I immediately wanted to read Artifacts of an Ex based on the cover. The synopsis sounded interesting and I wanted to "buy in". However; the writing felt juvenile to me and I couldn't connect to anything happening. Unfortunately, I "did not finish" this book at the twenty percent mark.

I really enjoyed this book. Chloe was adorable and so passionate about everything. I liked Daniel, Vincent, Francesca, Serena, and Chloe’s parents and grandmother. The story did a good job with side characters who weren’t flat. This was a quick read. It was familiar to read about Ahma’s dementia having gone through that personally and it was done well. This was such a cute read and I had a blast with this book!

I thought this book was so cute and sweet. Sure, it did have moments when the story seemed to slow down and sometimes there was a bit too much detail. Still, I thought it was a good read with characters that were fully fleshed out and story that felt realistic. I loved that she was a planner and how she and Daniel connected. I also liked how it highlighted her adjustment to LA (cuz I’m sure that I would have been the same way.) This was a nice read that I would suggest others give a try. I will lookout for more books from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc.

🦇 Artifacts of an Ex Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❝ Welcome to Heartifacts. I didn't intend to start an exhibit of my ex-boyfriend's objects, but when we broke up, it inspired me to find out what other people saved from the ruins of their relationships. Like fossil excavating, but for the lost bones of love. ❞

❓ #QOTD What items have you kept from a past relationship OR what reminds you of an ex? ❓

🦇 After moving from NYC to LA, Chloe Chang never expected her boyfriend to dump her, let alone via a box of her belongings. Instead of chucking those memories in the trash, she uses her heartbreak as inspiration and begins an art exhibit; a collection of break-up boxes from other teens. At the opening of the Heartifacts exhibit, Chloe meets Daniel, who offers to enhance the exhibit with a film reenactment of a relationship's progression, with Chloe and Daniel as the stars. Their fake dates lead to real feelings, but Daniel doesn't want to be the rebound. Can Chloe make Heartifacts successful, and prove to Daniel her feelings are real?

❝ When you're in love, you figure out how to express it. ❞

💜 On the surface, Artifacts of an Ex is a cute friends-to-lovers young adult romance. If you look beyond that, you'll find a story about healing and community through art, letting go of perfectionism, finding your tribe, and recognizing your self-worth. Chloe develops so much as a character, not only as she heals from her heartache, but as she finds a new home for herself in LA. The strongest component of the story is through the art pieces themselves. Each one conveys a different version of love--how we heal from it, how it changes us, how each person we meet and interact with becomes another paint stroke on the canvas that is our story. I also adored the friendships, how the community comes together to help Chloe's grandmother, and all the heartwarming fluff.

🦇 While this is a cute, layered debut novel, the pacing was a little exhausting. Between the fake dates, navigating her heartache, trying to help her grandmother, and curating the exhibit, Chloe stretches herself thin--which stretches the story thin as well. I also wish we learned more about Daniel outside of his passion for filmmaking and history as 'the rebound guy.' There's immediate chemistry between Chloe and Daniel, but Chloe's attraction toward him feels so immediate (thank you, mutual organizational stationery obsessions) that we don't really experience the transition from friends to more. There's a little repetition as well, which further causes the pacing to drag.

❝ You want to control everything. Plan it all out. Love isn't planned. It's messy. It's full of mistakes and stupid things you say. It's dopey as hell. ❞

🦇 Recommended for fans of cute YA romances with (sort of) fake dating! Ideal for fans of Emma Lord and Jenny Han. Get ready for some serious heart eyes.

✨ The Vibes ✨
🫖 AAPI FMC & MMC
💌 Friends to Lovers
🩷 YA Contemporary Romance
🎨 Power of Art
🏳️‍🌈 Queer Side Characters

🦇 Major thanks to the author @jchenwriter and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #artifactsofanex

This book follows Chloe who's just experienced her first break up in a new city, and as part of her healing process, she decides to put together a gallery exhibit that highlights meaningful objects (artifacts) of anonymous relationships. I did find the premise very interesting but the book was a little slow paced for me. With that said, it was still interesting and a cute read and I think it may be more suitable for the YA readers. Her cast of friends was enjoyable and there is representation of LGBTQ+ and disability in this book. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was a quick read however for me it was missing substance. It felt scattered and while i love a good planner, stickers, and washi tape there was too many mentions of it in the book that it felt like it was the main character at times. The last couple of chapters seemed to flow better to me and the ending was cute however for me it's just not a favorite read.

