Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Pho Love Story
    A Pho Love Story
    A Pho Love Story
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Pho Love Story

    Written by Loan Le

    Narrated by Ryan Do and Vyvy Nguyen

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    “Will leave readers swooning.” —PopSugar

    ​When Dimple Met Rishi meets Ugly Delicious in this funny, smart romantic comedy, in which two Vietnamese American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighboring restaurants.

    If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal.

    If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

    For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring pho restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition.

    But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember.

    Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories?

    Editor's Note

    Warms your heart…

    An #OwnVoices story about Linh Mai and Bảo Nguyễn, two Vietnamese American kids whose families own rival phở restaurants. Linh and Bảo finally have a real conversation, which starts one of the year’s cutest star-crossed romances. “A Phở Love Story” will warm your heart (and definitely make you want a bowl of phở!).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateFeb 9, 2021
    ISBN9781797119472
    Author

    Loan Le

    Loan Le holds an MFA degree in fiction from Fairfield University, also her undergraduate alma mater. A Pushcart Prize–nominated writer, her short stories have appeared in CRAFT Literary, Mud Season Review, and Angel City Review. Loan works in book publishing and lives in Manhattan. A Pho Love Story is her first novel. Visit her website at WriterLoanLe.me and find her on Twitter @LoanLoan.

    Related to A Pho Love Story

    Related audiobooks

    YA Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Daughters’ Bodies

      Dec 1, 2019

      WHEN I’M about to go away to college, my grandmother dies and my mother silently puts herself up for adoption. LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO ADOPT ME: Kind, lonely, beautiful woman in her 50s. Dead husband. No children. Cooks and cleans. 4’11 and 90 lbs. Gu

      20 min read

    • Article

      Yellow Is the Color of Choices

      Dec 10, 2023

      For whatever reason, when she sees me each weekend, Megan still hugs me like when she was five. Her skinny arms wrap around my waist, and her eyes squeeze tight like she’s absorbing me into her skin. This is both heartening and heart-wrenching. I wan

      13 min read

    • Article

      Carrot Legs

      Sep 12, 2019

      Carrot Legs
      20 min read

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      Festival

      Sep 15, 2018

      My husband, who loved festivals, who was a great fan of festivals, wanted to get to the square in time for the first band at eleven o’clock. From bed, the dog and I watched him dress. He tried on various T-shirts, declaring some of them too tight and

      13 min read

    • Article

      Traders

      Sep 3, 2020

      Traders
      8 min read

    • Article

      Musings On My Father

      Aug 8, 2022

      Musings On My Father
      5 min read

    • Article

      Metaphors

      Mar 10, 2023

      I’m knitting on my front porch when a car roars to a stop in front of my house. It’s a red Mustang convertible, top down on this warm Thursday afternoon in June. Two girls sit in the front, two in the back. They smile and wave at me. I smile back tho

      8 min read

    • Article

      Nuclear

      Oct 7, 2021

      Nuclear
      7 min read

    • Article

      ‘Never Say You Can’t, Always Say You Can And You Will’

      Aug 27, 2020

      Supportive parents really make a difference. My mum and dad, Marge and George, were always very encouraging. I think because I was born just after the war there was the sense in them of, ‘This is the generation that can have more than we had.’ She wa

      2 min read

    • Article

      You Girls Are Good

      Mar 31, 2022

      You Girls Are Good
      16 min read

    • Article

      Thirteen

      Jan 30, 2020

      Thirteen
      21 min read

    • Article

      Mother House

      Aug 6, 2020

      Mother House
      9 min read

    • Article

      Yellow Summer Rain

      May 19, 2022

      Yellow Summer Rain
      23 min read

    • Article

      Elena Ferrante Beautiful No More!

      Oct 7, 2020

      Elena Ferrante Beautiful No More!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ferrante Elena Beautiful No More!

      Oct 7, 2020

      Ferrante Elena Beautiful No More!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems by Noah Warren

      Dec 1, 2020

      Some waves came up overnight, though in Norderney, there was no weather.At the commercial wharf, a thin stream of white exhaust rose vertically from the ferry.The first service would depart soon. The puddles lay dark in the stone streetsand in the ga

      3 min read

    • Article

      Certification of Righteousness

      Sep 14, 2020

      Certification of Righteousness
      14 min read

    • Article

      Apparent

      Mar 3, 2020

      When my son Henry was a year old I took him to Boston to meet my mother. She didn’t show up. It turned out that she had gone to Foxwoods Casino instead, which sounds bad and maybe was, but it had been three years since I’d seen her or even spoken to

      20 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Melissa Lozada-Oliva

      Dec 17, 2021

      I'm always on my way to writing or on my way to reading. These are the big loves of my life but I'm also interested in what pulls me away from them. The post A Year in Reading: Melissa Lozada-Oliva appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Evidence

      Mar 6, 2023

      Evidence
      25 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Sep 1, 2023

      How thoughtlesslyI took it, this castiron Aunt Jemima doll hauled from the trunkof my whitefriend’s car. Another of T’s, her Jamaicanhusband’s, mementoshe collected as a joke. Not unlikethose figurinesI recall a college friend once exhibited, who’d b

      6 min read

    • Article

      Here’s What I Don’t Say

      Jun 1, 2019

      Here’s What I Don’t Say
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Picture

      Dec 18, 2020

      The Picture
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Kitchen, A Sunroom, And A Thousand Days

