This was a delightful YA novel. I loved the concept of using heartbreak and exploring the art and message behind the emotions. Chen was able to create true growth in the character of Chloe, and I love the message that popularity and followers are superficial and do not really fulfill a person.

This was such a cute, light, fluffy read! It was enjoyable to watch as Chloe became more confident in herself while going through such big changes in her life.
This is not my usual kind of read but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Inspiration strikes Chloe when she gets dumped by her super hot, talented artist boyfriend Jake through a shoebox that he mailed to her filled with items from their relationship. With her planner, stickers, and many Post-It notes, she forms the idea to collect these boxes filled with artifacts from people's exes and curate an exhibition to reveal the universality of heartbreak. Opening night is filled with less people than Chloe would have wanted, but it gets even worse when she spots a boy filming his best friend's reaction to an artifact box when she explicitly told people not to take photographs or videos of these highly personalized boxes. She confronts this boy, Daniel, and it simmers down to a fiery partnership that has the two going on not-dates to create a short film to accompany Chloe's Heartifacts exhibition. Chloe falls hard for Daniel, but Daniel is dead set on not becoming another rebound. Through mistakes and imperfections, Chloe learns about all the forms of love and heartbreak, updating Heartifacts to be even better and maybe even getting the boy who has his heart guarded.

Artifacts of an Ex has such a fun story line! Chloe's idea of Heartifacts is such a beautiful showcase of young love and what it means to learn about love. My favorite part of the book was reading about the art pieces in Heartifacts. I'm mind blown by the artistic interpretation and ideas of these characters. Heartifacts would surely be a hit if it was real! I also loved the description of the foods. (I really want some pineapple tarts right now) Jennifer Chen's writing style is so fun and polished, it's a balance that I really enjoy reading about.

I didn't really like how fast paced this book was. It felt kind of boring to read after a while because I'm just following what Chloe is doing without anything eventful to look forward to. I think that the relationship between Chloe and Daniel is cute, and they seem perfect for each other, but I just can't stand all the constant friendzoning. It just felt repetitive, and I wish we could have explored Daniel's reluctance to relationships more.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for sending me an e-copy of this book for an honest review!

This book was such a sweet YA book. I appreciated the multicultural aspect woven through the story. Parts felt a touch like a sponsorship with the Happy Planner and Pentel name dropping but otherwise this book was really enjoyable.

This book was actually pretty cute. I had a hard time relating to the main characters unless I pretended they were in their 20s. Probably because I had zero clue what I wanted to do in life as a teen! These teens were talented, ambitious, and honestly just impressive! Getting over the teen aspect, I really enjoyed the relationship between Chloe and Daniel.

I realized pretty quickly that the heartifacts exhibit is an interesting concept, but not one I’m interested in reading about. I think going to one in real life, about real people would be super fun!! But reading about it just didn’t really land correctly with me. There were just so many details about a fake exhibit and fake relationship and I understand that I’m sounding crazy because Hannah it’s FICTION all of it is fake!!! but it just wasn’t interesting. The last 10% revolves around the final version of the exhibit, as the relationship was already tied with a bow.

There also wasn’t much tension in the romance? She was hung up on her ex which got tiring, and he was too scared to be a rebound…which valid…but that also got old. I liked that she was the pursuer, but it still didn’t do much for me. Also the video they made in the first third of the book felt very random and made for cute tropes…but did nothing for the plot and was over by 30%??

Chloe was an okay heroine, and I didn’t mind her POV. I wasn’t a big fan of her Happy Planner stuff though, as it felt very out of place. It didn’t really tie into the plot at all? Daniel felt a little like a cardboard cutout…and I didn’t buy his big confession. I really would’ve liked to have his POV; would’ve explained his thoughts and feelings in a way we simply didn’t get. His rebound reasoning was pretty one-dimensional and fell flat.

I just feel that the pace was super off. The heartifacts thing started so quickly I kinda got whiplash. I genuinely think the book could’ve been over around 50%? The structure was the same throughout the whole book: version one of exhibit, she asks him out and is rejected; version two of exhibit, she asks him out and is rejected; version three of the exhibit, the get together. I just felt like I was reading the same thing thee times…which meant a lot of exhibit stuff and a lot of lukewarm pining.

Overall, this just wasn’t the book for me which is so sad. The bones of a good romance were there, but as a whole it felt rushed, underdeveloped…yet still too long? I’d read more from the author, but I wouldn’t reread this one. It took me way too long to read physically, so maybe grabbing the audiobook would help the pacing issues I had.

HOWEVER, I do need to note that I loved the last paragraph. I’m like 98% certain it’s referencing one of the last scenes of Valentine’s Day!! In the movie scene, Ann Hathaway’s character ignores a phone call and says she going to have sex with her boyfriend on Valentine’s Day instead. In this scene, Daniel is like we’re gonna be late, and Chloe says she’s too busy kissing her boyfriend. Idk I could be totally connecting the wrong dots…but I basically have that movie memorized so I’m pretty confident.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5


Thanks to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All options are honest and my own.

