Another cute and quick YA read!

While this was a one sitting read, I couldn't help but wanting more. There were so many different aspects to the story line it almost felt like they were competing, and one didn't really stand our as the overarching plot thus leaving the reader lacking in the depth that could have been brought but honing in on one aspect or the other. There's the feuding restaurant rivals, holiday jobs, mall closing, an art competition. And the two teens that fall for each other amidst it all.

The story is set at Christmas but, it felt like it was the backdrop rather than the cute holiday romcom I had envisioned. The rivalry between the two restauraunts was played up but the secret dinner exchanges between Chloe and Peter felt like the rivalry was all for show. The enemies to lovers banter that I was expecting was met with friends to lovers banter instead.

Despite all of that, the story hit home with the nostalgia, having spent a majorith of my teen days hanging out and working in the mall!


Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the ARC in exchange for my review!

It saddens me to say this because I loved Suzanne Parks other books, but I was not a fan of this book.
It was kinda slow to me and there wasn't as much romance as I felt there should have been, considering it's a rom-com. The idea of the story was exciting but it was just not what I was expecting. It seemed like by the time I was 70% through the book, they still weren't dating and just overall it seemed like the book dragged on.

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

I wanted to love this book, but it didn’t quite deliver on what I was promised. I was promised Christmas and enemies to lovers. While this book did take place in the months leading up to Christmas, I felt like the Christmas vibes never truly arrived.

As for the enemies to lovers, Chloe and Peter spent more time thinking about how hot and cute they thought the other person was than actually arguing. I would classify the beginning as light bickering, but then the relationship progressed far faster than I thought it would.

Here’s the thing though: I would’ve enjoyed this book a lot more had it not been marketed as “Christmas enemies to lovers.” This story has really good bones. Chloe in particular was a fantastic protagonist. Watching her navigate her dueling passions for photography and her family was interesting to read about. I would’ve loved it if the book was entirely from her perspective. Don’t get me wrong, Peter was a solid love interest. He checked all of my male YA character boxes: sensitive, not toxic, and funny. Still, I think this book needed more balance between it’s main characters and in it’s numerous plot lines.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I found the story sloppy and the characters not well. Thank you for the opportunity.

A fun, cute, and lightheaded Christmas read for the younger audience. Often I would not recommend YA books for younger crowds, but this one is a ok in my book (pun intended).

Park writes the cutest stories and I always love the Korean cultural tie ins.

Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire, I was provided an ARC of The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

**** Publishing October 4, 2022****

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Do you want to read a fun and heart warming story?

Chloe Kwon is the baby whisperer! She can make any baby stop crying and can get older kids to do what she wants, in order to take the perfect Santa picture. She is the photographer for Santa at the Riverwood Mall. Her family also owns a Korean food restaurant in the food court.

Peter Li works at the North Pole Virtual Reality Experience next to pictures with Santa. The idea is that kids get pictures with Santa and then gets memorized by the virtual reality ride that their parents pay for both. Peter Li parents own a competing Chinese food court restaurant at the food court.

The Kwon’s and Li’s animosity and competition stems from competing restaurants at the mall, but it trickles down to their children who go to the same school. Chloe and Peter are in different social circles, but Peter is more popular and gets the better grades.

When the mall is threatened to close, can Chloe and Peter figure out a way to save their parents restaurants? What will they discover? Will they be able to put their differences aside?

A highly entertaining Rom-Com that will make you laugh, tug at your heart, have you cheering for Chloe and Peter in trying to save the mall, and will in the end warm your heart!

Chloe Quan and Peter Lee are members of rivaling families. They both have restaurants in Riverside Mall and one has never needed the other but when $1 million developer buys the mall and decides to make condos Peter and Chloe have no choice but to come together to try and save the mall and both their families livelihood. And just when Chloe is realizing that Peter may be perhaps isn’t as bad as she wants to it another issue arises can they finally bring peace and love between the two families and at the same time save the mall or are they doom to fight forever. I absolutely loved this but it is so laugh out loud funny. If you love Christmas romances you definitely need to read Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park it has a great plot great characters and I loved it! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Enjoyed the drama of this YA holiday romance. Both main characters are driven and work well together. I liked the setting and it made me interested in mall culture for the people that work there. Feel good triumph.

Adorable. A nice little escape from reality. Rival families, the saving of a mall that said families depend upon for their livelihoods, hilarity, and a sweet romance. A quick, fun read.

Deck the Halls with Feuding Food Families!

Or perhaps "Two Restaurants, both alike in food quality....in the Riverwood Food Court where we set our scene."

Either way, Suzanne Park, once again, delivers us a holly jolly rom-com in time for the holiday season. Super cute, quirky, and a diverse Christmas story, THE CHRISTMAS CLASH was a great way to put me in the mood for the holidays.

Chloe Kwon sees life and all its angles from the lens of her camera, whether it's for her entry into a prestigious Art competition or making a little extra money taking Santa photos at the mall. She also makes time to help her parents out with their restaurant in the mall food court. What she doesn't have time for is: Peter Li.

