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From Little Tokyo, With Love Review
If Rika’s life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale—being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts’ business—she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn’t quite fit the princess mold.
All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America’s reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness—searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo’s hidden treasures with cute actor Hank Chen, and maybe . . . finally finding a sense of belonging.
But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn’t so kind. Rika knows she’s setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don’t happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away?
This hit all my favorite tropes. Tough girl who thinks she’s impervious to all the shitty things people say about her only to find love, and crack those walls down. The love being a wholesome, unapologetically good guy who works on healthy communication. Love even more!
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Priyanka Taslim Interview
Priyanka Taslim is the author of rom-coms, The Love Match and Always Be My Bibi, featuring swoony Bengali Muslim characters. She graciously took the time to answer my questions about arranged marriages, Bengali representation, and her upcoming adult romance. Enjoy!
1. You got your start writing with fan fiction, what were the fandoms that started it all?
I wrote a lot of obscure anime and Final Fantasy fanfiction when I first started out. These weren’t huge fandoms, which was probably for the best, since I was about twelve and sharing my writing with others for the first time. Eventually, I wrote a bit in the Supernatural fandom as well. I don’t know if anyone suspected my age, but most people were very kind and encouraging and that experience definitely motivated me to hone my craft!
2. What are some of your favorite tropes to write? Or hope to write?
For romances, of course I love many tropes like fake dating and rivals/enemies to lovers, but I’m also partial to forced proximity. One of my favorite things to do while plotting a romcom is coming up with reasons why these two characters must be in the same vicinity, especially if they butt heads at first, especially if they have to collaborate in some way for a shared goal. That sort of situational comedy always amuses me.
Not so much a trope, but I love magic, fantasy, and fairy tales. I’d love to work on something more in that vein one day.
3. When you wrote The Love Match, when did you know it was the one to field queries with?
I actually didn’t get an agent with The Love Match, but I think it felt ready for submission to editors when the characters felt wholly realized, when Zahra’s antics made me laugh and her struggles pulled at my heartstrings. The Love Match was my pandemic novel, and I felt at the time that people needed fun, fluffy romances as an escape from hopelessness.
At the same time, I think it had hidden depth, because settings like Paterson and heroines like Zahra don’t often take center stage. I wanted to write the book for teenagers like the one I was, but especially for the ones who live lives like her even now. Paterson is a working class, predominantly BIPOC city where many teens work to help their families while juggling school, have to decide between furthering their education and earning money faster after high school, and play a part in looking after younger siblings. I believe those readers also deserve to be at the center of love stories, of happily ever afters.
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Eighteen Roses Review
Lucia Cruz may be turning eighteen this year, but she is not the debutante type. Everything about a traditional Filipino debut feels all wrong for her. Besides, custom dictates that eighteen friends attend her for a special ceremony on her birthday, and Lucia only has one friend– Esmé Mares. They’ve stuck to each other’s side all throughout high school, content to be friends with only each other. At least, Lucia thought they were content.
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As it turns out, Esmé wants something different out of her senior year. And, on top of that, Lucia’s mom has planned a debutante ball for her birthday behind her back. She’ll be forced to cobble together a court of eighteen “friends” before her beloved lola arrives from the Philippines for this blessed occasion.
How far will Lucia stray from her comfort zone in order to play the role of dutiful daughter and granddaughter? Will she do the unthinkable– participating in a school sponsored activity? Will she discover that her sense of humor can be a way to connect with people, not just push them away? -
Julia DeVillers Interview
Julia DeVillers is the author of several tween/teen books like Trading Faces (with her own twin sister), Liberty Porter, First Daughter, How My Personal Private Journal Became a Bestseller, Meet Me at Wonderland, and more. She graciously took the time to answer my questions about her beginnings in the industry, turning her first novel into DCOM, Read It and Weep, writing through tough times, and more. Enjoy!
1. When did you begin writing?
In first grade, I used to write stories in class and my teacher, Mrs. Guest, would make copies and pass them around to read. I won a local newspaper writing contest when I was seven for my short story, Tommy the Turtle and Sally the Snake, and won a pack of markers. I was proud but furious, because the article called Sally “Sammy.” I was not happy with the Sally erasure. It was then I also learned to appreciate a good editor.
2. When did you know you were ready to get an agent/published etc?
After I got a master’s in journalism, I worked in educational publishing and picked up a freelance job going through the slush pile for a literary agent who had moved to town. (By picked up, I mean I begged him to let me do anything. There weren’t many trade publishing opportunities in Ohio.) I learned, I networked.
When an editor asked me if I had any ideas of my own, I pitched her a nonfiction concept that would become my first book, Girlwise: How to Be Confident, Capable, Cool, and In Control. So it was a little backwards, becauseI got the deal first and then I reached out to an agent I admired and said “I have a deal, will you represent me?”
The takeaway, I believe, is to learn at least a little about the business part along with honing your craft and to connect.
3. Pretty exciting that your first novel became a movie-were you part of the process? We’re there any parts that were changed that you liked better or that you missed?
