Added to my instant favourites!
Violet & her cousin, Charlie's Korean beauty business, is the favourite at their high school, with no real rivals.... until the new boy, Wes, arrives with a rival K-Pop beauty business. Both desperately want to reach their own goals with their profits, so Wes & Violet make a bet that the one who makes the most by Prom will take the losers FULL YEAR PROFIT. As each of them tries to get the one upon each other, they begin to get closer and closer and realize they might be falling in love.

The moment I read this, I loved the light story vibe; it wasn't overly complicated. It was the real world with realistic (and precious) characters. They felt so much like genuine teenagers, and I saw many of my friends in the characters and side characters. Even things I have no experience with, like culture or business matters, it was explained naturally, so I didn't feel like they were dimming it down but that my understanding would flow naturally with the story -it did.

Peak:
Characters- seeing how others, friends, and themselves all had different views on them was an incredibly subtle way to show perspective!
The story - was a familiar template but with such a refreshing few new elements that made it unique and even kept the predictable parts still lovable!

The world needs more books like this. And while
I should not have received this book (as I’m not a own voices reviewer). It deserves love and appreciation on all fronts.

There aren't many asian authors but I am pleased to hear of more and more. It is to relate to at least one character within the story, being asian myself. Made in Korea was a cute contemporary about two students and their rival companies. The characters and are likeable and this book is a nice YA romantic comedy.

Cute and funny, Made in Korea is a fast-paced high school romantic comedy that follows Valerie and Wes as they compete to be the most successful school business. Both Valerie and Wes feel like outsiders; Valerie because she struggles to connect with people beyond their value as customers for her school-based K-Beauty business, and Wes as the new kid that finds himself on Valerie's bad side when he accidentally starts a competing business selling K-Pop merch. Both are trying to raise money to ultimately prove their worth, and to make more than either could by themselves, they made an all-or-nothing bet for whose business will sell the most. Spanning their senior year, Made in Korea follows Wes and Valerie as they struggle to outsmart one another, all the while feelings between them begin to blossom. Perfect for fans of Jenny Han, or anybody looking for a contemporary enemies-to-lovers.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for the e-galley via NetGalley.

Made in Korea by Sarah Suk is about a young Korean American teenager, Valerie Kwon, who runs a k-beauty student business with her cousin at her high school. She is determined to prove to her parents and older sister that this is more than a cute hobby and that she’s got the business skills and profits to make something of herself. She has big plans to travel to Paris in the summer after graduation with her grandmother and nothing will get in her way, not even the new competition at school in the form of a new kid, Wes Jung, with the popular k-merchandise business. As the two businesses compete and the stakes get higher, Valerie and Wes find that business can get personal especially when the sparks between them run deeper than the spark between competitors.

Valerie is such a girl boss who I couldn’t help but admire her determination. Wes is the clueless yet not completely innocent teenage boy that I couldn’t help but utter “Oh, Wes...” at multiple parts of the story. Their story comes as a classic teen enemies to lovers storyline. I also got some You’ve Got Mail vibes - you know if Meg Ryan was a Korean teenager in high school and Tom Hanks was a handsome Korean boy. It was such a fun and enjoyable read that I could barely put it down one I started it.

Made in Korea is about two students who have competing K-beauty businesses they run at school who each have big goals to achieve and a lot at stake. Valerie is hoping to take her Halmeoni to Paris for a once in a life time trip (and to prove her value to her mother) and Wes is trying to raise money to get into music school, going against the wishes of his parents.

This book is a nice, light enemies to lovers YA romance. Through-out the story we're shown the pressures put on both Val and Wes and how they each come together to show the other what they're worth. The romance is very sweet and the supporting characters are all charming as well.

I wish this book had leaned slightly heavier into either side of the story, the romance or the coming of age. Both were satisfying but I wish we had gotten slightly more to digest as the book came across as just a little too fluffy sometimes, never really getting into the depths of anything we read about.

Still I found this to be a charming YA book and I would definitely recommend this for a quick, easy read.

This book is interesting, because to be honest I don’t think there was anything bad about it, but I also wouldn’t say it was good, either.

I appreciate the concept, which I was very intrigued by when I saw it, and remained interesting for the majority of the novel. The execution, for me, left something to be desired, but it was by no means bad. It gave me kind of fashion show/makeup competition vibes, all drama and gossip and sparkles and fame. Personally, I don’t think it was so much the plot that I didn’t enjoy as it was the characters.

I loved Val and Charlie, and Pauline was alright, albeit woefully underdeveloped. But Wes annoyed the shit out of me. He was immature and thoughtless, and I genuinely cannot understand any of his appeal beyond his supposed hotness. (And he plays the SAXOPHONE. I’m sorry, but I have a long-standing bias against people who play saxophone.) So obviously, he didn’t work for me as a love interest, and he definitely didn’t work for me as a character. Everything he did felt entirely stupid, and his character development didn’t really come through for me either.

