Some books by Asian authors to read this may!

Edit: thank you @linkedsoul for letting me know that I misused the term AAPI in the original post. I’m very sorry about that, and have changed the title to accurately reflect what this list is.

Happy (Upcoming) International Asexuality Day 2024!

April 6 marks International Asexuality Day, and we’re celebrating by championing books all over the ace spectrum. For even more recs, check past years’ International Asexuality Day/Ace Week posts! To Read Now Middle Grade Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfrid There’s the part of me that doesn’t understand kissing or cuteness or attraction, and then there’s the part of me that feels so lonely. How do I…

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Am I original? Yeaahhh. Am I the only one? Yeaahhh. Am I asexual? Yeaahhh.

Debut YA novelist, Wellesley College alum, fellow tumblrer and all around wonderful person @annzhao was here to sign more copies of DEAR WENDY for us. We were proud to be one of her pre-order stores.

“Reading Dear Wendy felt like sitting down with a friend you’ve known your whole life. Ann Zhao’s voice is so witty, warm, and effortlessly charming in this pitch-perfect coming-of-age story and love letter to friendship—I’m an instant fan.” —Ann Liang, author of If You Could See the Sun

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao cover!  art by betsy cola, design by julia bianchi

Sophie Chi is in her first year at Wellesley College (despite her parents’ wishes that she attend a “real” university, rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aromantic and asexual identities. Despite knowing she’ll never fall in love, she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at Wellesley. No one except her roommate knows that she’s behind the incredibly popular "Dear Wendy" account. When Joanna “Jo” Ephron―also a first-year student at Wellesley―created their “Sincerely Wanda” account, it wasn't at all meant to be serious or take off like it does―not like Dear Wendy’s. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Dear Wendy? Oops . As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender, the fact that she’ll never truly be loved or be enough, or her few friends finding The One and forgetting her! While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo are getting closer in real life, bonding over their shared aroace identities. As their friendship develops and they work together to start a campus organization for other a-spec students, can their growing bond survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts? With its exploration of a-spec identities, college life, and more, this platonic comedy, perfect for fans of Netflix’s The Half of It and Alice Oseman’s Loveless , is ultimately a love story about two people who are not―and will not―be in love!

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao

Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual students at Wellesley College, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao

Sophie Chi is in her first year at Wellesley College (despite her parents' pleas that she attend a "real" university, rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aromantic and asexual (aroace) identities. She knows she'll never fall in love herself, but she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at Wellesley. No one except her roommate can know that she's behind the incredibly popular "Dear Wendy" account.

When Joanna "Jo" Ephron (also a first-year aroace student at Wellesley) created their "Sincerely Wanda" account, it wasn't at all meant to take off or be taken seriously-not like Wendy's. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Wendy's account? Oops. As if Jo's not busy enough having existential crises over gender, if she'll ever truly be loved, and whether her few friends will find The One and forget her!

While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo grow closer in real life, especially once they realize their shared aroace identity and start a campus organization for other a-spec students. Will their friendship survive if they learn just who's behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?

Exploring a-spec identities, college life, and more, this platonic comedy, perfect for fans of Alice Osman's Loveless, is ultimately a love story about two people who are not-and will not-be in love!

Quick Review: Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao

cross posted from Goodreads

I have been trying to figure out how to express my disappointment in this book. I was so excited for Dear Wendy but I ended up dnf'ing instead around 50%. As an ace person, I have gone out of my way to read many books about and by ace people, so an aroace love story challenging amanormativity was thrilling to hear about. I've met other ace people in real life and it is magic. And none of that magic was in Dear, Wendy. I believe books like this should be easily accessible and would love more, however, this far from fulfilled my wants.

On the one hand, I am too old for this book. I've been to a similar college to Wellesley and read extensive theory on feminism and queer theory, so I don't need to be lectured when I've already taken the class. However, I still found every aspect of this book over explained from queer identity to Friends (yeah, the TV show). I felt as though the author does not trust her readers' knowledge. There is so much tell and not enough show. And while I understand the need to educate in books, I trust teens to have some previous knowledge ahead of time, especially the intended readers.

Also, again, this is the fifth YA ace books I have read in under two years where one of the main characters had the same Type A personality, where they must overcome how set in their ways they are and loosen up. And while there were two ace characters in this book, this is a frustrating pattern for me to encounter. And three of these books feature a version of the "You've Got Mail" trope. We need racial diversity in these books, but they also need to be distinct characters. Diversity, for me, is best done with well rounded and complex characters. I have not been seeing that from this book or the others I am referencing.

I also want to acknowledge I tend to be harsher on books that are a part of my community. I am glad so many other people enjoy this book, and I will consider picking up her next book in the future.

I also want to add I am glad there are more ace books that I feel less guilty giving negative reviews and not enjoying them. I look forward to hearing others' opinions on the books.

I will not be "growing out" of being aroace.

dear wendy by ann zhao

Ann Zhao My hero is a tree, 2022Acrylic on linen8 x 9 in  (20.3 x 22.9 cm)

existential crisis and overall reading slump be damned!!

working at a book store is fun in part because i can order in cool books im excited about, and then i can also get my hands on a copy pretty quickly too :)

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao is so good and is such a welcome addition to my (very small) aroace collection, i've been trying and failing to actually sit down and read for a few months now despite my love of reading and them BAM- new aroace book yes please and im almost done with it haha

welcome to my semi-secret tumblr.

hi! i’m ann! i wrote a book! dear wendy is about two aromantic asexual college students who run competing anonymous love advice accounts on instagram, not knowing they’re also friends IRL. you can add it to your goodreads or storygraph TBR now!

4.75 Stars

This was such a genuinely fun book! Yes there were a couple things that were a little clunky and a couple problems typical of debuts, but I enjoyed reading it so much that I didn’t care. The discussions of being aroace made me feel seen in a way that no book really has before- specifically, Jo’s feelings around her friends and losing them to relationships really resonated with me. I like that instead of being about self-discovery, this focused on two characters who already know that they’re aroace. In addition, the plot! The internet drama is so dumb but in a way that’s honestly fun to read about. It’s more lighthearted overall, but the emotional moments hit so hard too. Anyway yeah this was really good

Happy Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week 2024!

Happy Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week! Running from February 18-24, 2024, this week we’re celebrating aromantic rep, so check out these titles! (Representation is included/highlighted with each title, where I know it.) As usual, all links are affiliate and earn a percentage of income for the site, so please use them if you can! Please note this roundup only features titles that were not…

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EVERYONE GO READ DEAR WENDY I HAVE NEVER FELT SO INCREDIBLY SEEN

YESSSS

I WILL LOVE YOU IF I NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN, AND I WILL LOVE YOU IF I SEE YOU EVERY TUESDAY // ON LOVE IN BETTER DAYS

Mary Haskell // 少年的你 Better Days (2019) dir. Derek Tsang // Anne Sexton A Self-Portrait in Letters (via @flowerytale) // 少年的你 Better Days (2019) dir. Derek Tsang // Sylvain Reynard Gabriel's Inferno // Sue Zhao // Edna St. Vincent Millay Iterim Poem // 少年的你 Better Days (2019) dir. Derek Tsang // 엔하이픈 ENHYPEN Fate // Sam Sax // 少年的你 Better Days (2019) dir. Derek Tsang // Taylor Swift Say Don't Go (Taylor's Version) [From the Vault]

been procrastinating posting this lol because colouring my art is my personal nightmare but then i realised,, i didnt need to lol so here's monochrome with some colour for spice

my madman scrawlings below: