I love, nay adore, a holiday romcom, and was thrilled to be provided with an ARC via NetGalley. This one, however, fell short for me for a few reasons.

1. I adore the enemies to lovers trope, but the backstory between Chloe and Peter needed further development.

2. There's no way any grown adult who owns a business in a mall is listening to two 16 year old kids about how to save the mall from being closed. This plot line was super unrealistic.

3. Chloe and Peter had zero chemistry. Ice cold.

4. So many plot elements seemed unnecessary, like the photography contest and the basketball game with Peter's so-called rival. Many scenes felt awkward and forced.

This one is a pass for me.

Thank you to #NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for allowing me the opportunity to read a digital ARC of The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park. This YA romantic comedy will be published on October 4, 2022. All opinions are my own.

Chloe Kwon despises Peter Li. The Kwons and Lis have a long-standing feud. Neither Chloe or Peter have ever questioned it. Both families own their own restaurant inside the Riverwood Mall. When the owner of the mall threatens to evict all of the businesses and demolition the mall to build condos, Chloe and Peter will have to team up to save their families' businesses and the mall they call home.

This is a fun young adult romantic comedy. I love the characters and the glimpse into Chloe and Peter's families. While this book is titled The Christmas Clash, it's not really what I would call a Christmas book. Really, the holiday season is just a backdrop for the larger story. Additionally, there isn't really a lot of clashing going on (other than between Chloe and Peter's parents). The main story is really about Chloe growing as a person, learning who she is and what she wants, and then her stepping out of her comfort zone and going for what she wants. The book is adorable and the banter is witty, but I wanted more Christmas. I would also say that while it is labeled YA, it is appropriate for middle school (though there is some minor cursing).

Two rival families, an unlikely Christmas alliance, and a mall to save. Chloe Kwon and Peter Li are from rival business families, and are rivals themselves. Their families both operate rival restaurants in the Riverwood Mall food court, Korean food for the Kwons and Chinese food for the Lis. Chloe and Peter are also rivals at school, in their jobs in which Chloe is a Christmas photographer and Peter operates a VR Christmas experience. Chloe despises Peter and wants to avoid him at all cost and Peter loves to irritate Chloe, especially if he can get a reaction out of her. Chloe is also working towards winning an art competition that would let her be mentored by her idol and get enough money to get into the career she dreams about. When Chloe notices an eviction notice in her parents mail and the same notice is given to Peter’s family, both Peter and Chloe will have to team up in order to save their family businesses from the mall being demolished for condos. All the while, Chloe photographs Peter and submits it in her contest and in exchange they find themselves beginning an unlikely friendship over shared favors, swapped dinners, and planning to save the mall. They’ll need a Christmas miracle to save the mall and all this time together will show them that despite being family rivals... maybe they’re the perfect fit for one another. This was a super cute Christmas rom com!

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

3.5/5 stars. Cute YA romance about Chloe and Peter, whose parents have competing mall food court restaurants and who have been feuding since before they were born. But the mall is in danger of being closed, so they must band together to try to help save it. And maybe fall for each other along the way. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

Suzanne Park's "The Christmas Clash" was nothing short of adorable. I loved the relationship between the two main characters and their desire to help save the mall that both of their families restaurants are located at. The banter and lead up to their relationship was cute and while I did enjoy this novel, I do wish that there was more of a Christmas feel to it. All in all, I rated this novel a 3.5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to review this novel.

Fun enemies-to-friends (plus romance) story where it's also up to the characters to save a mall, their parents' businesses, and break the feud between their two sets of parents. Chloe was my favorite with her increasing sense of self-confidence as a photographer and within her family. Both she and Peter were great representations (albeit from my white POV) of western Asian diaspora family expectations, loyalties, and moving forward with their own hopes and dreams without abandoning their familial and cultural ties. Full of Park's trademark humor, too!

This was really cute! Once I got into the book it was a really fast and enjoyable read. Chloe and Peter were adorable, and it was written exactly how I think a teenage romance should be! Loved the storyline and I loved the whole idea behind it. Overall I would recommend this book and I know that this book is going to sell really well after pub date!

The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park is a messy story with so much going on you might not know what you’re supposed to care about. I couldn’t tell you and I read it.

We’re presented with two teenagers who hate each other because … well, we don’t know why. Because their families are antagonistic, perhaps. That might make you think this is an homage to Romeo & Juliet. It isn’t.

These two teenagers (Chloe and Peter) work at the mall and help their families at their restaurants in the mall food court. (The author would have us believe that this mall food court isn’t filled with the same six restaurant chains that occupy every other mall food court in the country.)