On the other hand, Val was the opposite. (Please note that I have a significant pro-women bias and an even more significant one towards women who could run me over. This has been a lesbian PSA.) I thought her character was brilliantly done, and though I didn’t always like her, I could understand and respect her.

The romance was underdeveloped and came a bit too fast for my likings, but I can see the appeal. Kind of. I think if you’re willing to overlook the somewhat instalovey undertones, you might be able to enjoy it, in a black cat and golden retriever kind of way. Or, not a golden retriever, because honestly that’s too big a compliment for Wes. Maybe, like, a pigeon. A black cat and a pigeon.

The thing that makes Made In Korea’s rating three stars for me is that it was fun. It wasn’t like a car crash I couldn’t look away from, more like one of those cringy cishet romcoms on Netflix or The Bachelor or something. On a technical level, yeah, it wasn’t great, but on an entertainment one? 10/10.

Valerie has been running a K-Beauty business out of her locker for years. She has the hookup on the hottest products, and always sells out before the line has dwindled. Enter Wes, unassuming new kid, who stumbles into the world of selling K-pop merch - including an exclusive beauty line that threatens Valerie’s usual steady income. Both need the money - Val wants to take her halmeoni on the trip of a lifetime, and Wes needs to earn money to pursue his dream of going to music school(which his parents won’t support). As they clash and the competition heats up, they have to choose whether or not to fight the sparks flying between them.

Overall, I thought this was a cute concept. I enjoyed seeing them interact as business rivals, and thought that the dual narration was a great choice to see the characters’ motivations and goals. Valerie’s relationship with Halmeoni was heartwarming and sweet, and Wes’s love for music showed his passion.

I thought that the romance was a little boring, honestly. I didn’t feel the sparks like I wanted to, and thought they could have just as easily started to form a friendship and the story wouldn’t be much different. It was a cute story, but it didn’t really stand out to me.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Release date: May 18th, 2021

YA Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

Yes my favourite trope!!!! Enemies/Rivals to lovers!

Another excellent read!

4 stars because I like a bit more steam in my romances but I respect that it’s a YA romance hah. It also is a bit of a slow start to the romance. (More of my personal readers preference) But overall such a cute book!!

I really liked this book! A super cute light YA romance with excellent representation of Korean Culture. I’ve never read a book with Korean main characters so I loved this! I loved the Korean words, culture, food, K beauty and K pop in this book! (I love Hi-chews and had to get a bag of them as I read this book
Also I would have for sure been someone spending my money at Vals locker on K Beauty products)

This book was so funny and cute! As I read this I always had a smile on my face. The ending especially made me smile. A perfect easy light read for the summer!

If you are looking for a cute read, with great representation, fun banter and to smile a lot! I recommend picking this one up.

Thanks to NetGalley,
Simon & Schuster Canada and
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
for the digital ARC. I highly recommend reading this book!

I received an e-arc of Made in Korea by Sarah Suk from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book follows Valerie and Wes who run competing K-Beauty businesses at their high school, the rivalry gets real when they make a bet that whoever makes the most money in sales wins, and the loser turns over their earnings. This is a problem as both Valerie and Wes need their profits, Valerie wants to take her grandmother to Paris and where Wes is saving to go to music school.
I thought it was inspiring to see how two high school students built and successfully ran their businesses on top of homework and extracurriculars. I really liked the rivals to lovers romance going on and the friendships that the characters had as well. Taemin was probably one of my favourite characters.
I felt myself relating more to Wes and how he thought about things (really overthinking about things). I felt that Val and Wes and the other characters read like authentic high schoolers, they made mistakes but they learned from them in the end.
3/5 stars

The premise of Made in Korea made it sound like it would be a cute YA rom-com/contemporary read. It was that, but it was much more as well. Valerie and her cousin Charlie have run a K-beauty business at their school and it is considered the most successful student run enterprise. With her profits, Valerie hopes to take her halmeoni to Paris. When Wes shows up at the school their senior year and starts up a competing business, a rivalry between Valerie and Wes is started.

Sarah Suk does a great job creating distinct characters with both Wes and Valerie, whether it is his love of music, or her relationship with her halmeoni, they both has their own distinct personalities and goals they were working toward. They also had two distinct voices, which is good in a dual perspective novel, I knew who's story I was reading while I was reading it. Not only were Suk's main characters wonderful, her side characters like Charlie, Taemin and all of the students at the school.

Another great part of this book is that the two main characters screw-up and make mistakes, many of them, but rather than sweeping them under the rug, they seem to be dealt with head-on and with consequences, which is often a rarity in books. I appreciated that there was no complete resolve in this book, leaving some uncertainty for the reader and the characters.

This book also does a good job of tackling family dynamics, parental expectations, self discovery and worry about the future for both characters. It did a good job exploring this and the struggles when these things don't always work out for the best.

