As a millennial, I grew up with a love for Kpop. This book is every Kpop fans dream; girl ends up meeting a Kpop star without knowing who he is and they develop a relationship. While some might worry this would be streamed as fan fiction, the fictional plot does mention some popular Kpop bands, but the Kpop star in this book is completely fictional. I really liked how Kristen brings up the “dark side” of Kpop-stardom, which many might not know about, and there is a blurb at the end for those who might be struggling with their mental health. She mentions the suicide of idol 김종현, Kim Jonghyun, who passed in 2017 due to the many pressures and mental health struggles of being in the industry. The fictional idol struggles with issues as well in the book, and I think it is a great read for teen Kpop fans, as well as romance Romeo-Juliet like plots.

Hart & Seoul is a YA romance about a girl named Merri, who finds herself caught up in a love story that she never could have foreseen. When she discovers that her boyfriend has been cheating with her best friend, she finds herself falling quickly into her mysterious new neighbour's arms. He's obnoxious and secretive at first but, when she is forced to spend time with him, she discovers that maybe he's exactly what she needs to get over her heartbreak. Oh, and he's also a k-pop idol who's in hiding from millions of screaming fans.

When I saw that this book combined my love of cheesy YA romance and k-pop, I was really excited to give it a try. It seemed like a nice, lighthearted read and I thought it would be a nice change from the very heavy and intense novels I've been reading lately. I love learning about Korean culture and hoped that this book would provide a little insight into that, as well as a cute romance.

The cute romance was definitely there. The novel read a little like fan-fiction, but it did have a cute and cheesy plot, with the handsome boy-next-door and the massive romantic gestures that every good teen love story needs. I also thought that Merri's internal monologue, though a little strange at times, was very believable for a young girl going through what she was.

Unfortunately, I just didn't click with the rest of this book. The plots with both of her best friends were very cliche, her family drama, which should have been a much larger part of the plot, seemed to have just been thrown in at random points, and all other parts of the book, including the online stalking and mental health problems, which are very real and serious issues, fell away when there was a chance for a sweet, romantic scene. Everything also seemed a little too co-incidental and, although I knew that this book wouldn't be wholly realistic, based on the summary, I expected it to be a little more believable.

My main issue was the Korean representation. I am in no position to say whether this was accurate or not, but from the misspelled Korean words to the random Korean stereotypes and 'facts' that were thrown in when they were completely not necessary, I think that the Korean aspect of this story could have been better researched. A lot of these aspects of the book seemed like the author was trying to prove that she knew a lot about Korea, when she'd just done some online research and found out things that most international k-pop fans would already know. It would've been great if this book had presented Lee as a more authentic person, rather than someone who was outraged by very minor things.

I think it is important that the author delved into the darker side of k-pop, referring to Shinee's Jong-Hyun in the author's note and clearly showing that she intended to highlight the problems in the industry, and it was indeed obvious that Lee was troubled throughout the story, but I just didn't find the plots believable enough to be an authentic tribute. I hope that, if international fans of the Korean music industry do read this book, they'll realise that there are issues that need resolving, but I don't think this book provides enough depth for it to be a viable way of showing this.

Overall, I'm really upset that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped to. If you're looking for an easy, cheesy romance and don't want to look too much deeper into the story, this book is fine, but I just found it too implausible to really enjoy it.

