This was fun! The twists were predictable, full of k-drama clichés I enjoy. I couldn't get much into the romance because of the vague age difference. She is 18 and he's undeniably an adult man. I just could not get into their romance.

When they said The Noh Family was a story fit for a K-drama, I didn't realize that included a K-drama-worthy cliffhanger 😩

But in all seriousness, Grace K. Shim's debut is a Korean drama in book form complete with fierce matriarchs, poor and off-limits love interests, and umbrella scenes. I read it during a sick day in bed and it was just what the doctor ordered. The Noh Family is a light, quick read that is a great substitute if you don't have 22 hrs to spend binging a season's worth of episodes.

This is such an amazing book! If you loved Crazy Rich Asians and love YA books then this is for you. The Noh Family is a great contemporary fiction book with lots of humor.

The Noh Family follows recent high school graduate, Chloe Chang after she finds long lost family via a 23-and-Me test. Soon she’s jetting off to Seoul to meet her estranged family and hopefully find a place to belong. Chloe has always felt like the odd person out, and when she connects with her cousin through the 23-and-Me app she begins to hope for the best.

However once she’s in Seoul Chloe learns her dad’s family is super rich. She just wants to make a connection and learn about her dad, but she’s kept at an arms distance. She chalks the weird behavior of her grandmother and cousins as just oddities of the rich.

You really feel for Chloe because she just wants to feel like she belongs. Everyone has had that feeling at one time or another. Chloe is a super relatable and lovable character. You can’t help but root for her.
This is a great story about finding your family and what family really means. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

I'm going this book 3.5 stars. As a fan of k-dramas I enjoyed a lot of the clichéd tropes and chaos a crazy rich Korean family can create in them. However I just couldn't manage to get sucked into this book. I'm not exactly sure why exactly but at the moment I'm leaning towards how extremely naive Chloe was. Its difficult to get invested when a character is too naive, but I know this sometimes is the case with YA main characters.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Noh Family has all the makings of an intriguing and engaging contemporary novel--so why didn't it grab me?

As an avid K-Drama watcher, I was expecting more romance in this book. I understand why the romance wasn't the focus, but as a book that was marketed to me as "K-Drama like," I was anticipating a strong romance plot.

The Noh Family focuses on just that--The Nohs. And that's another reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. The Noh family has nothing to recommend itself. I was getting extreme "Crazy Rich Asian" vibes. The only character I liked was the MC--Chloe. I felt for and pulled for her throughout the entire thing which is what you want in the main character. However, I could see "plot twists" and hidden motivations of the other characters from miles away. If the relationships with her family had been more in-depth, then I would've cared more about the issues that came up.

I liked this book overall. Grace K. Shim's writing style kept me reading. I'll definitely pick books up from her in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for an E-ARC of The Noh Family in exchange for my honest review.

The Noh Family is a lovely K-drama-inspired journey of Chloe who longs to know about her father who passed away before she was born. Through a DNA test, she finds family in Korea and spends a majority of her summer there. Despite knowing both my parents, I really related to Chloe's struggle. She felt forced to balance her own desires with her mother's, and this sometimes took the form of selfishness. However, Chloe is not an unlikable character. Readers get to see her motivation and her mind, and they can understand why she does the things she does. Her family members appear throughout the book, and each of them has a distinct personality (or lack thereof) which gives readers a clue to the ending. The pacing was a slow burn, but it never felt too slow. Chloe's every day in Korea is chronicled, and this gives readers a glimpse into her family and the culture that surrounds them. I will be recommending this book for my library.

I love a good K-Drama and this had it! Chloe Kang is a senior in high school and for a birthday gift her friends gift her a DNA test, but she doubts anything will happen as she’s the only child of a single mother with no other family. Boy is she wrong! When the test proves her father has family out there, and not just any family but a rich one, she talks to a cousin of hers and than sets of to Korea to find out more about this estranged family and her dad. The luxurious lifestyle is a change for her and she can’t help feeling like something is off. She starts to realize why her mother never wanted her to meet them in the first place.

