Out today, Seoulmates by Susan Lee is a fun friends-to-lovers YA romance that tackles Korean American identity as all things Korean become popular in the U.S. It’s the summer before her senior year in high school and Hannah Cho thinks she’s got everything figured out. But then the summer before, her boyfriend Nate breaks up with her. And her former best friend turned K-drama superstar who she hasn’t spoken to in three years–Jacob Kim–is back. Meanwhile, all her friends are obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas and she doesn’t have a preference between BTS and EXO. Cue the drama.
This is the book for anyone looking that last grasp of summer. A grudge-fueled standoff and then reconciliation between old friends, a bucket list adventure through San Diego, K-drama fans and K-drama induced crying, some adoring and meddling Korean mamas — and two teenagers trying to find their way. The chapters switch back and forth between Hannah, reconciling her Korean American identity, having long shunned her Korean side while trying to fit in, only to have all things Korean suddenly be mainstream, and Jacob, dealing with his new life as a successful actor and the stress of life as part of the K-drama machine. You’ll be cheering for them the whole way.
