Mei Lin, a whip-smart and fiercely independent Korean-American teenager, juggles the chaos of her family's bustling dumpling restaurant, "Kim's Corner," with the demands of high school. Her days are a whirlwind of textbooks, steaming mandu, and navigating the complexities of first-generation immigrant life.
But Mei craves more than the delicious, exhausting loop her life has become. A chance encounter with Alex, a silver-spooned boy from a world as different as kimchi is from caviar, sparks a yearning for something unexpected. As their paths collide across the cultural divide, Mei finds herself caught between the comfort of her familiar world and the allure of a life beyond the steam.
Can Mei bridge the gap between sizzling dumplings and five-star galas? Will she find a way to balance her family's legacy with her own dreams? And most importantly, can love blossom between a girl who fights with spatulas and a boy who lunches with CEOs?
Falling Up is a heart-warming, hilarious, and mouthwatering story about finding your voice, embracing your heritage, and discovering that love, like the perfect dumpling, can come in the most unexpected packages.
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Kopter and Park are from two completely different worlds, one heralding from one of the wealthiest families in Thailand and the other from, well, a relatively poor family from South Korea. The opportunity to study at one of the most elite high schools in the world brings them both to the vibrant, dream-chasing city of New York. When fate steps in and the two boys meet in the small, charming coffee house Koon Chai Cafe, the sparks between these polar opposites are undeniable.
To stay humble and grounded as he attends one of the most elite schools in the world, Kopter must work his afternoons in one of his family's coffee shops. Working there he meets Park, a classmate and Kopter's opposite. Park works there only to support himself and his scholarship. Tall, athletic, and outgoing, Kopter makes friends everywhere he goes. Cold, reclusive, and an outcast at school, Park takes an immediate dislike to him. So why do sparks keep flying between these diametrically opposed boys?