Thanks! I was at dinner with some girlfriends and my agent called and said “Are you sitting down? Disney Channel wants to make your book into a movie and by the way, they’re ready to greenlight and moving fast.” I almost fell off my chair.
The “Read it and Weep” team really was fantastic and yes, I got to be part of the process. I read the early script, and then somehow finagled an invite to the set in Salt Lake City. I was surprised with a tiny cameo in the movie, a role I call “woman in the pizza place looking like she’s going to vomit.”
A part that was changed from the book, was the main character’s older sister was turned into a brother, who was a musician, and the actor sang the big musical number at the end. An earworm that still runs through my head.
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Shards of Silence Review
Even if it hurts to leave behind his friends and family in Navajo, New Mexico—especially his great-grandmother, Mildred—Derrick knows his scholarship to an elite East Coast boarding school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Sagefield Academy is totally different from life on the His new classmates vacation in Europe and take study drugs. Derrick wants to stick to caffeine, but handling sports, school, and a twenty-page term paper, all while dodging comments about his hair and heritage, feels straight-up impossible.
Back home, Másání Mildred’s health is fading quickly. On the phone, she begs Derrick to leave Sagefield. When he realizes her fear comes from her time in federal Native boarding schools, he knows he’s finally found the term paper theme he believes carrying her voice into the future.
Derrick will need to shatter a steadfast generational silence to untangle his great-grandmother’s memories—though her story might change him, and his family, forever.
A very apt and evocative title that fits with Young’s exploration of the historical trauma of boarding schools on the indigenous population.
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Khadijah VanBrakle Interview
Khadijah VanBrakle is the author of Fatima Tate Takes the Cake, and My Perfect Family, and strives to depict characters that reflect the intersection of the Black Muslim American experience. She graciously took the time to answer my questions about representation, her sophomore novel, and what’s coming next. Enjoy!
- When did you begin writing and how did you balance your work as an accountant while working on your debut?
My 2012 new year’s resolution was to finish a draft of a novel. It took me nine months to complete a MG fantasy. It was terrible; no character development or meaningful world building to be seen. It was during a workshop in speculative fiction, a few years later, that I solidified the idea for the main conflict in what would later become my Contemporary YA debut, Fatima Tate Takes The Cake.
When I was first writing back then, I had to micromanage my daily schedule to fit in working, family and then on top of that, writing. Eventually, I stopped working for others and then closed my tax business since I couldn’t continue to juggle everything.
- What drew you to YA genre in particular?
Almost ten years ago, in 2017, I discovered there wasn’t a single traditionally-published title in the Contemporary young adult genre featuring a Black American Muslim protagonist. Both a local librarian and I looked but found nothing. That lack of representation drove me to write stories that feature teens that share my dual marginalization.
- Did you feel any pressure representing your community, knowing it’s such a vast community, but might be the first or only experience from readers?
I feel a ton of pressure from outside and within my community since stories like mine aren’t well represented in today’s traditional publishing landscape. But hearing from teens, both Muslim and from other faith communities, that they identify and see themselves in my characters, encourages me to keep writing. I strive to tell realistic stories that aren’t didactic but show situations and challenges that any teen and/or person can identify with.
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Randi Smith Interview
Randi Smith is a librarian from Kentucky, although you may know her from her Substack work and tiktok where she discusses her work, and other thoughts on reading. This month, her debut YA Ada Holloway’s Had Enough came out, and she was kind enough to take the time to answer my questions on writing, book bans and what’s coming next. Enjoy!
1. When did you begin writing?
I’ve written off-and-on since high school, but it was my senior year of college when I really began exploring writing for fun (and consistently). I minored in creative writing at Belmont University, and I joined clubs to meet other writers and grow my confidence. After college, I found myself writing ADA HOLLOWAY and haven’t looked back.
2. Favorite tropes?
I am a sucker for enemies-to-lovers done right, preferably when the romance spans multiple books. It can’t be beat!
3. Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Plotter all the way! If I even leave smaller details up to chance, I get stuck and overwhelmed by possibilities and making everything “work.” I need a roadmap or else I will never open my laptop, even if that roadmap changes as I go.
4. How did being a librarian coincide with your writing journey?
I had just finished the first draft of ADA HOLLOWAY when I was hired on part time at my local library. So even though the plot of this book isn’t about a specific library or community, a lot of the finer details came from the patience and guidance of my manager and coworkers. There was so little I understood about how much libraries truly offer (beyond just books, even though that’s amazing in itself), and I credit them for making the Freeport Public Library come to life on the page.
5. With your personal experience, can you expand how book banning has affected you?
Although I do not speak for my library at all, I can say that as an employee, there is a lot of hateful sentiment directed towards librarians. They are seen as “indoctrinating,” and this insult completely misunderstands the job of a librarian and the purpose of a library. We’ve experienced name calling, we’ve heard of threats received by other libraries, and it really makes it scary to come into work some mornings.
That’s why I hope ADA HOLLOWAY can spark empathetic communication—libraries are refuges that should be protected, and librarians simply direct you to books you already want. We don’t have an agenda to press. We are couriers, in a sense.
