TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE BY JENNY HAN
The first book in a trilogy, and now hit Netflix rom com, this is the story of Lara Jean Song Covey who writes love letters to all her crushes and hides them in a hat box so they can never be found, or read. That is, until she’s confronted by one of her crushes and realises that her letters have somehow been sent out. But as she comes face to face in embarrassment with each recipient, she soon realises that something good may come out of it after all. Lara Jean’s story continues in P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever, Lara Jean.
LOVE, HATE AND OTHER FILTERS BY SAMIRA AHMED
Seventeen-year-old Maya is torn between being the perfect Indian daughter by attending a college close to home, or following her dreams and her heart of attending film school in New York City and pursuing a boy her parents would definitely not approve of. But there are also matters beyond her control. Like the aftermath of a horrific crime that turns her community upside down and forces her to finally find the strength to determine who she is and where she belongs. Samira Ahmed is also the author of Internment and the upcoming Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know.
Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman book cover STARFISH BY AKEMI DAWN BOWMAN
Kiko Himura has always struggled with anxiety, preferring to keep her head down to focus on getting into her dream art school that will truly turn her life around. But when her application is rejected and her abusive uncle moves back in with her family, home is the last place she wants to be. So she jumps at the opportunity to tour art schools on the West Coast with her childhood friend, Jamie. Free from her toxic home life, she comes to terms with life-changing truths about herself and discovers how to be brave despite her fears. Akemi Dawn Bowman is also the author of Summer Bird Blue.
I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE BY MAURENE GOO
Desi Lee is the perfect student on paper, with her sights set on Stanford, but she’s hopeless when it comes to romance. So when Luca Drakes walks into her life, she resorts to getting dating advice from the Korean dramas her father watches in order to pursue him. But what begins as fun and games quickly turns into something serious as she discovers that there’s more to real love than just drama. Maurene Goo is also the author of Somewhere Only We Know and The Way You Make Me Feel.
A MATCH MADE IN MEHENDI BY NANDINI BAJPAI
Fifteen-year-old Simran comes from a long line of Indian matchmakers. When she accidentally sets up her cousin and a soon-to-be lawyer, her family is thrilled that she has what it takes to get into the business. Except, she doesn’t want anything to do with relationships and family drama. Still, when she ends up creating a matchmaking app and helps connect a wallflower of a girl with the star of the soccer team, she creates the drama: turning the high school hierarchy topsy-turvy and making herself the public enemy.
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay book cover PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING BY RANDY RIBAY
When Jay hears the news that his cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines, and no one in his family will acknowledge or talk about it, he travels to his home country to find out what really happened. But the more he uncovers about Jun’s death, the more complicated it all seems, and the more he’s forced to come to terms with the fact that he might have played a part in it.
THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL BY STACEY LEE
In this historical YA novel, 17-year-old Jo Kuan is a maid working for one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta by day and the anonymous author of a newspaper advice column by night. But the popularity of ‘Dear Miss Sweetie’ doesn’t come without backlash. As her opponents become more intent on uncovering her secret identity, Jo embarks on a quest of her own to discover the truth about her past and the parents who abandoned her. Stacey Lee is also the author of Under A Painted Sky and Outrun the Moon.
DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY BY ADIB KHORAM
Darius Kellner is about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, except he can’t speak the language and knows very little about the culture. But at least he gets to know his grandparents for the first time, meets the rest of his family, and finds friendship in Sohrab, the boy next door who makes him feel like he belongs. Sohrab even calls him Darioush, the original Persian version of his name. But when it’s finally time to go home, can Darius find a way to be himself all on his own?
Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen book cover LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI BY ABIGAIL HING WEN
Eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, among the very over-achieving kids and Yale-bound prodigies that her parents have always wanted her to be. Except, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than culture. Free from her parents’ strict rules for the first time in her life, how far will Ever go to break them?
YOU BRING THE DISTANT NEAR BY MITALI PERKINS
This novel is told in alternating points of view across three generations and five voices of one Indian American family: from a grandmother worried that her children are losing their Indian identity to a daughter wrapped up in a forbidden biracial love affair to a social-activist granddaughter fighting to preserve Bengali tigers. This sweeping story truly captures the immigrant experience and what it means to be both Indian and American.
For more Asian American YA books, check out Parachutes by Kelly Yang in May and More Than Just A Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood in August. You can also check out this round-up of Asian American YA protagonists.
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