Book Review for The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park

 The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park 

Genre:  Christmas, RomCom, Young Adult Romance

Publication: October 4th 2022 by Sourcebooks Fire

 

Taken from Goodreads:  Who's naughty and nice at Riverwood Mall? In this hilarious holiday rom-com, two rivals get together to save their families' livelihoods, and Christmas, too!

Chloe Kwon can't stand Peter Li. It's always been that way. Their families don't get along either: their parents operate rival restaurants in the Riverwood Mall food court―Korean food for the Kwons and Chinese food for the Lis. Now it's the holiday season and Chloe's the photographer at the mall's Santa Land, and Peter works at the virtual reality North Pole experience right across the atrium. It's all Chloe can do to avoid Peter's smug, incredibly photogenic face.

But it turns out the mall is about to be sold to a developer and demolished for condos. Eviction notices are being handed out right before Christmas. Their parents don't know what to do, and soon Chloe and Peter realize that the two of them need to join efforts to try to save the mall. Just when it seems like they can put aside their differences and work closely (very closely) together, they discover that the Kwon and Li feud goes far deeper than either of them realize..

 

My Thoughts:  A Christmas book being read while it is 90 degrees outside?  This book made me ready for colder days, crackling fires, cuddling under blankets, and hot cocoa.  The book is set in the current time, but I was picturing the enclosed mall that I grew up with in the 90’s that is no longer there.   I could see the anchor stores, the pop-up stores, and the food court.  All the cool kids hung out at our mall. 

 

Peter and Chloe have a vested interest in the mall staying open.  Both of their families own restaurants in the food court.  Both families are incredible proud and do not want to ask for help.  Both families are in a feud with each other.  I never really felt like Peter and Chloe were enemies, maybe more of a just not friends feeling.  I did like as they came together but it would have been fun to have a little more drama there. Peter and Chloe went through files, they studied leases, and they pulled the other owners of stores together to fight the landlord and save their mall.   They did all the work to try to save the mall, work that I not sure that I would know how to do.  

 

The Christmas Clash is a fun, quick, and easy book.  I enjoyed reading it and am happy to be starting my Christmas book reading, even if it is still warm out.  

 

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet SuzannePark (taken from her website):  Suzanne Park is a Korean American writer who was born and raised in Tennessee.

In her former life as a stand up comedian, Suzanne appeared on BET's "Coming to the Stage," was the winner of the Seattle Sierra Mist Comedy Competition, and was a semi-finalist in NBC's "Stand Up For Diversity" showcase in San Francisco.

Suzanne graduated from Columbia University and received an MBA Degree from UCLA. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, female offspring, and a sneaky rat that creeps around on her back patio. In her spare time, she procrastinates. Her novels have been featured in “best of” lists in NPR, Popsugar, Real Simple, Country Living, Bustle, Buzzfeed, Marie Claire, Parade, Shondaland and The Today Show.