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Showing 21 - 40 of 44 items
A Real Simple Must-Read Book of Summer 2023 "Mai Nguyen has proven herself to be a real standout." - Taylor…
Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author. A tender, humorous, and page-turning debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family in Toronto who will do whatever it takes to protect their no-frills nail salon after a new high end salon opens up--even if it tears the family apart. Perfect for readers of Olga Dies Dreaming and The Fortunes of Jaded Women. Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have built a comfortable life for themselves in Toronto with their family nail salon. But when an ultra-glam chain salon opens across the street, their world is rocked. Complicating matters further, their landlord has jacked up the rent and it seems only a matter of time before they lose their business and everything they've built. They enlist the help of their daughter, Jessica, who has just returned home after a messy breakup and a messier firing. Together with their son, Dustin, and niece, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. Relationships are put to the test as the line between right and wrong gets blurred. Debbie and Phil must choose: do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon? Sunshine Nails is a light-hearted, urgent fable of gentrification with a cast of memorable and complex characters who showcase the diversity of immigrant experiences and community resilience.
A tender and funny debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family who will do whatever it takes to keep their no-frills…
nail salon afloat after a multimillion-dollar chain opens across the street. Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have made a good life for themselves in Toronto, but their landlord has just jacked up the rent of their family-run nail salon, Sunshine Nails, and it's way more than they can afford. When Take Ten, a glamorous chain offering a more luxurious salon experience, moves into the neighborhood, the Tran family is terrified of losing their business—and the community they've built around them. But daughter Jessica comes to their rescue. She's just moved back home after a messy breakup and an even messier firing. Together with her workaholic brother, Dustin, and recently immigrated cousin, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. But as the line between right and wrong gets blurred, relationships are put to the test, and Debbie and Phil must choose: Do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon? Full of memorable manicures and even more memorable characters, Sunshine Nails is a humorous and heartfelt novel about family, resilience, and what it means to start over
A debut young adult coming-of-age book with magic realism elements, Catfish Rolling is perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli films…
and Laura Ruby's Bone Gap.There's a catfish under Japan, and when it rolls, the land rises and falls. At least, that's what Sora was told after she lost her mother to an earthquake so powerful that it cracked time itself. Sora and her father are some of the few who still live near the most powerful of these "zones" — the places where time has been irrevocably sped up, or slowed down. When high school ends, and her best friend leaves for university, Sora finds herself stuck and increasingly alone. She begins secretly conducting her own research, tracking down a time expert in Tokyo. She also feels increasingly conflicted in her quasi-romantic feelings for her best friend — and for the time expert's assistant, a striking and confident girl named Maya, another hafu (half-Japanese, half-non) girl with whom Sora forms an instant bond. But when Sora's father disappears, she has no choice but to return home and venture deep into the abandoned time zones to find him, and perhaps the catfish itself . . .
A Most Anticipated Book Pick by Toronto Star, CBC, The Walrus, Good Morning America, Bustle, CrimeReads, Electric Literature, Debutiful, Ms.…
Magazine, The Nerd Daily, and PasteA mind-bending, gripping novel about Native life, motherhood and mental health that follows a young Mohawk woman who discovers that the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequencesOn the surface, Alice is exactly where she should be: She’s just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her charming husband, Steve is nothing but supportive; and they’ve recently moved into a new home in a wealthy neighborhood in Toronto. But Alice could not feel like more of an imposter. She isn’t connecting with Dawn, a struggle made even more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother, and every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from their white, watchful neighbors. Even when she does have a minute to herself, her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: her goal of writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story.At first, Alice is convinced her discomfort is of her own making. She has gotten everything she always dreamed of, after all. But then strange things start happening. She finds herself losing bits of time, hearing voices she can’t explain, and speaking with things that should not be talking back to her, all while her neighbors’ passive-aggressive behavior begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve assures her this is all in her head, Alice cannot fight the feeling that something is very, very wrong, and that in her creation story lies the key to her and Dawn’s survival. . . . She just has to finish it before it’s too late.Told in Alice’s raw and darkly funny voice, And Then She Fell is an urgent and unflinching look at inherited trauma, womanhood, denial, and false allyship, which speeds to an unpredictable—and surreal—climax.
