우리만의 편의점 레시피

루다 runs away from home after a fight with her dad. She ends up living in a shelter for teenagers and works at a local convenience store. The store owner is an old man who tells her about his quest to find a long-lost customer and asks if she can help him in exchange for money. Enticed by the monetary reward, 루다 takes on the task. In her search for the mystery customer, she learns about other people and their families—including her own.

I actually enjoyed this book so much! It’s a book about a teenager’s perspective on her own family and the relationship between people through food at the convenience store. As someone who loves learning about people, this is incredibly heartwarming. I cried reading about her mom’s death and her family’s grief. There’s a lot to take in about the different characters in the book.

I found the storyline to be really straightforward. It’s always clear what is happening and what the characters are doing next. I didn’t have trouble following the story at all.

I managed to work through large swaths of this book without looking anything up, but there were still times that I had to. Luckily, most the things I had to look up were just details and not super essential. I think this is one of the easier YA novels out there from a learner’s perspective.

This book contains a lot of food items, especially items at Korean convenience stores. While I personally didn’t have much trouble with these, it’s just something to note if you’re looking to read this book.