Hart and Seoul has everything I love in the description. K-pop, enough drama to be on par with a K-Drama and enough wit to keep me laughing throughout it was an absolutely delightful read. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me a copy through NetGalley to review.
Summary:
The story follows Merri, who is trying to cope with the loss of her mother in her life, and a sudden shock in her personal life with her boyfriend and best friend that leavers her feeling quite isolated from the world. Incomes Lee, the nephew of her neighbour who has just arrived from Korea and is always seeming to be saying the wrong things. As the story progresses and Lee and Merri become closer it all looks to be going wonderfully. Until it turns out Lee is really a K-Pop superstar hiding in the states after an incident in Korea which gave him all the wrong publicity. Will their tentative friendship and potential relationship last through this storm?
My Positive Feedback:
As someone that absolutely loves the K-pop and K-drama world I loved the plot. It was just so adorable and well thought out I read the entire book in one sitting as every time I finished a chapter, I was desperate to know what happened next. The ending, goodness I wanted to scream and beg for a sequel immediately as I want to am so invested in these characters at this point.
One thing I would like to give an honourable mention to is the way the K-pop industry and fanbases has been portrayed. In the story the author makes some very hitting remarks about the K-POP community and the pressure its stars face. As someone in the fandom for SHINee I genuinely loved this representation of the industry and also thank you for your author note, the mention of Kim Jong-hyun after finishing this novel had me so touched.
Character wise I genuinely enjoyed the development of our two protagonists, I will admit initially I really struggled with Merri and her obliviousness to how her words could affect others and always on the defensive, however as she developed this slowly slipped away and I begun to enjoy her character more. Also massive compliments to the author, I was practically swooning over Lee, which is something I very rarely do for the love interests in novels so Kudos!
My Negative Feedback:
The only minor negative comment I have is that some of the side characters felt slightly less developed than the protagonists. As they are the main driving force behind the story it isn’t noticeable but something to be aware of.
That’s it, the only minor negative I had. Honestly I loved everything and this is the only minor feedback I could think of!
Overall:
The novel is a genuine delight. Filled with wit, romance, drama and extremely rekevant in the modern world especially with he continuous rise of K-pop, I felt I was in a whirlwind I would highly recommend you give this novel a shot! I noticed there is a sequel on Goodreads and you can bet I will be trying to get to the front of the queue to fall back into this story.

What a fun book! I loved the relationship that developed between Mr. Sparkly (haha) and Meri was totally realistic and also dreamy. Lee's background and history with his fans plausible and probably more true than we know. Meri's friendships and relationship with social media also read as very true to life.

I want more!

Considering I’m not used to reading YA anymore, I thought the beginning of “Hart & Seoul” was a little too predictable and boring for my liking. However, after Merri finds out the secrets her best friend and boyfriend were keeping from her, things started to look up.

This book follows the story of Merri, a girl in her senior year of high school who loves art, and Lee Hyung-kim, a K-pop star who decided to spend some time with his aunt in the US. Their first meeting was funny and endearing and I liked that they didn’t like each other instantly. It was only after a few meetings that they started to develop a friendship and then a romantic relationship. Their dynamic was great and made me smile a lot.

Even though I predicted most of the plots, the author still managed to surprise me. I was expecting two annoying teenagers, but instead I got two amazing characters that suffered a lot, but handled their relationship and personal problems in a way that was really mature and beautiful.

I thought the Korean representation was good, but since I'm not Asian, I couldn't say that for sure. Unfortunately, after reading a few reviews that talked about how bad the representation was and how the author didn't research their culture really well, I decided to drop my rating from 4 stars to 2 stars. I really hope the author learns from her mistakes because I don't think it's okay to use a different culture for your own gain without respecting it.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Hart and Seoul by Kristen Burnham, 256 pages. Mascot Books, 2019. $18.
Language: PG (4 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Merri was excited to see her best friend and her boyfriend after a two-month trip to Australia during the summer before senior year, but now they’re ignoring her messages. Instead, Merri is stuck with the jerk nephew visiting his aunt next door who seems just as annoyed at the play dates arranged for them, until his secrets start to be revealed. Maybe Merri should have stayed in Australia -- everything was simpler there.
Burnham was not subtle about her foreshadowing, and I was constantly conflicted as I flipped between excitement for what was going on and dread for the obvious blow up waiting to happen. Merri’s character is engagingly expressive and felt like someone I’d want to be friends with, making the anticipation of what would go wrong that much worse. I was worried about an overly cheesy ending, but Burnham handled it better than I could have imagined; I am immensely satisfied. It was also fun to read the K-pop and K-drama references throughout the book, so those in the know can look forward to those. The violence rating is for discussion of suicide.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

"Merilee Hart a typical American teenager who is going through hard times since her mother left. The only thing she enjoys doing is her art a welcome escape from her life. Then her next door neighbours mysterious nephew arrives from South Korea. He is moody, cocky, and utterly infuriating...."

Cringe, cringe so BAD...
I was actually not expecting to have this kind of reaction to this book. I ended up putting it down 40% in because I can't handle reading it anymore. The writing style is so unprofessional and it's something like a wattpad teenager would write - a FANFICTION. Why even publish this were there is literally millions of the same thing online.
It was such a lacking and predictable plot. The characters were dry, unintersting. And the presentation of a Korean character?? The weird broken English (due to being an Asian??) was ridiculous
Why did the author use Korean words in this book?? and they were all written incorrectly, I don’t understand why she loved repeating 'Aigoo', 'Aiiish', 'Deh' and Kimchi... over and over again.. This book was so bad, It made me want to puke. I wouldn’t be surprised if a Korean reader felt a bit insulted by this book because I felt second hand embarrassment that this book is actually published.. -.-


I received an arc via Netgalley, however my opinion is my own and wasn’t influenced in any way by this.