It was cute and sweet. What you would expect for a ya contemporary romance. It was entertaining and a quick and easy read, but didn’t leave me dying to turn each page quickly.

This was a cute, short YA read. There were parts that felt lagging and bit boring, but I did overall enjoy the book.

Artifacts of an Ex follows Chloe as she and her family have just moved from New York to Los Angeles. She experiences her first break up, a long with all the other transitions she faces. So she decides to curate a gallery exhibit for and by teens of objects from their break-ups that had been meaningful to their relationship. She meets and clicks well with Daniel, who is afraid of always being the rebound guy.

This book has a lot going on, and I found it rather slow paced. There was a ton on LA, planners, museums, and food that felt a bit distracting from plot. But I appreciated some of the thought-provoking themes the book raised around race and who gets to be the main character as well and on self-confidence.

The books especially centers questions on the universal feelings of love and heartbreak, what love is and isn't, and the many varying types of love. As it does so, it equally plays with who art is for, what it expresses, and whether it needs an audience to be art.

This wasn't a great fit for me, but I would recommend it for young YA readers, especially those who love contemporary art or are coming to terms with heartbreak. And I think this would be great to read close to Valentine's Day for those who enjoy seasonal reading.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up

Art curation, delicious food, and PLANNERS? It's very much my brand, thank you very much. (I will say though that the planner product placement was a little much, even for a stationery aficionado)

Type A Chloe is heartbroken, dumped via USPS of all things. She's in a new city, sans a support network, and decides to channel her heartbreak into something more artistic. I loved the Heartifacts exhibit and wish that there was one in real life! I really enjoyed her cast of friends, particularly Vincent and Francesca. There's plenty of LGBTQIA+ and disability rep in this book which I also loved.

It's really cute, but suffers from some pacing issues that some might find annoying.

*Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Whenever I’m in a reading slump, I like to rely upon lighter reads to pull me out of it. Artifacts of an Ex is a YA contemporary romance that did the trick for me.

Chloe is a type A perfectionist who has recently moved from New York City to Los Angeles so her family is closer to her grandmother, who is in the early stages of dementia. Her boyfriend back in New York broke up with her via snail mail. Ouch!

Being an art-centric teen, and finding an unused gallery space, Chloe decides to turn her heartache into an exhibit called Heartifacts. Remember keeping a shoebox of mementos from your relationships? Chloe sends a request out to the WWW for these break-up boxes and gets about ten. On opening night, she meets Daniel and his friend, Vincent, who came to look at his box on display. There’s an instant attraction, but Daniel has been on the wrong side of dating several times over and doesn’t want to be a rebound.

This was a neat book if you enjoy art and social media and a clean romance. I also liked the LGBTQ representation throughout the book, which didn’t feel forced. I also enjoyed learning about a different culture and the foods they eat, broadening my horizons a bit. Recommended!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Wednesday Books; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

For more reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com

Artifacts of an Ex is a super quick, fun, and cute young adult romance story. I really enjoyed the main characters, Chloe and Daniel, and their shared love of Chloe's grandmother. This story is about friendships, relationships, first loves, and finding yourself. Some of the moments are very surface level and/or almost seem to easy, but I still enjoyed the message and the overall story. I like the idea of using art to make sense of a relationship and to move on. I also liked the idea of a shared experience of love. Overall, I found this to be a quick, light-hearted read.
I enjoyed many elements here, especially the artistic ones. There was a lot of creativity surrounding the Heartifacts exhibit and Daniel’s video documentary that the family dynamics with Chloe’s elderly grandmother felt a little less important, though it made sense to have it part of the story. Chloe’s personality drove me nuts in the beginning because she was so forward with Daniel, but again, she’s a teenager. There was also a lot of good references and awesome friendships which are always pluses.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read a digital ARC of Artifacts of an Ex by Jennifer Chen. This YA contemporary romance will be released November 14, 2023. All opinions are my own.

