Thanks for the arc! I did have a good time reading this book. If you love girl power this is for you, along with a enemies to lovers romance. I do wish the romance had a little more romance, but am looking forward to what Suzanne Park had next!

A laid-off finance woman moves home and revives her old YouYube cooking channel. With help of her parents, her friends, and sometimes her childhood rival/now make-out buddy, her business starts booming.

This book turned into a whole lot of unlikely after about 60% of the way through. Im happy her brand took off so much and go girl power and representation, but even for fiction it mostly made my eyes roll.

Surface-level. Also closed door, low on any romance.

In So We Meet Again, we follow Jessie Kim after she's laid off from her corporate job as she moves home and pursues a small business that quickly takes off. In doing so, she also ends up reconnecting with people she knew when she was growing up as well as making new friends and having new experiences. I think that So We Meet Again had the elements to create a fun story and for many, I think this book would be a great fit. There's a complicated family relationship, a bit of a small-town feel, and an ex-nemesis-to-lovers underlying romance. For my own tastes, I ended up feeling like a lot of elements were underdeveloped and I was left wanting more.

Jessie has worked in corporate finances for years and has set aside many aspects of her personal life in order to do her job well. When she was laid off, she was told that a big reason she was let go was that despite her stellar track record, she didn't have the leadership skills that her bosses thought were needed. This caused Jessie to have a bit of an existential crisis and she moved back to Tennessee from New York to live with her parents while she tried to find her footing again. Once back in Tennessee, she runs into her childhood nemesis, Daniel, who went to the church her family attends. The two would constantly be compared as children and because of that, she's always had it out for him in a silent competition. As she's trying to figure out what she wants to do with her future, Jessie revitalizes a YouTube channel she used to run where she created quick and easy recipes and added in aspects of Korean cooking. This YouTube channel quickly takes off when Jessie's mother ends up participating in a live stream and the viewers immediately get attached. Jessie is happy with the progress her small business is making but she feels like her mother is meddling. The way this plays out was interesting. I liked the way that Jessie grew to appreciate her family as the story progressed and seeing how she began to accept help and feedback with her business showed how Jessie was growing as a person. That being said, I know that some small businesses do take off in this way, but I really wish that Jessie would have delved deeper into the work she was doing and that there was a little more conflict with the business side of the story. It felt almost fantastical to see her go from a solid corporate job to an immediately solid small business. I'm glad it worked for her, but that's definitely not how it works for most people.

Then when it came to the romance, the way Daniel and Jessie fell together was nice. It felt natural and their banter and communication felt realistic. I think that's why I didn't mind that it wasn't necessarily central to the main plot. This is also why, though, I wish that there would have been more of an exploration of Jessie's relationships with friends both past and present. Things were falling into place for her and while I was glad they were, I wanted to see a bit more conflict with her own feelings towards who she was and who she's becoming. She's a workaholic who is finding passion in her work and who is revitalizing and coming to terms with her family relationships and more. She's clearly learning and growing but it wasn't explored nearly as much as I thought it would be. Overall, I thought that So We Meet Again was a fun story about learning to love who you are and where you came from and I gave it three stars.

I started this book thinking it was a straightforward romance (that's what it was marketed as) but really it's women's fiction with a side romantic plot.

That didn't make me enjoy it any less, though. Jessie Kim's story of leaving Wall Street and building a business from the ground up was inspiring, hopeful and hilarious.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley & Avon in exchange for an honest review. Jessie Kim works on Wall Street. Well, she did, until during a zoom call she becomes part of a large layoff. The kicker? While she's a great worker she "doesn't have leadership potential." She moves home, unsure what the next step will be. Who else is currently back home "on sabbatical"? Daniel Choi, the golden child that her parents had compared her to her entire life. Everywhere she goes, there he is. One day at a meeting of Asian Entrepreneurs, he offers her help with relaunching her YouTube channel, and she reluctantly agrees. Now she is on a new path, CEO of her own company, utilizing her business expertise and joy of cooking. But she still isn't sure if this is the correct path for her. Will she return to the world of finance? Can she make something out of her fledgling business? Will Danial continue to be in her way, or will he help?

While this book has been marketed as a romance, I feel it is contemporary fiction with a romantic side plot. In that light, I really enjoyed this book! I loved the insight into the Korean culture. I always appreciate the story of a woman who is lost or struggling, finding herself and gaining confidence. Jessie must work against barriers both perceived and real on her journey to find a career that fits her and what she wants. The added love story with Daniel is adorable. Jessie is clueless to the signs that he may be interested, but given everything in her life, and the experience she continues to have of being compared to him this makes perfect sense. I would recommend this to anyone looking for Korean American culture rep, stories of women restarting their career path, and fans of contemporary fiction with a side of closed-door romance.

📚 Book Review 📚

And with this review I am caught up on my 2021 NetGalley titles 😂. (Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for the ebook copy in exchange for a review.)

When I went into this one, I was fully expecting your standard enemies to lovers romance. That’s not quite what this story was (and I mean that in the best way). The romance between Jessie and Daniel was mostly a secondary plot to Jessie going on her professional journey to find her new calling after being let go from a hedge fund in New York. I loved watching Jessie come up with her new business ideas and making her dream become a reality. She’s doing all of this while trying to balance cultural and family dynamics. She also is consistently fighting sexism, racism, and white washing while trying to get her business off the ground.

