If you’ve been around here for a minute or two, you’ve probably figured out that Susan Lee is an author I adore both for her cute debut novel, Seoulmates [Buy Bookshop Amazon] and because she’s a super delightful human. I first met her at YALLFest 2021 and we’ve been internet buddies ever since.
I acquired an ARC of her new novel, The Name Drop at YALLWest 2023, and was ecstatic. It was the book I wanted the most from the festival and getting it in my hot little hands brought pure joy. I thought it was a sequel based on the little snippet she shared with pre-orders of Seoulmates, but that was just a fun bonus scene connecting the two for fans. You don’t have to read the first book at all for the second.
The Name Drop [Buy Bookshop Amazon] follows two young adults on their journey to New York City for an internship with a major Korean company, Haneul Corp. Jessica’s dad works for the company, but doesn’t make a lot of money. She wanted the internship in order to make connections that would help her get scholarships for college. Her dad doesn’t want her doing the internship, but he also doesn’t know her reasons and that she’s really trying to protect his pride.
Elijah is the son of the CEO. He’s supposed to take over at some point down the road, but he doesn’t want to. He’s not interested in it at all. When he leaves Korea for the internship, he says he doesn’t want any special treatment, but is surprised to find himself at the very back of a cramped flight.
Meanwhile, Jessica is up in first class, nervous about how she ended up with all the special treatment and a brownstone to herself. The pair discovers they have the same Korean name and decide to keep living the summer in switched roles to get what they each want out of their few weeks without parents. Obviously, hijinx ensue.
This book also has a lot to say. It’s chocked full of social commentary on misogyny and the economic divide. The way Jessica is treated gets quite annoying. Same with Elijah’s sister. Susan worked in HR before becoming a writer, so I’m sure she’s seen a lot of this crap firsthand. She handles it in a way that points out there’s a problem, but doesn’t weigh down the story. It is YA, so getting too nitty gritty on the topics just wouldn’t fit quite right.
This was such a quick, fun read. I simply adored it. I wanted to keep reading it, even though I had other things that I needed to finish first, but YOLO. This won out. Are there some factual issues in it? Probably. The math doesn’t always math so much, but I hate math so I don’t want to try to figure it out. Just move along and enjoy the concept. I know that’s opposite of a previous review of mine this year, but ignore that. Lol.
If you’re a BTS fan, be on the lookout for some references in there. I definitely squealed when an off-page character is mentioned and his name is Seokjin. It made me happy, and that’s probably why I was able to ignore the details that don’t quite fit. If you make the rest of the story enjoyable enough, it can cover other issues.
Do yourself a favor and grab this right now.
Literary HypeWoman 