OMG OMG ! I loved this book so much ! If you in love with Kpop and k-drama you will love it sooo much !
I loved everything about it and I can only recommend it to you !

Also thank you for this note about Jonghyun.. ♡

Cute book. I really enjoyed the story. Was a quick read but definitely one you want to check out. You can easily get lost in the moment with this book.

I read this book in ONE SITTING and oh boy, was it worth it! It is such a fantastic, funny, and fandom-filled book, full of amazing tropes and all of the delicious, lovely things we go to romance for! I'm obsessed and would gladly buy copies of this book for every K-Pop obsessed fan in my life! But as someone who doesn't stan K-Pop (I don't even think I've ever listened to a K-Pop song??) I still loved this book so much! 5 stars!

This book is definitely unlike the books I typically read but it was a good light hearted novel that I flew through. I will say the reading style read a little bit like fan fiction which is not my favourite, but it was enjoyable overall. I am definitely not into the world of K-pop or anything like that so it was interesting getting some insight (I’m not quite sure how accurate the representation was in this novel so I can’t speak on that. One thing that kind of disappointed me about this book is that I never got super connected to the characters and did really get engrossed in their love story, which was a shame. Overall I would say if you are into K-pop or Korean stuff in general and are looking for a light and quick read this is your book!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

What do you do, when a hot guy moves in next door, you find out that the most important people in your life all used you and cast you aside and worst of all; you realise that your best friend and your boyfriend started hooking up behind your back and are mad at you when you find out?

You should most definitely pretend to date the new Korean neighbour. Even though he seems to be rude. And a bit of an idiot. But does that really matter if he sparkles the way he does?

The rest of my review is hidden in the spoiler section. Please beware, I have included Trigger Warnings. If you don't want to see those or know that you are uncomfortable when there are Trigger Warnings for a book at all, please don't read.
[ Trigger Warnings: suicide attempt, anxiety/depression, infidelity, divorced parents.

Alright, now that we've got the heavy themes out of the way, let's focus on the positive in this book - and there is a LOT!

First of all, the main character, Merri, is absolutely adorable. She passionately draws (both portraits and comic panels, which she uploads online), takes photographs of everything she finds fascinating and just came back from a long trip to Australia with her dad.

Which is perfect timing for her to find out that her neighbours nephew just temporarily moved in next door. He is handsome, her age and in an extremely bad mood, which doesn't stop Merri from dubbing him Sparkle Boy.

Since his aunt wants him to talk to people his own age, she tries to push Merri and Sparkle Boy (whose name turns out to be Lee) together and my dear K-Pop fangirls, please hold on your your pin covered bags: He is such a gem.

First of all, he is reminded of Christmas by Merri's name and just goes and calls her Christmas. CHRISTMAS. Constantly. It's incredibly endearing.

He also carries her home when she sprains her ankle, gets mad on her behalf when she finds out that her best friend and her boyfriend had been cheating behind her back, drives and picks her up from school when he notices that she can't properly walk and. brings. her. food.

Perfect guy, amirite?

Soon, they fall in love. And soon, Merri finds out that Lee is actually part of a famous K-Pop band, whose fans are intent on bringing their runaway superstar back to Korea. (hide spoiler)]

So, in short: Merri is in love with a K-Pop idol who ran away because he couldn't deal with his life anymore and who has a fanbase who just want to see the back of her. What could possibly go wrong?

This is a story for everyone who loves K-Pop. This is also a story for all the people who have ever dreamt about meeting (and dating) their celebrity crush. And most of all, this is a book for everyone who loves love and who knows there is no such thing as a perfect human being. So go read this, everyone!

Review will be posted on April 12th on https://gabriellarambles.blogspot.com/2020/04/review-hart-seoul-by-kristen-burnham.html

So while I've been gone these past couple of years one thing that I really became interested in is K-Pop and k-dramas. When I read the summary of this book I just knew I had to read it and I am so glad I did! Guys this book made me so incredibly happy! I loved the idea of the book and the actual story itself was so amazing and cute.



