Hey YA Readers!
Since I know so many of you were anxiously awaiting the update on my sinuses: I can use my nostrils to breathe, which feels like the biggest luxury now. That also means I’m back on the reading wagon, which also feels very nice.
Book Riot has a new podcast for you to check out if you’re looking for more bookish content in your life. First Edition will include interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. You can subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.
Let’s dive into all things new books and more in the world of YA. This week, we’ll highlight a few YA books for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month.
Bookish Goods
Magical Open Book Suncatcher Window Sticker by MeaggieMoos
It’s a sticker but it is a suncatcher — you can put this on a window and fill your space with all kinds of fun colors in the sun. I’m currently in my “obsessed with suncatchers” stage of life, and this one is super appealing. $10.
New Releases
There are a ton of awesome-sounded new releases this week. I’ve pulled two, as usual, but you can get the entire roundup over here (and you should–there are a lot of titles out today!).
I’m Not Supposed To Be in The Dark by Riss M. Neilson
This is a ghost story! And it has such a killer cover! The comps to this one are White Smoke and Twilight which is an interesting one. I get why the first and suspect the second is for the romance (& to keep on the continued hype machine).
Aria has always dreamed of ghosts and for a long time, she used to see them. But a tea concocted by her grandfather helped cure her of the second.
At least it did.
She’s started to see things again, and it all began with an exploding rosebush outside the home of her former best friend Derek. She can’t ask Derek about it, though, since they’re not on speaking terms. Why, though, she can’t quite remember. So when Derek begins talking with Aria again out of nowhere, she’s….glad, kind of. But definitely tentative.
Because inside of David is a ghost and that ghost has something it wants. It can only get what it needs if Aria helps out.
This Is The Way the World Ends by Jen Wilde
Waverly is an autistic scholarship student at the elite Webber Academy. She sits in classes with kids born of endless privilege and where they can end their days without worry, she needs to keep afloat through tutoring gigs. When one of her tutoring jobs — one of the most privileged cool girls of the school — asks Waverly to go to the school’s annual Masquerade Ball pretending to be her, she is all over it. Spending the night elbow to elbow with the wealthy and not having to be herself? Getting to get close to her secret ex girlfriend Ash? Count her in.
But that night turns out to be anything but fun. Sure, Wavlery’s finally getting to spend some more time with Ash. But when she witnesses a brutal murder that might involve the school’s dean and some wealthy parents, the event takes a dark turn.
It only gets darker when there is also a global power outage and now Waverly, Ash, and their friends have to figure out how to save themselves and get to the bottom of the crime.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
May comes with so many celebrations, including two that I want to make sure to highlight in this newsletter: Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. This week, a look at a few incredible books by AAPI authors. All of these titles published in 2023 and all are on shelves right now.
Of note: Asia and the Pacific Islands are vast. Too often, the focus on books for AAPI Month lean toward East Asia, which perpetuates a number of stereotypes about Asia and its people. I’ve purposefully selected books that showcase the diversity of experiences, cultures, and backgrounds across all AAPI writers as much as possible. Four books will not represent the biggest continent in the world (and 60% of the global population!), and more, there is much to be said about how racism and institutional challenges hold back the most marginalized of marginalized AAPI people. I’m heartened by how many readers and book lovers have been especially cognizant and vocal about this in recent years, and I hope publishing is paying attention. We still need more stories from the diaspora representing its social, economic, cultural, and immigration experiences.
The titles below lean contemporary and romance. Obviously there is a wider variety of genres, so keep your eyes peeled for more AAPI genre reads in the coming weeks.
Throwback by Maurene Goo
One of my favorite reads this year is Goo’s story of time travel and family.
Priscilla is a first generation Korean American, and she expects her daughter Sam to follow in her footsteps. But Sam isn’t interested in cheerleading or becoming homecoming queen. They have a big blowup about this and Sam needs to get away from her mom ASAP.
What Sam did not anticipate was calling for a ride share that turned out to be a car that would send her back to when her mom was in high school. Now Sam is right alongside her mom as she navigates being a Korean American teen in the ’90s.
This is a funny and heartening story of the immigrant experience, both that of first and second generation immigrants, and it savvily marries with that the ways in which the ’90s and 2020s were very different experiences for Korean Americans…and the ways in which they weren’t.
There is a sweet love story, an incredible grandmother character, and a powerful mother-daughter arc. Watching Sam navigate having one charge left on her phone in the ’90s and needing to keep it a secret because no one would know what the heck a cell phone was was…well, it made me feel old because I was in high school at the end of the ’90s (but it’s funny, for sure!).
The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim
This one is pitched as To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before meets Jane Austen, so prepare for a delightful romcom.
Zahra Khan might be from a line of Bangladeshi royalty but that means nothing, really, in Patterson, New Jersey. She’s going to spend the summer working. Her mom, however, thinks that there is something else Zahra needs to work on this summer: finding a suitable match.
Where her parents think Harun is the one, immediately Zahra knows he’s not it. She’s got her eyes on a guy at her work named Nayim. So when Zahra learns that Harun is also not interested in their match, she breathes a sigh of relief…and hatches a new plan that involves fake dating Harun (with his full consent) in order to develop a real relationship with Nayim.
Of course, it won’t be that easy.
Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian
Looking for an intergenerational story? You’ll love this one about three generations of Iranian boys that has comps to Last Night at the Telegraph Club and Darius the Great Is Not Okay.
In 2019, Moud lives in Los Angeles with his father, who is quite distant. Moud is openly queer. When he and his dad Saeed get a phone call that his grandfather — his father’s dad — is dying, he’ll soon be on a flight to Tehran, where they’ll be faced with a whole box of family stories and secrets.
In 1978, Saeed has a bright future as an engineer ahead of himself. The problem is Tehran; he’s gotten involved in a budding revolution, and his parents worry that involvement is going to cost him that future. They send him to America and now, he’s living with an American grandmother he’s never met before, let alone knew existed at all.
In 1939, Bobby lands a huge MGM studio contract, thanks to a precise and calculating stage mother. But Hollywood isn’t all glitz and glamor, not by a long shot.
Chasing Pacquiao by Rod Pulido
What happens when someone you look up to lets you down by declaring people like you are less than human? That’s a big part of this story, which follows a queer teen named Bobby who wants nothing more than to graduate high school safely.
Bobby’s school is notoriously violent, and he knows that being openly queer would make him the perfect target. This is made more true by the fact is Filipino community does not easily accept people like him. But when he’s outed without permission, Bobby realizes being quiet and unprepared is no longer an option. He turns to take up boxing in order to prepare himself were he to be in a fight.
Bobby looks up to champion Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao is his inspiration in all ways: he helps Bobby keep going when things get too hard. But then Pacquiao publicly declares that he does not support queer people, leaving Bobby wounded beyond words.
So where does he turn now?
As always, thanks for hanging out. We’ll see you on Thursday for your YA paperback releases and YA book news.
Until then, happy reading.
— Kelly Jensen, currently reading Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus