In this contemporary reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, former best friends Julie Wu and Randall Hur find themselves navigating the complexities of first love amid their families' bitter rivalry at the Pasadena Farmers Market. When they're paired for a school project along with wealthy classmate London Kim, their rekindled connection blossoms into something more—something more that they have to hide from their feuding grandmothers. As their feelings deepen, they must confront not only their families' painful history, but also their fears about loyalty, identity, and belonging – all while the auspicious Year of the Dragon offers hope for reconciliation.

Chen's novel shines in its authentic portrayal of Asian American families and cultural dynamics and differences—Julie is Taiwanese American and Randall is Korean American—and particularly in its thoughtful handling of Randall's identity as a trans man and the loving acceptance he receives from his grandmother. While the familiar enemies-to-lovers framework provides a solid foundation, the novel's true strength lies in its exploration of intergenerational relationships and the ways family histories and relationships shape young love. The mouthwatering descriptions of Taiwanese and Korean cuisine effectively underscore how food is a source of conflict and a language of love and source of cultural and familial pride within these interconnected families. The grandmothers' complex falling-out feels genuine rather than contrived, lending weight to the central conflict and adding textrue to the “will they, won’t they” relationship of the teenage protagonists.

However, at the same time, the narrative suffers at times from uneven pacing and underdeveloped plot threads. Some storylines, like the school project that brings Julie and Randall together, feel abandoned, and time jumps leave crucial relationship developments happening off-page, disrupting the development of the central relationship. The resolution of the family feud feels may also feel contrived for some, relying on a frequent romance trope, a deus ex machina, rather than organic character growth.

However, despite some structural weaknesses, Chen offers a cozy celebration of the complexities of teenage love, belonging, and the power of shared traditions, with depictions of contemporary multigenerational families that feels fresh and organic. Hangry Hearts is a tender exploration of young love that, like the cherished family recipes woven throughout its pages, combines familiar ingredients into something uniquely satisfying.

I really wanted to love this book. I love the idea of this book and I love the characters, but I just couldn’t finish it. There is a lot of extra fluff in there that made it drag on for me and I kept putting it down and trying to come back to it and it didn’t matter. I hate giving poor reviews because I know how hard authors work to create these beautiful pieces, so take my words with a grain of salt! I may just not have been the right reader for this one! I won’t leave a review on any other platform because I want to make sure the book has a chance! Thanks for the opportunity!

This was super cute, amazing characters, food that make me so hungry and lots of diversity! A perfect YA read if you need something fast paced to read.

4/5 ⭐

I want to start by saying that there needs to be more trans rep in romance, especially where it is simply trans joy. The Asian rep was also off the charts, and you can tell how much love Jennifer Chen has for Asian food and culture. The food descriptions were probably the strongest part of the book.

But food descriptions and representation arenot enough. The book also needs to be good. And this one...wasn't? Ugh, that makes me feel awful to say, but there were so many things that were hard to get past. The sentences were so choppy, the random switching of POVs in the middle of the chapter after a simply paragraph would ruin the flow of dramatic scenes, the ending was really random with the extended family just appearing, and worst of all: I couldn't tell why they loved each other. Maybe that was to honor Romeo and Juliet, where they are young and impressionable, but I thought we as 21st century readers and writers deserved real chemistry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this story. It kept me wanting more the entire time I was reading it. One of my top 10 books of the year.

Such a fun Romeo and Juliette retelling. I loved the modern elements and family rivalry. A must read.

dnf

I could not get into this story. the premise seemed fun, but the book wasn’t very well-written. the characters were boring and two-dimensional, the storyline was all over the place and it did not capture my attention at all. even for a ya book, everything felt very immature. overall, this story just wasn't for me.

Cute and simple, though I loved both the culture and the food representation. It kind of felt cliche and didn't quite stand out from others under the RomeoxJuliet trope, and sometimes it read as very "tell" and not "show." Plus, a pov shift occurred several times throughout the chapter- at one point there were even 3 to 4 pov shifts on one page. It just felt excessive, and I would have preferred to have seen the event from just one perspective. I didn't need a battle of the povs just to watch Julie climb some stairs.

