Artifacts of an Ex
Jennifer Chen
When Chloe Chang gets dumped via USPS after moving across the county from NYC to LA, her first instinct is to throw her box of memories in the garbage. Instead, she starts buying other teenagers’ break-up boxes to create an art exhibit, Heartifacts. Opening night is going great, until she spots Daniel Kwak illicitly filming his best friend’s reaction to his ex’s box. When she tries to stop him, an intense discussion ends up launching a creative partnership and friendship… and a major crush for Chloe. There’s just one problem: Daniel is dead set on not being another rebound. Five times he’s been the guy who makes the girls he’s dating realize they want to get back with their ex. And he refuses for there to be a sixth. She insists she’s over her ex, but when he shows up unexpectedly with his new girlfriend, it turns out Daniel was right. She isn’t ready for a new relationship. She throws herself into making Heartifacts successful, but flashy influencers threaten her original vision of the exhibit. To create the exhibit she’s always wanted, Chloe needs to go back to basics, learn to work with artists in a more collaborative way, and discover what love can be. Only then will she convince Daniel she’s truly ready for everything they could be to one another. In the tradition of Jenny Han and Emma Lord, Jennifer Chen’s Artifacts of an Ex is a story of love, art, and finding your way when everything you know has changed completely.
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0 0Inspiration strikes Chloe when she gets dumped by her super hot, talented artist boyfriend Jake through a shoebox that he mailed to her filled with items from their relationship. With her planner, stickers, and many Post-It notes, she forms the idea to collect these boxes filled with artifacts from people's exes and curate an exhibition to reveal the universality of heartbreak. Opening night is filled with less people than Chloe would have wanted, but it gets even worse when she spots a boy filming his best friend's reaction to an artifact box when she explicitly told people not to take photographs or videos of these highly personalized boxes. She confronts this boy, Daniel, and it simmers down to a fiery partnership that has the two going on not-dates to create a short film to accompany Chloe's Heartifacts exhibition. Chloe falls hard for Daniel, but Daniel is dead set on not becoming another rebound. Through mistakes and imperfections, Chloe learns about all the forms of love and heartbreak, updating Heartifacts to be even better and maybe even getting the boy who has his heart guarded.
Artifacts of an Ex has such a fun story line! Chloe's idea of Heartifacts is such a beautiful showcase of young love and what it means to learn about love. My favorite part of the book was reading about the art pieces in Heartifacts. I'm mind blown by the artistic interpretation and ideas of these characters. Heartifacts would surely be a hit if it was real! I also loved the description of the foods. (I really want some pineapple tarts right now) Jennifer Chen's writing style is so fun and polished, it's a balance that I really enjoy reading about.
I didn't really like how fast paced this book was. It felt kind of boring to read after a while because I'm just following what Chloe is doing without anything eventful to look forward to. I think that the relationship between Chloe and Daniel is cute, and they seem perfect for each other, but I just can't stand all the constant friendzoning. It just felt repetitive, and I wish we could have explored Daniel's reluctance to relationships more.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for sending me an e-copy of this book for an honest review!
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