This was such a cute and interesting plot.

Everyone always has a box of their significant others belongings. Whether it’s their clothes, things you did together like concert tickets, festivals, movie tickets, etc. everyone has one and when you break up the last thing you want is to keep that around to remind you of what you had that is now gone.

Then there’s Chloe who created an art piece of people’s breakup boxes. And why they broke up. Such an interesting and beautiful concept. In moving from NY to LA she is given the opportunity to step into the real art world and show everyone her idea.

Along the way she finds found family, a perfect guy friend who may turn into more after a few rejections because he doesn’t want to be a rebound… and just overall character growth. Self love, confidence.

This was really cute and I really enjoyed the concept. Quite the slow burn though

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to Read this arc 💕

Found at random on netgalley and I was drawn to it by the blurb. Looked instering to read. Glad I was accepted to read this because yeah it was instering book to read. I couldn't put it down at all. Might reread it later on in the year and I have told a few of my friends that they need to read this book. Hopefully they do. 5 star book

I really, really wanted to like this which makes the fact that I really, really didn't a thousand times harder.

I couldn't figure out how to describe my feelings about Artifacts of an Ex until I got to the acknowledgements. When Jennifer Chen said that she wrote this book during a "joyless" time, a light bulb went off. I hate to say it, but joyless is exactly how I'd describe Artifacts of an Ex, both the story itself and my reading experience. Lifeless, emotionless, soulless, Artifacts of an Ex is a gaping void of a story that's just missing that spark that brings a book to life.

I love the concept--a break-up-inspired exhibit, the dumpee, and the boy who's always the rebound--but the execution is sorely lacking. The pacing is totally off, and the story is all over the place. Chen whips through the love story like it's something painful to get through. Apparently there's a "sex at sixty" rule in screenwriting where characters in rom-coms get together at the 60 min mark around the midpoint. I've noticed a similar trend in romance books around 60% into the book, but Jennifer Chen breaks with tradition and has the first kiss start at the 20% mark. Why is there kissing at 20?? Granted, Chloe and Daniel don't actually get together at this point, but this early kiss pretty much epitomizes the romance which is one of the most cursory attempts at insta-love I've ever read. The characters have just been introduced at this point, so it's really hard to root for them to fall in love when you're still trying to get to know them. Unfortunately, you'll be trying for a long time. Both Chloe and Daniel are lackluster protagonists who lack any distinguishing characteristics. In fact, the two are so forgettable that I finished the book and immediately forgot their names. (I just wrote my review using PROTAG and BOY and went back to fix it later.) Chloe, at least, is a watered down version of the Ambitious Female Character(!), but Daniel is an altogether forgettable character. I'm not sure what there is to like about him other than the fact that he's nice to the elderly and has a nice butt, which makes the fact that Chloe immediately falls head over heels for him a complete mystery.

The romance is really repetitive--Chloe (for reasons unbeknownst to me) likes Daniel, Daniel obviously likes but rejects her, rinse and repeat. Neither of the characters are particularly developed, so their relationship isn't either. The breakneck pacing means that we never get a chance to get to know either of them and jump from their first meeting to their very contrived first (not-a-)date to their confession. There isn't really any kind of tension, and the story lacks any kind of meaningful conflict. The "we can't be together" excuse feels flimsy mainly because everything is glossed over and underdeveloped. Again, I think the premise has potential, but because it isn't developed, the whole story falls flat. Instead of giving Daniel a complex backstory and compelling motivation, Chen literally gives him a string of disastrous first dates and a "Rebounds" photo album on his phone. Maybe if it'd be fleshed out more it could've been funny, but Daniel's dating history was so ridiculously pathetic it was laughable.

The story itself is full of contradictions. Whether its little things like friend's ex- dates someone from UCLA then USC or more significant things like the fact that Chloe's exhibit for the weekly "teen night" turns into a months-long endeavor, the story is made up of bits and pieces that very obviously don't fit together. It makes the whole thing feel like a Fraken-draft where different versions were copied and haphazardly pasted together. (I get that multi-verses are in now, but this is just a bunch of inconsistencies.) The entire story feels like a rough or very early draft of a story--a splattering of ideas that need to be corralled and cleaned up to make a cohesive story. It just doesn't feel like things were thought through. When the story starts, Chloe has a budget that is "zero dollars" because the exhibit is free, but less than a hundred pages later, she's spending money that magically appears from nowhere. (While we're on the topic of finances, how is she funding all this? I'm the least business-minded person you'll meet, but even I couldn't suspend enough disbelief to pretend that the exhibit was somehow financially feasible.) The budget seems to grow and shrink with the needs of the story which makes for awfully convenient writing, but not very consistent storytelling. Maybe I'm being nitpicky here, but when I'm not invested in the story or the characters, I'm left with way too much brain power and energy that needs to be directed to something else...like poking holes in a paper-thin plot.

Jennifer Chen’s Artifacts of an Ex is a story of love, art, and finding your way when everything you know has changed completely.When Chloe Chang gets dumped. Artifacts of an Ex is a cute YA romcom story in which Chloe Chang uses her recent break up,

I would like to start off my review by stating that I received an E-Arc through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Artifacts of an Ex by Jennifer Chen is a cute, quirky romance based in L.A. The main female lead, Chloe, has been uprooted from New York City and finds herself in a completely new community full of vibrant characters, eye opening art, and amazing food ( yum! ).

I went into this book blind, the cover completely drew me in and I knew that I didn’t need to know anything else. The opening of the book is just as charming as the cover suggests, giving you a main character that’s easy to relate to and has a typically positive outlook on her situation. Until her ex breaks up with her THROUGH THE MAIL!!!!

Now the character is relatable in a completely different way, showing a bit more of their insecurity and how negative their thoughts can be even when they’re doing amazing things with the friends that they’re making along the way.

At first, when Daniel was introduced, I thought he was going to be one of those totally cringe film bros, but I was pleasantly surprised by their charismatic dialogue and caring attitude towards their friends. I related to Daniel a bit more than Chloe in terms of getting used before people get back together with their ex. I also liked how this slowed the pace a little bit more, making it a bit of a slow burn.

This is a cute, fluffy romance that will make you grit your teeth and swoon within the same chapter. Parts of this book are absolutely tragic, creating a depth to this novel that draws you in and makes you want to finish it as soon as possible so you can find out how everything works out between Chloe and Daniel! ( I literally could not sleep until I knew they were endgame )

I would 100% recommend this to friends and family with common interests. Thank you for the opportunity!

Break ups suck but they suck even more when you get dumped by a box in the mail. Chloe is devastated when she gets break up box in the mail from her long distance boyfriend. She decides to turn her pain into art. She gets an idea to start collecting other teenagers breakup artifacts for an art exhibit. She meets Daniel at her art show and he challenges her to dig deeper with her exhibit. Together they work on a new art show and become quick friends until they start mohave feelings for each other. Daniel is resistant to Chloe because he does not want to be a rebound from her breakup. Chloe has to find a way to prove to Damsel that their feelings for each other go deeper than a rebound. Artifact of an Ex was a cute read. I enjoyed the art side of it a lot! It was such a unique idea and I would totally go to an Artifacts of an Ex art exhibit!

I really just didn't vibe with this book. The first few chapters felt really messy and I struggled to pick it up again. Thank you, NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Artifacts of an Ex is a fun and feisty YA debut novel from Jennifer Chen. From falling in love to heartbreak, through crushes and rebounds, Artifacts reminds us that the only way to find the real deal is to truly open yourself up to all of the risk that comes along with love. Four stars!

*I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Artifacts of An Ex was a fun read that tackles the art world, the mindset of creators, community, and musings on love and breakups. I enjoyed reading it! I went back and forth between liking and not being sure about the name dropping of products, but ultimately found it to be a part of the story that contributed to understanding the characters and the world.

I really enjoyed this one! Normally YA romance is hit or miss for me because I don’t like when the characters sound super immature. This wasn’t an issue with this novel as the characters almost seem too mature for their ages. I loved watching their relationship develop and I felt like the premise was very unique! Definitely purchasing a copy for my classroom library!

Very cute short book, Very well written Chloe's character was really well developed. I will be looking out for More things by Jennifer Chen.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

”But I’ve been down this road before with other girls, and Chloe, you’re not just some girl to me. You are the girl.”

-teen/ya read, friends to lovers, Asian American cultural representation, 2SLGBTQIA+ representation as well
-Chloe is going through a break up but meets charming and sweet Daniel, however, he refuses to be her rebound and going on fake dates together isn’t helping them keep things off limits 🖼️📸🎞️
-definite read for an art lover although I felt the teens came off too mature, they just had a lot of ambition and opinions (just felt a tad forced to me)
-I liked the development of Chloe and Daniel’s friendship, thought they were cute together ❤️
-thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC

3.5⭐️

Super cutesy style romance. I love the cover and the cover at but the story itself is even better. I love both main characters although they did make me mad at times. Very well written

This book is so cute! It gave me all of the warm fuzzies that you get when you read or watch romcoms! Chloe's idea of using the artifacts of her long distance ex-boyfriend to create apart exhibit. It was a wonderful read that shows great growth. This journey was a sweet one!

Thank you Jennifer Chen and Netgalley for sending me an ePub of this book. All opinions expressed are my own!