“A stunning read [. . .] simmering with tension and gripping to the final word.” —Debbie Rigaud, New York Times…
bestselling author of Simone Breaks All the Rules and A Girl’s Guide to Love & MagicNow in paperback! A Black teen dancer with dreams of landing a spot in a prestigious ballet company must learn to dance on her own terms in this explosive debut about the healing power of art and friendship, perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Tiny Pretty Things.Ballet is Aisha’s life. But when discrimination at her elite academy pushes her to her breaking point, she decides to pivot. At her new public arts school, Aisha scores more dance opportunities than she’s ever had before. And it doesn’t hurt that she gets to take classes with her bestie . . . and with Ollie, an adorably shy musician who keeps throwing off her usually impeccable balance.Yet even as Aisha navigates friendships, family conflict, and first love, questions about her dance career open up new and old wounds. Aisha must find strength in herself and place her trust in others to make her next move."At times hopeful and beautiful but also heartbreakingly devastating, When It All Syncs Up is a story of love in so many forms. But maybe most important of all, it is about the love we give ourselves, and allow ourselves to be given, even at our most broken."—Jonny Garza Villa, author of the Pura Belpré Honor Book Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun
A haunting debut novel where dreams, family and spirits collide Mackenzie, a Cree millennial, wakes up in her one-bedroom Vancouver…
apartment clutching a pine bough she had been holding in her dream just moments earlier. When she blinks, it disappears. But she can still smell the sharp pine scent in the air, the nearest pine tree a thousand kilometres away in the far reaches of Treaty 8. Mackenzie continues to accidentally bring back items from her dreams, dreams that are eerily similar to real memories of her older sister and Kokum before their untimely deaths. As Mackenzie's life spirals into a living nightmare—crows are following her around and she's getting texts from her dead sister on the other side—it becomes clear that these dreams have terrifying, real-life consequences. Desperate for help, Mackenzie returns to her mother, sister, cousin, and aunties in her small Alberta hometown. Together, they try to uncover what is haunting Mackenzie before something irrevocable happens to anyone else around her. Haunting, fierce, an ode to female relations and the strength found in kinship, Bad Cree is a gripping, arresting debut by an unforgettable voice.
A runaway bestseller in Quebec, with foreign rights sold to 15 countries around the world, Kim Thúy's Governor General's Literary…
Award-winning Ru is a lullaby for Vietnam and a love letter to a new homeland.Ru. In Vietnamese it means lullaby; in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow - of tears, blood, money. Kim Thúy's Ru is literature at its most crystalline: the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters. In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec. There, the young girl feels the embrace of a new community, and revels in the chance to be part of the American Dream. As an adult, the waters become rough again: now a mother of two sons, she must learn to shape her love around the younger boy's autism. Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru is a book that celebrates life in all its wonder: its moments of beauty and sensuality, brutality and sorrow, comfort and comedy. Translated by Sheila Fischman.
Perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince, this gorgeous young adult fantasy follows a girl who discovers she&’s spent her…
life under an enchantment hiding her true identity on her quest into the magical Otherworld to unlock her powers and discover her destiny.Even the most powerful magic can&’t hide a secret forever. Croi is a brownie, glamoured to be invisible to humans. Her life in the Wilde Forest is ordinary and her magic is weak—until the day that her guardian gives Croi a book about magick from the Otherworld, the world of the Higher Fae. Croi wakes the next morning with something pulling at her core, summoning her to the Otherworld. It&’s a spell she cannot control or break. Forced to leave her home, Croi begins a journey full of surprises…and dangers. For Croi is not a brownie at all but another creature entirely, enchanted to forget her true heritage. As Croi ventures beyond the forest, her brownie glamour begins to shift and change. Who is she really, who is summoning her, and what do they want? Croi will need every ounce of her newfound magic and her courage as she travels a treacherous path to find her true self and the place in the Otherworld where she belongs.