I thought the romance between her and Daniel was sweet and actually had a believable reason for why they were “enemies.” I did want just a bit more from them. Their relationship felt a bit underdeveloped.

I really enjoyed this one, and am excited to read more by Park in the future!

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

So We Meet Again was an enjoyable read and a cute one even though the romance in this book felt more secondary rather than it being primary which I would have preferred. It does have a very clean romance that follows the plot of the female character and uses her heritage to follow her passion. It does have elements of self-empowerment the way Jesse, the female characters herself throughout the story. Overall, the story has a lot of positive elements with humor and romance.

HOW CUTE IS THIS BOOK!? I thought it was super sweet and binge-worthy! This is a slow-burn with a lot of discussion of food that'll make you hungry, and swoony!

I requested this book solely because of the author. I adored the last couple books I read by Suzanne Park including Loathe at First Sight and The Perfect Escape.

Sadly, this one wasn’t as magical for me as those two books. There were a couple fun moments, but overall Jessie and Daniel didn’t click for me as a reader. The secondary characters didn’t grab me either. I couldn’t get a good rhythm with the story, and it was far too easy to set this down and not pick it back up. I don’t think it’s a “bad” story. It just felt flat for me. The story didn’t keep me engaged and flipping pages like the other two books I mentioned did. I didn't finish this.

What a really wonderful book! The characters are built close to the heart, and the relationship development between Jessie and her mother, and Jessie and Daniel. The story is woven around the Korean food culture and the relationships, including the difficult growth for a young woman, finding her independence, finding love - but still remaining a daughter. Not so much a romance as first expected, but a heartwarming story about family and becoming a woman.

This was light, quick read that was quirky and cute. It's a PG romcom so I felt a little bit was missing between the two main characters. There was some fun banter moments and loved all the focus on the yummy foods involved.

Such a cute romantic comedy. Lighthearted and heartwarming. I loved the storyline, the character development! Very well-written and looking forward to reading more from this author.

This book had potential, but it fell flat for me. I don't hate it. I am just annoyed with Jessie. I find her so frustrating at times. Like women, make up your mind. Stop second-guessing everything. Goodness, it's annoying to read.
The other parts of the book were interesting to read. I like the romance story. It was such a meet-cute story to read. I knew that Jessie and Daniel were meant to be together. They are so precious to each other.

Pretty PG modern romance. I thought it was pretty predictable and unoriginal, but it wasn't horrible. It is another entry in an over-populated genre.

I loved all the elements of So We Meet Again. The mother dynamics. The romance between Jesse and Daniel. A fun, quick read!

When investment banker Jessie Kim is laid off in a virtual meeting and then overhears why (“she’s already being overpaid anyway for a woman” and “Asians are worker bees, not someone who can drum up new deals”) she delivers an “eff you guys” speech and storms out.

After moving back home to Tennessee to live with her loving but meddling mother and father, she runs into her childhood nemesis—golden child Daniel Choi—at the local Asian grocery store. The smart, charming lawyer appears to have it all...while Jessie has nothing.

Jess begrudgingly accepts Daniel’s help to relaunch her long abandoned Korean cooking YouTube channel: HANGUK HACKS, showcasing easy meal prep for busy professionals. But just as she discovers Daniel’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems and there’s more to him than meets the eye, he shows up for a life-changing business opportunity, and their rivalry is back on . . .

I was delighted with this book. It was a quick light read full of humor and romance. Suzanne Park portrays the Korean American experience with humor and insight.

Another hit by the amazingly talented Suzanne Park!

Jessica Kim returns home after being let go from her job and has to start over and better, stuck living with her parents. Could things get any worse? Enter Daniel Choi, Jessica’s childhood nemesis. 😉

I was so excited to get to read this book. I love a good enemies to lovers and this one didn’t disappoint. I read it all in one sitting as I have with all of Suzanne’s books! Honestly, she can do no wrong. Auto-buy author for LIFE!!

Things I loved:
- Childhood nemesis.
- Yummy Korean food.
- Lovable characters.
- YouTube Cooking Videos.
- Fast-paced/binge-worthy.
- Did I say FOOD?!

Things I didn’t like:
- Men who can’t comprehend sexual harassment.
- Men who think women shouldn’t be paid the same as them and using Korean stereotypes.
- The book ended. 🥺

Thank you Netgalley, Suzanne Park, Avon and Harper Voyager for the wonderful opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5 stars

My favorite bits of this story were when we got to see the live cooking show parts wirh her family. I can see how it would be frustrating on our main characters side of things as well. Overall I wasnt complety pulled into the story but it was an enjoyable read anyways. I just dont feel like I full connectes to the main character or her friends until she started making friends in Nashville. I understand how changes can be hard so i atleast connected with our main charcyer in that regard. The romance was cute and I feel like it came along at a decent speed.

Two and a half stars. This is a closed door, "clean" romance, which isn't really my jam but I didn't know that going in. Usually I can get past that if the story and characters are strong enough but that wasn't the case here. I liked the characters but the romance part of the story was pretty weak. A huge chuck of the book goes by without them even having any contact. And even when they do, it's never quite clear if Jessie actually still hates Daniel (they've been rivals since childhood) or not and if not, when and why did that change?

I did enjoy Jessie's journey from losing her Wall Street job to starting her own business. And I liked her relationship with her mom. But the way her new business took off so fast didn't feel realistic at all.

This book had a lot of potential but didn't deliver. I wouldn't recommend it.