Let me just say that I have yet to read a book like this -- one that really incorporates k-pop and k-dramas like this one did. I loved all the references to Korean Food and Korean words and when Lee and Merri were watching k-dramas that I have also seen, I was in heaven. Living in America I know very few people around me who are also interested in K-pop bands, so I tend to forget how big of a deal K-pop stars are and the huge fan base they can have. With that being said, it was so interesting to get to experience how a member of a k-pop group may feel. We really got see what it's possibly like under the pressure of being such a huge star and hardly having any privacy. Granted it's fiction, but I am sure that being a K-pop star in real life is even more pressure than displayed here. Even so, I really connected with the characters in this novel.



Character development is such an essential part of a good story and I can safely say, there was ALOT of character development going on here. When we are first introduced to Lee, he definitely was not a likeable character in the slightest. He was arrogant, stuck up and just honestly, a dick. However, as the novel continues, more and more layers are pulled back about this character and at some point he really turns into a good guy. Merri does not have as much character development as Lee, but I do feel like she also goes under a transformation of being self aware of her mistakes she's made and just about forgiveness. There is not any supporting character development since its entirely focused on Lee and Merri,but I can't say that I'm mad about that choice in the slightest! I'm honestly mad that I finished so quick. Now i just want to re-read it all over again UGH.



So here is the one issue I had with this book and the reason why it did not get 5 stars.. When I started reading this book there was something about the writing style at the beginning that I just really did not connect with. It was very slow, and to me there was a lot of missing details. I kept asking myself about details and was this mention or was that mention and it caused me to re-read a lot at the beginning thinking I missed something, but I didn't. The first few chapters I really started to think this was going to be a DNF for me. I hated the way that Lee was an arrogant jerk, I didn't really relate to Merri and the cheating scandal was not a surprise in the slightest. I was very uninterested and annoyed, but I kept reading hoping that it would get better because I really loved the idea of this plot and I'm so glad I did! At some point everything just clicked. The writing became more in depth, character transformation started to happen and it became even steamy at some points. Everything just started to flow and this book became a fun, on the edge of your seat read.



Overall, I LOVE THIS BOOK. While there was a little bit of a rocky start, if you work pass it and stay through it, I promise you, you will not be dissapointed! You'll be grinning ear to ear and binge watching K-dramas at the end of all of this!



I highly recommend this book if you like:

💗Contemporary YA

💗Swoony Worthy Romance

💗Diverse characters

💗 Interested in K-pop

I found the Korean romanization to be somewhat inaccurate. I found the main character to be incredibly ignorant to the point of making me uncomfortable. I understand that you need to teach the reader things they might understand but I felt like she was just using the male lead as a form of Wikipedia making no effort what so ever on her part.

This book is like one of those Netflix movies that you watch because there's nothing else that looks interesting and you want to watch something where you don't have to think at all. You know it's not great, in fact there's a lot that's bad, but it will entertain you for now. Thats this book.
The writing can get pretty cringe-worthy. If I had to read "Deh" one more time, i swear... It's like this book was written about kpop but not meant for people who are actually into and immersed in the kpop world already. For example, the auditioning, training, and debut process that was mentioned was all wrong. Very juvenile in that aspect. The Korean used could have been taken straight from Google translate. For this reason, I feel like this book was written for very young teens/tweens at best.
The little notation/tribute to Kim Jong Hyun (RIP) at the end was really nice and I can see how that might have inspired Burnham to write this book. Somehow it made me overlook the glaring problems this book had and attempt to see it for the Korean culture appreciation it was meant to be.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. A bit of a BTS fan fic and Hallmark movie. I did enjoy it even with its corniness and wish fulfillment. Glad she went the rom com route (the whole sprained ankle ordeal and seeing your bf kiss someone else felt like K drama moments) and not the sad suicide route. Hope she writes more novels with Asian love interests.

The HEA ending was SUPER abrupt and there were a couple of times it felt a little disingenuous (culture appropriation?) But overall it was super cute and Lee was fantastic and Merri was sweet.

But wait a hot minute, there is a sequel?? Say what now.

It was addicting and captivating even tho it was a totally cheesy guiltily pleasure book that I didn’t know I needed! The writing had my hooked from the first page!

I don't really read YA romance books to be completely honest but this book had me at Seoul. I'm very new in the whole k-pop thing and I yet have to watch a k-drama but this book spoke to me because I wanted to read something about this.

First off, this book has many Korean cultural references which I can't tell if they're right or wrong so I'm not gonna get into this part. The only thing I can tell you is...damn this made me hungry as hell. I never had Korean food and I really badly wanna try it. Somebody, please take me to a Korean restaurant. There's also references to k-dramas and k-pop (obviously) which people might enjoy in this book.

