Genre: Young adult contemporary rom-com
Hardcover release date: March 8, 2022
High school junior Gigi Wong strives to be the best: the top student, the perfect friend, and the ideal daughter. But it’s tough when there’s always someone who is just a little bit better. With college applications looming, she can’t help but worry that she won’t make the cut. Thankfully, her best friend Kyle never fails to find the right words–and the perfect bowl of ramen–to cheer her up.
After her teacher, Ms. Harris, announces she’ll be nominating students for an app writing contest, Gigi is determined to be picked. After all, first prize is an exclusive tech internship, sure to make her application stand out. There’s only one problem: she doesn’t have a winning program. It isn’t until transfer student Etta admits she’s struggling to fit in at Superbia that Gigi stumbles on an idea. She’ll use her coding skills–and the matchmaking experience she’s gotten from weekends with Auntie Rose–to create a friend matching app! Etta will meet new people, and Gigi will guarantee her acceptance into college. It’s foolproof.
What Gigi doesn’t expect is for her app to go viral around school. Soon, she finds herself at the center of a scandal–and at odds with both Etta and Kyle. Can Gigi fix what went wrong, or will her desire to be perfect cost her the people she cares about most?
Reviews: Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly
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Genre: Young adult contemporary rom-com
Hardcover release date: February 2, 2021
Paperback release date: January 11, 2022
Awards: 2022 Lone Star Reading List, 2021 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Title
To everyone else, high school senior Liza Yang is practically perfect. Pretty, smart, and well-liked, she’s salutatorian of her class and starting a prestigious university in the fall. To her ultra-traditional Taiwanese mom, however, Liza is stubborn and rebellious, unlike her older sister Jeannie. She won’t even date a proper Asian boy! The only thing mother and daughter agree on is Liza’s talent for baking. With Mrs. Yang’s annual junior baking competition on the horizon, Liza’s determined to prove she’s more than Jeannie’s shadow. If only she knew her mother has plans of her own…
Read the first chapter at Culturess!
Short Story Title: “LOVE WITH A SIDE OF FORTUNE”
Genre: Young adult romance
Michelle Chan had big plans for her junior year of high school, but the arrival of COVID has her sitting on the sidelines. Between the endless Zoom classes and working under the watchful eye of her superstitious mother at her family’s Chinese restaurant, Michelle is desperate for something different. Thankfully, a chance to talk to Kevin Kwon, the star of the varsity swim team, is just what she ordered. With parents busy working at the hospital, he’s become Chan’s Chinese Cafe’s newest regular. Are Mom’s famous egg rolls what lures him in, or could it be something — or someone — else?
Love With a Side of Fortune has been mentioned in the Kirkus Review! Check it out here.
Short Story Title: “A PERFECT FIT”
Genre: Young adult contemporary
Elodie Chang has always been a “too” – too tall, too fat, too loud, too smart, too nice. Years of being judged by her family and the tight knit Chinese community they’re a part of has chipped away at the bright, confident little girl she used to be. Now seventeen and a senior in high school, she keeps her head in her books and her body buried under oversized T-shirts. Still, deep down inside, Elodie dreams of being the belle of the ball. With prom now fast approaching, her chance to shine hinges on the perfect dress. There’s just one problem: every time she looks in the mirror, she sees the faces of her biggest critics–her mother, her relatives, and even some of her friends. Can Elodie find beauty within herself, or will she forever be the wallflower?
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Jennifer Yen 