Even as a middle-aged woman, I love young adult books. The author did a fantastic job weaving Asian and queer representation into the characters. The two main protagonists, Julie and Randall, along with their family and friends, were well-developed, and their respective food businesses became a central focus of the story. The descriptions of their Asian-inspired dishes were so vivid that they made me hungry just reading about them.

While I found the Shakespearean motif—particularly the Romeo and Juliet parallels—intriguing, as it highlighted Julie and Randall’s friends-to-enemies-to-lovers dynamic, the book’s structure left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. The inclusion of feuding families added an interesting layer, but certain plot points felt either underdeveloped or introduced too late. For example, learning about Randall’s parents’ ethnicities and what happened to them would have been more impactful earlier in the story rather than toward the end. Additionally, the timeline occasionally felt disjointed, making the narrative less cohesive than it could have been.

I also wonder if the story could have been condensed by a few chapters, as it started to feel drawn out at times. Despite these structural concerns, the overall premise was compelling, and I appreciated the cultural and personal depth the author brought to the characters and their world.

This book is nostalgic and full of heart. We have Julie and Randall who were once best friends, as were their grandmothers. After a series of unfortunate events, the two grandmothers are feuding and their grandkids are the same. Julie and Randall generally steer clear of each other, but a school project forces them to spend more time together. Both Julie and Randall has experienced their share of hardships and this project brings them closer to each other and more understanding of each other, which I loved. If you're looking for a childhood friends to enemies to lovers with a whole lot of family dynamics, this would be the perfect read. Plus, it features delicious food from both families! Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted ARC and eARC. All opinions are my own.

Instagram post will be live on 10Mar25.

Dnf at 28%. I didn’t finish this one, sorry! I liked the premise but the characters and storyline fell flat for me. It was very young YA writing but with a trans character and that didn’t mesh for me. I am not the market for this book.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Jennifer Chen, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Julie and Randall used to be best friends. Now they only see each other at the Farmers Market where their once close families are now rivals.

When Julie and Randall are paired with very wealthy London for a community-service school project, they are forced to work together for the first time in a long time. It quickly becomes obvious that London has a major crush on Julie, but Julie has a crush on Randall, and Randall can’t stop thinking about how London is thinking about Julie. PHEW! Soon, prompted by jealousy and years of rivalry, a school project meetings turn into fake dates at their favorite Taiwanese breakfast shop and then secret kisses at the beach—far from the watchful eyes of their families.

Soon they are brave enough to tell their families, but it soon turns into arguing a bickering. Just like old times.

It's the Year of the Dragon though, a time to resolve disagreements and start new, and Randall isn’t going down without fighting.

A YA read that gives Romeo and Juliet vibes.

i'm a simple girl - i see a book with a leni kauffman cover, it goes on my tbr
Hanhry Hearts is a fun-loving book. The characters and romance had an easy emotional arc even though it felt somewhat formulaic.

I wanted to love this book. I love that you have a main trans character who is highlighted in such a positive light throughout most of the book, and that two friends realize that they have deeper feelings for each other. I also enjoyed the realism in the fact that Randall isn’t questioning their trans in the book, but more worried about how their family will accept their relationship with Julie due to past family issues and not will their family embrace their true selves. I just don’t think the story was super captivating. It was extremely slow paced with Randall constantly pushing Julie away. Julie herself was just such a patient character, but I was glad there were times when she was finally tired of Randall constantly pulling away and times hiding their relationship. Overall, this book was ok not great but does have some lovely representation.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Rating - 3.5/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐
Date Read - December 12, 2024
Publication Date - March 18, 2025

*I received an E-ARC of this book for free in exchange for an honest review* - Thank you St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books!

Take warning from the title of this book and make sure you don't read Hangry Hearts on an empty stomach! I loved learning about the food, from its importance and symbolism to just sounding yummy. Friends to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, so I had high hopes for this book. However, I found it hard to root for the main characters to be together because the emotional connection didn't really seem to be there. They talked about their old friendship, which sounded promising, but I didn't feel like anything in the present showed romantic feelings. Overall, I picked up this book for the romance but stayed for the food and family dynamics.

*Please check trigger warnings*

*Review to be posted on socials after pub date*

A sweet update of sorts to Romeo and Juliet with good representation. Randall and Julie are pals but their grandmothers, well, they are enemies.. Can this pair transcend that, can they bring the grandmothers back together? This is filled with wonderful descriptions of food, The fact that Randal is trans is handled with sensitivity and heart. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, This would have benefited from another edit to make sure the voices are distinct but it's a good read for the YA crowd.