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Saints of the Household Review
Max and Jay have always depended on one another for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned that the only way to protect themselves and their mother is to stick to a schedule and keep their heads down.
But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they intervene, breaking up a fight and beating their high school’s star soccer player to a pulp. This act of violence threatens the brothers’ dreams for the future and their beliefs about who they are. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold over the course of the novel, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions, their shifting relationship as brothers, and the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. They’ll have to reach back to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.
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Book of the Month: Iron Lake
Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Cork is having difficulty dealing with the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, getting by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on this complicated and perplexing case of conspiracy, corruption, and a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.
The latest mystery for book club was okay. It was not the greatest, but not bad either. My friend enjoyed a bit more than me and said she’d read it again. What it has going for it is the twisty aspect of the killer as that was a real surprise. Also Kruger’s evocative prose of the Minnesota winters. I still thought the death of Molly was an unnecessary case of fridging the girlfriend, and yeah. That’s it. It was a very mid book. Predictable at parts, and a bit dreary like the atmosphere.
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We Need Diverse Books
I know I missed We Need Diverse Books week or Banned Books week, but it took a while to compile this list of all the contemporary YA I’ve read over the years. Some overla since no one can be fit into one label, but I labeled some of them as many are #OwnVoices. Since it’s soon to be AAPI Heritage Month which overlaps with Jewish Heritage Month you might want to check those out first. Or not. It’s your choice to skim through. Enjoy!
First Nations
Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Hearts Unbroken (Muscogee MC)
Erika T. Wurth’s Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend (multi-tribal MC)
Dawn Quigley’s Apple in the Middle (Dakota Ojibwe MC)
Angelina Boulley’s Warrior Girl, Unbroken (Turtle Island Ojibwe MC)
Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams’ An Expanse of Blue (Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawai’ian)
Bryon Graves’ Rez Ball (Red Lake Ojibwe)
Brian Lee Young’s Shards of Silence (Navajo/Diné MC)
Ari Tison’s Saints of the Household (Bribri Costa Rican)
Elizabeth Santiago’s The Moonlit Vine (Puerto Rican-Taino FMC)
(more…)#aaronh.aceves, #aashnaavachat, #abgailhingwei, #africanamericanfiction, #africanamericanmcs, #aishasaed, #ajsteiger, #akemidawnbowman, #alexandraleighyoung, #angelinaboulley, #angiethomas, #annagarcia, #annasortino, #aritison, #autumnallen, #beckyalbertalli, #bessiefloreszaldivar, #blackmcs, #brianleeyoung, #byrongraves, #camryngarrett, #candiceiloh, #candicejailili, #claireforrest, #crystalmaldonando, #cynthialeitichsmith, #dahliaadler, #davidyoon, #dawnquigley, #disabiledmcs, #edwidgedanticat, #elisabryant, #elizabethacevedo, #elizabethsantiago, #emerylee, #emikojean, #ericsmith, #erikatwurth, #farahnazrishi, #fredaceves, #ftlukens, #gloriachao, #guadalupegarciamccall, #haileyalcaraz, #haylelyneil, #hispanicmcs, #I.W.gregorio, #ibizoboi, #indigenousfiction, #indigenousmcs, #indigenousYA, #isaacblum, #jadeadia, #janeigaro, #jennnguyen, #jennyhan, #jesmeenknurdeo, #jesmminemendez, #jessicaverdis, #jewishrepresentation, #jewishYA, #joyagoffney, #juliemurphy, #kacencallender, #kathrynormsbee, #kauakanilehuamahoeadams, #kellyyang, #khadijahvanbrakle, #kwameivery, #lamargiles, #laurelfloresfantauzzo, #leahjohnson, #levrosen, #leylabrittan, #lilariesen, #lizaweimer, #loanle, #lylalee, #maggiehorne, #mariae.andreu, #mariekenijkamp, #mariemarquardt, #marikoturj, #maurenegoo, #mayracuevas, #megmedina, #melatilum, #melissadelacruz, #michellequach, #middleeasternrepresentation, #misasugiura, #mitaliperkins, #monicagomezhira, #muslimmcs, #muslimYA, #nadinibaijapi, #nataliesylvester, #navdeepsinghdhillon, #nicolayoon, #nicstone, #oliviaabhati, #patriciapark, #paulajfreedman, #peytonthomas, #pintipdunn, #priyankataslim, #rachellynnsolomon, #rachelreads&reviews, #randaabdelfattah, #reamshukairy, #reneewatson, #renepenagovea, #robintalley, #sabaatahir, #sabinakhan, #samiraahmed, #sandhyamenon, #sandraproudman, #sarabarnard, #sarahkuhn, #saytanidasgupta, #seemayasmin, #shanahkhubiar, #shannonc.f.rogers, #skali, #staceylee, #stephenlee, #stevensalvatore, #susanazimboyer, #susanlee, #taheranmafi, #tamicharles, #tanyaboteju, #tashiebhuiyan, #terryfarish, #tiffanyjackson, #traceybadua, #unalamarche, #vinchetchum, #waichim, #YA
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 