Contemporary Asian American

At 26, Hope has only ever slept with one man, and at her boss's unsolicited advice, Hope plans to forget the abuse and degradation she suffered at her ex's hand by seducing and bedding the next man she meets. Only after Hope finds a promise of death at her doorstep, her plans are derailed, and her only chance at staying alive rests on the dedication of her new bodyguard and her own sheer will to live the life she deserves.

Daring yet aimless, smart but slightly strange, Cake Time's young female protagonist keeps making slippery choices, sliding into the dangerous space where curiosity melds with fear and desires turn into dirty messes. In "How Not to Have an Abortion" the teenage narrator looks for a ride from the clinic between her AP exams. In "Easy Target", the now-college-grad agrees to go to a swingers party with a handsome stranger. A decade later, in "Glow" she is suddenly confronted by the disturbing and thrilling fact of her lover's secret daughter.

"Where are you from . . . ? No—where are you from from?" It's a question every Asian American gets asked as part of an incessant chorus saying you'll never belong here, you're a perpetual foreigner, you'll always be seen as an alien, an object, or a threat. Monica Youn's From From brilliantly evokes the conflicted consciousness of deracination. If you have no core of "authenticity," no experience of your so-called homeland, how do you piece together an Asian American identity out of Westerners' ideas about Asians? Your sense of yourself is part stereotype, part aspiration, part guilt.

She had longed for a taste of the wild and reckless. And Olivia Jeffries got her chance when she met a handsome stranger at a masquerade ball. The attraction was instant, the electricity volatile. But days later she discovered her new lover was none other than Reginald Westmoreland, her...

Korean immigrant Mina Pak Johnson is clearing out the last of her husband’s things when she finds a picnic basket in his closet—a long-forgotten wedding present from her mother. With it comes decades of memories—of her mother’s wishes for her to be happy and her own shattered hopes for her first child—and regret at never having used it. Pushing her husband’s ashes and a bottle of wine in a rusty old stroller, Mina is determined to re-create the picnic they never had. But with it comes something Mina never expected, illuminating a loving gesture her husband made years ago.

Rani, a traditional girl of Indian origin meets a Panamanian hunk named Carlos Morales on a Caribbean cruise line. Carlos finds Rani's innocence very attractive and manages to woo Rani in spite of her initial reluctance. The story takes a different turn when Rani learns that Carlos is already married and has a seven-year-old son. Rani comes from a traditional Indian background and it remains to be seen if her love for Carlos will stand the test of time and tradition. Senorita Rani is a novelette that will capture your heart.

I have a secret. I kind of faked my perfect SAT score to get a full scholarship at Middleson University. It worked, but now I have one major problem - Rick, a wealthy jerk who looks like Zac Efron, and who's blackmailing me with my lie. What does the jerk want in exchange for his silence?