 Hello, hello everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel Laura's Little Library and welcome to today's video Which are my AAPI recommendations? It's the month of May is known as Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month And so in order to celebrate that I've come up with a list of some Books that I think would be great to read during this month and at the very end I will give a couple books that are on my TBR that have just come out that I hope to read during this month Let's get started then, shall we? The first book that I would like to recommend is Strike the Zither by Joan He This is the first book in a duology and it kind of plays with Chinese mythology as well as war strategy And it has a really badass main character. So we follow our main character who is a war strategist and she is trying to help this lord or this lady Kind of rise up in the ranks of the world. And so there's a lot of like undercover doing this Meeting with this person, coeing head-to-head with other war strategists and everything like that And then there's a huge twist at the end. So if you are into mythology, then this would be a great book for you Continuing on the theme of mythology. I would also like to recommend Daughter of the Moon Goddess This is again the first book in a duology. The second book is the heart of the Sun Warrior I have read both books and they were really good So these are written by Sun Lenten and they are based off of Chinese mythology You are following the Daughter of the Moon Goddess as her mother is imprisoned on the moon And her father is who knows where? Is he dead? Is he alive? Nobody really knows. So she leaves the moon to try and free her mother and try and figure out what has happened To her family. This was such a beautiful and lyrically written book and it just it was amazing. So again Now for a fantasy book that is inspired by Asian culture I just read and absolutely adored a magic steeped in poison Another first book in a duology. This is by Judy I Lin and I read the first book And I cannot wait to start the second book This book is amazing because of the magic system and the world building the way that Tea is how you perform magic tea itself isn't magic, but you can't do it without the tea either It's just a beautiful story and our main character is entering in a competition to be the next tea person for the emperor as A plague is kind of going through a poison really is going through the kingdom and her younger sister is also Affected by this. So she's also trying to find a way to save her younger sister. Oh again Amazing cultural aspects and the character relationships and dynamics in this one were just so Interesting and it kept me on the edge of my seat All I wanted to do is read this book and drink tea and that's pretty much all I did now for my last Fantasy-based recommendations. I'm gonna have to go with Babel by RF Kwong Of course, I would recommend this for a PI our main character is a man from China who was taken from China actually as a young boy and brought to England in order to study at Oxford at Babel at Oxford, which is the Fantastical element here to study translation. This is my favorite book of all time and Really anything by RF Kwong is probably really good to read but if you like historical fiction or magic through translation and silver complex magic system This you need to pick this up. It may look chalky, but you will fly through it Now let's move on to some contemporary books. The first one. I'm gonna just quickly recommend, you know I've talked about it a lot on this channel Tokyo Ever After by Niko Jean. First book in a duology It is about a Japanese-American main character She was born and raised in the States but then finds out her father is actually the crown prince of Japan So she decides to go to Japan meet her family and kind of see a glimpse of what her life would have been like How she actually grown up in Japan as the daughter of the crown prince So if you like the prince's diaries, but you need like an Asian version of it Like a crazy rich Asians version This should be your go-to for the month of May. I would also very much recommend the love boat Right now in duology, but there's actually another book coming out love boat forever. I am so excited I adored both of these books and It's it they seem like a perfect fit for a API heritage month because you are following main characters in a group of friends who have Chinese or Taiwanese Heritage their parents or their grandparents or someone and so they go on this love boat Program where they go to Taipei and they learn to speak Mandarin they learn about their culture They learn like the fan dance and they get to explore and see where their families are from So I think it's perfect for this month in this one The first one you are following a dancer who she just wants to dance and her parents are not very supportive So they make her go on this program and the second one you are following a woman Who is trying to get into the STEM fields? She's trying to make it as an Asian American woman in STEM and the difficulties that she Faces and then she ends up going back to Taiwan for a reunion and And it's amazing and it's but these are by Abigail Heng when and I don't know too much about what love boat forever is about All I know is that there's a cover and I cannot wait Now this next one is a book that just came out and I read it so quickly. It is hilarious and it's written by one of my Coming-up favorite authors question mark that is Jesse Qsutanto and her book Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers. So again anything really written by Jesse Qsutanto In my experience has been amazing. I haven't read all of her backlist I read the dial-a for auntie's duology that I cannot wait to read new girl, which is her dark academia Anyway, I digress This follows Vera Wong who is this Chinese old lady who owns a tea house in Chinatown in San Francisco, I believe one day She finds a dead body on the floor of her tea house and she takes it upon herself to investigate because the cops are inadequate and So it's a hilarious but also a heartwarming heart-salt Book of Asian-American characters who come together over this murder Whether for better or for worse and oh my goodness It was so funny. Now if you like baking or food contemporaries This would be a good one for you and it is a taste of love and this is by Jennifer Yen so this follows a girl whose Parents run this Asian themed bakery. I believe they are Chinese all of their baking is inspired by Chinese flavors and Chinese recipes And it's just amazing to read about and her mom Hosts this baking competition every year However, this year it's going to be a little different because this year her mom is on a mission To find her a boyfriend This is a fun YA Contemporary romance now this next book is actually one of my many Current reads and it is called Sway with me and this is by Sayid and Masood and this features South Asian Main characters in the United States So we've got our main male character who is very much a shut-in doesn't know anything about being a teenager just studies and lives with his grandfather and a very low-key Intellectually driven household and then you have our female main character who is the spice of life She is a dancer and she gets into trouble and so they end up striking some sort of deal of She is going to help him and he is going to help her through dancing There we go. So far. I'm enjoying it I am not quite halfway through but so far this seems to be a pretty cute YA contemporary All right I've got two other books on my TV are that are coming out in the month of May or have recently come out that I cannot wait to Read one of them is actually my book club pick It is called throwback and it is by Maureen Gu So this actually follows a Korean American who kind of gets thrown back in In time, I don't know if she goes to Korea or if she's still in the States But she kind of has to help her mom win prom queen So I'm very excited to read this one. I think it'll be a great one for our book club The other book on my tv r is fake dates and mooncakes by share lee This is a queer asian-american romance. I am so excited. I honestly don't really know much more about it other than that, I mean mooncakes makes me think of the lunar festival and So it's celebratory. It's gay and it's coming out in the mid of May So that is another one that I am putting on my dbr and hopefully recommending as well Those are all my recommendations if you like them give it a thumbs up comment down below what you will be reading this month I always love to hear from you also feel free to hit the subscribe button and make sure you hit the bell I've gone down to posting one video a week hopefully As I will be having a lot of things happening So i'm going to do my best to have one video going up a week So make sure you hit the bell to be notified when those go up I also have bookish social media linked down below that you can follow me there and get more Updates on what i'm reading and what i'm thinking about them But that is everything so until I see you all in the next video. I wish you happy reading