Celebrating AANHPI Month: Everyone’s Invited to the Party!
By: Shanny Moore
Happy May! Asian-American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Month is finally here! 31 days to celebrate the accomplishments and cultures of thousands of Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders - such a vast spread of diversity, and all in one month. Here’s a list of eight of my favorite books by AANHPI authors to read this month, or whenever!
Greta and Valdin by Rebecca Reilly
Gay panic. That’s it. That’s the book.
Greta and Valdin follows a delightfully dysfunctional family navigating heartbreak, new relationships, indigeneity, and a whole lot of family dramaaaa. With a large and loveable cast, I would highly recommend reading this as a physical book instead of an audiobook. I speak from experience as a listener who was constantly rewinding because she lost track of who’s who.
Overall though, I did enjoy this book and would 100% recommend it! Just maybe when you can actually read and see the character’s names on page.
Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai
You know those scenarios you make up in your head before you fall asleep? Like your own personal fanfics between you and your crush? Well when I was little, my bedtime scenario was being kidnapped with whoever I liked at the time. Don’t ask me why, I was a weird kid.
Anyways, this book was pretty much written for a 12-year-old me’s strange notion of romance. The book starts off with a bang as our main characters are kidnapped together and thrown into a dark but glittery world of heists, lies, and con men. With some romance on the side, of course.
Loud by Drew Afualo
We all know her. We all love her. Which is why I would highly recommend listening to this book on audio, narrated by the woman herself! Loud is a mix of memoir slash self-help slash feminism all woven together with the delightful laughter and humor of Drew Afualo.
I found myself listening to this book everywhere. It felt like being on FaceTime with a friend. The way Drew narrates and her writing style are so casual and familiar, I genuinely forgot I was even reading a book. I was just listening and laughing along to the big sister I never had.
Wild Pitch by Cat Giraldo
Now listen, I’ve never been the biggest sports romance girlie. I think this was the first one I’d ever read. And I gotta say, I’m glad Cat Giraldo was the one to pop my sports romance cherry. After reading this I needed to go and watch thirst edits of the hottest baseball players because… yeah.
I loved having two bisexual main characters and an exploration of kink! Especially when she’s the soft dom… it’s everything to me. This book is especially perfect for May because it gave me such strong summer vibes. It made me want to eat In-N-Out at the beach. Immaculate.
Weird Fishes by Rae Mariz
I’m not gonna lie, I read this book just to include it in this article, but I’m so beyond glad I pulled it from my shelf the other day and finally gave it the attention it deserves!
This book was so different from anything I’ve ever read, likely because the two main characters are a deep sea squid and a seal-like storyteller. Set in a lush underwater world, this environmental fantasy novel sucked me in right away and I truly didn’t want it to end.
If you want a quick, 120 page read for AANHPI month, I would 100% recommend Weird Fishes!
Chlorine by Jade Song
This was my first dip into the murky waters of the body gore subgenre, and I adored it. It’s definitely a good ease into this genre, woven with themes of beauty standards, familial expectations, queerness, and your not-so-classic ‘coming of age’ story. Oh, and also mermaids.
I blew through the majority of this book on a two-hour plane ride, and was so engrossed in it I almost forgot to be scared of the turbulence. It’s a short yet impactful read that left me craving more from both the genre and this debut author!
Good Mourning, Darling by Azalea Crowley
Now listen, I don’t want to say this is Venom fanfic adjacent - but I like to headcanon that it is (It’s not really, there’d be more tentacles if it were). Nonetheless, this was such an interesting foray into the world of horror romance. With a dark, sensual setting and a morally gray MMC and sunshine FMC, this book took something familiar and twisted it into a shadowy underworld filled with monsters, the undead, and the (sorta?) mafia.
Overall, this book felt so unique to me, not just in the world but in the distinct writing style and characterizations. If you’re wanting an ethically ambiguous monster romance with equally amazing representation, check this one out!
Moonlight and Dust by Jasmine McGaughey
This book hasn’t come out yet, but it releases in July and I literally cannot wait! I know the author is Australian, but I really wanted to highlight smaller PI regions, such as Torres Strait Islanders. Like I said - everyone’s invited to the party!
Moonlight and Dust is a YA Fantasy/Mystery that I cannot get my hands on soon enough and needed to share with everyone so ya’ll can be as excited as I am!
This is by no means an extensive list of my favorite AANHPI books, but I did try to highlight lesser-known works and Pacific Islander authors, who are chronically excluded from AANHPI book lists. Hopefully one of these books caught your eye and you feel inspired to celebrate AANHPI month this year!
And, like always, we read diversely year round here, so please don’t limit these talented authors to the month of May. Let’s uplift their voices every day!
(LOL that rhymed. Mic drop I guess)