K-Dramas are my jam. They’re so packed with the broody men, the “you’re not one of us,” and the realization that they don’t seem as fake as American soap dramas. I liked Chloe and the emotional journey she goes through to find her family and where she belongs. And the drama didn’t disappoint.

This book to me was like a coming of age of finding ones identify and what family means. I was left wanting more and hopefully we can continue in this family dramatics. Maybe with a cousins story.. who knows!

This K-drama inspired debut novel follows teen Chloe Chang, who is reunited with her deceased father's estranged family via a DNA test, and is soon whisked off to Seoul to join them… Could joining the Noh family be worse than having no family at all?

I loved the Crazy Rich Asians series so when I heard about The Noh Family, I knew I had to read it. And it did not disappoint. This book is like a young adult Crazy Rich Asians and I really enjoyed it.

I loved the setting in Seoul and learning about a culture that I am unfamiliar with. This book has rich descriptions of the culture and food and it made me wish I was in Seoul with Chloe and able to try all of the delicious foods and attend fashion shows.

Let’s talk about the Noh family. They are super rich and live this amazing, glamorous life. But everything isn’t necessarily as it seems. There’s secrets, plotting, and drama. I enjoyed the suspense of trying to figure out more about the Noh family. While I liked Chloe as a character overall, I found her a bit naive and that frustrated me a bit at times.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the relationships. I loved the friendship between Chloe and Miso. I also liked how the book explores the strength of a mother-daughter relationship. The Noh Family is fast paced and easy to read, I devoured it in two days. I have never watched a K Drama before after reading this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The premise of this book is fun: A Korean-American high school graduate takes a DNA test as a joke because her friends joke that she looks like she's related to the weatherman on the news, only to discover that her dead father has a family with a million dollar business empire in Korea. There is also a twist ending which I absolutely did not see coming (but there were parts earlier in the book that were happening that made me wonder how on Earth that could be relevant. It was relevant later but I just don't think it was executed or set up well). But I actually thought the twist was surprising and really unexpected.

The writing was a bit underwhelming for me and it definitely felt like a debut novel. I think I would have been more lenient with it if it was a middle grade instead of a YA. The main character, Chloe, is 18 years old but read younger to me. I also thought the beginning was way too rushed and didn't do a great job of setting the whole story up. So for me ultimately it is a great concept with just okay execution.

Ultimately YA contemp is not my preferred genre, so this one just wasn't for me and that's ok! I'm sure anyone who likes Kdramas, Tokyo Ever After, or Crazy Rich Asians (or just a younger YA audience in general) will really connect with it!

Thank you to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

this was such a fun YA contemporary and im so thankful i had the chance to get an advanced reading copy! i started the book and haven't finished yet but i wanted to log my review right away before the system archives the book! i loved the main characters, the chemistry and the whole 'k-drama' vibe the book has! i look forward to read more books by this author! thank you again for the arc!

Wow, who knew that my obsession with k-dramas could’ve prepared me for this amazing book? Because I for one could tell that I thought all those years were wasted but this book has taken them and given them a new light. I felt like instead of watching a drama I was reading one unfolds with so many of my favourite troupes that I was swooning and solving the mystery all at the same time.
When Chloe is gifted a DNA test, the last thing she thought she’d learn is that she has a distant family connection…but let’s take it one step further and MEET them in South Korea!? Throw in one of the richest families in South Korea, some stunning fashions, and lots of deceit and you are in for one wild ride
I loved how as a reader I felt immersed in the South Korean culture, not only in the foods but in the family dynamics, the different classes, and how you treat various members in both family and society. Oh, and the mother-daughter relationship is definitely key in this book. While it is rocky for a little bit, I enjoyed that you could see the turmoil and the love between the two, which totally added to the story.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Noh Family by Grace K. Shim is a lovely #ownvoices YA novel that will appeal to fans of Tokyo Ever After or The Princess Diaries. The story revolves around Chloe, who takes a 23-and-me test, which reveals that her father's side of the family is alive and well in South Korea. Not only that - they are one of the wealthiest families in Seoul. Chloe decides to travel there and be reunited with them. But will the Noh family be everything she's expecting? Or will she find out the reason why they haven't been in touch her whole life?

