A review by kindredbooks
Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick

emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I was skimming through some of the reviews of Heart & Seoul to understand why the rating is lower than I would expect it to be. I really enjoyed the book and found it to truly be filled with a lot of heart and s(e)oul. It sounds like a lot of reviews that featured 3 stars or less were generally given because readers were expecting a contemporary romance read set in Seoul. What readers found instead was an emotional journey to Korea as one adopted Korean American woman - Hara -  sets out to find her birth parents, with a side of romance. Which I would say is even better than a typically lighthearted contemporary romance. But I can understand how that may not be everyone's cup of tea especially if you were seeking a light and fluffy read. Heart & Seoul is the story of Hara's conflict and turmoil over her identity and the search for belonging and self-acceptance that she has always struggled with. It was a deeper book than one would expect going into a contemporary romance and I found that I appreciated both this story of family and of love. I really liked the way as readers, we followed Hara's journey into Korea and Korean culture. As for fans of the romance, there is definitely going to be more of that as I understand that there is a sequel coming out this year called Seoulmates. It is definitely on my anticipated list this year as I am looking forward to seeing how Hara and Yujun's story continues.
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