Deliciously Queer YA Foodie Romances

Set in Sài Gòn in Vietnam, the book follows Lan, who tries to be everything to everyone, including her widowed mother and their bánh mì stall. The problem is this is not Lan’s passion–she much preferred writing in her food blog that she shared with her dad before he died.

Vivi is a Vietnamese American. Her parents immigrated to the U.S., and they never talk about their lives in their birth country. Vivi really wants to experience her roots, so she secretly signs up to study abroad after her freshman year of college. Yes, it’ll make her parents mad, but it’ll also give her the chance to see if she can meet her favorite food blogger.

Vivi and Lan meet by chance and make a deal with each other: Lan is going to help Vivi find out about her family’s history, and Vivi is going to help Lan revive her blog. 

This is a short, quick, sapphic read that explores a wonderfully diverse city and an incredible array of foods.

Take one part Great British Bake Off and one part Magic School, and you get this comic. Porta Bella Magiculinary Academy is all about cooking with magic, and Basil plans to be the top student her senior year. But then in walks Arabella Oregano, daughter of a chef. Immediately, the two begin to grow close. Basil suspects Arabella is keeping a secret though, despite how much they’re working together in order to secure the top rank at school.

So when the secret is spilled, Basil is faced with one of the hardest decisions of her life.

As much as Ari loves making bread, he can’t imagine doing it for the rest of his life. He’s interviewing new potential people to take over is job, and that’s when he meets Hector.

Ari begins to train Hector and prepares for his escape from the work, except…he’s starting to fall head over heels for the new guy.

Theo is itching to get out of Vermont for college. He can finally stop working at his parents’ Asian American cafe and he can finally get away from Gabi, whose parents run a rival bakery.

Meanwhile, Gabi is forced to be someone he isn’t. He’s not only stuck in the closet but he’s forced to play soccer to make it look like he’s straight. He can’t let people know he loves to dance, and Gabi has been perennially frustrated that he can’t hang with–or be as openly out as–Theo. That said, Gabi is looking forward to taking over his parents’ bakery down the road, so he finds some solace in working there.

Trouble comes when a new fusion cafe is coming to town, and now both Theo and Gabi’s parents are finding themselves with struggling businesses. Theo concocts a plan to help his parents, but when he injures himself before it can take off, he’ll need Gabi’s help.

The longer the two spend time together, the more it is they may no longer be able to resist the feelings bubbling up between them.

Dylan Tang has a dream of helping save his aunt’s struggling Chinese restaurant and honoring his departed mom. He’ll do it by winning the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake making contest for teens. He hopes that it’ll bring attention to not only his skills but publicity for his aunt’s restaurant. 

Too bad he’s got a distraction by the name of Theo Sommers. Theo is everything Dylan is not, but when Theo suggests Dylan be his fake date at a family wedding, he can’t say no. Even if it’s well outside his social bracket. Even if it’s really keeping him away from preparing for the competition. Even when he begins to see some of the truth behind Theo’s family. 

Dylan is falling hard, even amid a rich, glitzy world he cannot imagine himself in. Will his heart win or will he return his focus to the festival and his to-be-award-winning mooncakes? Maybe Dylan will find the ability to do both.

Shireen Malik might be mourning the breakup she’s had with Chris, but it’s not prolonged once she learns that she’s been accepted as a contestant on a new teen baking competition television show. Not only is Shireen stoked for the potential prize money but it’ll also bring attention to her family’s donut shop.

But you know this isn’t going to be easy.

See, Chris is also a contestant on the show.

And Shireen is starting to become close with the good-looking Niamh, first as friends and then as maybe something more.

Can she keep her eyes on the prize and avoid sabotage to win the competition? Or will love take all?