Who’s naughty and nice at Riverwood Mall?
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Chloe Kwon’s family has a rival restaurant and that family has a son: one Peter Li with his smirks and know-it-all glances. It’s Korean vs. Chinese food at the mall where their family restaurants have been for years, but when they both might lose their lease, the two team up to help their parents out.
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This started off so cute for me, but quickly fell flat. It’s marketed as enemies to lovers, but that’s maybe ten pages of it before the two join forces so I didn’t really get that. There’s not much romance in it at all and the Christmas vibes were lacking for me. I also struggled with the YA rating, as it read kind of middle grade to me. I loved the representation and truly believe we need more diverse holiday books out in the world. Give this one a try, because maybe it was just me!

CW: racism, generational trauma

4.5

I absolutely devoured this book. The characters felt very near and dear to my heart as an AAPI reader. I loved the chemistry between the two main characters and the descriptions of immigrant struggles were very close to home.

I loved this book! Suzanne Park delivers a wonderful Holiday story about family and friends. Chloe is a relatable protagonist and fun narrator and Peter’s chapters were *chef’s kiss*. And the family rivalry? Capulets and Montague’s eat your heart out.

The Christmas Clash is such a unique book and a delightful journey. Who else can pull off trying to save a closing mall tale other than Suzanne Park??

I would recommend this book to all of my friends and family. It’s a fun read that will keep you entertained, laughing, will make your heart ache, and will also give you FOMO on holiday mall rides. Definitely a read you would want to read again and again.

The Christmas Clash

This delightful Rom-com centres around Chloe Kwon and Peter Li, the children of rival family restaurants in the local shopping mall.
Brought up to hate each other, Chloe and Peter try to stay away from each other but this isn’t easy when they work next to each other - Chloe is a photographer for Santa’s Village - Peter promotes a VR thrill ride.
Chloe thinks Peter is so annoying and why is he so handsome!
The two find out that the mall is threatened with demolition and come together to form an unlikely duo to save their mall.

I thoroughly enjoyed this festive, rivals-to-lovers romance, the perfect feel-good read.

I was unfortunately not able to get into this book at all. The story felt lukewarm and a little too young. I understand it is a YA, but I was just looking for a bit more meat from it!

I really enjoyed this book. It was cute and such an easy read. It reminded me of a Christmas movie!Thank you so much for the arc!

In The Christmas Clash, we follow Chloe Kwon (Korean-American) and Peter Li (Chinese-American). This book is dual perspective. The time line is before American Thanksgiving to a little before Christmas. Young Adult Romance, with Family Values and great Friendships.

They both work in a mall and their family owns rival restaurant in the mall food court. The Mall is about to be demolished. Chloe and Peter get together to try and save the mall.

From the start you can tell their parents are rivals. Even their older siblings hate each other. However, Chloe and Peter although suppose to be rivals don't really act like it. Peter always liked Chloe and Chloe realizes her feelings pretty fast. After they realize their feelings is when the Mall saving really happens.

All though we meet lots of people at the Mall we don't really get the know them. Just the idea of them being there a long time was all that mattered. I wish their was more on the mall and it's tenants. But instead the author decided to put in something about Chloe entering a photography contest. I think this was not needed.

The best part (besides the steps to save the mall) are the best friends. They are amazing and I would love to have friends like them.

Side Note: I also didn't like the siblings bond. They say they are always compared to they siblings. Which made the main characters not really like their siblings. I don't know if that's a culture thing but I didn't grow up like that and I don't like to read it.

3*

While the idea of a holiday romance set in a mall really spoke to me and I usually very much enjoy the rivals to lovers plot, this book didn't grasp me. I enjoyed reading the book, but in my opinion it dragged on and on. The only reason why I kept reading was that I really wanted to find out what happened between the Kwon's and Li's, which is a good thing for a book. Keeping you reading. However, this could have been better.

