A Review On Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick

When Hara Wilson has the opportunity to go to Seoul in search of her birth parents, she is unexpectedly thrown into a whirlwind romance and the drama of the search for her true biological mother, things seem to go awry and unexpected. But as Hara navigates Seoul, she finds herself in a bit of conundrum, unsure about who she truly is.

Book: Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick
Series: Seoul Series #1
Publication Date: May 25, 2021
(Thank you NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review)
**While this book has already been out I did receive it early so thank you again NetGalley!**
Tags: Adult, romance, travel, adopted
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Thrift Books
Read: February 16, 2022 to February 23, 2022

As a Korean adoptee, Hara Wilson doesn’t need anyone telling her she looks different from her white parents. She knows. Every time Hara looks in the mirror, she’s reminded that she doesn’t look like anyone else in her family—not her loving mother, Ellen; not her jerk of a father, Pat; and certainly not like Pat’s new wife and new “real” son.

At the age of twenty-five, she thought she had come to terms with it all, but when her father suddenly dies, an offhand comment at his funeral triggers an identity crisis that has her running off to Seoul in search of her roots.

What Hara finds there has all the makings of a classic K-drama: a tall, mysterious stranger who greets her at the airport, spontaneous adventures across the city, and a mess of familial ties, along with a red string of destiny that winds its way around her heart and soul. Hara goes to Korea looking for answers, but what she gets instead is love—a forbidden love that will either welcome Hara home…or destroy her chance of finding one.

Spoiler Free Review

I gave Heart and Seoul 3.5 stars, finding that the story and plotline was just something that didn’t make me very interested. I found that Hara, for someone who is 25 years old was rather immature and that some of her actions were rather questionable throughout the book. Her thoughts and her actions seemed like something that would have been perfect for a teenager in high school. Although she was in a foreign country searching for her biological parents, she was too childlike and I wasn’t really invested on Hara as I thought I would.

I loved that Hara was really determined to find her birth parents in order to truly find out where she came from. As an Asian American, she’s always felt different and I wholeheartedly agree with the way she felt. The need to travel to Seoul was understandable. But, for a 25 year old traveling alone, this book wrote as if she were an 18 year old just about to go to college and discovering another country. I gave this 3.5 stars because the premise was fascinating and I enjoyed some aspects of it, but unfortunately, her level of immaturity was too much and I just was not a fan of the way she acted.

Could this have been a better written book with stronger plot? Of course. And if Hara acted like a 25 year old and not like she was still a teenager, I would have enjoyed it more. Truly throughout the whole book I was expecting her to go back home to start college until I read the synopsis when writing this review and discovered she was in her mid 20s. I would have liked to enjoy this book a lot more, but unfortunately did not.

Thank you again to NetGalley and Berkley Books for inviting me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I hope you guys have a great day, please like and comment down below if you enjoyed this book as well or if you plan on reading it!

Loves,

Veronica Chen