*We received this book in exchange for an honest review.*
High school senior Valerie Kwon runs K&C K-BEAUTY, her school’s number one student-run business, with her cousin Charlie. Valerie’s goal is to save enough money to take her beloved halmeoni to Paris (and maybe show her mother that she’s worth as much as her successful older sister). But when Wes Jung arrives at school and begins selling K-BEAUTY products of his own, Valerie’s business is threatened. Little does she know that Wes is desperate for the money himself— he wants to pursue music in college and his parents disapprove. So when their businesses overlap and customers are at stake, the two make a bet: whoever earns the most profits by Prom keeps the entire pot. What’s better than a little healthy competition to turn these competitors into maybe something more?
First of all, we love anything K-pop/drama/beauty related, so we were *all in* for this premise! Throw in the prospect of a good enemies-to-lovers trope and we were invested.
We loved Valerie as a main character. She was definitely not one sided and had amazing drive. While others may have found her cold and calculating, we loved seeing the motivations for her intense business drive. She was a boss businesswoman and wasn’t going to let any new kid stand in her way! We were so proud of her for sticking up to her mom and sister. We found Valerie’s struggle for perfection to be so relatable.
And Wes! He was a dream and one of the sweetest YA love interests we’ve seen in a while. He truly had a heart of gold, and while this was an enemies-to-lovers trope, he wasn’t the usual dark and brooding love interest we usually see. We were glad Suk wrote Made in Korea from a dual POV— seeing Wes’s side of things helped us understand his motivations. We loved that he also stood up to his parents. This was definitely a book about two teens coming into their own and we loved that aspect of the plot!
Finally, the romance! It was adorable. While Valerie was tough as nails, we loved seeing her warm up to Wes. Wes helped her realize she was more than just her business and in return she pushed him to see just how good he was at his music. They made each other better and that was the best part of their relationship!
Though we’re glad Wes and Valerie eventually stood up to their parents, we did have a hard time reading their scenes at home with their families. Valerie’s mom was so hard on her, as was Wes’s dad. We wanted to stand up and protect our little babies, ha! Though, we are glad Valerie had that heart-to-heart with her sister. We also would LOVE to have a halmeoni like Valerie’s. She was amazing and we’d definitely go to Paris with her!
We thoroughly enjoyed the ending— it was like a nice pretty bow on top of a present! We liked how everything wrapped up nicely, though we’re sad we won’t see more of Wes. We will definitely be picking up Suk’s next novel!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm All Booked Up - a young adult book blog 
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one! It’s one of my favorites! Lovely review!
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Thank you! We had so much fun reading it.
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i’m glad you enjoyed this book! i’m super excited to read it myself
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We hope you enjoy it!
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i’m so happy y’all enjoyed this one! wes sounds like such an adorable guy haha!
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He was lol! It’s funny because Wes is the name of the love interest in another book we recently read.
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Sounds like an interesting setting for this story. A cool variation that would make a good read
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Thank you!
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Okay, well absolutely *everything* about this book sounds adorable and precious and now I clearly need to read it as soon as I can! The concept sounds really lighthearted and fun, with depth as well. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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It’s so much fun and we enjoyed how ambitious the characters were.
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This comes across as a sweet, light-hearted read. That, coupled with a South Korean setting. I’m thinking a Kdrama in print. 대박
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It’s actually set in the United States. However, the MC is Korean-American and the love interest is from Korea. It is like a sweet Kdrama though.
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Lovely post! This sounds really cute and just such a fun read tbh – I might have to add this to my tbr now! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you!
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This is an amazing post! This sounds like such an interesting book!
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Thank you!
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This book sounds great, thank you for sharing!
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Thank you!
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This book sounds so cute & I like the k-beauty aspect! It’s great to hear that both the main characters are likable & I like that the book is told from both their POVs.
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The K-Beauty was such a fun aspect because it hasn’t been done before in YA.
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Yes exactly!
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This book sounds so cute! I’m glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you!!
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This book sounds adorable! I agree with your point that dual POV romances are a lot of times the best choice. I really like being able to know the thoughts and feelings of each character in a relationship, especially if miscommunication is a trope being used.
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Aww, this sounds like such a light-hearted, fun read! Love the title and cover. ❤
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