Chloe manages her breakup with Jake by collecting artifacts from other people’s breakups. While hosting an art show, Chloe meets Daniel who encourages her to enhance the the exhibition through videos highlighting key points in relationships. Chloe falls for Daniel, although he is not convinced that she is over Jake. Of course, many months of angst ends with Chloe and Daniel together and Jake apologizing for his treatment of Chloe.

Content Warning: family member with declining health

+ I thought this was a cute read. Chloe moves from NYC to LA because her grandma needs help but before she left she gets dumped by her famous artist boyfriend. Chloe is aspires to be an art curator so she creates an exhibit in LA using people’s breakup boxes. A breakup box is the box full of items that mean something to the person while in the relationship. She meets Daniel and starts to like him.


+ The art aspect of this book was very interesting. I like the concept of the Heartifacts exhibit that Chloe is working on.

~ There is hardly mention of school in this book and it was kind of hard to believe that these artistic kids were only in high school! At times I felt like they weren’t high school kids with how easy they got their exhibits and vendors together to put on big events. Chloe was a bit judgmental about LA though

~ I felt like the book was very surface level and lacked some depth to the characters. I did like Chloe making friends but everything seemed to come so easily – even letting go of her ex.


My Thoughts:

This one was just okay for me. It’s a quick read and light-hearted romance but I felt like it was lacking character depth. I can definitely see this as a movie on Netflix though because of the art aspect of the story.

Thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read a digital ARC of Artifacts of an Ex by Jennifer Chen. This YA contemporary romance will be released November 14, 2023. All opinions are my own.

Chloe just moved from New York City to LA, so her family can take care of her ailing grandmother. Shortly after arriving, her boyfriend breaks up with her via USPS. Chloe turns her heartbreak into art and curates an exhibit of break-up boxes. At opening night, she meets Daniel, a budding film director, and develops a major crush. Daniel refuses to be another rebound and insists they just be friends. After taking some bad advice, Chloe will have to rely on her new friends in order to make her exhibit a success.

Artifacts of an Ex is a super quick, fun, and cute young adult romance story. I really enjoyed the main characters, Chloe and Daniel, and their shared love of Chloe's grandmother. This story is about friendships, relationships, first loves, and finding yourself. Some of the moments are very surface level and/or almost seem to easy, but I still enjoyed the message and the overall story. I like the idea of using art to make sense of a relationship and to move on. I also liked the idea of a shared experience of love. Overall, I found this to be a quick, light-hearted read.

⭐️⭐️✨💫
—
thank you to wednesday books and netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review ~<3
—
i really, really wanted to like this book. and on a certain level, i did. but on the grander scale, it wasn’t really for me.

artifacts of an ex is about chloe. her and her parents have recently moved from new york to LA to help take care of her grandmother who’s aging and beginning to lose her memory. on top of not making a lot of friends at her new school, she gets broken up with by her long distance boyfriend via a USPS’d shoebox full of mementos of their relationship. as she goes around the back of her family’s cafe to throw the box in the dumpster, she runs into a girl who can sympathize with her and shares the story of her own recent failed relationship, showing her the metro card she still keeps that they used.

chloe has basically sworn off art curating after her last exhibit with her now ex-boyfriend went completely wrong, but this bonding moment and new friendship has given her a new idea, inspired by another exhibit. the difference is that this will be by teens, for teens. she just has to have enough courage to try.

the story is honestly really good, and i did like it. where the book fell short for me, though, was mostly in the writing style. chloe is supposed to be sixteen but this book reads like it was written by someone who has never in their life spoken to a teenager, or at least not one in this decade. it was full of phrases and slang terms that i’ve never heard and would never in my life hear people actually say. i found myself thinking “no one talks like that” over and over again. maybe it’s just my dislike for pop culture references in books coloring my opinion, but it just didn’t vibe with me.

