we just moved on, never to return.

After that, I thought the plot dipped and became kind of repetitive. Julie and Randall get together, their families cause issues, they break up, and repeat. There were some nice parts, like the grandmothers and their love for their families. I appreciated how everyone accepted Randall as transgender, even his more traditional Korean Halmeoni.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for a copy of this book. This was a fun read outside of my normal genre. I found it fun all the way through with likeable characters. Can't wait to read more by this author!

This one was really cute! A little predictable, but fun anyway, and it made me hungry 😂
I do love a friends-to-enemies-to-maybe friends again-to-lovers arc, though it did feel a tiny bit rushed in a couple places and the pacing was a little inconsistent. Overall I recommend it for fans of cute YA contemporary.

I received an advance copy from the publisher, all opinions are my own, and a review was not required.

There's a lot of promise here with the interesting narrative of feuding families keeping our fated lovers apart, but the romance really didn't land for me at all. The arc itself eased into them talking again after five years, building up the awkwardness and tension, but then it took a sharp turn into big, huge love feelings when they didn't feel warranted yet. Their chemistry was definitely not stellar, so that wasn't helping matters, unfortunately.

What was most effective was the Asian culture and queer representation. The food descriptions were delectable. I was really touched by the thoughtful conversations about transness and how unaffected everyone important in the story was by any of the queer people in their lives. It all felt grounded and normalized, which I really appreciated.

I think if the pacing were better, as well as some semblance of time passing, then the story could've had more time to properly develop its arcs and dynamics. The writing also lent itself for this to be on the younger side of YA, especially with the main characters seeming immature for their ages.

Julie and Randall grew up as best friends, until their families turned to enemies. Now, five years later, Julie and Randall develop feelings for one another. Can their relationship withstand their families fighting?
This book is a cute YA story, featuring asian characters and a trans main character. The story was cute, but I also thought that the fight between the families was too much of a focus of the book.

A cute play on Romeo and Juliet but it felt to young for me. I did like that it has a trans main character & i LOVED the food descriptions (but don’t read this on an empty stomach because it will make you hungry).

All in all it is an easy read that’s perfect for pride month.

DNF @ 10%.

I really wanted to enjoy this one! I felt like it had all great elements of a fun story. My main issue with it is I found the POV shifting mid-chapter confused me and kept taking me out of the story altogether. I found myself having to start the story over to understand it and it still wasn't hooked.

I thought a retelling of Romeo and Juliet using food was such a fun and refreshing idea but unfortunately my interest was not held in the story.

This book would be good for people who enjoy multiple POV's in the same chapter and excellent descriptions of food.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Unfortunately, I DNF’d this book. The plot was underwhelming. I couldn’t connect to it or any of the characters. Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the eARC.

This was a sweet and fun enemies to lovers second chance romance! It was an easy read and I loved the side characters of the family members adding drama and flair to the story

Such a sweet & funny read! I loved the themes & dynamics of friendship and acceptance with family. I was skeptical about the Romeo & Juliet vibes because I’m not a huge fan of retelling but this one actually hit for me. I could see the references without being over the top with wink wink, nudge nudge

This one sounded so cute. Two ex-friends, rival families, food… a recipe for a fun, fluffy YA romance. Sadly, the story and characters fell very flat for me. I found myself struggling to get through the story and couldn’t truly connect with any of the characters.


*Thank you St. Martin’s Press / Wednesday Books for providing me with an eARC for review via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.*

I find Jennifer Chen's books a hit or miss for me. This one is only a so-so. 3-stars. It was cute enough to finish but I can easily forget it. However, I do love the dialogues as it was not too cheesy. Fast, easy and entertaining read!

API Heritage Month #3

✨ LA Times Festival of Books 2025 ✨

/ What a Girl Wants: Romance in Young Adult Fiction
/ Sunday, April 27, 2025
/ 12:30 PM
/ Taper Hall 101

I had such high hopes for this one. This was the first year I didn't go to all of The Ripped Bodice's panels, but I went to this one to support Trin. Jennifer had a lot of positive things to say about her book. I was intrigued by ROMEO AND JULIET meets food, but no death. I've sat on this ARC for some time now. I went in blind, so I wasn't aware the love interest is trans.

I'm all for LGBTQ+ rep. I'm more for it if the author is part of the marginalized group. Jennifer, admittedly, isn't, and thanked her sensitivity reader profusely. While I agree this is the right thing to do, rather than not have one at all, I, myself, find it interesting when authors write outside of their known. I won't shelve this with AMERICAN DIRT or THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN (Lisa See, while 1/8 Chinese, is not Korean), but I do want to state facts.

None of this is the reason for the middling rating. I won't pinpoint the YA, since there is YA I've enjoyed lately, especially YA centered around Asian American families. I get the parental drama and lack of acceptance. It's the white YA that's hard to swallow. Yelling at your parents? Not having to sneak out? Having a boyfriend? What are these so-called "problems" you have?

Julie and Randall's families each have food stalls at a Pasadena Farmers Market. The grandmothers used to be best friends. Now they're enemies. Ooh. Except it's not ooh. It's a little boring. And while food descriptions usually suck me in, I found not even that could hold my interest.

So Julie and Randall do the former friend thing. Then they realize they're in love with each other, which, fine. But for two 626 kids to sneak around in the 310 to date is the most absurd thing to ever absurd. I'm one of those hos that never willingly leaves the westside, so I know what I'm talking about. As someone that is nearly always in Santa Monica, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to Pasadena. One of them was for my best friend's wedding. And scene.

rep: Korean American, Taiwanese American, trans

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Went into this not knowing much about it. I usually like to go into books that way but I missed the mark on this one. Just not my cup of tea for book storylines. Enjoyed reading about the food tho... could smell and taste it while reading! Other than that, this one didn't do it for me.