I wasn’t a fan of the author’s last book but I wanted to give this one another chance. Unfortunately I think I may need to steer clear in the future. This book is well-written and has an easy style to read, but it just feels like nothing is fleshed out well with the characters. The families were at war for five years and yet it also felt like the characters never really lost touch with each other. I mean, five years is a long time especially when you’re a teenager. And Julie and Randall’s relationship went from hatred to love insanely fast with no real or interesting development. Ugh sorry, but I just wasn’t a fan.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday books for the ARC!

this had so much potential but unfortunately just wasn't great... i know i'm not the target audience for YA contemporary but still. i try to go in with an open mind but the weird time skips and lack of development on-page was meh. it felt like so much of the romance developed off page and therefore it didn't feel super believable.

things i did like: the lgbtq rep was a nice surprise especially given it's pure trans joy with a nice romance and family support (we absolutely need more of this!); conversations around traditional Korean/Taiwanese foods and culture was really great

tldr; this was a pretty fast read and the representation was great but the actual storytelling and development of plot/characters was lacking for sure

The cover sucked me in but the story did me dirty.
I am a former chef so any book that deals food I am all in on and want to read. The food descriptions were fantastic. I could taste the shrimp shu mai and fan tuan.
I loved the asian culture and LGTBQ+ rep the author wove thru the story. Learning about some of the asian traditions was great!
I am not a stranger to YA books. Maybe I get lucky and find ones that border YA/NA, but this book I think was a true YA story (leaning more toward the lower age range) and so it just didn't do it for me. It was very Romeo and Juliet on a lower high school level.
The author does have a nice light good pace to her writing so it made for a very quick read.

I love the LGBTQIA representation. I wish it had been more present in the the way the book was presented! Julie and Randall are definitely a love story of the ages and I loved reading about them.

(Actual: 3.25⭐) I added a quarter star to my final review after deciding the AAPI representation found within it to be fairly solid, but I really do wish I liked this book more than I actually did. HANGRY HEARTS is a cute, quick little RomCom read (easily passable if you're just looking for something more on the simple side— and I say this meaning no shade whatsoever), but ultimately felt a bit too formulaic for my tastes. I've grown to expect more from my Romances over the years I think, so this may truly be just a ~Me~ problem, but I found myself discovering and stumbling over way too many writing pet peeves of mine here: the overuse of the Miscommunication trope (despite these characters living in the gd digital age where texting exists lol;) the way information was sometimes spoon-fed to us *jussstttt* before it needs to become relevant to the plot as opposed to having it be revealed or utilized in a more organic way; all the corny/cringy scenes, like ahhh (I just— I can't okay, I'm sorry); the resolution* to the overarching family drama plot (*a solution which was rather contrived and felt like a cop-out)..... I could probably go on. Julie and Randall are cute MCs, respectively..... but, again, "cute" is as far as I am willing (and able) to go to describe them, because in the end they do feel rather underdeveloped, falling flat particularly when it comes to the more emotional scenes/beats throughout the story. Also— and this is just a silly thing on my end, but how tf are you going to tell me that Julie is suddenly an MMA guru* (*I'm being hyperbolic) after ONE self-defense class??? lmao I just.... anyway. Like I said, this was overall an easy read and I'm certain it'll still find its audience come pub day.... but, for me, personally, it was firmly just "OK," though I will still look out for Chen's future works and give them a shot!

This was a cute young adult romance. I liked the overall storyline of this book and how it was a Romeo and Juliet retelling, especially since I haven’t read many. I appreciated the dual povs between Julie and Randall as I followed them throughout the story. The pacing of this book felt a bit rushed at times but overall this was a good read. Heads up that this book had a lot of food references and descriptions that will leave you hungry.

Read this if you like:

📖 Romeo and Juliet
📖 Rivals to lovers
📖 Ex-best friends
📖 Forced proximity
📖 Lgbt reps

Thank you to @wednesdaybooks for the gifted arc.

3.5 starts. Super cute and quick read. I've never read this author before, but we'll continue in the future

Cute! Cute! C.U.T.E. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#HangryHearts #Netgalley

Incredibly cute! The banter had me laughing so hard and I know that I would’ve OBSESSED over this book when I was a teen. I normally don’t read YA anymore but I couldn’t pass this one up. LOVED THIS!

I decided to DNF Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen because I had a hard time connecting to the writing. While the premise sounded fun and intriguing, the execution fell flat for me, the writing felt clunky and made it difficult to stay engaged.

I also wish I had known more about the content mentioned in the book beforehand, such as its LGBTQ+ themes and that one of the main characters is trans. The constant switching of POVs felt unnecessary. Ultimately, I stopped reading because I found myself losing interest in the plot as a whole.

Thank you for the Arc!