'I absolutely adored it! Sweet and sexy, this friends-to-lovers romance is the perfect escape. I loved Mags and her fiercely…
loyal friend group, the food descriptions are TO DIE FOR (guaranteed to make you salivate) and the romance is sooo satisfying. Five stars!!' Netgalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐The Maid of Honour. Her college best friend. And a sexy doctor...Maggie wants to find her Prince Charming, but all she's finding are total frogs. As the Maid of Honour in both her upcoming best friends' weddings, time is running out to find a date worthy of being a Plus One. Then she meets Blake at the gym, a dreamy, muscular heart surgeon who sets off butterflies in her stomach. Blake is confident, a fine-as hell-Georgetown grad with chocolate-brown eyes, thick lips and a dimpled smile. What more could she ask for?Meanwhile, her college bestie, Garrett, throws salt in everyone's game. At every swipe, with every date, he just has to point out red flags. When Maggie asks why he isn't happy for her, he finally admits that he can't be. Not when he's not with her.Now Maggie is stuck in the most confusing love triangle, forced to choose between the near-perfect guy she's been waiting for and best friend who has never hurt her. She's gone from thinking all the good ones are taken, to been torn between two great guys. If she doesn't figure it out soon, she'll lose them both...An absolutely hilarious and steamy romantic comedy that will make you fall in love - and hungry along the way! Fans of Jasmine Guillory, Talia Hibbert and Sara Desai won't be able to put this one down Readers are RAVING about The Good Ones Are Taken: 'Maggie is such a relatable character, especially being the only single friend out of her friend group. You are rooting for her to find her one true match, and laughing alone the way at all the shenanigans that Tinder puts you through . . . Garrett has you swooning and smiling from ear to ear! If this man exists in real life, please let me know . . . a perfect book for the romcom lovers, you won't want to put it down and it might make you want to redownload Tinder. 😉' Goodreads reviewer'Delightfully steamy. This was a fun, fresh read and readers will delight in Taj McCoy's unique voice.' Netgalley reviewer'The love story of Maggie and Garrett! Wow this spicy best friends turned lovers kept me on the edge! . . . A steamy, romantic, rom com! A must read!' Netgalley reviewer'a delightful and lighthearted romance that I definitely recommend!' Goodreads reviewer'A wonderful look at the complexities that often face professionals in the black community looking for love . . . the plot will keep you turning the pages and renew your belief in friendship and true love.' Netgalley reviewer'ooooh this book wouldn't let me put it down! i liked this book SO much and feel like, in some ways, this is what i have been waiting for from Taj McCoy and i am thrilled' Goodreads reviewer'This book makes women everywhere have hope that their Mr. Right is out there looking for her just like she's looking for him. Great read!!' Goodreads reviewer
"A charming, funny, and unique twist on challenging the laws and traditions that shape us."—Abby Jimenez, New York Times bestselling author of Yours…
TrulyA bride-to-be convinced she&’s cursed in romance finds her luck changing—at exactly the wrong time.Maya Mirza is so convinced she&’s unlucky in love that she&’s come up with a list of laws to explain it. Most importantly… Maya&’s Law #1: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.But that&’s about to change. Maya&’s headed to Pakistan for an arranged marriage with a handsome, successful doctor who ticks all the right boxes. First comes marriage, then comes love—she&’s sure of it. Except… Law #4: When you think you&’re lucky, think again.From the start, Maya's journey is riddled with disaster, and the cynical lawyer seated next to her on the plane isn&’t helping. When a storm leaves them stranded in Switzerland, she and Sarfaraz become unlikely travel companions through bus breakdowns and missed connections. Law #6: Trips are never smooth sailing.And before long, Maya&’s wondering whether she&’s just experienced the ultimate in misfortune—finally meeting the right man a few days before she marries someone else. And Maya might just be the worst person to keep a secret. Law #18: If you&’re overtired, you&’ll always spill your guts.But maybe, if she&’s willing to bend some laws, this detour could take her somewhere totally—and wonderfully—unexpected."Rooted in Pakistani and Muslim culture and faith, this romance is a fun romp that features plenty of adventure and plot twists. Recommend to fans of Uzma Jalaluddin."—Library Journal, starred review
CBC BOOKS: 2024 SPRING FICTION PREVIEWA queer writer travelling through India can't escape the regrets of his past, nor the impending…
ruin of his present. "I am leaving for the winter – I have to get away from this small town and all its dangers – to write, read, think, all the most important things in the world but which are thought the least important, the most expendable."Thus begins the Indian winter of our narrator, a queer writer and translator much like the author, a winter that includes a meandering journey through India, trying to write about a long-ago lover whose death he has just learned of. While on this journey into memory, he flees his current faltering relationship in search of new friendships and intimacies. Inspired by Antonio Tabucchi's Indian Nocturne, and by the writings of Anaïs Nin, Rachel Cusk, and Carole Maso, among others, Indian Winter finds itself where the travel diary, the künstlerroman, poetry, and autofiction meet. But the heartbreak brought on by his unravelling relationship and his family's inability to accept his queerness cannot be outrun; as he traverses India, our narrator can't help but repeatedly encounter himself and the range of love and alienation he has within.