Here is a hilarious excerpt from Chapter 1:

"Next to kimchi, Koreans have perfected one other thing: The Dramatic Pause. It's that moment right after an epic reveal that lasts only a minute but stays with you forever. After countless hours in episodes of K-drama bingeing, I have yet to find one that doesn't have The Dramati Pause. It's like the Lee Min Ho of K-dramas; it never gets old.
...
Every Friday after school, Hazel, Seb, and I have a standing appointment to binge K-dramas at my house. Since today is graduation, I wasn't sure if they'd be able to make it. But there we are, crammed onto my twin-sized bed, watching a much-needed episode of the K-drama My Professor, My Father on Hazel's laptop."

Overall, The Noh Family is an adorable YA novel that is a win for Asian representation in the YA space. One highlight of this book is how it centers Asian voices. Even though I am not of Korean descent myself, I think it's so great that the author is using her own experiences as a Korean-American to write this book. Another highlight of this book is how fun it is. The description calls this book "K-drama inspired." I don't think I've ever watched a K-drama this fun or exciting. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of Cinderella stories, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in May!

Tokyo Ever After meets K-drama in this astonishing debut novel from Grace K. Shim.

What Chloe Chang wants in her life is to know more about the father she wasn't able to meet since he died before she was born. But when the truth about her estranged family showed that she is part of an elite family in South Korea who owns one of the biggest retail chain stores, she suddenly found herself on a first-class seat flying to Seoul.

The Nohs is basically how you see chaebols in K-dramas - the only difference is that Chloe is interacting with them in real life and they're her only chance to know more about her deceased father, Joon Pyo. What Chloe doesn't know is that there's more behind this secret family and she may be the missing piece to solve their problem.

THOUGHTS
Chloe's journey of finding the truth about her father is the center of the story but what really made me hooked is the mysterious family drama surrounding the Nohs. I had a hard time liking Chloe's paternal family since I have several experience with chaebol families in Kdrama always having a hidden agenda.

I like how the Halmoni is sketched to be this powerful matriarch behind the success of San Woo and how the Nohs bend their knees to her.

The other Nohs, they're forgettable. Just kidding. Jin Young and Soo Young are good additionals because their characters presented a good contrast between what it's like growing up with a privileged background versus living a normal life.

I can say that Chloe Chang did her best in understanding the Nohs and her patience is commendable but good thing that she has Miso during her stay in Seoul. (Fingers crossed there'll be a Miso novella or novel soon)

I also liked how the book stayed true to it's vibe that is K-drama. There's a lot of shows mentioned but I am only familiar with The Heirs (which has parallels with Chloe's experience) and Boys Over flowers. Expect a lot of Lee Min Ho mentions in this book, too.

Chloe Chang, as the main character, is a flawed one and I liked her for that. Chloe's internal monologues during the last few chapters are reasonable and I can see myself trudging the same path with her if I ever find myself in the same scenario.

And since most of you know that found family is my jam, expect a slightly happy ending for Chloe Chang!

But I'm expecting a sequel since that ending was a cliffhanger!!

AOI: ending felt rushed, romance between Chloe and Bong Suk is underdeveloped, more encounter between Chloe and the Nohs could've been added to spice things up in Seoul.

Overall, a great reading experience!

What's in this book: Kind-of-a royal family, found family, family drama, complicated mother-daughter relationship

I highly recommend if you enjoy: Tokyo Ever After, K-dramas

Trigger warnings: Bullying, Verbal abuse, Manipulation, Mentions of death of a loved one

RATING: 4stars

THE NOH FAMILY follows Chloe who, after spending her downtime watching K-dramas with her friends, suddenly finds herself in the middle of one, joining her long-lost, wealthy family in Seoul for a couple of weeks. This was really entertaining; it had tons of family drama, which I found to be so much fun, but there were also more meaningful themes. Chloe's father died before she got to know him, so there's a lot of time spent with her trying to learn about her father from his family while also trying to find her place in the family, and it was done really well. I enjoyed the atmosphere of high-society Seoul, where the majority of the book takes place, but I would have loved to spend more time in the city of Seoul, in addition to the higher-class fictional business the Noh family owns. The surprise at the end isn't really a twist, I saw it coming from a mile away, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. The book wraps up pretty quickly, only within the last 5-10%, but there's pretty good closure. There was a cute romance and a great friendship element, but neither takes the spotlight over the family drama. I did enjoy this, and if you like K-dramas, this is definitely one you need to pick up!

