Jill's Book Blog

Title: Made in Korea
Author: Sarah Suk
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Source: Publisher
Format: Ebook, Paperback arc
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Frankly in Love meets Shark Tank in this feel-good romantic comedy about two entrepreneurial Korean American teens who butt heads—and maybe fall in love—while running competing Korean beauty businesses at their high school.

There’s nothing Valerie Kwon loves more than making a good sale. Together with her cousin Charlie, they run V&C K-BEAUTY, their school’s most successful student-run enterprise. With each sale, Valerie gets closer to taking her beloved and adventurous halmeoni to her dream city, Paris.

Enter the new kid in class, Wes Jung, who is determined to pursue music after graduation despite his parents’ major disapproval. When his classmates clamor to buy the K-pop branded beauty products his mom gave him to “make new friends,” he sees an opportunity—one that may be the key to help him pay for the music school tuition he knows his parents won’t cover…

What he doesn’t realize, though, is that he is now V&C K-BEAUTY’s biggest competitor.

Stakes are high as Valerie and Wes try to outsell each other, make the most money, and take the throne for the best business in school—all while trying to resist the undeniable spark that’s crackling between them. From hiring spies to all-or-nothing bets, the competition is much more than either of them bargained for.

But one thing is clear: only one Korean business can come out on top.

Review:

Valerie Kwon has a business with her cousin at school where they sell Korean beauty products. Valerie is saving her money to take her grandmother on a trip to Paris in the summer before she starts college. In their senior year, Wes Jung moves to town. His mother works for a company that manages a popular K-Pop band. When Wes’s mother gives him some K-Pop cosmetics to bring to school to give to his friends, he learns what a lucrative business it could be to sell them. Wes wants to save money to pursue music studies in college, which his parents don’t approve of. Wes becomes major competition for Valerie’s business. Their competition gets intense, leading them to make an all or nothing bet. What they don’t count on is falling for each other, but only one business can win in the end.

The idea of student run businesses in high schools has pros and cons. It’s a great way for young people to learn about how to run a business and manage money. There were a couple of other student businesses, other than Valerie’s and Wes’s, but those were the two cosmetic ones so they were direct competitors. There were a few opportunities throughout the years for the businesses to sell their products and earn awards.

There were also consequences to these kinds of businesses that were addressed in the story. The students were earning real money with these businesses. That made the stakes much higher since Valerie and Wes had big plans for their potential earnings. This also made them take chances with their businesses that had moral and legal consequences. Valerie and Wes had to deal with the consequences of breaking the rules with their businesses. This story accurately represented what could go wrong with a student run business.

Made in Korea is a great young adult novel!

Thank you Simon and Schuster for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

About the author:

Tour Schedule:

May 17th
Nine Bookish Lives – Interview and Review
Emelie’s Books – Review, Favourite Quotes & Mood Board
Read in the Clouds – Review
HerBookishObsession – Review & Mood Board

May 18th
The Book Dutchesses – Review
teatimelit – Review
Midsummer Night’s Read – Review
Jill’s Book Blog – Review

May 19th
The Book View – Review
Sincerely, Manasa – Book Look
The Book Review Crew – Review & Favourite Quotes

May 20th
sunnysidereviews – Interview
Confessions of a YA Reader – Review
iambibliomane – Review
Kait Plus Books – Promo Post

May 21st
Stuck in Fiction – Promo Post
Diary Of A Bookgirl – Review, Playlist & Mood Board
Thindbooks Blog – Review
Rania’s Rambling Reads – Review & Playlist

May 22nd
DJREADSBOOKS – Review & Favourite Quotes
B for Bookslut – Review & Favourite Quotes
Ellie Turns the Page – Review & Favourite Quotes

May 23rd
Living, Loving and Reading – Interview
Thin Bookish Girl – Review, Favourite Quotes & Mood Board
Storme Reads A Lot – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Made in Korea
Belle’s Archive – Review

Where to buy:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Made-Korea-Sarah-Suk/dp/1534474374/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Made+in+Korea+by+Sarah+Suk&qid=1615752839&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/made-in-korea-sarah-suk/1137941907

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Made-Korea-Sarah-Suk/9781534474376?ref=grid-view&qid=1615752846689&sr=1-1

Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/made-in-korea/9781534474376-item.html?ikwid=Made+in+Korea+by+Sarah+Suk&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=7bde4a04f6ad4431d17461508ad58dd0

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781534474376

Giveaway:

One winner will receive a finished copy of Made in Korea. The giveaway will end on May 24^th.

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/fc15a59531/

Have you read Made in Korea? What did you think of it?

Title: From Little Tokyo, with Love
Author: Sarah Kuhn
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Celebrated author Sarah Kuhn reinvents the modern fairy tale in this intensely personal yet hilarious novel of a girl whose search for a storybook ending takes her to unexpected places in both her beloved LA neighborhood and her own guarded heart.

If Rika’s life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale–being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts’ business–she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn’t quite fit the princess mold.

All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America’s reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness–searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo’s hidden treasures with cute actor Hank Chen, and maybe…finally finding a sense of belonging.

But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn’t so kind. Rika knows she’s setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don’t happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away?

Review:

Seventeen-year-old Rika doesn’t believe in fairytales. Her two cousins, who she was raised with, are named after Disney Princesses: Belle and Aurora. Rika has never felt like she fit in anywhere. Her mother died in childbirth, and never knew her father, so she was raised by her aunts. Rika is half Japanese, so she has never fit in with their traditional Japanese community. She’s even too aggressive in her judo classes, with a reputation for biting a boy. Rika’s life changes when she catches the eye of Grace Kimura, the most popular rom-com actress, at a parade. That chance meeting makes Rika question the story behind what happened to her mother. Along with Hank Chen, a hot young actor, Rika goes on a hunt around LA to find her mother.

I loved the fairy tale aspects of this book. Rika’s family was obsessed with fairy tales. Her cousins were named after princesses, and they constantly watched romantic comedies. Since Rika didn’t feel like she belonged in her family or community, she didn’t think she deserved her happily ever after. Once she met her prince, Hank Chen, her life turned into the rom com she never expected.

A big theme of this story was fitting in. Rika didn’t feel like she fit in with her family, since she wasn’t a sibling, and she didn’t fit in with the Japanese community since she was only half Japanese. Rika felt like she was the only one to experience it, but then she learned that everyone feels left out at some point in their lives. Even the people who seem to get along with everyone wherever they go, don’t fit in everywhere. It’s easy to think that a problem is unique to yourself, but once you talk about it, you can learn what you have in common with everyone else.

From Little Tokyo, With Love was such a fun rom com!

Thank you Penguin Teen for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read From Little Tokyo, with Love? What did you think of it?