It definitely made me hungry sometimes, though.

thank you to Netgalley and the author for the arc!

I loved this story from the beginning! The plot points were so on brand that you can’t help but devour the book in one setting! The character development was fantastic and I will definitely be recommending!

A heartwarming read with romance, food, and family dynamics. If you are looking for a cozy, YA, love story written by an AAPI author, check out Hangry Hearts.

Hangry Hearts is a friends to enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers story that has a lot of complexities and romance BUT is also a story about friends and family. At first, I really liked the concept (ex-friends (now enemies) are forced to work together for a school project) BUT this premise was over by like 35% of the way through the book! There was also a lot of back and forth between Julie (FMC) and Randall (MMC) where they get together, separate, and do it all over again. There was a lot going on and some of it was enjoyable but some was a bit of a struggle for me. One thing I really loved was the flow of the back and forth between Julie and Randall's POVs! Even in the middle of a chapter, the POV would switch and sometimes switch back and forth! It really added to the flow and romance! I also loved that this book is really diverse! There's Asian American viewpoints, LGBTQ+ male main character, lots of writing about different Asian foods and traditions, etc. Although, I struggled with the weird movement of time. It constantly bounced around and didn't make much sense. Also, this book doesn't really feel like the characters are supposed to be in high school, it feels like early college vibes.
Thank you to Wednesday Books for an early copy of this book! 💞

This books was such a cute and food filled book that made me laugh and hungry every time they mentioned food. It’s such a quick read and easy to follow.

The Romeo /juliet inspired love romance is cute especially with the rival family the family dynamic from both families is very relatable. The two love interest from two opposing family I can understand the struggles especially from an Asian point of view. It’s hard to stand up to your elders in your household, when they are the ones that had so much struggles coming over.

I would definitely recommend this when you want a light cute read ❤️

Hangry Hearts cooks up a bumpy novel that fizzles very quickly and was such a let down for me.

While this book markets itself as a Romeo & Juliet retelling there’s so much more to this book because Julie and Randall's story had so much potential. This was such a rocky read. The chapters end abruptly, the young characters are not aged up to where young adults are today, and moments that really "mattered" story wise needed more attention, grace, and care.

Ultimately, the book felt choppy and rushed. Which is such a disservice to the characters and the larger narrative that the author is attempting to convey. It's all about balance, and that...wasn't present in this book.

If this story was pushed to provide more room for growth, maturity, meaningful dialogue, exposition, and took more time with broader social and cultural themes? It would connect with so many readers that deserve to feel heard and seen in YA. Sadly, I was in shock at times by how elements in this book were handled with such a lack of care.

I wish I could find more positive things to say. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

(I may write a longer, more detailed review closer to publication, but I did want to get this quick version down before too much time passed after I actually read the book.)

As someone with strong opinions about adaptations and retellings, with Romeo and Juliet as a particular favorite source text, I honestly think it’s a disservice to Hangry Hearts to lead with the comparison, even if it was part of the original inspiration. (I don’t know for sure whether it was, but the characters’ names and some of the plot details strongly suggest this to be the case.) The parallels are limited: feuding families, character names, love triangle, secret rendezvous, some other tropes that are certainly not unique to R&J, some very specific details that might be allusions but also might not.

But I probably should have been expecting it, given R&J is famously a tragedy, while Hangry Hearts is clearly a romcom. (Yes, I’m aware that it says “inspired” rather than “retelling,” but let’s not argue semantics here.)

I genuinely think if I hadn’t been mentally comparing it to R&J the whole time, this book would have actually stood better on its own as a fluffy YA contemporary romance. The characters are likable, if not particularly memorable, and I did really like the cultural focus on family values and food traditions. Without going into spoilers, there is wonderful nuance to the representation in this book (Asian immigrant, Asian-American, queer). There’s not much more substance to the plot than we’re already given in the synopsis, but it was still enjoyable watching it all play out.

