This was a fun spin on the Romeo and Juliet trope. The author set her story the world of Vietnamese restaurants. The young couple overcame huge obstacles to find their love for each other and bring their families together. And along the way the story made me really hungry for all the great food that was described in it.

The descriptions of food in this book had me salivating throughout. This book was has been nominated for one of the best books for High School teens in South Dakota for the 2022-2023 school year by a committee I serve on!

This book was extremely boring. There needed to be more of a conflict between the families. The restaurant feud was a decent idea, but Le just didn't take it far enough. Bao and Lin didn't seem to have much chemistry and the side characters were flat.

This was a really fun enemies-to-lovers romance, and the family background and vivid setting of the rival families with all of their backstory made it unique and vivid.

This was a really cute YA romance with an entirely non-white cast of main characters. The diversity of the characters was so refreshing—more, please!—and the Romeo-and-Juliet romance had just the right amount of angst to make this a really sweet read.

"Bao has never felt an inclination towards a career path or what he’d like to pursue after high school. He spends most of his time helping out at his family’s pho restaurant and listening to his parents complain about the other Vietnamese family who own the rival restaurant across the street. But then he takes a journalism class and he’s paired with Linh, the daughter of his parent’s rivals, to write and illustrate food reviews for the school newspaper. Linh is an artist whose paintbrush can transform any surface into a masterpiece. Bao’s life suddenly shifts as he finds two new passions: writing and Linh. Can Linh and Bao find love amidst the tensions between their two families? And just how powerful can the written word prove when their community is threatened?"

LOVED this book! Wonderful characters and full of warmth, made me incredibly hungry for pho (and for more books from this author.)

WHAT I LOVED:
▫️Vietnamese was part of the dialogue (especially the parent’s dialogue), and the author didn’t explain what it meant.
▪️There was more to the reason why the two families are enemies. I loved that the readers slowly learned the history between the two families, even though some were predictable.
▫️Bao. I didn’t care much for Linh, but Bao was a likable character. He’s funny, still unsure of himself, and awkward, making him likable. While he’s not much of a reader, Bao deciding to become a writer made me happy!
▪️The food! After Korean food, Vietnamese food is my favorite, and I was hungry throughout the book.


NOT SO MUCH:
▫️I’m kinda sick of the “strict and oppressive Asian parents” trope. When will our parents be given personalities instead of being stereotyped as strict, oppressive, and cheap?
▪️I wasn’t convinced with Linh and Bao’s relationship. I didn’t care much for Linh and didn’t think the two had much chemistry. I liked that they tried to bring out the best in each other? But felt more like friends than lovers?
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While some of it did not work for me, I found A PHO LOVE STORY to be a solid debut novel that explores themes of family, following your dreams, forgiveness, and of course, pho. Additionally, there’s a coming-of-age story that I grew to like. I didn’t care for the love story, but there wasn’t too much of it, thank goodness. Glad I read it and recommend it despite some complaints.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I am disappointed with this book. I was expecting one thing and received another. It had potential but it was not well written.

A slow story that picks up about halfway through, unfortunately, because the back half is really good. Omnivorous food lovers will enjoy this tale of star-crossed teens who work at competing Vietnamese restaurants while trying to find their own identities outside of their families' expectations.

I would DIE for Bao and Lihn. A Pho Love Story is like Romeo & Juliet meets Eddie's Million Dollar Cookoff meets Tweet Cute. I definitely will have this on hand (with an accompanying audiobook for my struggling readers) in my classroom.

This is a cute little Romeo-and-Juliet-esque story where they have rival families and have to figure out how to make it work. Luckily their story ends better than Romeo and Juliet's did.

I'm very pleased to have read this book. It's definitely got good Romeo & Juliet vibes, and my desire for the two mains to stick through everything carried. I fell in love with them fast!

Warning alert: You WILL crave Pho for approximately 2 weeks once you're done with this book.

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le is a Vietnamese love story that had great representation. The story itself seemed to fall flat for me, but I would still recommend it to students and for my teachers to have a copy in their classrooms.

This book made me HUNGRY. Definitely getting pho today after reading this! The food descriptions were excellent, and I enjoyed the characters and the storyline.

Warning: this story will make you hungry! The blossoming love between Linh and Bao was believable. It was nice to see Bao develop his confidence and find his footing while trying to support Linh. There are also some great laugh out loud moments with their parents.

Absolutely adorable! The characters in this one were so fresh and the storyline hooked me right away! I can't wait to read more by Loan Le in the future!

“Ever since we met, you didn’t say I can’t do it. You just accepted that I was starting to write, and I think you’re the first person in my life to do that.”

This was such an adorable coming of age story with star crossed lover vibes. Our main characters are the daughter and son of two opposing Vietnamese restaurant owners, who hate each other for more reasons than just being rivals.

When Bao and Linh get teamed up to work on a series for the school paper the pair find themselves wondering the truth behind their parents hatred for each other, especially as what began as a mere friendship one built out of comfort becomes something more.

I loved that Bao came into his own as we progressed throughout the story and found his own interest and eventually passion for writing. I think this really adding so much to his character.

The character development was done phenomenally that it felt as if the characters were sitting right across from me. It did take me a fair amount to get into this story, but over all I loved the restaurant backdrops supplemented by strong character passions!

I really wanted to like this, but even as a fully grown, bookworm English teacher, it just didn't hold my interest. It was a really cute premise and I love the enemies to lovers trope, but it just didn't come together for me. I think it was the characters voices. Right from the start, they just read as kind of off, kind of stilted.

This was a cute, quick read. I didn’t quite connect with the main characters and felt the chemistry lacking. The description of food had me salivating.