They're walking on the wild side…The Plan was simple: find a cure for the cancer that nearly took her sister&’s life.…
But for Zoey Fong, something about The Plan isn&’t working anymore. When a crucial tissue sample accidentally winds up in the hands of a very distracting—and disarmingly handsome—visitor, Zoey jumps at the chance to follow him home to retrieve it. Davy Hsieh&’s rugged island estate is no manicured suburban park. His plan is simple: establish a legitimate animal sanctuary and embrace life as a hermit to make up for a sketchy past. Zoey invading his fortress of solitude should not, under any circumstances, be a romantic development. And yet it&’s the single most invigorating week of their lives…when they're able to set their many differences aside and embrace it. Stranded amid all manner of flora and fauna—including a semidomesticated cougar called Baby—Davy and Zoey first have to survive the island. Then they'll need to take a leap of faith, maybe even trusting in each other, to save it. "An absolutely charming opposites attract story that will have you swooning for Davy, feeling for Zoey, and swearing to stay away from geese." —Lily Chu, author of The Stand-In and The Comeback
Black Cake meets Death at a Funeral in this heartwarming and hilarious novel about three generations of a Nigerian Canadian family grappling with…
their matriarch’s sudden passing while their auntie insists that her sister is coming back, from an author with a “razor-sharp, smart and tender” (Nafiza Azad, author of The Wild Ones) voice. Joy Okafor is overwhelmed. The recently divorced life coach whose phone won’t stop ringing is also the dutiful Nigerian daughter who has planned every aspect of her mother’s seventieth birthday weekend on her own. As the Okafors slowly begin to arrive, Mama Mary goes to take a nap. But when the grandkids try to wake her, they find that she isn’t sleeping after all. Refusing to believe that her sister is gone-gone, Auntie Nancy declares that she has had a premonition: Mama Mary will rise again like Jesus Christ himself on Easter Sunday. Desperate to believe that they’re about to witness a miracle, the family overhauls their birthday plans to welcome the Nigerian Canadian community and the host of AJAfrika TV to help spread the word that Mama Mary is coming back. But skeptical Joy is struggling to deal with the loss of her mother and not allowing herself to mourn just yet while going through the motions of planning a funeral that her aunt refuses to allow.Filled with humour and flawed, deeply relatable characters that leap off the page, Pride and Joy will draw in readers as the Okafors prepare for a miracle while coming apart at the seams, praying that they haven’t actually lost Mama Mary for good and grappling with what her loss would truly mean for each of them.