The Noh Family reignited my love for K-dramas. You can really tell that the author loves her culture, because there is so much passion in every page of this book. And all the tropes that I usually dislike? Yeah, they worked well here.

We follow Chloe, an aspiring fashionista who may have to give up her dreams of becoming a world-famous fashion designer since her mom doesn’t make enough money to send her to college. But after she takes a DNA test and finds out she’s related to one of the wealthiest, most influential families in Korea, she is invited to fly over to meet them. While the Noh family seems like a dream come true at first glance, Chloe can’t help but feel that there’s something else lurking underneath the picture-perfect facade. Something the Nohs want to stay hidden from her.
Now that we’ve gotten my most important thought out of the way, I will describe this book in one word: fun. It’s full of k-drama love, k-drama tropes, and k-drama levels of drama. The famous “umbrella scene” is made fun of! At the same time, the horrific beauty standards often perpetuated in Korea are acknowledged! It’s glamorous and dramatic, yet emotional and touching. This story felt incredibly self-aware, in the best of ways.

Chloe is eighteen but I sometimes felt that she acted a bit too naive? Some aspects of what was happening within the family were obvious to me but she picked up on nothing. It was a little frustrating at times but I mean, this isn’t a thriller story so it’s not that much of an issue. It just made the story feel younger, and more tedious to read through at points for me.

I also really love how the topic of family is discussed. The core of this story is very coming-of-age and it works so well. And while some of the hijinks felt too absurd or too predictable, it genuinely just worked in that charming k-drama way. I don’t want to say anymore because this is just great to go into blind!

So that’s it! Overall, I’d say that this is a fun, chaotic coming-of-age story that occasionally surprises you, whether by a slight plot twist or an emotionally driven moment. If you enjoy k-dramas or books with great Korean rep, you’ll enjoy this one!

Following the story of Chloe, The Noh Family is a YA novel that explores family as our main character is on a quest to find out more about her family lineage. She loves being close to her mom but can’t help but wonder what her dad was like (as her mom doesn’t say much about him). Additionally, getting ready to transition from high school to college Chloe tries to navigate all the feelings of starting a new chapter in her life. She feels a bit left behind as her friends are going away to school and she’ll be staying back in Oklahoma. But when a chance to connect with her family in Seoul arrives what will happen?

Not only is this a story about family but this is a novel that will instantly appeal to K-Drama lovers too. Chloe is an avid K-Drama watcher and the author, Shim drops plenty of nods to popular shows and K-Drama cliches making it an overall fun reading experience. The travel aspect also makes it entertaining as we get to see Chloe experience Seoul through her eyes for the first time. I love how the story takes readers through the underground shopping malls, themed animal cafes, delicious food stands, and more.

Though Chloe’s dream of being reunited with her family seems like a dream in Korea, reality comes crashing down quickly. She soon learns her family is not as ordinary as she thought and owns multiple luxury fashion department stores. The trip becomes a whirlwind of emotions as Chloe feels like an outsider in her own family and experiences culture shock as she tries to learn more about her dad’s background. It’s a lot for Chloe to take in and she tries to enjoy her trip the best she can. This leads to many emotional and heartfelt moments which are tucked into the narrative among its wanderlust aspects.

What I appreciated most about this novel is that it really tackles the thoughts and feelings surrounding moving towards the next chapter of your life. Chloe is trying to determine what career she really wants to pursue and not what others tell her to do. This trip is a way for her to make her own choices while finding the definition of what family means to her. It reminds readers that big decision can be scary but ultimately you have to do it’s best for you. I really enjoyed this novel thoroughly and all of its entertaining K-Drama elements.

I don't why but recently I am really in the mood for reading books with Korean rep, and this was a simple, delightful read, perfect to satisfy my mood!

