Heart and Seoul

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Frederick, Jen, Adult Book / Fiction / Romance / General / Frederick, Jen
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Frederick, Jen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Romance / General / Frederick, Jen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Romance / General / Frederick, Jen	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"Readers guide included"--Page 4 of cover.
As a Korean adoptee, Hara Wilson doesn't need anyone telling her she looks different from her white parents. She knows. Every time Hara looks in the mirror, she's reminded that she doesn't look like anyone else in her family-not her loving mother, Ellen; not her jerk of a father, Pat; and certainly not Pat's new wife and new "real" son. At the age of twenty-five, she thought she had come to terms with it all, but when her father suddenly dies, an offhand comment at his funeral triggers an identity crisis that has her running off to Seoul in search of her roots. What Hara finds there has all the makings of a classic K-drama: a tall, mysterious stranger who greets her at the airport, spontaneous adventures across the city, and a mess of familial ties, along with a red string of destiny that winds its way around her heart and soul. Hara goes to Korea looking for answers, but what she gets instead is love -- a forbidden love that will either welcome Hara home ... or destroy her chance of finding one.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Book that can't settle on story submitted by mowjac on July 23, 2021, 10:22am This book takes on a really worthwhile topic: the adoption of Asian children by white parents in the United States. It also tries to be a Korean drama, with lots of nods to K-pop, romance and generational conflict. Unfortunately, trying to weave these two threads ends up leaving the emotional story of Asian adoptees behind and at the end, does a disservice. Hana's conflict is apparent and emotional, but never gets the full payoff.

Big note: this is the first of a two-book series! submitted by eileenw on June 12, 2022, 12:59pm While it isn't terribly easy to tell that there is going to be a second novel to wrap up Hara's story, there is in fact, another novel, SEOULMATES. I'm glad there's a second book, because the ending of HEART AND SEOUL is abrupt and (if there wasn't another book) unsatisfying.

If you're a Kdrama fan like me, this novel is chock-full of references and tropes that you'll get. Starting in no small part, when Hara mistakes the handsome man in a suit for her driver at the airport. He's more chaebol than hired driver, but he finds Hara interesting and gives her a ride to the Airbnb she's books that is up All The Stairs.

Emotionally, Hara is a mess. She's going through a lot. She's lost two fathers, she's searching for one mother, while fighting with her adopted mother about even being in Korea on this search. She's navigating a foreign country where she doesn't speak the language while navigating her own emotional baggage about adoption, place, and belonging ... oh yeah and she's sort of dating a brilliant, rich guy and hanging out with his music idol friend. So yes, the story is a bit all over the place, too.

While I'm really interested in the subject matter and setting and wanted to be "five stars all the way!" it wasn't quite that satisfying.