Jennifer Chen

I picked this up because an Korean/Taiwanese Romeo and Juliet YA retelling centered around feuding food vendors sounded like a fantastic premise. I was so surprised (in a good way) to find out the MMC is trans and just living his best life with a supportive, loving family.

I loved all the food descriptions! Do not read this while hungry. Seriously. I liked the nods to Romeo and Juliet that I found throughout the story, but I really loved that the conflict centered on the two MC's show more grandmothers being former best friends. The pacing is a little atypical of a traditional romance, but it was still a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review. show less

Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen is a YA contemporary romance that reimagines Romeo and Juliet through a modern lens, featuring a Taiwanese-American female lead and a biracial Korean-American transman lead. While the premise is promising—a childhood-friends-to-lovers romance set against the backdrop of feuding grandmothers and rival food stalls—the execution left me wanting more.

The biggest issue is the pacing. The main conflict, a community service project, is wrapped up in the first 100 show more pages and never mentioned again. Time jumps between chapters make it hard to feel connected to the characters’ growth, especially in the romance. When Randall asks for a month-long break to process his emotions, the story skips ahead without showing how this impacts them, reducing key emotional moments to quick summaries. For a romance, this lack of development is disappointing.

The book does shine in some areas. Randall’s identity as a transman is seamlessly woven into the narrative, with his POV offering insight into his experiences. His passion for gardening is a nice contrast to Julie’s love of cooking, adding depth to their characters beyond their relationship. However, I expected more from the food descriptions given the setting. While mandu and fan tuan are highlighted, the culinary focus shifts toward produce and gardening, which wasn’t as engaging.

Overall, Hangry Hearts has a strong premise and important representation but falls short in execution. The romance is sweet, but the rushed pacing and lack of emotional build-up lessen its impact. Recommended for YA readers looking for more trans and Asian representation in romance, but those hoping for a deeply immersive love story might find it underwhelming.

#HangryHearts #YARomance #TransRep #AsianLoveStory #ChildhoodFriendsToLovers #RomeoAndJulietRetelling show less

Recommended: sure
For a surprisingly entrepreneurial young adult novel, for a character who DEFINITELY fails and then learns from it, for heavy emphasis on being honest with yourself

Thoughts:
There were things about this book that annoyed me, but overall they were minor and the larger themes and beats were strong. The biggest detractor was that I didn't really like the main character, but I think that's a me-problem.

Starting with the bad, the small things were minimal, like her calling Los show more Angeles La La Land more often than not. That just felt really... touristy and tacky to me? Like living in Chicago and calling it your Windy City or Boston and calling in Beantown. One of those things that's like, tell me you aren't from here. Cringy, you know? 🙄

The larger issues with Chloe are how the things that she feels are world-ending are so bafflingly not. She's a young teen so it's not unbelievable that something incredibly minor could feel, to her, like the worst thing that has happened in her life. But I didn't feel that way, and it put a lot of distance between me and her as I started to feel like she was a bit of a willful idiot. The Big Incident at her ex's show is incredibly underwhelming and it made everything else feel weaker. The other choices she makes just seem so clearly bad and incorrect. I guess age and hindsight help, but boy it was tough to get on board.

On the plus side, though, the focus after her mistakes is her learning from them and actually changing the way she does things. I'm all about that message, especially for a younger audience, but I think everyone can use that reminder to do the same every now and then.

The art aspect was interesting to see some of the setup and behind the scenes, but the art itself, both from Chloe and from Daniel was kind of... meh. Since the art plays such important parts in this story having it fall a little flat for me took the whole story down a bit. In particular, one of the Big Gesture moments at the end hinges on art and at the end of it's scene I was just like, wow that was really shitty and poor. Sorry. 😅 Instead of making me smile or tear up at how sweet it was, I felt almost indignant thinking "THAT was the best you could come up with??" No thanks. But again... age differences... maybe that's mattering for me right now. 😅

So overall I didn't like Chloe very much and I didn't care for anyone's art very much, but the themes of the story were strong and that's what I enjoyed more than the actual characters. It was sort of a meh read for me, but if you're more interested in art and okay with characters who do truly act their age (read: naive, inexperienced, often wrong) then this is probably a hit for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.
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Wouldn't we all like to make sense of a relationship that has ended? In this book, Chloe gets dumped when her soon to be ex sends her a breakup package that is completely unexpected. What follows is her attempt to get over him, something that's messy, extended and complicates everything when she meets Daniel. When she gets the inspiration to create an exhibit of things she and others have saved from a failed relationship. it's the beginning of a very interesting ride. Chloe, Daniel, Ahma, show more and the rest of the characters are vivid, relatable and all too human. A neat read from start to finish. show less