Though the book was fairly linear and predictable, the writing and dialogue made it a fun and quick read. I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Thank you Netgally and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me with an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm very happy to report that this novel did not disappoint. The original premise of Made in Korea sounded so amazing! Rival school businesses and K-Beauty will always be a win in my book. What makes this novel so special is that the characters make bad decisions while still remaining logical. You typically see people making bad decisions emotionally, never logically, so I thought that was very refreshing to see. Before we move on, I'd like to mention that this book deals with a lot of heavy topics, and I really don't think it's a rom-com.

What I loved most about this book is that Valarie and Wes had very distinct personalities. They each had their own goals, and progressively became the best versions of themselves as the story went along. There was so much character development, and I loved seeing them grow. I'll admit, at first I didn't like Wes. I couldn't understand why everyone, including himself where saying that he was so nice. I didn't think he was nice at all. Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed reading about Valarie and Wes.

The side characters were such a joy! Charlie, Valarie's cousin and business partner, will forever be my all time favorite book character. I don't think I've ever read about someone so incredibly wholesome. Taemin was also absolutely hilarious, and he genuinely made me laugh. Kristy was another great character too. Valarie and her halmeoni (grandmother), had such a cute relationship. I loved how much they cared about each other, it felt so real and genuine. Furthermore, Valarie's older sister Samantha was a character I could really resonate with. She has all these expectations placed on her because she's the eldest sibling, and it's something that Valarie will never understand. I was interested in their relationship, and would have liked there to be a bit more development. Pauline however, I wasn't too fond of. In my opinion, she was a fairly dull character. Her infatuation with marine biology was cool though.

The dialogue in Made in Korea was so well written, I really felt all the emotions. This novel contains by far one of the best dialogues I have ever seen. It just felt so raw and heart-wrenching. I seriously loved every bit of it.

In addition, the writing style was simple and easy to follow. It's told by the perspectives of Valarie and Wes. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I can't tell the difference between the perspectives of characters. Thankfully, they were easy to tell apart. My only complaint is that the constant italics complicated things a bit. Nevertheless, the story was not confusing and had me hooked on every word.

The overall enjoyment of Made in Korea was through the roof! You'll definitely not want to put it down. If you love the idea of entrepreneurial enemies to lovers, or love it when opposite attract, than this one is definitely for you! I highly recommend this book to all YA fans.

---Overall Rating---
Age Rating: 14 and up
TW: Some use of alcohol
Final Rating: 8.5/10 or 4.25 stars

I loved this YA rom-com. Such a sweet story: the rivalry, the rapprochement, their connection with their Korean culture. Not only is Korean culture shown in the story but also the fact that the characters are just regular American teenagers who are a part of the school society.

This is a great debut novel. The characters were authentic and the family dynamics were relatable. Wes and Valerie's relationship is cute and grows slowly from rivals to romance. I'm looking forward to reading more from Sarah Suk in the future.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Made in Korea in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute! Made in Korea follows two students running rival K-pop and Korean beauty businesses as they race to become the better business and (maybe) fall in love. The main reason I'm not head over heels for this was was just because for whatever reason, I never really bought into the chemistry between our two leads. I still liked both characters and wanted them to get their happily ever afters, but nothing really convinced me that that happily ever after needed to involve them being together which is pretty quintessential in romcoms.

LOVEDDD this book! Such a cute storyline, with the perfect balance of swoony moments and that "enemies to lovers" kind of trope. While it was predictable, it was written in a way that still made you excited for every page. I also really enjoyed the concept of the teens running their own businesses - we don't see too many of those in the YA genre so it was appreciated.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for providing me an E-ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5, rounded up.

Although a bit predictable at times, Made in Korea is a sweet and perfect novel to breeze through on a Summer day.

Our main characters, Valerie and Wes each have their own distinct voices. Valerie is determined to make her final year of running her business a success and maybe prove her Umma's judgements against her to be wrong. Wes wants to pursue music as a career but without the support of his parents, that proves to be difficult. Both of them are great, but the side characters like Valerie's relatives brought comfort.

Self-discovery and family relationships are explored against the backdrop of high school. That's why they worked so well. There was no dramatization of regular school life, unlike what readers usually see.

If you are looking to pick up a lighthearted contemporary, Made in Korea should be a top pick!

Made In Korea pulls focus to another aspect of Korean culture other than K-Pop: their beauty products. Set in high school, the story is a refreshing take on teen drama, keeping the issues relatively lighthearted and using the vehicle of a business rivalry.

It is interesting to see their alternating perspectives, between the competing merchandise merchants, though the characters felt somewhat shallow and needed more depth, having only a few facets and goals in mind.

The novel does have a grand buildup to everything eventually falling apart, adding layers and real conflicts for our characters. It is appreciated that there is no complete resolve, with the story embracing imperfections in life.

Though the plot is somewhat thin, and you know what’s coming up next, it is fun to see the inevitable budding romance between the characters, and how the story brings Korean identity proudly to the forefront. The use of honourifics and language show how the novel is entrenched in Korean culture, adding on the food, attitudes and family values.

Written with simple dialogue, the book is a sweet teen romcom that will be especially appreciated by Asian-Americans, Korean fanatics and young adults.