2.5 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I was initially quite excited to read Hangry Hearts, but I was a bit concerned by a lot of the more critical reviews. However, the review average (at least on NetGalley) was further skewed low by the negative reviews from bigots who didn’t like that this had “surprise” trans rep, so I took it with a grain of salt. Upon reading, I felt it was fine, but not anything to write home about.
As the title suggests, food is central to the narrative, and the references to the various Chinese and Korean dishes were to die for. I also loved the interweaving of cultural traditions, especially with family ties playing such a prominent role in both leads’ lives.
And both Julie and Randall are decent characters, and the tension between them is solid, between their past as former friends, as well as reckoning with now being rivals due to their grandmothers’ enmity for one another. Randall’s transness is decently incorporated, without focus on his identity or “struggle” being a focus of the narrative.
And for what it is, it’s a fairly easy, quick read, so I can’t hold any of the other flaws against it too much, even if the result is a book that I likely won’t remember weeks, or months, down the road.
As for some of those flaws…to start with, some of the decisions with the prose do take some adjusting to. Julie Chen isn’t the best at distinguishing between her two first person POVs, so it’s easy to get lost sometimes as to whose head you’re in, and it’s even worse when it swaps (sometimes clumsily) mid-chapter, sometimes doing so more than once. However, this isn’t the worst execution of this prose/POV style, so it was still fairly readable.
Plot-wise, it was kind of weird, because on the one hand, it didn’t feel like a ton happened, but also, with the pages flying by, I didn’t necessarily notice. It feels more like the issue here is “lack of substantial plot,” as opposed to “lack of things happening,” although the latter did sort of kick in by the last fourth or so, as the grandmothers had resolved their differences. The stakes mostly felt rather low, and more like a “vibes” read. Even the so-called “rivalry” between the families felt easily resolved, making the “Romeo and Juliet” billing feel false, for all that the book tried to expertly position much of the supporting cast as possible in recognizable roles. Obviously, I knew this was going for a more genre romance direction, and that it wasn’t going to be world-ending stakes. But I couldn’t help but find the resolution a little too easy.
Of course, a lot of my criticisms could easily be chocked up to being an adult reading YA, and this skewing toward the younger side of the age demographic. But with many more polarizing reviews than normal (homophobic reviews excepted), I would suggest this is one of those cases where they should be taken into account, but I’d still encourage giving it a chance if you’re in the mood for a fairly light read centering Asian food and cultures and a fairly cute romance.

This was a sweet quick read with Romeo and Juliet vibes. Julie and Randall's grandmothers used to be est friends until "the incident." When Julie and Randall start dating, they have to decide if their hearts are worth fighting for. I read and ARC so they may be fixed before release but there were some editorial and consistency issues. 3.5 stars rounded up.

This book had great description of Asian food and I enjoyed learning a bit more about the culture through the book. I would say this book is YA overall and it was a quick and enjoyable read. I didn't realize the main characters were going to be HS students when I started reading, but it was still. a good book and I liked the parallels to Romeo and Juliet like it mentioned in the summary! I loved the clever cover and I liked the LGBQT representation in the book too.

Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen is a captivating tale where love, family, and food intertwine in a modern Romeo and Juliet-inspired romance. Readers seeking a fresh twist on the enemies-to-lovers trope will be delighted by the delectable main courses of witty banter and swoon-worthy romance served up in this novel. However, it is the heartfelt side dishes of family, identity, community, and forgiveness that truly elevate the story, leaving readers eagerly anticipating whatever culinary delights Jennifer Chen has in store for them next.

This was such a great story. Cute YA Romeo and Juliet love story. It’s LGBTQ+ and has Asian rep and culture which was interesting to learn about. The food sounded amazing and I don’t even like Asian food. I think I’ll have to try it now. I think this one would be great for the younger audiences.

This book is a forbidden YA romance featuring Julie and Randall. Julie comes from a Taiwanese family and Randall comes from a Korean family. Both families run food stalls out of the LA market, but there is a big rift between the families. When Randall and Julie get paired up for a school project, they have to put their rift aside to work together. They rekindle not only their friendship but deeper feelings for each other. This was super cute. The description of the food their families makes was amazing! They really drove home how important food is to their culture and how it brings their family together and keeps their family loving each other. This was no spice. Perfect YA writing. This is a great choice if you’re looking for something light and fluffy to read.

This was a sweet book that combined a lot of complex storylines including a transition (off page), a feud between families, FOOD, friendship and love.

I didn't like how it jumped around without much warning and it made it so some chapters felt like they left off without resolving or finishing what was happening. I would have liked a bit more reflection throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

The cover and description made this book seem better than it was. Overall it was a cute YA novel, but at points it was jumping between POVs and through time so much that it was hard to keep up with. They made the school project seem like it was going to be a much bigger deal than it was, and that storyline was wrapped in the first 100 pages. I think that storyline could have been longer to tie in to the rest of the story.

This was a cute and modern Romeo and Juilet type of book. I think it was interesting how the author combined older type generation conflicts with very new and modern ones. I can see how this book can be relatable and almost unrelatable at the same time. It tackles a lot more grief in many different ways than I expected it. A lot of this book was serious and topics were a bit too heavy for what I thought would be a cute romantic type book.

Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, Netgalley, and the author for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a quick and easy read. First, the cover is super cute! Second, this book was truly a lot of fun! The forbidden love, Romeo and Juliet vibes, and the sweet romance between Julie and Randall were all great.

Chen does a good job at showing the dynamic of different families/cultures, all while adhering to the Romeo and Juliet theme throughout.

All of the incredible food really added to the story as well!

Overall, this was a sweet, fun YA read that most would find enjoyable and interesting!

3/5 ⭐️
Even though I rated this author’s other book 3.5, I still had a good time. I remember liking it, but wishing it just did more. That was the same case here, but worse. I think off the bat I wasn’t thrilled with the fact chapter one was 80% info dumping things to us. But this also felt so much more fake than the other. Like the other was kind of unbelievable but this just felt super shiny Hollywood fake. The characters, the conflict, the world. Like no teenager I know lives and act like this. There’s suspending belief, and then there’s the Truman show fakeness.
I will say though that this is also a very fast read and I think it would be good for like upper middle grade/ lower YA. It has that sort of Disney channel quality to the characters, world, and conflicts.
Even though I know this is a ya romcom, I think I would’ve preferred if this felt a smidge more grounded in reality. I love YA romcoms, but this one just wasn’t for me. And I wish it was telling us things less. Like less info dumps and asides. I think that would help the tone from feeling too much like what an adult thinks a teenager sounds like.
I would still recommend others check it out for themselves. It’s definitely a quick, bingeable read. But it’s also a couple hours you won’t get back in your life 🤷🏽‍♀️
Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Despite a really cute concept, the execution fell flat. This is a short, sweet, easy read for anyone looking for a palate cleanser between more intense books. However, it's difficult to develop any emotional attachment for the characters, which causes the story to drag.

Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.