One of the teenagers, Chloe, is competing in a national photography contest. Her parents don’t want her to waste time on this – it’s unclear why since it’s supposedly a huge deal to participate. For some reason, they greatly prefer Chloe’s sister, the paralegal who is abrasive, makes promises she can’t keep, and ignores the big family crisis in favor of her career.

There’s a problem with the mall – and legal documents have been sent multiple times. The parents, inexplicably, have ignored the documents entirely (more stereotyping) even though it ultimately might mean losing their livelihood. How in the world would the parents have maintained a business for years without opening their mail or, you know, having an attorney? It’s ludicrous and bad story development.

But we’re not done yet. Chloe decides to save the mall AND go to school every day AND work her after school job AND help out at the family business AND compete in the photo contest AND let’s not forget the love interest, Peter. If Chloe crumbled to dust because of all these things she took on, there’d be a little credibility. But no. She doesn’t.

Also, the author would have us believe that the teenagers meet with the owner of the mall in order to convince him to keep it open. Sure. That’s definitely something that would absolutely happen. Yeah.

But WAIT … there’s more. We also discover that there’s some completely unrelated conflict between Chloe’s family business and Peter’s family business that has caused the owners to not speak for the last however many years. We do get to find out what happened but it’s basically irrelevant to the story.

We’ve got Chloe’s friends building sets for Chloe’s after school job. We’ve got Peter stealthily reviewing contracts from the various mall businesses and single-handedly conquering the school bully. We’ve got VR competitions. We’ve got meetings with Chloe’s photography mentor. And on and on and on.

This all adds up to a hot mess of “I had lots of ideas that I thought were too good to exclude but I didn’t develop any of them enough.” It’s bad and that’s a shame because I think if the author had just focused on the conflict caused by the competing family businesses, this could have been a fun story.

Read this at your own risk.

The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park is scheduled to be released on October 4, 2022.

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

The Christmas Clash follows the journey of Chloe Kwon and Peter Li as they try to save their families’ businesses at a mall. Despite their family rivalry, Chloe and Peter have to put aside their rivalry and work together in order to stop the mall from getting demolished.
Firstly I did enjoy Chloe and Peter as characters. I felt that Chloe especially was very realistic, and their relationship development was very cute.
Elias and Sophie were absolute gems throughout this story. But i will say the story seemed to drag on in the middle. This book is good, but i feel like the plot was kind of lacking and overall it could’ve been better.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for my ARC of The Christmas Clash!

Pub date: 10/4/22
Genre: YA romance, own voices
In one sentence: Chloe Kwon and Peter Li, the children of Riverwood Mall restaurant owners, are natural enemies - but they'll have to team up to save their beloved mall from a Christmas closing.

Suzanne Park's stories are always so cute and heartwarming, and The Christmas Clash is no exception! I fell in love with Chloe and Peter - their determination was so inspiring, and I loved seeing them grow closer during their dinner food swaps (Peter gets Korean pork, Chloe gets shrimp lo mein). The mall Christmas content was entertaining - Chloe is the world's best Santa photographer, while Peter helms the VR Christmas experience.

In addition to the romance storyline, there's some great coming of age content. Both Chloe and Peter struggled with the weight of their parents' expectations and racist microaggressions from their classmates. Chloe entered a photography contest to find her voice and show her community to the world - I loved following both Peter and Chloe's character growth.

If you're looking for a Christmas read that will make you cheer for the main characters, The Christmas Clash is a great choice! 4.5 stars rounded to 5.

Plot: This was such a fun, festive read! I loved reading about Chloe and Peter trying to save the mall. I love malls, and it honestly makes me sad that they're fading, so to read a book with a mall was really nice. Chloe wanting to be a photographer was a good subplot!

Characters: Chloe and Peter were both great leads! I loved their families, and their friends. The people (at least some of them!) from the mall, and Chloe's photography mentor were all lovely.

The Cover: It's really cute and festive!

Overall: This was another wonderful book by Suzanne Park, who has become one of my favorite authors! A lovely, festive YA novel, that I would highly recommend reading!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

a fun quick read as two teenagers fight to save their mall. I love to read Christmas in July books and this did not disappoint.

The Christmas Clash follows the journey of Chloe Kwon and Peter Li as they try to save their families businesses at a mall. Despite their family rivalry, Chloe and Peter have to put aside their rivalry and work together in order to stop the mall from getting demolished.
Firstly i did enjoy Chloe and Peter as characters.I felt that Chloe especially was very realistic, and their relationship development was very cute.
Elias and Sophie were absolute gems throughout this story. But, i will say that the story seemed to kind of drag on in the middle. The Christmas Clash is good, but i felt like the plot was kind of lacking and overall it could’ve been more interesting. Still a fun, simple read!

