Category: Pacific islander

Summer Bird Blue

By Akemi Dawn Bowman

Rumi Seto spends a lot of time worrying she doesn’t have the answers to everything. What to eat, where to go, whom to love. But there is one thing she is absolutely sure of—she wants to spend the rest of her life writing music with her younger sister, Lea.

Then Lea dies in a car accident, and her mother sends her away to live with her aunt in Hawaii while she deals with her own grief. Now thousands of miles from home, Rumi struggles to navigate the loss of her sister, being abandoned by her mother, and the absence of music in her life. With the help of the “boys next door”—a teenage surfer named Kai, who smiles too much and doesn’t take anything seriously, and an eighty-year-old named George Watanabe, who succumbed to his own grief years ago—Rumi attempts to find her way back to her music, to write the song she and Lea never had the chance to finish.

Representation: Rumi is asexual/aromantic. 

Bloom

By Kevin Panetta

Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band—if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom…that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.

Representation: Gay MC.

Angels of Mercy – Volume Two: Marco

By SA Collins

“Elliot Donahey is the love of my life.”

Those words become a lightning rod for Marco Sforza, the man who seemed to have it all – looks, charm, money, a certain degree of local fame as the star quarterback of Mercy High – but when his teammates beat his boyfriend to the brink of death, Marco will have to learn what “standing by your man” truly means.

Publisher’s Description:

Angels of Mercy – Volume Two: Marco, picks up the timeline from the climatic ending of Volume One. How will these boys cope with Elliot recuperation as well as find a way to bring justice for the heinous crime committed against Elliot? Deception, lies and intrigue begin to thread their way into the boys lives as they struggle to just hold onto one another. All is not quite what it seems as we reach yet another climatic ending that will turn their whole world upside-down. The hate crime Elliot suffered was just the beginning of their woes. Is Marco and Elliot’s love for one another strong enough to see them through? Read Angels of Mercy – Volume Two: Marco to find out.

Genre: New Adult

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Kayla Donahey, Francesca Donatella Sforza, Clarie Greenbaum
Cis boys: Marco Sforza, Pietro Sforza, Nick Donahey, Angus Carr, Marcel Greenbaum-LaCroix, Jeffrey Greenbaum-LaCroix, Marty Greenbaum, Ari Forlani
Trans girls: Patti (no last name given)

Sexuality:
Gay: Elliot Donahey, Angus Carr, Jeffrey Greenbaum-LaCroix, Marcel Greenbaum-LaCroix, Ari Forlani
Lesbian: Tracey (no last name given)
Bisexual: Danny Jericho
Pansexual: Marco Sforza, Pietro Sforza
Heterosexual: Kayla Donahey, Nick Donahey, Francesca Donatella Sforza, Clarie Greenbaum, Marty Greenbaum, Timo Esau

Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic: Elliot Donahey and Marco Sforza

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Marco Sforza (Italian), Pietro Sforza, Francesca Donatella Sforza, Kayla Donahey, Nick Donahey, The Greenbaums,
Latinx: Patti
Multiracial: Tracey
Pacific Islander: Timo Esau

Religion:
Christianity: (Catholicism but not expressed within the book – implied) Sforzas and the Donaheys
Judaism: The Greenbaums
Atheism/Humanism: Elliot Donahey, Marco Sforza (though they go to the same Catholic church due to family pressures)

Location: Mercy, CA (fictitious town located between Big Sur and Carmel, CA)

Trigger Warnings: Homophobia/homomisia and Hate Crimes

Other notes: Contains descriptive sexual content

Ownvoices: Written by an “own voice” gay male author

Ending: Ends with some questions unanswered but concludes the cliff hanger in Volume One.

No More Heroes

By Michelle Kan

Publisher’s Description:
The peaceful nights are kept under the clandestine and watchful eye of young, gifted vigilantes the world over. But a sudden rash of vigilante deaths heralds the arrival of a new and unfamiliar enemy – one whose motive is as unclear as their identity. Someone or something seems determined to disturb the peace, and they’re going straight for the watchmen to do it.

In a city where those who are gifted make up their own rules, who will step forward when the threat of a swift end is real and there stands so little to gain?

No More Heroes is an urban fantasy action/adventure novel about young, would-be heroes who get more than they bargained for when they delve deeper into a world they never knew they were a part of.

Featuring a diverse cast of players, discord, a mystery to be solved, plenty of literary action and high-stakes battles, No More Heroes is a story about self-belief and camaraderie, persistence in the face of trials, and what it means to be the best version of yourself.

Genre: Fantasy

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Clare, Mallory, Fisticuffs, Faraday
Cis boys: Linus, Rehua, Artifice
Genderqueer/Nonbinary:
Gender Fluid: Resonance

Sexuality:
Lesbian: Mallory
Bisexual: Linus
Asexual: Clare, Resonance, Artifice
Demisexual: Faraday
Gray-Asexual: Rehua

Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic: Mallory, Fisticuffs, Artifice
Biromantic: Linus, Faraday
Aromantic: Clare
Panromantic: Rehua
Demiromantic: Fisticuffs, Artifice
Gray Romantic: Resonance, Rehua

Race/Ethnicity:
Greek: Clare
Dutch: Mallory
Cantonese Chinese: Resonance
Indian: Artifice
Samoan: Linus
Māori: Rehua
Cambodian-Vietnamese: Faraday

Disability:
Mental illness: Clare has ADHD. Resonance has Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Cognitive disability: Linus is dyslexic.

Location: New Zealand

 

Ownvoices: Ownvoices for genderfluidity and anxiety.

The Shattering

By Karen Healey

Keri, Janna, and Sione all have older brothers who died, each ruled a suicide – which they don’t believe. In this supernatural thriller where one of the girls is Queer, they search for the possible serial killer.

Seventeen-year-old Keri likes to plan for every possibility. She knows what to do if you break an arm, or get caught in an earthquake or fire. But she wasn’t prepared for her brother’s suicide, and his death has left her shattered with grief. When her childhood friend Janna tells her it was murder, not suicide, Keri wants to believe her. After all, Janna’s brother died under similar circumstances years ago, and Janna insists a visiting tourist, Sione, who also lost a brother to apparent suicide that year, has helped her find some answers.

As the three dig deeper, disturbing facts begin to pile up: one boy killed every year; all older brothers; all had spent New Year’s Eve in the idyllic town of Summerton. But when their search for the serial killer takes an unexpected turn, suspicion is cast on those they trust the most.

As secrets shatter around them, can they save the next victim? Or will they become victims themselves?

Genre: Fantasy, Mystery/Thriller

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Keri, Janna, Sione

Sexual Orientation:
Lesbian/Queer/: Keri
Heterosexual: Janna, Sione

Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly labeled.

Race/Ethnicity:
Keri is biracial, Maori and white.  Sione is Samoan. Janna is white.

Trigger Warnings:
Suicide