This book was great! I loved the food part of this book and it was so fun to read! And the romance was so cute!

All the food, love, hope, friendship, and family is this cutie 🫠 I was grinning the whole time 🥰

Randall & Julie's story was laid out so beautifully. The present mingled in with sprinkles of their past...their history together, was wonderful! I absolutely loved getting to know them and their connection to each other made me so giddy🫠

LGBTQ+ and Cultural representations are superb 👌 I adore this book!

And the shout-out from Jen in the acknowledgments 🥹 love you, that was so incredibly special!! I found Jen after Wednesdays books invited me to read her Debut of Artifacts of an Ex. After reading it and loving it, I connected with Jen on IG and have been cheering her on since. That book was my first bookstagram review 🫶 and Jen was my first follower!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for a chance to read an arc this book! 🖤

3⭐️ This was REAL familial beef! | tropes: romeo and juliet, rivials to lovers, ex-best friends | ya romance | digital

"Love is crazy and makes you do stupid things. But this, by far, is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done."

characters
🩶 Julie is a type a, tawaniese girl determined to pass her classes and help her family's food stall succeed. You can see how much she loves her family and but she also wanted to be in love and happy.
🩶 Randall is a lively and mischievous korean boy who is determined to save his school's community gardern. The marketing for this book didn't mention that Randall was trans and I liked how it was mentioned throughout the book but it wasn't his main storyline. He got insecure at times but he also didn't want to disappoint his Grandmother because of how
wholeheartedly she has loved and accepted him.

"But if you feel an ounce of what I’m feeling, can you please tell me?"

favorite bits
🖤 The hurt feelings between Julie and Randall are tense from their first interaction but the remnants of their former friendship filter through. They fall quickly but it's built on a mutual understanding and bond that they had for years so you do understand why they love each other so much.
🖤 I also was able to empathize with their feels of telling their families and why it was so difficult. It would have been easy to make their families controlling or bad but their families were wonderful and loving which made the main characters struggle more with the fear of hurting them.
🖤 I like how their grandmothers were humanized. The family break-up wasn't over something dumb but a real crack in the foundation of the relationship of these two women who leaned on each other for years. It made sense why they fell out and why that repair took so long to heal.
🖤 I loved the food in this book! It's what drew me to this book and was wonderful throughout!

issues
❌ Tyler... I tried to understand him and Julie's relationship but it felt lacking at times. I wanted their to be some development in regards to make their relationship better especially after a key event but it was completely ignored.
❌ The pacing did this book no favors. I felt like time was constantly skipping all over the place. I wish more there was more development in the main characters and their relationship after they got together and it focused on them rather than just the drawn our drama with their families. There was room in the narrative for both!

This was a fun read. I liked the relationships between the 2 families, although things were being alluded to but very vague which was a little frustrating.
The 2 main characters could have been better developed. If you read this book you will see that they have always had some sort of relationship with things once again being alluded too. In this instance I think it should have been discussed more. The way they were discussed just made them seem pretty empty, when you can tell they need and deserve more development.
I’m not a foodie, so I couldn’t really get in to all the foods being discussed but I do know I can get hangry so I thought I would give this book a read.

I really wanted to love this, it had adorable trans rep and the most mouth-watering food descriptions. Unfortunately, the characters just felt very flat and the romance did not feel convincing to me. It was very formulaic and I felt relied on a lot of "history" that happened before we got brought into the story. As a result, I just felt like I had no attachment to the characters. The grandmothers' weird resentment of actual children turned me off from the story as well.

2.7
If I disregard the fact that every character in this book had the emotional range of a bao bun, I still have to warn you that the writing has some deeply cringe moments. For example, a third grader is introduced to the reader (from the perspective of a teenage boy) as "a fat red head." Like, wha?