Out today, Seoulmates by Susan Lee is a fun friends-to-lovers YA romance that tackles Korean American identity as all things Korean wilt popular in the U.S. It’s the summer surpassing her senior year in upper 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 weightier 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 typesetting for anyone looking that last grasp of summer. A grudge-fueled standoff and then reconciliation between old friends, a skillet list venture through San Diego, K-drama fans and K-drama induced crying, some doting and meddling Korean mamas — and two teenagers trying to find their way. The chapters switch when and along 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 two-face and the stress of life as part of the K-drama machine. You’ll be cheering for them the whole way.
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