This book had a bit too much going on, and it stopped me from being able to connect with the characters. It's a Romeo/Juliet situation with feuding families, it has a very detailed class project involving vegetables and cultural cuisines, and it's a friends-to-lovers book with a trans character. I really appreciate that the book features a trans main character where that isn't the main point of the book. Most of the conflict for the romance involves family expectations and quarrels all stemming from the falling out the two families had years earlier. These conflicts all felt a bit frustrating and irrational, as if they existed only to keep our cute couple apart. On the surface it should be a great book for my readers, but it's just too long and frustrating for me to suggest.

In this contemporary reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, former best friends Julie Wu and Randall Hur find themselves navigating the complexities of first love amid their families' bitter rivalry at the Pasadena Farmers Market. When they're paired for a school project along with wealthy classmate London Kim, their rekindled connection blossoms into something more—something more that they have to hide from their feuding grandmothers. As their feelings deepen, they must confront not only their families' painful history, but also their fears about loyalty, identity, and belonging – all while the auspicious Year of the Dragon offers hope for reconciliation.

Chen's novel shines in its authentic portrayal of Asian American families and cultural dynamics and differences—Julie is Taiwanese American and Randall is Korean American—and particularly in its thoughtful handling of Randall's identity as a trans man and the loving acceptance he receives from his grandmother. While the familiar enemies-to-lovers framework provides a solid foundation, the novel's true strength lies in its exploration of intergenerational relationships and the ways family histories and relationships shape young love. The mouthwatering descriptions of Taiwanese and Korean cuisine effectively underscore how food is a source of conflict and a language of love and source of cultural and familial pride within these interconnected families. The grandmothers' complex falling-out feels genuine rather than contrived, lending weight to the central conflict and adding textrue to the “will they, won’t they” relationship of the teenage protagonists.

However, at the same time, the narrative suffers at times from uneven pacing and underdeveloped plot threads. Some storylines, like the school project that brings Julie and Randall together, feel abandoned, and time jumps leave crucial relationship developments happening off-page, disrupting the development of the central relationship. The resolution of the family feud feels may also feel contrived for some, relying on a frequent romance trope, a deus ex machina, rather than organic character growth.

However, despite some structural weaknesses, Chen offers a cozy celebration of the complexities of teenage love, belonging, and the power of shared traditions, with depictions of contemporary multigenerational families that feels fresh and organic. Hangry Hearts is a tender exploration of young love that, like the cherished family recipes woven throughout its pages, combines familiar ingredients into something uniquely satisfying.

I really wanted to love this book. I love the idea of this book and I love the characters, but I just couldn’t finish it. There is a lot of extra fluff in there that made it drag on for me and I kept putting it down and trying to come back to it and it didn’t matter. I hate giving poor reviews because I know how hard authors work to create these beautiful pieces, so take my words with a grain of salt! I may just not have been the right reader for this one! I won’t leave a review on any other platform because I want to make sure the book has a chance! Thanks for the opportunity!

This was super cute, amazing characters, food that make me so hungry and lots of diversity! A perfect YA read if you need something fast paced to read.

4/5 ⭐

I want to start by saying that there needs to be more trans rep in romance, especially where it is simply trans joy. The Asian rep was also off the charts, and you can tell how much love Jennifer Chen has for Asian food and culture. The food descriptions were probably the strongest part of the book.

But food descriptions and representation arenot enough. The book also needs to be good. And this one...wasn't? Ugh, that makes me feel awful to say, but there were so many things that were hard to get past. The sentences were so choppy, the random switching of POVs in the middle of the chapter after a simply paragraph would ruin the flow of dramatic scenes, the ending was really random with the extended family just appearing, and worst of all: I couldn't tell why they loved each other. Maybe that was to honor Romeo and Juliet, where they are young and impressionable, but I thought we as 21st century readers and writers deserved real chemistry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this story. It kept me wanting more the entire time I was reading it. One of my top 10 books of the year.

Such a fun Romeo and Juliette retelling. I loved the modern elements and family rivalry. A must read.

dnf

I could not get into this story. the premise seemed fun, but the book wasn’t very well-written. the characters were boring and two-dimensional, the storyline was all over the place and it did not capture my attention at all. even for a ya book, everything felt very immature. overall, this story just wasn't for me.

Cute and simple, though I loved both the culture and the food representation. It kind of felt cliche and didn't quite stand out from others under the RomeoxJuliet trope, and sometimes it read as very "tell" and not "show." Plus, a pov shift occurred several times throughout the chapter- at one point there were even 3 to 4 pov shifts on one page. It just felt excessive, and I would have preferred to have seen the event from just one perspective. I didn't need a battle of the povs just to watch Julie climb some stairs.

It definitely made me hungry sometimes, though.

thank you to Netgalley and the author for the arc!

I loved this story from the beginning! The plot points were so on brand that you can’t help but devour the book in one setting! The character development was fantastic and I will definitely be recommending!