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did, but I had a few issues.

1) It was Christmas themed, but the theme felt like a novelty? Almost like there was no Christmas spirit in it, but it was thrown into the title as a spark word. Chloe does take pictures at a Santa booth in the mall, and Peter runs a Christmas VR booth? But this is the most we actually get of Christmas. So if you are looking for a specific Christmas themed novel, not sure if this is the one you are looking for.

2) The pacing was *not great*. We are supposed to believe this is an enemies to lovers story, but I didn't get much in the way of enemies before we were making leaps and bounds towards the friendship/romance. I think a little more steady pacing really could have changed the game of this novel. Unfortunately, all I could focus on were the MCs talking about how much banter they have without witnessing any of said banter?

3) I did really enjoy their journey to save the mall, and I can definitely appreciate the character development within said event. I thought the last couples chapters were the sweet spot the book was looking for, and I wish more than anything that we would have hit this sooner. My favorite part of the whole book was the journey the respective parents took, and this is really where it shined. I wish we would have gotten a tad bit more about their history, but I really liked how Chloe's photography ended up tying in.

All in all, I found this book to be a fun read, but truly the pacing and lack of true exposition has me rating it as a 2 stars instead of a 3.

3.5 stars

It was a cute story to begin with. Such a light and fun read. The Christmas Clash is an YA, enemies to lovers rom com where Chloe and Peter, whose families are rivals, work together to save their small businesses in the mall that will be demolished soon. I enjoyed the plot and the banter between the two. I always like business based stories and the inclusion of families added much to it.

I think this book could be longer, and the relationship between the two evolved from enemies to friends to lovers so fast, the trope felt so light. I felt like the story dragged on some part. And the title didn’t go well with the story since the plot of the story had only little to do with the Christmas season. And, I think more romance could be added since it's displayed as rom com, it felt little like it. And I was hoping to see more involvement of the families.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it! Thanks to NetGalley and Suzanne Park for providing me this ARC. Hope to read more from the author in future!

A zany and fun story about two Asian food-court-crossed teenagers and their quest to save their local Tennessee mall.

I loved how this book included a gay character and tackled issues like racism and growing up different - in a comic yet meaningful way.

I wish I had such books to relate to when I was growing up.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a cute YA book to read over the Christmas season.

The Christmas Clash tells the story of Chloe and Peter. Their families both own restaurants in the local mall's food court. The families are bitter enemies and it isn't until the mall is on the verge of closing that Chloe and Peter put their feelings aside.

This book was not great. The plot was very thin, the characters were undeveloped and I have no idea why it was called The Christmas Clash bc it had nothing to do with Christmas. I felt no chemistry between the main characters and I honestly didn't care how the story ended. This book fell flat.

I was given this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Christmas books in July? SIGN. ME. UP.
The Christmas Clash is a super cute and sweet enemies to lovers ya novel. 

Chloe and Peter’s families both own restaurants in the mall. Ever since they can remember, their parents have disliked each other. After getting a notice that the mall is going to be demolished at the beginning of the year, Chloe and Peter have to work together to come up with a plan to save their families restaurants.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a super quick and easy read. The romance was cute and I loved the Christmasy feel throughout the story. I will say that I wish it was a little more Christmasy but overall it was good.

Overall, I did have a good time reading this book. Honestly, it felt like I was watching a Hallmark movie! This one releases on October 4th so make sure to grab a copy!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire for the e-arc!

This book was really good in some aspects and in others it completely missed the mark. Because the book is marketed as a YA rom-com, and I went into this fully expecting to read a fluffy YA rom-com. Alas, I still don’t have a solid idea about what I read but I don’t think it was a rom-com. In the beginning, I thought that the two main characters, Chloe and Peter, had good personalities and they stayed pretty fleshed out until the end. Their enemies-to-lovers arc was very light, and I don’t think they ever even were enemies. The romance in this book was more of a side plot and being marketed as a rom-com made me feel like I missed out on that aspect of the story. Another part of the story that I could not get over was Chloe’s essay/chapter on racism. I appreciate that the author mentioned it, however it felt completely unnatural and slightly unnecessary. They only bring up this topic once more at the end of the work and it once again completely ruined the flow of the book for me personally. I enjoyed the community spirit and Christmas cheer this book portrayed and Chloe and Peter’s banter through some portions of the book were also super cute. This book definitely portrays some good plot lines, and I if the flow and other clunky parts of the book were edited it would have been a higher rated read for me.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the digital copy of this book. If the author or publisher wants to see my corrections, please email me at artfullydeckled@gmail.com.