      Aug 5, 2019

      I was young, maybe 8 or 9. My mother was going through a time: The couple she cleaned for and whom we lived with had broken up and left us lingering in their abandoned home. She had cancer, my mother, so her head was where it was, but sometimes she w

      3 min read

    • Article

      I Am the Ghost Here

      Jan 16, 2023

      I Am the Ghost Here
      12 min read

    • Article

      Touch

      Nov 4, 2021

      Touch
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Pho Love Story

    4/5

    481 ratings22 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Very light, heart warming read. A great taste into the Vietnamese culture.
    • 3/5
      This was okay but I think it was too long.
    • 4/5
      it was so funny, adorable, interesting and moving all at once! i adored the characters!!!!
    • 5/5
      I love me a good spin on Romeo & Juliet and this one did not disappoint! A vivid story about good vietnamese food, beautiful art, rivaling family businesses and two teens falling in love against all odds.
    • 4/5
      I really liked the story but it was a little drawn out
    • 4/5
      Wonderful, the narration was great. The story started out light hearted and fun but morphed into something with more dimension. A seamless integration of a coming of age, YA romance with hard hitting cultural references and themes of racism. Poignant, contemporary, relevant. Highly recommend this sweet story
    • 5/5
      A really cute love story interspersed with interesting side characters and cute family moments. I found this to be a very heartwarming story. While it is a love story, it’s not one dimensional. The characters grow significantly from the start to the end as they come into their own. It has some really sweet moments but it’s not just a romance novel so I think many people would enjoy it. Prepare to crave Vietnamese food though! And maybe don’t listen when you’re hungry
    • 5/5
      I appreciated the use of Vietnamese language, history, and culture.
    • 5/5
      This is such a cute love story! Ilove the friendships and family relationships that it shows too.
    • 4/5
      4.5⭐
      It took me a little while to get properly into it, but I ended up really liking it. Loved how there wasn't just the typical love story, but also a mystery.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book a lot, the only problem I found was that the male narrator was difficult to understand at times and that made me lose my focus on the audiobook.
    • 5/5
      I thought this was such a cute and fun YA romance. I love all the culture references and the characters were amazing.
    • 4/5
      Despite the book being slow at times, I really enjoyed the story itself. I enjoyed getting a tiny glimpse into what Vietnamese culture is. I’ll definitely be getting the physical copy of this book and reread it.
    • 5/5
      I have never related to a book so much, in my life. I laughed and I cried. I absolutely loved this book!!
    • 4/5
      Loved listening to the author's and even picked up some Vietnamese words and phrases! Cute simple story.
    • 5/5
      Bao and Lihn are the cutest and I loved all the food descriptions so much
    • 5/5
      Good mix of family history and a teenage love story.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It was so cute. I also enjoyed some Vietnamese that was in the book as well. I liked the narrators for both of the characters. This book is perfect for wanting a cute and fluffy read!
    • 5/5
      Absolutely lovely, deep, sweet and will make you hungry time and time again.
    • 4/5
      Loan Le's debut YA novel, A Pho Love Story, is a modern day retelling of Romeo & Juliet, the OG love story of warring families. However, A Pho Love Story has one thing going for it that Romeo & Juliet did not - its pages are steeped in delicious food and rich Vietnamese culture. A Pho Love Story is a solid, enjoyable addition to the YA romcom market and can be enjoyed by both teen and adult readers alike.

      Bao Nguyen and Linh Mai's families are at war. Bao and Linh, both children of Vietnamese immigrants who escaped their communist home country and came to America in the 80s, work in their parents' neighboring pho restaurants. Amid serving heartwarming, soul-filling, delicious Vietnamese food to their California community, Bao and Linh's families are also serving up a healthy dose of competition behind the scenes. Bao and Linh don't know why their parents hate each other, which makes things even more difficult when Bao and Linh become friends ... and maybe even something a little bit more? Can they keep their relationship a secret from their families? And what will happen if the truth comes out?

      First and foremost, A Pho Love Story is a richly detailed novel about the strength and bonds of family. The representation of Vietnam culture in this book shines and gives readers a detailed look into the Vietnamese immigrant experience, the importance of family and loyalty in the culture, and the role that food plays in the lives of its people. I learned so much about Vietnamese culture through this book, which made this reading experience educational, as well as enjoyable.

      Then, of course, there is the "love" in A Pho Love Story. The relationship between Bao and Linh slowly builds throughout the course of this novel, and is portrayed in a realistic, relatable manner. Furthermore, A Pho Love Story explores the teens' struggles to follow their own path as they leave high school versus pursuing the dreams that their parents have for them. Many young adults will be able to see themselves in Bao and Linh and connect with them on their journey.

      In all, A Pho Love Story serves up much to be enjoyed and comes recommended to readers who love touching books about family, friends, and food.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      3.5 stars
      I really enjoyed reading this a light romance was a break I need. I love how Loan Le made me hungry while reading this and plus the Romeo and Juliet atmosphere was good.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      A refreshing enemies(?) to lovers story but told through the intertwining history of two Vietnamese families. Romeo and Juliet-esque and perhaps even better because *spoiler* no one has to unalive. This is a candid story that resonates well with every kid who's had to find their way when they feel like an outcast, or has had to find the courage to love their passion and share it with the world. A Pho Love Story is sweet and simple, a little slow at times, but definitely worth the read!

      1 person found this helpful