One woman learns that the price of belonging is often steeper than expected in this heart-wrenching yet hopeful romantic novel and first in the Seoul duology by USA Today bestselling author Jen Frederick.
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 like 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.
Heart and Seoul
By jenfrederick
This book was a good solid read. I’d totally try another future book by this author!
You can check out my booktube video review at https://youtu.be/OyFQpXw0dX4
or read my review on my blog at https://lisasiefert.com/book-review-heart-and-seoul-by-jen-frederick/
An email from her biological dad triggers a self discovery into her roots. This is a beautiful book, and I don’t just mean the outside, the inside too. Beautiful and powerful book about self discovery, when she really finds out who she is and what she’s made of. It pulled at my heartstrings so much, the emotional struggle she goes through pulled me right in. Sometimes I think we forget that everyone has their own story to tell.
This was not my typical read, I’m more of a romance reader, and I would not consider this a true romance, more of a self discovery read. But it was powerfully written with all the emotions. It does end in a cliffhanger. I also wanted to say that I loved the Dedication too.
Did I stay up all night reading Heart and Seoul? Yes, I did.
Did I cry my eyes out at times while reading Heart and Seoul? Yes, I did.
Did I absolutely love Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick? Yes. I did. I loved this story.
Hara’s story was so compelling and dealt with a lot of the issues that adoptees from other countries deal with in America. It was fascinating to see her visit her home country and try to find herself and don’t even get me started on the complete cinnamon roll that was Yujun. He was the absolute sweetest and even though there was much more to this story than romance, I adored him.
I cried and I laughed and I learned so much while reading Heart and Seoul. I cannot wait to read book two in this series, Soulmates. I have high hopes for Hara and Yujun, but I especially want Hara to find peace and the sense of belonging she desperately seeks.
I will definitely be reading more from Jen Frederick.
I read about 25% of this book, and then I made the mistake of glancing at some Goodreads reviews… and….
It’s not a HEA. It’s not even a HFN.
So like any sane person, I skipped to the last two chapters to confirm. (Con confirm. No HEA or HFN in sight. Probably more the opposite.) And I just don’t have the emotional bandwidth to journey through a novel only for it to leave me utterly depressed at the end. This doesn’t even seem like those makes-you-cry-in-a-good-way books. Even in the first quarter, a lot of crappy stuff happens–we saw two people die. From what I’ve heard, even more bad stuff happens in the latter 75%.
An author shouldn’t be faulted for the way their book is marketed–I’m looking at you Berkley–but the issues with this one go beyond a misleadingly cute cover, title, and blurb. I just can’t imagine anyone who would want to read a story with this kind of ending.
I don’t really have a problem with the writing style, though I think there was a lot of unnecessary detail making the beginning verge on women’s fiction, and I really liked learning more about the Korean culture. In fact, that’s one reason I considered sticking it out. I love to be taken new places by books, and I think this one would have accomplished that. But I just cannot handle a book leaving me in such a bad place.
Thank you to Berkley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
2 stars – 4/10
This was an interesting book. I’ve previously read Jen Frederick and they have mostly been straight romance books.Although there is a touch of romance in this book I would actually call it a book about self discovery. Hara is a Korean adoptee and although loved by her mom has never felt accepted by her dad. When he dies and leaves nothing to her she decides to go to Korea. We are taken on an emotional journey along with Hara who realizes that sometimes you are not happier when you find what you think you want. During her search for her birth parents Hara also begins to learn more about herself. I would love a second book because I feel as if we have left Hara at a crossroads in her life.
3.75- 4 stars. I’m kind of conflicted about this book. I found Heart and Seoul to be a very good, unique story. But there was a lot about it that I did not like. I would have rated it even higher without those things. Heart and Seoul is Hara’s story. She is an adult, American woman who was adopted from Korea as a baby. She decides to go to Korea to find her birth parents and drama ensues.
When I finished the book, I thought this was a very good book. Hara’s journey is interesting and mysterious. I liked the story and I liked Hara. I felt for her and what she was going through. But I think this book was not sure what genre it wanted to be. I do not think this book was a romance. There is a romantic storyline, but neither that storyline nor her romantic prospect is very fleshed out. Most of the book is focused on Hara and her journey, feeling more like young women’s fiction. I liked the descriptions of Korea, the food, etc., and of Hara falling in love with her birthplace. The beginning of the book is slow but picked up speed in the second half. There are a lot of dramatic, unexpected twists that I felt were to add unnecessary drama. Still, I was left thinking this was an engrossing read that I enjoyed for the most part. But the end left a lot to be desired. I think, from searching online, that this is going to be a series. But I do think there should have been a note at the end if that is the case. It very much ends on a non-HEA, depressing note.
Overall, I did enjoy Hara’s story. I enjoyed learning about her conflicted feelings about her adoption, adoptive parents and birth parents. And I enjoyed learning about Korean culture along with Hara. But I wish she had found more peace and a sense of closure about her situation, as well as some hope for the future. Still, I will probably continue this series (if it turns out to be one), just for curiosity’s sake.
I’m not going to lie this review is really hard for me to write. Which isn’t surprising because I found the first 50 percent of this book hard to read. I read to escape from reality for a few hours and this was all just too real. And I know that a few reviews compared this to a Korean drama and it might be, I’ve not seen any. But as an adoptee I was too busy feeling all those emotions.
It was so well written that I completely felt all of those feels. I had a feeling that I knew what was coming and in parts I did. In others I was too busy trying to figure out how this newest bombshell would affect the information we had just gotten. And hoping that Hara could catch a break long enough to deal with her emotions.
I absolutely want to kill Jen for that ending. It wasn’t enough, I need happiness and sunshine and wedding bells and babies. For the last five percent I kept praying for the page numbers to change so I could get another conclusion. I feel like everything is still so unresolved and yet everything is resolved. Just not how I wanted it to be.