In May, we celebrate 2025 Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month. If you’re looking for books to read this month that honor Asian American and Pacific Island authors I have recommendations from a few of my favorites and a list of intriguing titles you’ll want to add to your TBR this month.
My Favorite Books I Highly Recommend
Welcome to the Hyunum-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum
This warm hug of a novel was my 2024 Book of the Year. Set in a quiet suburb convenient to Seoul, Korea find it is a life-changing story following Yeongju as she pivots in her career and pursues her dream of opening a bookshop. We see her trials and tribulations. The wonderful friends she makes, and how she impacts the lives of all who step inside the Hyunum-Dong Bookshop. Such a beautiful slice-of-life novel with hard-hitting insights regarding hustle culture and the pursuit of happiness and success. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita
Not only does this charming mystery-thriller blend Asian and Polynesian culture effortlessly. It also provides a rich atmosphere and detail as the events of this novel are set in Waikiki, Hawaii. You follow Maya Wong working on an assignment for the wealthy Hamilton family, where she’s commissioned to ghostwrite an autobiography for Parker Hamilton. Yet, she’s quickly swept into a sinister murder investigation after the head patriarch, Grandfather Hamilton, is found dead, sweeping her into a web of danger and right onto the path of her ex, Detective Koa Yamada. While this is an intriguing, fast-paced mystery, it packs a punch with themes exploring the impact of tourism and wealth in local communities in Hawaii, the struggles of finding one’s place within their culture, and the challenges one encounters returning home as an adult. Purchase from Bookshop.org
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
This sweeping fairy tale retelling of the Legend of Xishi, one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China, follows Xishi and her role in toppling an oppressive dynasty. Xishi’s beauty is renowned in her Yue village. So, when the military advisor Fanli seeks her out for a covert mission to become a concubine for the Wu kingdom and seduce the king into falling in love with her, all while enacting the Yue’s plans for vengeance. She agrees, but a forbidden attraction blooms between Xishi and Fanli. And once she’s delivered to the Wu court, she must see to the success of their plan, ensuring victory for her people and a shot at a future with the man she truly loves. This poignant novel explores the complexities of sacrifice, power, love, war, and womanhood. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
This novel turned Hulu series, starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, follows the Richardson family in the Shaker Heights suburb, where matriarch Elena exudes perfection with her idyllic family and home. Artistic and free-spirited Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl become tenants of Elena when she moves into the family’s rental property. A friendship blossoms between Pearl and Elena’s brood. However, the secrets surrounding Mia’s past threaten the facade set forth by the Shaker Heights community. As Mia and Elena find themselves on opposite sides of a custody battle regarding a Chinese-American baby and the division this causes amongst the community and the lives that are impacted by the fallout. This novel does an excellent job of exploring complex family dynamics, motherhood, and identity. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Books To Add To Your TBR
I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang
In this Young Adult Contemporary with a Magical Realism twist, we follow Jenna Chen as she’s reeling from her recent rejections from every Ivy League school she’s applied to, further disappointing her Asian immigrant parents. She becomes fixated on the success of her cousin Jessica, who’s Harvard-bound and wishes she could become smarter and successful like her. She wakes to find that her wish has come true as she’s trapped in Jessica’s body. Quickly, she’s taken aback by the reality that Jessica’s life isn’t all that it seems as she discovers the secrets she’s hiding and the pressure it takes to attend the elite Havenwood Private Academy. What’s worse is that her family is beginning to forget that Jenna Chen exists. She’s forced to choose between living the perfect life or risking losing her identity forever. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
In this story, we follow Bird Gardener, who lives in a world hyperfixated on the preservation of “American Culture” due to longstanding violence and economic instability. With authorities relocating the children of dissidents, targeting those of Asian descent. As libraries remove books deemed “unpatriotic,” such as those written by Bird’s Chinese-American mother, who has been absent from his life since he was nine years old. After receiving a mysterious letter with a drawing, Bird becomes intent on finding his mother, taking him on an epic life-changing journey. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Almost Brown by Charlotte Gill
Award-winning writer Charlotte Gill shares her story of family, identity, ethnicity, race, diversity, and the challenges of living in a multicultural household. Beginning in the 1960’s London, when her Indian father and English mother met and fell in love. Following their journey from the UK to Canada to the US in their endless search for life, liberty, and happiness, and how this dream becomes their downfall. Purchase from Bookshop.org
House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport
A spell-binding and provocative love story set in Hawaii and Russia. We follow Ana, a physician raised on the Wai’anae coast, who meets filmmaker Nikolai while caring for Hurricane ‘Iniki victims on the island of Kaua’i. Their lives become intertwined. Purchase from Bookshop.org
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
A poignant tale exploring the friendship between Salahudin and Noor that blossomed in their childhood but was destroyed following an argument. Navigating separate lives, Salahudin struggles to run his family’s hotel while caring for his ailing mother and alcoholic father. Noor works at her uncle’s liquor store and secretly applies to college in hopes of escaping the dead-end town of Juniper, California. Due to Salahudin’s overwhelming struggle to manage the hotel reaching a tipping point, the two must face the fracture in their friendship and determine how to defeat the trauma from their past and the obstacles in their present. Purchase from Bookshop.org
The Shaadi Set-up by Lillie Vale
A fun, witty rom-com with heart. Once upon a time, Rita and Milan were the it couple and ruled the halls of their high school. That is, until he broke her heart. Flash forward six years, and she finds herself reunited with her former flame as he’s asking for her help in helping him to flip a beach house property he’s trying to sell. Reluctantly, she agrees and goes to great lengths to prove that she’s moved on and he is not the one for her. But the more they work together, the closer they get, causing Rita to question what she knows about love and Milan. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
A dark and mysterious thriller where power, money, and pleasure reign supreme, with family ties that can prove to be deadly. Watch as three narratives unfold with the famous Waida family at its epicenter. Ajay, a servant of the family who hails from an impoverished background, quickly rises in the family’s ranks. Sunny is the playboy who has ambitions to outshine his father’s legacy. Neda is the ambitious journalist caught between morality and desire. Their stories intertwine as you wonder if they will bring about escape or destruction. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Every Drop Is A Man’s Nightmare by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto
A short story Horror collection that takes the reader on a journey through the interwoven culture of native Hawaiian and Japanese women. Rich with queer and feminist themes with bits of magical realism thrown in for good measure. Purchase from Bookshop.org
Long Live The Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T. Kira Madden
A deeply reflective and raw memoir detailing a young girl coming of age in Boca Raton, Florida, as she grapples with her sexuality and her racial and cultural identity as a biracial young adult raised by a Jewish father and Chinese-Hawaiian mother. She explores the racial disparities she experienced in her community and the stark contrast with her reality of privilege. She also addresses the rampant white collar crime and the destructive beauty standards that shaped her self-image. This impactful memoir unravels her trauma with deft honesty and reveals the power of family and forgiveness. Purchase from Bookshop.org
These are just a few ideas for Asian American and Pacific Islander Authors and books you can explore this month. I’m working on creating a similar list of books from Asian American and Pacific Islander authors available on Kindle Unlimited. So, be on the lookout for that post to come soon! Let me know what books you’d recommend for AAPI month or what books from this list you’d be interested in reading. Til next time. Happy reading!!
