HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! I ended up not getting a ton of books from my friends & family like usual, so I decided to gift myself with a huge haul of books. I also wanted to support AAPI authors, and this felt like the perfect opportunity to combine the two. We’ve got a ton of books to get through, though, so let’s dive right in!

I’ve had These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong on my TBR for a while now, and I think pretty much everyone I’ve seen review it is just head over heels in love with it, so I’m really excited to finally crack into this one. Plus, it’s a retelling of Romeo & Juliet, which I’m always going to be here for, except this one sounds darker and takes place in the 20s, so that’s a combo I’m all here for. And yes, I did just somehow say that R&J wasn’t already dark as hell? What is wrong with me!

Admittedly, all I really know about The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is that it’s got a magical library, and that’s about where I stopped reading. I do this with movies, too, so don’t think that this sheer blindness that I apply to every book I read is an individual thing. I watch about twenty seconds of a trailer, and if I don’t know by then if I want to watch it, I probably won’t. I have a very small attention span, and I need things to grab my right away, so when you say magic library, I’m sold.

I am so here for more books about food, which I’m definitely writing a post about soon, and which means I’m over the moon excited for A Pho Love Story by Loan Le. I’ll honestly probably read this pretty soon because I’m nearly out of contemporaries, and I really just love books about food so damn much. Plus, this sounds like it’s going to be enemies to lovers because of the food fight vibes, and I am so here for that.

I won’t lie, I wasn’t totally convinced that I’d like Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, but after doing my usual read only a sentence or two of the summary, I decided to come back, give the reviews a look, and then read the full summary. (Lol, feel free to @ me, I only read half of it.) There’s so much hype around this duology(?) that I’m definitely being swayed by the hype train, but it also does sound really excellent, and I love a good slow story where not a whole lot happens, so it sounds like this’ll be my jam.

I’ve been eyeing The Astonishing Color of After by Emily XR Pan for a while now, and it was one of those books that I had to yell at myself not to replace with a fantasy when I finally got to checkout because I do that all the time to contemporaries that I want to read, but get too excited about other fantasies. It sounds interesting and unlike anything else I’ve ever read before, so I’m glad that I finally bit the bullet and finally bought this.

I have twenty books lined up for Pride, and it’s probably going to kill me, but I’m gonna go hard anyway. We Used to Be Friends by Amy Spalding is one of eight lesbian books that I have lined up, and I’m so hyped. Now I just have to somehow convince myself that I can’t read it until June? I may have put myself in a pickle by trying to buy these ahead of time.

I wanted to try to get an even amount of contemporary vs fantasy in my AAPI author haul, and This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura was the first one that I dropped in my cart. Aside from the stunning cover, I’m probably going to weep with joy getting to read about flowers and their meanings for 400 pages, and it sounds like it’ll be especially poignant with the current climate.

Short story collections are the bane of my existence–I always want to read them, but I never actually buy them, so, instead, I just collect them in lists and sigh about them until, at long last, I’ll shake a fist at myself and finally buy a single one. A Thousand Beginnings and Endings: 15 Retellings of Asian Myths and Legends was that one! Well, there’s two, but I’m really excited about this one! Retellings are some of my favorite things to read, and I know so little about Asian myths & legends that I can’t wait to dive into this.

Speaking of short story collections and food, I truly cannot wait for Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love to arrive. I’ve wanted to read this ever since it first released, but see above for why I didn’t, and I’m going to crack into this as soon as possible.

And, rounding out this crew of amazing AAPI authors is, of course, Jenny Han. I’ve never read To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and I still haven’t seen the adaptations for PS I Still Love You or Always and Forever, Lara Jean. I really want to rewatch the first and watch the second two, though, so it’s finally time for me to get reading! Plus, B&N had a sale for all three @ $25, and that’s the life I’m about. I just really need some mushy, not a whole lot of attention needed contemporary, too.