So We Meet Again is a quick read. Even though it’s listed as a romance, I found it more as a coming of age/finding yourself piece. That didn’t take away from me enjoying it. I liked Jessie and Daniel’s chemistry, and the supporting characters, including the nosey older ladies.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Random thoughts…

Like the enemies-to-lovers romance with only a minor issue of trust. Would have liked more sexy scenes though. Didn’t feel like the relationship had much time to build and the interactions between Daniel and Jennie weren’t frequent enough to build a serious relationship in so little time.

Actually, the matter of timing seemed off in her career development as well. It seems highly unrealistic that she could go from a seed of an idea to a conglomerate with multiple revenue streams in a matter of months. Yes, there’s clearly a market for what she’s selling, but a cookware line with Target, a cookbook deal, a TED Talk and more?

An expose on the toxic white make culture of banking and investment firms. It’s all who you know and not what you are capable of performing. I think it’s probably unrealistic that a firm would keep and promote an incompetent dude who’s cost the company money more than once, esp. since he isn’t family. Not at all surprised that they’d can a hard-working Asian-American female because she supposedly didn’t have leadership potential. Utter BS.

Enjoyed the relationship with her mother. Yes, the parents are competitive, even when they were children, but she has her mother’s full love and support.

Def a fun, easy read that highlights the Korean-American community, the struggle women face in a male-dominated world, and the challenges and rewards of starting a business and being your own boss.

The cooking youtube channel was what drew me in. But the characters and story were what made me stay.

I really loved this book. It had some very well written characters. And very relatable characters at that too.

There were definitely things that spoke to me. And things that I couldn't relate too. But the general premise of the story was one that resonated with me.

I enjoyed the progression of the story as well too. It moved at just the right speed. Neither speeding through things or dragging out at points. And I appreciate a good pacing in a book

3.5 stars.

This was a nice contemporary that was set mostly in New York and Nashville, that showed a late-20s Asian American woman trying to get her life together after losing her banking job. She also reconnects with a middle school rival and you see the start of a flame. However, as much as the summary puts stress on the romance of the story it was really an afterthought. It felt like the story should be a series and not a standalone just to watch the relationship grow more. I was a bit disappointed not gonna lie. But the rest of the story was really nice, just not wowed by it.

I really enjoy new Suzanne Park books. This was a fun read.

Thanks to NetGalley / Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park is a solid contemporary romance read. Jesse Kim is living in the big city, working at an investment firm and hoping to advance. Unfortunately, it is a bros world. And so, she's laid off at a virtual meeting due to lack of leadership potential. Jesse returns home to Tennessee to live with her parents and recalibrate. There, she revives an old cooking show where she makes meal kits better and adds Korean styling to them. Meanwhile, she also runs into her old rival growing up Daniel Choi at the Asian grocery store where she is moments from disaster. He then helps her launch her cooking channel and well, there's some chemistry as she learns he isn't perfect.

Park's So We Meet Again blends serious issues with some really funny moments. I found Jesse to be an endearing main character -- wanting her to win in the end. Also, I liked Daniel with her, even if maybe he might be different from how she expected. This book does a nice job with the theme of blazing your own path -- which Jesse does when her life goes sideways after her job loss. I listened to the audiobook via Hoopla at my library. It is 8 hours 31 minutes long and narrated by Jackie Chung. I really enjoyed Chung's narration - it kept me riveted.

I love So We Meet Again. Childhood rivals both move back home due to unfortunate circumstances and are trying to get their lives pieced back together. Daniel's trying to earn Jessie's trust and she's hesitant around him at best. I could feel Daniel's smugness wafting off the pages, he is so smooth and unbothered, and I just adore him. Jessie felt so subdued in the beginning, she definitely a comes across as a people pleaser. Watching her take control, even though it was spurred on by her mom making things up to tell her friends, was amazing. It's light on the romance, but there is a lot of really great tension, and fantastic characters. The AAIP representation is excellent, I love to see it. It also made me a little bit hungry. This is only the second book that I've read by Suzanne Park, but I feel like you can't go wrong with her. They're funny, well written and full of great characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Suzanne Park really knocked it out of the park. We've got romance, Korean cooking, delicious recipes, childhood friends to lovers, and all the swoon.

Inventive and absolutely adorable, I gobbled this one up! Jess is a hero to root for. Coming out of a toxic workplace environment in her old banking job, her journey through entrepreneurship and self-discovery is funny, real, and invigorating. I especially enjoyed how the plot toggled between work, family life, and romance--Jess is so wonderfully crafted from multiple angles that we really get to know her and care about her successes. The food descriptions add a lot of zest to an already-intriguing plot.

Daniel is sweet and authentic as her nemesis-turned-love-interest, and I was a complete sucker for their love story. Just as much: The mother-daughter storyline had me tearing up.

One of my favorite recent reads!

I haven't had great luck with Suzanne Park books, this one included. They're all a bit boring or slow or whatever else to me. This was my first adult novel to read of hers, but unfortunately, it missed the mark. Maybe I'll take a break from her books for a while.

This book was so enjoyable and lighthearted! I definitely can think of several friends who would enjoy this title. I think it's more of a women's fiction title than romance, but I really liked it!

What a fun second chance romance m. There are so many feelings and issues to deal with from the last before starting over again. Both characters are like able and it is enjoyable.

romances that verge on women’s fiction are hit or miss for me and I just couldn’t get into this one. Super cute cover & love the premise!

This book was just okay for me but I also think that it's not the book's fault. Jessie moves back to Nashville and soon runs into her high school nemesis, Daniel. She has lost her job and not sure what's next for her so it stings a bit more when she learns that Daniel has become a super successful lawyer. This is a slow-burn enemies to lovers romance. While the interactions between Jessie and Daniel did feel juvenile at times, I do think that people can tend to revert back to old behaviors when faced with someone from their past. I adored the Korean community that Daniel and Jessie are part of in Nashville. Foodies will really like this book for all the descriptions of Korean cooking as Jessie works to get her YouTube channel off the ground and transitioned into a successful business. This one wasn't my favorite...a like but not love. That being said, I do think others will really enjoy this book.

This was a cute fun book. I enjoyed the characters and appreciated that there wasn’t a huge drama that had to happen. The baking/cooking themed books seem very popular right now.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn’t exactly a straightforward romance - that was definitely a significant part of the story but it is also a bit of an adult coming-of-age story. How many of us don’t get everything right in life the first time? We’re expected to pick a path, a career relatively early in life with little to no real-world experience and sometimes we have to pivot. Jess did not want to move back in with her parents after being laid off for a “lack of leadership skills” by racist and sexist bosses. Especially when she runs into her childhood rival who is sexier than ever and driving a fancy Mercedes.

If I have one criticism, it’s that Jess’s new startup business takes off at an unbelievable rate. Somehow 1 episode of her new cooking vlog on her dead YouTube channel that hasn’t had new content in years takes off so quickly that BuzzFeed is featuring it and she’s getting offers from morning news shows? And on top of the vlog she’s selling cooking products, then a cookbook, then cookware all in a few short months? With no startup capital? I’m not a business person but what star did she wish on to make all that happen so fast? With romances, I am always prepared to suspend disbelief, so it didn’t ruin the story entirely, but it was disappointing that the little-discussed real world problem I was so excited to read about was glossed over so tremendously that it was almost dismissive of what so many real people go through and struggle to overcome every day. I also felt like the relationship between Daniel and Jess didn’t get enough time to really showcase their feelings, and it wrapped up super abruptly.

Overall I give it 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Funny and heartwarming. I loved the cultural representation! Perfect summer read! The self growth was every character needs in a story like this and I loved how Pak wrote it.

I'm not a big romcom reader but I have a feeling I would enjoy anything Suzanne Park writes. SO WE MEET AGAIN has everything I could want in a romcom - an enemies-to-lovers relationship, a budding entrepreneur, a hilarious sidekick (mom!), and lots and lots of food.

Just like with Loathe at First Sight, I wouldn't necessarily dub this as a romance book, which I feel like it can get placed in that category a lot. This book is more women's fiction with dashes of romance to really bring in more of the feel-good elements romance books have.

The one thing that I've really admired about both Loath at First Sight and So We Meet Again is the very real depictions of sexism and racism in the workplace. I think the other thing that is super great here is really honing in on the Asain culture and representation. I try my best to read more diverse stories like this one because I think it's important to not only support these authors but to also read about stories that so many people have actually experienced as well.

For the romance part, I did like it. It felts very slow burn-y which I love and it's not exclusively the focal point of the story. I do feel like sometimes that is better, especially in cases like this one where the relationship seems to focus on this dynamic between the mom and daughter.