It is 1:30 in the morning and I just finished reading Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick. There was no waiting to write about this beautiful story because it has my whole heart right now.

I got a copy of this book while trying to win one for my sister. I saw Christina Lauren had tweeted their praise of it, and my sister adores Korean music and culture, so when a giveaway popped up, I went for it. Well, we both won a copy, and I’m so thankful for it. Heart and Seoul gave me a bit of a window into her world and an understanding of why it has such a special place in her heart. Frederick paints a beautiful picture of someone seeing South Korea for the first time and trying to pick up on all the intricacies of how you address people and behave. Plus, there’s a lot of talk of food… to the point I had to go to a nearby Korean restaurant at least once.

Anyways, about the story. Heart and Seoul follows Hara through a journey to understand who she is in this world. She was born in Seoul, but her biological mother gave her up and she was adopted by an American family in Iowa. Just a smidge of a culture difference there. Hara feels out of place in Iowa, especially after her adoptive dad died and his new wife wanted his “real” child to get his life insurance money.

Hara decides to do a DNA test and receives contact from a man claiming to be her biological father, so she goes to Seoul to meet him. When she arrives at the airport, she gets confused and thinks a handsome young man is the driver a friend arranged for her. He, being a polite Korean, gives her a ride anyways and befriends her. He just doesn’t know the real reason she’s there or the twists and turns along her journey to discovering herself and her family.

I’ve seen some hate about this book because [SPOILER ALERT], it does not follow the rule of happy endings and therefore should not be called a romance. Haters gonna hate, y’all. It’s a love story in so many different ways. I would definitely argue that what she does at the end is love. There’s no other reason to make that kind of sacrifice other than love. The unfortunate reality is that love doesn’t always overcome all circumstances to work out. If you want to argue that this isn’t a love story or a romance, then you lose all right to talk about past relationships as love if you don’t stay with them forever. Forget your high school sweethearts and first loves, because in that line of thinking, they aren’t worth the story.

Stepping off my soap box… for now.

[NOTE: After publishing this post, I came across the happy news that there is a sequel on the way! Seoulmates is available for pre-order now, so those who hated the lack of HEA can not give up entirely.]

Heart and Seoul is nothing short of beautiful, emotional, and dramatic. There are so many twists and turns along the way, and some of them snuck up on me in the best way. Annnnnd now I need bulgogi.

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