Grace K. Shim

Family mysteries, clashing cultures, and long… dramatic… pauses… The Noh Family tells the story of 18-year-old Chloe Chang and her sudden discovery of the Korean family she never knew she had. The SUPER RICH Korean family she never knew she had. With all the haunting secrets and plot twists of a K-drama, this book is a fun dive into another culture and the process of becoming an insider while still being an outsider. Chloe’s struggle to define herself as a young adult is honest and engaging, and the exploration of what love and loyalty within a family really mean is surprisingly sweet and genuine. Readers will enjoy the Korean language, customs, and foods (yum!), as well as the high fashion, glamorous lifestyles, and insider scoop on the lives of the rich and famous.… (mehr)

This is a story where many readers will suss out the backbone of the plot pretty quickly. That hardly detracts from the enjoyment of following Chloe as her life turns upside down following a DNA test, the results of which get an email from a cousin almost immediately. Given that the only relative she has, as far as she knows, is her workaholic mother, and details about her dad, who died before she was born, are almost nonexistent, learning she had a cousin is thrilling.
The cousin invites her, all expenses paid, to visit family in Korea. It's a dream come true...Until it isn't. The longer Chloe is around her ultra famous and wealthy relatives, the more she feels like a lesser person. When the real reason she's been invited is revealed, it forces her to not only rethink everything she thought she knew, but to re-evaluate her goals and relationship with her mother. Read the book and be completely entertained while you discover what happens.… (mehr)

An engaging novel filled with glitz and glam as a daughter of an immigrant single mother struggles to understand her roots.

Chloe's mom has always refused to talk about Chloe's dad, who died when she was a baby. On a whim, Chloe's two best friends convince her to take a DNA test, which reveals that not only was her dad not an only child, but she has a whole family in Korea that her mother never told her about. Her cousin immediately invites her to Korea to visit the very wealthy family her dad left behind, setting Chloe on a whirlwind path to independence and finding the true meaning of family. This book provided an interesting twist on the surprising DNA test trope, which I won't reveal, because that would be *spoilers*.

Chloe is so sweet, and the readers see the red flags before she does. She keeps rationalizing them away because she wants so badly to be loved, while the readers are sitting there saying, "No! No! No!" She's also an aspiring fashion designer, and the descriptions of her clothing designs are *chef's kiss*. Add in a forbidden romance with a member of her family's staff, and this book has the perfect ingredients for a fun summer read. Watching Chloe navigate the Noh family's secrets, rules and drama is enthralling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Review Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)