Plot:
We follow Chloe who got in touch with a cousin of hers, who, she had no idea existed. She visits her new found family in South Korea, but she is surprised to see they're rich! She tackles a lot of problems throughout the novel, dealing with family, loss of close relatives and friendship.
I enjoyed this plot, honestly! As countlessly mentioned in the novel, it's a very typical plot, but I enjoyed the way it was presented. I loved the trip to Korea from the comfort of my bed, it was so well written, and inculcated in the plot so easily!
My only problem with the plot was that it was too long. Like I felt that the book could've been wrapped up in 300 pages, but maybe that's just me.

Characters:
The characters were above average but not like perfect. They could've been written slightly well, but overall, if I had two options to complain or to not complain- I'd pick not complain. There just wasn't any one character which made me go, oh man, I love this character!

Writing Style:
literally zero complaints here.

Would recommend for sure, since it has tons of K-drama references (not that I got any)

I am thrilled about this book and simultaneously disappointed. While I love almost all parts of this book, I found the main character, Chloe, incredibly unlikeable. Often times I found myself questioning her as well as her ideals, morals, and thought processes. She prides herself on being driven by love and family but goes against that in big ways. Additionally, I find it incredibly hard to believe that she could not see any of the things that were going on sooner. Overall, she seems to be an incredibly clueless character, and feels very young.
Another thing I had trouble with while reading this book was the timeline. I feel that I regularly had to sit and reconfigure the timeline I was given in my head. At one point Chloe says it had been three days in Korea when really it was two. The next morning she woke up and said three days again. I don't know if this is just me missing some plot, or an oversight by the author.
The things I did adore about this book were all of the Korean aspects that were brought in. Growing up I was always at my best friend's house, which was a VERY Korean household. Chloe's mother is the spitting image of my best friend's mother which I found to be very comforting. I also loved the incorporation of the Korean language, especially the slang. My friend has incorporated certain Korean slang into my own vocabulary so that was fun to see. Finally I adored all of the Korean food that was mentioned. Though I am not actually Korean, the food mentioned was a part of my childhood and made me incredibly nostalgic. The way that Chloe talks about the street food and shopping reminds me of all of the conversations I've had with my best friend about going to Korea after we graduate college. Additionally, Chloe's friendship with Hazel and Seb is also incredibly familiar. In these ways, I felt so connected to this book because it felt like my life in certain aspects.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it fairly quickly. In a way it's a beautiful story of chosen family and how just because you're blood related to someone, does NOT make you family at all.

What a fun book! I loved all the drama, and it definitely had Crazy Rich Asians meets Shine vibes. There was a surprising amount of suspense thrown in, which I was not expecting from the description or the cover, but I loved how well it worked. I also really enjoyed the mother-daughter relationship exploration and how Chloe was encouraged to be herself in a world that was unfamiliar.

When Chloe Kang takes a DNA test and finds out she not only has an entire family, they are one of the richest families in Seol. Immediately she is whisked off to be reunited with her estranged family and becomes entrenched in a K-drama of her very own.

This book is very aware of the K-drama trappings and Chloe is self-aware as she is integrated into her new life. Her friends back home provide a good reality check for the reader as to the various tropes and circumstances Chloe finds herself in.

I feel like some of my disappointment with this book stems from my expectations. I expected cliche, poor girl finds out she is heir to some rich dynasty (sort of like Tokyo Ever After) but this was so much less fun than I hoped. The reason for the lack of fun is pretty clear to the reader early on, but it takes Chloe way too long to figure it out.

I don't mind a naive heroine, and Chloe is very naive. However, at times she seemed willfully ignorant or just sort of dumb and the lengths of her inability to not be more skeptical strained my credibility. However ignorant Chloe is, however, that does nothing to take any blame away from her mother who aids the narrative by basically being absent and completely unhelpful in terms of aiding her daughter in any way.

I really wanted to have a fun, pulpy experience reading this book, but ultimately it just felt flat for me. It all wrapped up in a relatively satisfying, albeit a bit rushed, way but I think the potential for this book overshadowed the reality for me.

Thank you very much to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.