The Christmas Clash by. Suzanne Park | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Christmas Clash

Author: Suzanne Park

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 10/4/22

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Categories: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Holiday Romance, Teen

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

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…

Content Warning: bullying, racism

I wanted to read more holiday romances this year and so when I saw this on NetGalley, I requested it because I’ve read another book by Suzanne Park that I enjoyed. This one was a cute young adult romance. Here’s what did and didn’t work for me:

+ I love both the Korean and Chinese representation in this book. Peter’s family is Chinese and runs a Chinese restaurant and Chloe’s family runs a Korean restaurant. I thought it was cute how they each had a favorite food from one another’s restaurant even though they are rivals. We get a glimpse of into each of their family dynamics and a little bit of the histories too. We also see how Peter and Chloe deal with racism from their community. Chloe and Peter are very relatable.

+ The romance is super sweet, more geared towards a teen audience I think. Peter and Chloe only really know each other from the bad blood between their families, but they don’t even know the reason why they hate one another. So seeing them from enemies, to partners, to something more is really cute.

~ It’s a holiday romance and a lot of the story is set at a mall, which yes, is a staple during the holidays because of Christmas shopping and pictures with Santa. There is a Friendsgiving scene, so this is basically the start of the holidays but not quite at Christmas yet. So it had some elements hinting to Christmas but it isn’t totally full-on Christmas, which I was hoping for.

~There are a bunch of things going on in the story. The mall is about to close and Chloe and Peter try to save it because it’s their families livelihood. In their attempts to save it they find out more about the bad blood between their families. Chloe is trying to achieve her dreams of winning an art award that could help her with college. Also the romance is happening between them and I like that there was depth to the characters but I feel like the story didn’t flow as easily as it should.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, family rivalry, saving a location from closure

Spice Level:

Why you should read it:

• it’s a holiday romance that doesn’t countdown to Christmas, more like events that are happening around the holidays and it was nice to see the families make peace, the store owners fight for their livelihood and a little romance thrown in
• the romance is sweet and cute, more geared towards teens than young adult
• nice Chinese and Korean representation

Why you might not want to read it:

• might not have as much Christmassy elements for a Christmas romance

My Thoughts:

This was a cute holiday romance where two teens from rival restaurant families fall for one another when they decide to pair up and help save the mall and their family businesses. I liked the Korean and Chinese culture representation and that we do get holiday references even though the story doesn’t count down to Christmas like in some other holiday romances. I feel like teen readers would enjoy this one a lot.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by. Suzanne Park | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