•• R E V I E W ••
This YA romance was fun to read during the holiday season. The story and setting were both fitting. It has an enemies to lovers trope which made the interaction between the two main characters comedic & has dual POV.

It has a very deep Asian representation so there were also some issues of racism and bullying in the story—some felt way too familiar for me so it kind of threw me off a bit.

Overall, i’d still recommend this. Definitely easy to finish.

Man, I love Suzanne Park. I don't pick up many YA books these days, but I'll always read hers.

A holiday romance set in a mall? Chef's kiss. Rivals to lovers? Even better.

I did enjoy reading this book, but I think it could’ve been a bit shorter. The start was great but then the story dragged a bit which was when I lost interest. The diversity was really nice, but there were definitely things that could’ve been explored further, such as the sibling rivalry. I did really want to find out what happened between the Li’s and Kwon’s though, the mystery aspect was definitely a nice addition for me.

Suzanne Park does it again!! I honestly am obsessed!! This book was fun, charming and everything I wanted in a YA holiday romance, enemies to lovers, Romeo and Juliet vibes!! And I just have to say, this book brought back the nostalgia of mall food courts when I was younger. I miss those days!!! 🥹

I’m so excited to read anything she writes!!! AUTO BUY for me!!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this wonderful book!!

Enemies to lovers in a Romeo and Juliet situation between two rival food court restaurants? This was such a fun and cheerful holiday read!

This Christmas book is filled with holiday cheer but also community activism, friendship, and family!

I am such a sucker for competing restaurants or anything dealing with food in romance books. It was a fun twist that this also took place in a mall because we saw a different side of the restaurants and other businesses. However, I didn’t feel like the “feud” because Chloe and Peter was shown enough. It seemed like they fell for each other really quickly.

I loved how this was more than just competing restaurants, and it also involved saving the mall and Chloe’s future in photography. However, I feel like there was so much going on in this story and so many problems, it almost felt like too much. I also didn’t like the third act break up.

Overall, I had a fun time reading this book. A mall is such a fun setting!

This cute Romeo and Juliet of mall businesses was a fun holiday read. I was having a hard time getting through novels, but this had me hooked and feeling ready to jingle bells and be merry. The best part of the book? Food always brings people together.

Enemies to lovers as only Suzanne Park can write. The total package: families, fun friends, and loads of laughs, all while pulling every one of the heart strings.

I wanted to love this - truly. But I honestly have a lot of complaints.
It’s YA, but reads MG.
The plot is cohesive at some points and a mess at others
The writing is kind of cringey and very very repetitive (literally numerous times I end up feeling like I’ve already read/heard exact lines)
The first person dual povs are identical in voice and it became boring.
And the “rivals to lovers” is so contrived and mild and they stop being rivals like 6 chapters in.
And there are just other elements in the book that feel like they were added to be added and honestly don’t really feel like they add anything to the narrative.

This is a cute Christmas read. It wasn't my favorite and I did struggle with finishing it. Neither of the characters had much depth and their dislike of each other seemed vapid at best. It had all the things I liked of enemies to lovers, family feud, cutesty holiday theme and the fun banter. The problem is, even with YA, this felt younger than High School level and just was hard to even accept a romance into it. It just read way too young. Because of that I struggled to finish it and even more so struggled to review.

This was such a great YA rom com that I forgot for a hot second that I don’t normally read YA books.

This book has two high achieving high school juniors whose family has been bitter rivals working together to save the mall where both sets of parents own restaurants.

I know that the culture of indoor malls have changed since I strolled around as a teen in the early 1980s so that part of the book I felt a connection to.

There are also spots of prejudice against both the main characters and both their families who are Korean and Chinese. I’m glad that was addressed in this book.

The two main characters, Chloe and Peter, do dinner swaps from their parents’ restaurants and I loved that.

The dialogue was great, all the characters were interesting, and the reader through the course of the read finds out why the families have been rivals for as long as Peter and Chloe have been alive.