Blog Tour ~ XOXO by Axie Oh ~ Guest Post + Giveaway
Morning all!
A musical welcome to the Blog Tour for XOXO by Axie Oh! O M G, I am so delighted I was picked to be part of the tour! The book, I so want to read it. Hopefully a paperback releases soon, or maybe a miracle will happen and one of my libraries will get it. K-pop, romance, choices, and more. And that cover is just swoon-tastic.
For today’s post I got a guest post from the author, a giveaway open Internationally, and of course book/author information!!
Let’s get this tour started does a happy dance.
Cello prodigy Jenny has one goal: to get into a prestigious music conservatory. When she meets mysterious, handsome Jaewoo in her uncle’s Los Angeles karaoke bar, it’s clear he’s the kind of boy who would uproot her careful plans. But in a moment of spontaneity, she allows him to pull her out of her comfort zone for one unforgettable night of adventure…before he disappears without a word.
Three months later, when Jenny and her mother arrive in South Korea to take care of her ailing grandmother, she’s shocked to discover that Jaewoo is a student at the same elite arts academy where she’s enrolled for the semester. And he’s not just any student. He’s a member of one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world—and he’s strictly forbidden from dating.
When a relationship means throwing Jenny’s life off the path she’s spent years mapping out, she’ll have to decide once and for all just how much she’s willing to risk for love.

Buy this book here: Amazon
About the author:
Axie Oh is a first generation Korean American, born in NYC and raised in New Jersey. She studied Korean history and creative writing as an undergrad at the University of California – San Diego and holds an MFA from Lesley University in Writing for Young People. Her passions include K-pop, anime, stationery supplies, and milk tea. She currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada with her puppy, Toro.




Guestpost
XOXO Seoul Tour Guide with Jenny
Incheon International Airport
When Jenny first arrives in Korea, she flies into Incheon International Airport, located in Incheon, a large city outside Seoul. She and her mom arrive early in the morning, so they only have time to exchange money at a kiosk and grab coffee from Dunkin Donuts, but if they had arrived later in the day, they would have experienced the many features of this airport, laid out nicely in this Incheon Airport Promotional video, including tons of eateries, places to shop, and even cultural performances!
Gyeongbokgung Palace / Insadong
Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/gyeongbokgung-palace-south-seoul-1403413/ (Gyeongbokgung Palace)
Jenny’s halmeoni lives in walking distance to Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Free admission is given to individuals who dress up in hanbok (which is why in this area there are a ton of hanbok rental shops). In the novel, Jenny and her grandmother walk around the area and admire the people dressed in hanbok.
This area is also near Insadong, a neighborhood in Seoul that’s popular for its main road lined with teahouses, shops that sell handcrafts, and hanok—traditional Korean architectural buildings. Later in the book, Jenny makes plans to meet up with her friends Gi Taek and Angela at a café in Ikseon-dong, a cool and unique area with a lot of older hanok buildings converted into restaurants and shops.
Sinsa-dong/Gangnam
Jenny picks up her uniform at a shop in Sinsa-dong, which is an area of Gangnam famous for the Gingko-lined street Garosugil. On her way to the uniform store, she also experiences the exciting chaos of an underground shopping mall, which are often attached to subway stations. One of my favorite underground shopping arcades is the Gangnam Station underground shopping mall, which is full of shops that sell everything from clothing to accessories to K-beauty and more.
Myeongdong / Namdaemun Market
Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/egg-bun-korean-street-food-seoul-1308965/ (gyeran-bbang/egg bread street food)
Although Jenny doesn’t go to these areas in the book, it’s clear that she and Jaewoo are both big fans of street food, and these areas are two of the best places to try a variety of Korean street food, like tteok-bokki (spicy rice cakes) or gyeran-bbang (egg bread). While Myeongdong has a ton of name brand stores, Namdaemun is a traditional market where you can bargain with shop owners for discounted prices on goods like cooking ware and souvenirs.
Coex Mall / Starfield Library
Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/jpeTs-VfP68 (Starfield Library)
Though Jenny doesn’t go to this particular mall, she does go to *a* mall in XOXO, and so I wanted to highlight one of my favorites in Seoul. The Starfield COEX mall is the largest underground shopping mall in Asia and features a beautiful floor-to-ceiling library, as well many popular stores and restaurants.
Ewha/Sinchon/Hongdae
Shutterstock: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grassy-walking-path-leading-ivy-covered-549571837 (Yonsei University)
These are all the university areas that inspired the school setting for XOXO, each filled with tons of shops, restaurants, cafes, museums, and universities. To create the atmosphere for Jenny and Jaewoo’s campus setting, I took direct inspiration from Yonsei University’s campus in Sinchon, the Hongik University area of Hongdae, and the area around Ewha Womans University.
Thank you for joining Jenny and me on our tour of Seoul! XOXO, Axie
