Seoulmates

Written by Susan Lee

Narrated by Hannah Choi and Raymond Lee

Her ex-boyfriend wants her back. Her former best friend is in town. When did Hannah’s life become a K-drama?

Hannah Cho had the next year all planned out — the perfect summer with her boyfriend, Nate, and then a fun senior year with their friends.

But then Nate does what everyone else in Hannah’s life seems to do — he leaves her, claiming they have nothing in common. He and all her friends are newly obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas, and Hannah is not. After years of trying to embrace the American part and shunning the Korean side of her Korean American identity to fit in, Hannah finds that’s exactly what now has her on the outs.

But someone who does know K-dramas — so well that he’s actually starring in one — is Jacob Kim, Hannah’s former best friend, whom she hasn’t seen in years. He’s desperate for a break from the fame, so a family trip back to San Diego might be just what he needs...that is, if he and Hannah can figure out what went wrong when they last parted and navigate the new feelings developing between them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Sep 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781867271864

Susan Lee

Susan Lee has had a lifetime of careers, but she was born to be a storyteller, and she has channeled her myriad of experiences into her writing of light-hearted, quirky novels about the oftentimes hilarious human condition. And love. Always write about love. She currently lives in Southern California with a pack of three feisty chihuahuas and a too-hearty obsession with K-pop and K-dramas.

Reviews for Seoulmates

[victoriagd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Does Love Have to Come to an End?With the popularity of K-pop and K-drama, Susan Lee writes about the Korean American experience through finding love, growing up, and strengthening relationships. Hannah Cho’s perfect summer plans are ruined after an embarrassing breakup with her boyfriend Nate. To make things worse her childhood friend is coming to stay for the summer, getting in the way of her plans to win him back. She hasn’t talked to Jacob since he left her for Korea, and ghosted her. Now as a famous K-drama star, Jacob Kim (Jin-Hee) is hardly recognizable as the same kind boy she used to protect. Briefly free from the demands of his acting company, Jacob wants a fun San Diego summer even if it means facing his broken relationship with Hannah. They may just find that acting in a K-drama might be easier than facing their real-life problems.Full of K-drama Susan Lee does a wonderful job building the emotional past, and present struggles of Hannah and Jacob. A brief warning that there are mentions of vomiting, sex, and cursing. Hannah struggles with the new popularity of Korean culture, after trying to fit in so long at her San Diego high school. She also has to reconcile her fears of being abandoned after her father, sister, and even Jacob have moved on without her. When Jacob comes back, Hannah is confronted with her insecurities, and who she really wants to be. Jacob has been focused on saving his family for so long, that he has become trapped in the unreasonable demands of his job. The differences between acting and real-life experiences becomes suffocating. With the help of both of their supportive ajumma mothers, and snooping sisters to help them rebuild their relationship.This book has a lot of fun moments, as Hannah and Jacob visit some iconic places of San Diego. They may be reluctant at first to enjoy the food and experiences of summer, but find themselves reminded of how much they missed each other. Susan Lee does a great job of showing how communicating these feelings with each other, and apologizing allows them to heal. Allowing them to form a stronger identity together. Soul mates grounded on being lifelong friends who work to understand each other.

[kulmona · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

K-CULTURE NEWBIEMy thanks to BookishFirst and Inkyard Press for the e-ARC.Hannah’s exciting summer plans go down the toilet when her boyfriend, Nate, dumps her. She is devastated with the prospect of a desolate few months of nothing but teaching bible classes during the day and a weekly internship. Things couldn’t get worse, right? Wrong! Her mother has invited her ex-bestie, Jacob, and his family to stay with them.K-Drama star, Jacob, is not enthused with the idea of facing Hannah again. But he’s outvoted. His drama company is pushing for him to take a break due to his injury and public relations issues. His mother thinks the timing couldn’t be more perfect to visit her friend, Hannah’s mom. And his sister is eager to return to San Diego. There is the expected awkwardness and tension. But there are happy moments too. The summer did not turn out as expected. Jacob did not turn out as expected. He’s no longer Jacob Kim, her childhood bestie and confidante. He’s Kim Jin-Suk, K-drama superstar.I really enjoyed this book. It was entertaining, educational, and enlightening. Short chapters and alternating perspectives were a plus. My exposure to Korean culture has been minimal, at best. Limited to movies such as Parasite and the EXTREMELY popular song, Gangnam Style. I have already added some K-dramas to my watchlist.

[herenya_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

YA about two Korean-American teenagers, Hannah and Jacob, who grew up together, but stopped speaking to each other three years ago, when Jacob’s family moved back to Korea. They are thrown together for the summer.There’s a lot going on for the two of them -- including but not limited to Jacob’s emerging career as a kdrama actor and Hannah’s complicated feelings about fitting in. Some of the developments, particularly the emotional ones, felt a bit too abrupt. I might have become invested if this story had just been told from one POV.