In this unusual, engaging, and intimate collection of personal essays, Lambda Literary Award finalist Tania De Rozario recalls growing up…
as a queer, brown, fat girl in Singapore, blending memoir with elements of history, pop culture, horror films, and current events to explore the nature of monsters and what it means to be different.Tania De Rozario was just twelve years old when she was gay-exorcised. Convinced that her boyish style and demeanor were a sign of something wicked, her mother and a pair of her church friends tried to “banish the evil” from Tania. That day, the young girl realized that monsters weren’t just found in horror tales. They could lurk anywhere—including your own family and community—and look just like you. Dinner on Monster Island is Tania’s memoir of her life and childhood in Singapore—where she discovered how difference is often perceived as deviant, damaged, disobedient, and sometimes, demonic. As she pulls back the veil on life on the small island, she reveals the sometimes kind, sometimes monstrous side of all of us. Intertwined with her experiences is an analysis of the role of women in horror. Tania looks at films and popular culture such as Carrie, The Witch, and The Ring to illuminate the ways in which women are often portrayed as monsters, and how in real life, monsters are not what we think. Moving and lyrical, written with earnest candor, and leavened with moments of humor and optimism, Dinner on Monster Island is a deeply personal examination of one woman’s experience grappling with her identity and a fantastic analysis of monsters, monstrous women and the worlds in which they live.
Lyrical and devastating, The Singularity is a breathtaking study of grief, migration, and motherhood from one of Sweden’s most exciting…
contemporary novelists.In an unnamed coastal city filled with refugees, the mother of a displaced family calls out her daughter’s name as she wanders the cliffside road where the child once worked. The mother searches and searches until, spent from grief, she throws herself into the sea, leaving her other children behind. Bearing witness to the suicide is another woman—on a business trip, with a swollen belly that later gives birth to a stillborn baby. In the wake of her pain, the second woman remembers other losses—of a language, a country, an identity—when once, her family fled a distant war.Balsam Karam weaves between both narratives in this formally ambitious novel and offers a fresh approach to language and aesthetic as she decenters a white European gaze. Her English-language debut, The Singularity is a powerful exploration of loss, history, and memory.
Persepolis meets Crying in H Mart in this astonishing, deeply moving graphic memoir of three generations of women, exploring love, grief, exile,…
identity, and forgiveness.In her evocative, genre-defying graphic memoir, Tessa Hulls tells the story of three generations of women: her grandmother, Sun Yi; her mother, Rose; and herself.Sun Yi was a Shanghai journalist caught in the political crosshairs of the 1949 Communist victory in China. After fleeing to Hong Kong with her young daughter, Sun Yi wrote a bestselling memoir about her persecution and survival—then promptly had a breakdown that left her committed to a mental institution.Growing up, Tessa watches her mother care for Sun Yi, both of them struggling under the weight of Sun Yi&’s unexamined trauma and mental illness. Vowing to escape her mother&’s smothering fear, Tessa leaves home and travels to the farthest, most remote corners of the globe. But once she turns thirty, her roaming begins to feel less like freedom and more like running away, so she returns to face the history that shaped her family.Extensively researched and gorgeously rendered, Feeding Ghosts is Tessa&’s homecoming, a vivid journey into the beating heart of one family, set against the dark backdrop of modern Chinese history. By turns fascinating and heartbreaking, inventive and poignant, Feeding Ghosts exposes the fear and trauma that haunt generations, and the love that holds them together.
She lost her words but found her voice.All My Rage meets The Poet X in this electric debut that explores…
a Muslim teen finding her voice in a post-9/11 America.Nida has always been known as Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh’s niece - the poet who will fill her uncle’s shoes after he was wrongfully incarcerated during the war on terror. But for Nida, her poetry letters are her heart and sharing so much of herself with a world that stereotypes her faith and her hijab is not an option.When Nida is illegally frisked at a Democratic Senatorial candidate’s political rally, she writes a scathing poem about the politician, never expecting the letter to go viral weeks before Election Day. Nida discovers her poem has won first place in a national contest, a contest she never entered, and her quiet life is toppled. But worst of all, Nida loses her ability to write poetry. In the aftermath of her win, Nida struggles to balance the expectations of her mother, her uncle, and her vibrant Muslim community with the person she truly wants to be. With a touch of magic and poetry sprinkled throughout, Sarah Mughal Rana's Hope Ablaze is heartbreaking, often funny, and ultimately uplifting, not only celebrating the Islamic faith and Pakistani culture, but simultaneously confronting racism and Islamophobia with unflinching bravery.