besides her sometimes questionable word choices, though, i did really like chloe. i appreciated what she was trying to do with her exhibit and would really like to actually see an exhibit like heartifacts in the real world. i think it would be amazing!

i also really liked daniel’s character, too. he seemed like a cool guy and someone i’d probably have wanted to be friends with in high school. i respected his hustle and determination to not just be another rebound.

another thing that grated on me was how some, or most, of the conflicts seemed to have been solved so easily. it feels like if you took them out, the story would be mostly unchanged, which makes me question why they were even there in the first place.

bottom line, this book was pretty good! not my favorite, but if someone told me it was theirs i’d be glad they were able to like it more than i was. more power to them.

This was a cute, light-hearted story about friendships and relationships told through art. I honestly don't have much more to say about this book than that. This is a quick read that covers all of the basics and delivers exactly what the synopsis promises it will. It was a bit surface level but it was enjoyable fluff. This was a light a fun story that YA contemporary lovers should enjoy.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a cute, light, fluffy read. If you're into teen romances, this is an easy read with a nice bow at the end. However, that is really the only selling point. I found the characters to come off as immature, even for a YA text, and for the plot to be really repetitive. It struggled to make an progress on the tension in the relationships. Additionally, the plot pacing seemed to come and go with "side quests" happening that didn't always fit the storyline. I love the concept of the Heartifacts, but I think it would translate better to a film than book. I wouldn't deter my students or friends from reading it, but I just don't think its for me.

3.5 ⭐️

With passion for becoming an art curator one day and being painfully dumped via USPS by her boyfriend, Chloe revels on building an exhibit based on break-up boxes. Moving to a new city across the country and having zero friends, she devotes her time curating Heartifacts. Channeling her creative energy also has her channeling feelings for an unexpected video creator, Daniel. Convinced he is the “rebound” guy, he thinks it’s better that he and Chloe stay friends, despite their chemistry, artistic connections, and undeniable attraction toward each other. How will Chloe work through her heartbreak and heartache? How will she show LA what she’s made of artistically?

I enjoyed many elements here, especially the artistic ones. There was a lot of creativity surrounding the Heartifacts exhibit and Daniel’s video documentary that the family dynamics with Chloe’s elderly grandmother felt a little less important, though it made sense to have it part of the story. Chloe’s personality drove me nuts in the beginning because she was so forward with Daniel, but again, she’s a teenager. There was also a lot of good references and awesome friendships which are always pluses.

The quick cut: A young woman who moves from NYC to LA with her family and is broken up with by her NY based boyfriend. The heartbreak sends her on an artistic adventure.

A real review:
Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing the arc for an honest review.

Heartbreak hurts every time, but when it happens during a difficult time? That makes it even worse. For Chloe, it moves her to express herself and show off her art curator skills.

Chloe's family is now based in LA, moving across the country from New York City after her grandma struggles with her health. As if that's not tough enough, her boyfriend Jake breaks up with her by sending her stuff to her in LA. Can she get past the pain? Or will she turn it into a new opportunity instead?

This is a very quick read and a light hearted story. If you go into this one knowing that, you won't be disappointed! For me it was the perfect change of pace from some intensely dark stories recently.

Chloe has had her life turned upside down moving to the other side of the country. So to have her boyfriend break up via mail? That just feels low and hurtful. She takes that pain and turns it into an expression that feels like a genuine response.

Daniel is a new LA friend who quickly turns into more for Chloe. He has his own reasons for avoiding a relationship. I don't want to spoil what they are, but they're unbelievable. I get it, lighthearted story. I still wish it was a more relatable reason.

Jake is nothing more than a low brow selfish jerk, almost too much so. The way the story ends leaves little resolution and it's almost too happy and ending for him. I hate that he didn't get what he deserved after how self centered he was.

A light story with a happy feel.

My rating: 4 out of 5