Okay, now to the story. I don't really have to give a summary because, well, you can read it on the Goodreads page of the book obviously but long story short, we have Merri, who lives with her dad while her mom left them a year ago. She has a boyfriend and a best friend and a friend in Australia (where she had been for 2 months prior to the start of the book). We start with her watching a car drive into the neighbours' driveway and a Korean woman and a younger Korean guy get out of the car and they are in a deep argument and here's where the story starts. Merri doesn't know but we know that he's a k-pop star from the well-known band Thunder and that he's out in hiding for unknown reasons. Those two meet and get to know each other and a lot of shit happens and yeah. That's the main plot of this story.

Now, when I finished this book I was left speechless. Again, I am very new into this k-pop stuff and I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes and how everything works over there. However, if the things happening in this book are legit common things happening to k-pop stars then I'm appaled and sad. I can not believe what they have to go through to be "perfect" for the managers and the fans. This book, again, not sure how legit, gives you a glimpse behind the scenes of a k-pop star and how badly it can make them feel emotionally and mentally. I felt bad for Lee all through the book and I just wanted to hug and protect him. Not to mention, the fans. Crazy is an understatement. Again, not gonna say all the fans are. The author also wrote in her authors note that Lee is loosely based on the events that happened with the guy from SHINee who successfully committed suicide so I sure hope she made proper research to get this accurate.

To end this long ramble, I really enjoyed this book. There wasn't a lot of plot and it was a very easy read but you really just follow the characters and love them and get to know their stories. So, if you like k-pop, Korean culture, k-pop/k-drama references and cute, fluffy contemporary, you could definitely give this a try. Just be warned about some triggering stuff like suicide attempts, depression and mental health.

TW: Suicide, Suicide Attempts

I think this book stole my Hart and Seoul.

This book was INSANE and had everything I loved. First and foremost, Kpop. Ahh the Kpop. It wasn't an overload of it which in all honesty, surprised me. It was more focused on K-culture not just the music but also the food, dramas (K-Dramas) and Korean culture. Oh and definitely the kimchi!

The story follows Merrilee Hart, a girl who wishes to become an artist against her father's wishes. A year ago, her mother left her and her dad on their own and to cope, Merrilee designs comic strips detailing her everyday life. What she doesn't expect is the arrogant and annoyingly charming nephew of her neighbour moving in next door. As they grow closer, they fall in love with each other however, Lee is keeping a secret. A secret that could change their whole relationship and each other's lives.

I loved everything about this book. I was so hooked on it I avoided my homework for about 2 days just to finish it because I was THAT addicted. I must admit, Lee, Bree and Luke were the characters that made me ridiculously addicted. Lee was arrogant and sarcastic and an absolute sweetheart. I loved him so much. I think that his love for Merrilee might've increased really quickly but it wasn't increased too quickly to annoy me. Merrilee was definitely a complex character and the stuff she went through with her so-called "friend" and "boyfriend" were so low I felt so sorry for her. In terms of her voice, it didn't really do much to me. Her voice wasn't that much different from other stories however, I still enjoyed reading from her perspective.

Now, let me talk about the worst characters in the world: Bree and Luke. I HATED them with a passion. As in, they've done something I would never ever ever forgive. But I must admit, they totally deserve each other with how cruel each of them are. Out of the two of them, Bree was the real demon. What she did at the start of the book and the end of the book made me want to literally strangle her. She was written so well that she seemed so real. The things she did seemed real it was terrifying. It felt like the situation she created was something any normal person could've potentially gone through.

It was really past page 100 when the real issues surrounding the Kpop industry came to light. The industry is really corrupt, there's sometimes abuse, starvation, depression, anxiety and even suicide. The situation and treatment of these idols is getting better but a lot still needs to be done. This book was written after SHINee's Jonghyun's successful suicide attempt which really shone a light on mental health in the Kpop industry. The author of this book herself mentioned this in her author's note at the back of the book. Mental health played a major part in this book especially when Lee was talking about the things he has been through. I won't go into this for spoiler reasons. The book also talked about plastic surgery in relation to being a Kpop idol. It didn't go super deep and dark about it but I really felt for the character who had to go through it.

Let's just say I felt a lot whilst reading this. I definitely got a lot of feels. I 100% need the sequel ASAP!

Copy given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

ACTUAL RATING: 4.8 STARS