My Best Friend’s Wedding meets The Silver Linings Playbook in this offbeat, heartfelt comedy about a seaside wedding reunion where…
no one can stay afloat.Dee, Misa, and Matt were the “three musketeers” of the psych ward. Matt is a teddy bear musician with no discernable coping mechanisms. Wildly efficient Misa is quick to take care of others while neglecting herself. And Dee is a puddle with a heart of gold, eager to convince everyone that she’s finally turning things around. A year after discharge, Matt and Misa are tying the knot in Turks and Caicos, surrounded by guests who have no idea where they met. But the secrecy isn’t sitting well with Dee, who has been hopelessly in love with Matt since before she got kicked out of the hospital.When Dee arrives at the swanky resort with her high-voltage sister Tilley, it’s now or never to confess how she feels about Matt. But disrupting her best friends’ nuptials would jeopardize the entire support system that holds them all together. When it comes to happily ever afters, how is a girl supposed to choose between love and recovery? Introducing a sparkling new voice in commercial fiction, Never Been Better revels in the heartache and hilarity of falling in love when you haven’t quite figured out how to live with yourself.
&“Black Boys Like Me ignited parts of me I honestly didn't believe any book could ever know. . . .…
Seldom do incredibly titled books earn their titles. Matthew R. Morris earns this classic title with a classic book about our insides.&” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy Startlingly honest, bracing personal essays from a perceptive educator that bring us into the world of Black masculinity, hip-hop culture, and learning.This is an examination of the parts that construct my Black character; from how public schooling shapes our ideas about ourselves to how hip-hop and sports are simultaneously the conduit for both Black abundance and Black boundaries. This book is a meditation on the influences that have shaped Black boys like me.What does it mean to be a young Black man with an immigrant father and a white mother, teaching in a school system that historically has held an exclusionary definition of success?In eight illuminating essays, Matthew R. Morris grapples with this question, and others related to identity and perception. After graduating high school in Scarborough, Morris spent four years in the U.S. on multiple football scholarships and, having spent that time in the States experiencing &“the Mecca of hip hop and Black culture,&” returned home with a newfound perspective.Now an elementary school teacher himself in Toronto, Morris explores the tension between his consumption of Black culture as a child, his teenage performances of the ideas and values of the culture that often betrayed his identity, and the ways society and the people guiding him—his parents, coaches, and teachers—received those performances. What emerges is a painful journey toward transcending performance altogether, toward true knowledge of the self.With the wide-reaching scope of Desmond Cole&’s The Skin We&’re In and the introspective snapshot of life in Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Black Boys Like Me is an unflinching debut that invites readers to create braver spaces and engage in crucial conversations around race and belonging.
The Raptors' story is an underdog story—and the same is true for their greatest superfan. This memoir offers a courtside…
view into the extraordinary life of Nav Bhatia.You know him as the Raptors Superfan, but Nav Bhatia's story is bigger than basketball.Nav immigrated to Canada from India after experiencing many hardships—only to face a host of new challenges. Life as an immigrant was gruelling and grey . . . and then, a new basketball team came to town. As Nav cheered on the Toronto Raptors at game after game, as they lost, as they won, on the good days and the bad, he discovered inspiration and community in the greatest game on Earth, formed life-long bonds with many of the best players the sport has ever known, and solidified his own place in the Basketball Hall of Fame.In this memoir, Nav shares his incredible personal story of triumphing over adversity, as well as the lessons that propelled him to success in all facets of life: as an entrepreneur, movie producer, humanitarian, son, father and husband, and the Raptors' most dedicated supporter. And woven throughout the book are intimate, colourful behind-the-scenes stories about the Raptors—from their very first game in 1995 to their 2019 Championship win, and beyond—that only the Superfan could know.This is a book about loyalty, perseverance and the power of sports to unite us across differences—and, most of all, about how following your passions can lead you to the most extraordinary places.