Peter Li is so tired of trying to live up to his brother, but he does have the energy to annoy Chloe when he gets the chance. Whether it's a wave to her from his own job at the VR booth across from Santa's Village or helping his own parents in the food court, Peter gets a kick out of Chloe's consistent eye rolls.

TIll the unthinkable happens: The grinchy landlord is determined to sell the mall in order to put up condos.

Now, Chloe and Peter must join ranks and enlist other stores in the mall to rise up and save their beloved home away from home or else there will be celebrating.

I loved this fun, swoon-emies book. Park brings such a realism to all of her work and CHRISTMAS CLASH is no different. I seriously enjoyed the shopping mall setting and the truth of them slowing disappearing from our culture. By the end of the book, I was fighting for them to #savethemall.

I laughed, I cried, I would definitely read this one again.

THE CHRISTMAS CLASH releases October 4, 2022.

My thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I've read two of Suzanne Park's previous works (Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous and Loathe at First Sight). Neither were total knock outs for me, but were enjoyable enough for me to finish. Of the two, I enjoyed Sunny Song more, so I was looking forward to a festive Christmas YA book! Nothing can go wrong, right?

Unfortunately for me, this book read like a bad Disney Channel movie from the 90's. I recognize that it is Young Adult (and, for the record, I LOVE Young Adult!) but this read more like middle grade to me. It felt like it was targeted at 12 year olds. The internal narratives from each character had my face in a permanent "What the heck?" position and the dialogue was equally awful. And there was no differentiation of "voice" between Peter and Chloe, so the whole thing kind of ran together. The lack of character development....all of it was just missing.

There was little to no Christmas content in this book minus Chloe's photography job at the Santa stand, and the side stories of saving the mall, the photography competition, the Li/Kwon rivalry, and so much more made the entire story feel messy. It was going in 5 different directions at all times and none of the directions did a good job at holding my attention.

Sadly this one was a big miss for me, but the good news is that there are a lot of Christmas books ahead of me!

This was such an adorable YA holiday rom-com! Rivals-to-lovers is one of my all-time favorite romance tropes, and it is so well done in The Christmas Clash! Chloe and Peter are such endearing, well-rounded characters, it was so much fun to watch them have to work together to try to save their parents' businesses. I will definitely be reading whatever Suzanne Park comes out with next!

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Notes for the publisher: this review will be published in full on my blog, To Read or Not to Read on 10/16, and in a partial format on my Instagram page, handle @reviews_by_nat, on 10/17. It will also be available on my Goodreads page on 9/03.

Suzanne Park's YA holiday romcom is a hilarious romp with a lot of heart. With everything on the line—from main character Chloe's chance at an artistic future to Chloe's and Peter's parents' livelihoods to the sense of community in their second home—Park crafts a novel that shares a necessary story in a funny and compelling way.

When I saw that Suzanne Park had been a comedian, I knew I was going to have a good time reading The Christmas Clash, and I was absolutely right! This is the definition of romcom; Park knows how to write in such a way that the hilarity of moments comes across. It also helps that she uses teenage slang in the perfect moments and doesn't take everything too seriously. The Christmas Clash is definitely for book people who love to laugh when they read, or who love those funny moments in the midst of serious storylines.

Balancing out the funny, there are some very serious elements to The Christmas Clash that kept me engaged with the story. I was so interested to learn about mall culture, specifically how malls are dying out and being resold or demolished. Park depicts the reality of this situation with a lot of heart. I could really feel the importance of community in this book, through the ways Park depicted the different mall-shop owners and how they all banded together around Chloe's and Peter's vision to save the mall. I was compelled to the end, to see how it all played out, and was so gratified by that happy, feel-good ending.

Holiday books are all the rage right now, and I loved how The Christmas Clash took place around the holiday season, but that its plot didn't hinge on it every getting to Christmas Day. The holiday cheer was definitely there—it was so fun to hear about Chloe's job at the Santa photographer, and to think about cool new holiday experiences like the VR one that Peter works for—as was the holiday-happy ending. But the book itself wasn't explicitly tied to Christmas, which meant that it felt more accessible to more readers, especially considering some of its themes of speaking out against racism and advocating for community. And of course, I loved how a holiday book was centered around people opening their hearts and minds towards one another, and working to save something they all loved. This was the perfect kind of holiday read, for sure!

Such a beautiful book. Christmas Clash is more than a holiday theme young adult book, it is a letter of love and affection to the mall culture, its community and the families behind them
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Through Chloe Kwon, a sixteen-year-old girl from a Korean family, and Peter Li, a boy of the same age from a Chinese American family, we can see what it is like to grow up with the mandate, the family responsibilities and the pressure to succeed
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Chloe and Peter are rivals and neither knows exactly why. Their families have restaurants across the Riverwood mall food court from each other and have always made of everything a competition. But when Chloe needs urgent help only Peter can help her, this small gesture causes them both to have a secret truce with an exchange of food in between, they begin to get along
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But an eviction letter at their parents' business makes them work together to try to save not only both families' livehood but both their second home as well
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I really enjoyed reading this book a lot, not only are Chloe and Peter good characters, the plot and the flavors are palpable and leave me wanting to read more about them. I think I'm going to need to read some backlist Suzanne Park soon
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Thanks to Suzanne Park and Sourcebooks fire for give me this beautiful book in exchange for my voluntary and honest opinion
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It is August, but I am reading Christmas books already.

