"Seoulmates" by Susan Lee

Seoulmates (Sept. 20, 2022) by Susan Lee.

*This is a standalone novel.*

What’s a girl to do when life imitates a K-drama? Hannah Cho’s plans involved hanging out with her boyfriend and enjoying her senior year with their friend group, but Nate Anderson dumped her at the top of summer. He’s into all the Korean things she has shunned (K-dramas, K-pop, K-everything) to try to fit into her American identity. She plots to win him back, but her former best friend, Jacob Kim, is back in town (town being San Diego). When Jacob left, she cut him out of her life due to her hurt and always feeling like everyone in her life leaves her (Jacob, her sister Helen, their dad in Singapore). But Jacob returns as Kim Jin-Suk, his Korean name and the name all of his fans know him by. Yes. In the interim years since leaving San Diego, Jacob has come to know K-dramas so well that he’s starring in one with the beautiful but awful Shin Min-Kyung (a.k.a. Minky). When time away from set is encouraged, Jacob’s mom takes the two of them, plus his 12-year-old sister Jin-Hee, to stay with the Cho family, the moms being best friends. Jacob has a list of things he wants to do in San Diego that he’d never be allowed and/or have time to do in Korea (like taste-test his way to find the best burrito or go to LEGOLAND), but since he can’t drive, he needs Hannah. He’d like to reconnect with her and figure out what went wrong with their friendship, painful as it will be, and then, perhaps, they can navigate their teenager feelings for each other. Is it love? Is Jacob the rebound guy and Hannah the summer fling before Jacob has to return to Korea? Are they Seoulmates?

            I’m going to get this out there right away, but why is this not the first Asian American-centric YA story I’ve read in recent months where the lead female character has perceived abandonment issues? Is this a new, recurrent them? Or has it always existed, and I simply haven’t read those stories until now?

            For anyone looking for a K-drama in literary form, Lee’s YA debut is perfect for K-drama fans. A swoon-worthy romance? Check. A super good-looking K-drama star? Check. Drama? Check. Korean food? Check. This novel is told in alternating perspectives and is one that celebrates friendship and Korean culture through expressive, fast-paced, thoughtful writing. It meaningfully examines the harder aspects around Korean American identity, but in an honest, believable-teenager way. The way everything K has become so popular surprises me, pleasantly so, like being a book dragon (previously, book nerd) is cool these days, at least compared to when I was one of the rare avid readers in my class growing up. Amongst themes of friendship and the predictable budding romance, the novel explores finding one’s inner strength and the role family dynamics can play, especially when love may not be expressed when someone is looking for that support and validation and picturing oneself as unlovable. This story is daebak, and it won’t be for everyone (I struggled at times, because, well, teenagers) but I expect it will attract a wide range of readers who are already K-drama and K-pop fans.

            P.S. I’m not a big watcher of K-dramas, but I did watch “Crash Landing on You” and “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” last year and was immersed in both of them.