A Pho Love Story

When your families have been rivals for years, falling for the boy across the street was never supposed to happen — especially when that boy is the son of your parents' greatest competition.

Linh and Bảo have grown up on opposite sides of an unspoken war. Their families each run Vietnamese restaurants on the same Los Angeles street, and the tension between them is as thick as a perfectly simmered broth. Speaking to each other is practically forbidden. Hating each other? Practically required.

But when a school project forces them into the same orbit, Linh starts to see Bảo as something other than the enemy she's spent years ignoring. He's funny, unexpectedly thoughtful, and he understands the particular pressure of carrying your family's identity on your shoulders in ways her other friends never could. The problem is, every moment they steal together is a betrayal of the people they love most.

This swoony YA contemporary romance celebrates Vietnamese-American culture with warmth and specificity, weaving food, family, and identity into a love story that feels both familiar and completely fresh. Loan Le captures the ache of first love complicated by loyalty — the stolen glances, the accidental touches, the conversations that last too long and never feel long enough.

For anyone who has ever felt caught between who their family needs them to be and who they're becoming, A Pho Love Story is the tender, delicious romance you didn't know you were hungry for.