Chloe Kwon and Peter Li are two teenagers whose families are not speaking to each other and have been holding a grudge from 15 years.
Chloe's parents own a Korean restaurant and Peter's parents own a Chinese restaurant, both at Riverwood Mall. But now Chloe and Peter need to work together as they find out that the mall is going to be demolished and their parents might lose out their business.

3.5/5

It’s Christmas season in the Riverwood Mall and Christmas cards, cookies, and eviction notices ring in the holiday season. There are two things Chloe loves most: photography and her family business. While one is taking off with a nomination for the National Art Council, the other is crashing faster than Santa’s sleigh with news of the mall, where her family business resides, being sold off and businesses being kicked out. She has to team up with the son on the other side of a family feud to try to save their futures.

This was a fun YA read! It had its funny moments where I laughed along with the characters and some sad ones where I could connect with Chloe and feel her emotions. She’s relatable with her public speaking anxiety and a need for her parent’s validation. She’s blunt and perseveres even when having to choose between her two dreams. Peter is so precious in that he’s trying so hard to be everything anyone needs as they both try to live up to their older sibling’s shadow.

For all the cute moments this book had, it also had its downsides. There was A LOT of cheesiness and feel good moments, but to the point where half of them felt forced and had me cringing. It was very innocent, which isn’t a downside and is to be expected with YA, but I found myself getting slightly bored of it halfway through as it was just the two big plots and very little outside of them. With the two plots, it sometimes felt they were mashed together. I wish one was the main plot and the other acted as something fun when the main plot had its slower times instead of both going and then dropping out. Lastly, the ending was cute and while the little hiccup was predictable, it was also fun to read and see play out. That said, it was so neat. Tied up in a little bow, cherry on top, perfect neat that left me wanting more.

Overall this was a fun read and a cute little YA book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS fire for this arc!
I was originally excited about this book but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. I thought It was a cute young adult story full of teamwork with a little bit of romance. I just felt like this book was too fast paced. The things that bugged me the most was how unrealistic it felt due to scenes that were out of the blue and rushed. I never really felt very connected to the characters or the troubles they were facing. As for the romance aspect I just felt like one day they were enemies and the next they just randomly kissed and were best friends after the fact. I just felt like I missed a few chapters and never felt any tension which to me is usually the best part.

This is a book about family, dreams, and food! I loved that this book represented the Asian-American community and explored the hardships people experience to provide for their families and achieve their own goals.

The story follows two teenagers, Chloe and Peter, who put aside their long-standing family feud and help unite the community to stop the demolition of their favorite mall. Chloe has a deep passion for photography, which she practices in a Christmassy photography studio. Despite her talent, her parents do not consider this a stable career path (which I absolutely understand). As Chloe and Peter work together, they slowly find their confidence (especially having perfect Asian siblings) and unravel the history of their family feud and rewrite the future of their relationship.

I adored the book and love that it discusses so much Asian culture, which can often be misrepresented. I do wish we got to see more of Peter and see him progress towards his dreams, rather than being only on the sidelines. I love this book so much and would love to read more from the author soon.

THANK YOU TO THE AUTHOR AND NETGALLEY FOR THIS ARC IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!

3.5/5!
This was a super cute lighthearted story, I really loved Chloe and Peter, their interactions with each other were really sweet.
This is definitely very YA. I would even argue middle grade in most places? But I found that really worked for the setting and vibe of the whole book. Their naivety (Chloe and Peter) really worked for the plot, they were always so hopeful and always trying their best to overcome their issues and bring their families together.

The only downside is that I really wished we could have spent some more time with the families, I really would have loved to read more about their cultures. I feel like we really didn’t get a lot of that, particularly in reference to peters family. Aside from that the book was very enjoyable, easy to read and definitely a good one to pick up if ur in the mood for a cosy Christmas story, or need something enjoyable that will fill your Goodreads goal.

My first Christmas read of this year, and I absolutely frickin loved it.

💫 YA, rivals to allies to lovers

💫 So many wholesome scenes! I esp loved all their food exchange + banter scenes

💫 A lot of Christmassy scenes - this book is basically all the months uptil Christmas, when the MCs work their Christmas related jobs and also work to save the mall - so time wise, now is a great time to experience this book!

💫 An almost perfectly neatly wrapped ending, I loved it smm! It was also open enough to have a hopeful future, and I'm gonna have fun imagining much more good things in the future for these characters

TWs - racism against Asians, vulnerable people scammed into losing their money/businesses by a trusted friend

(received ARC from Netgalley)