What We Are Reading in June

This sweeping novel illuminates slices of history that for the most part continue to remain hidden. With alternating perspectives, it follows Serk starting from the mid 20th century as a young boy in Japan, where his Korean family has fled for greater opportunities. Yet when they encounter discrimination and hardship — and lured by North Korea’s promise of stability and a new future — they embark on yet another displacement. Serk will have none of it, though, and he sets off on his own journey to the U.S., where he marries Anne, a white American, and has a daughter with her, Louisa.

The opening scene sets up the central question of the novel: Serk and 10-year-old Louisa are taking an evening stroll on the beach in Japan, where Serk has been posted for a year by his university. The evening ends with Serk missing and Louisa half-drowned, and the novel explores how the lives of Anne, Louisa, and Anne’s son by a prior liaison, Tobias, unfold after this tragedy.

From her Meant to Be collection, author Jesse Q. Sutanto’s contemporary reimagining of Mulan isn’t just a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy — it’s also a sharp and deeply personal story about identity, expectation, and the pressure to prove yourself in spaces that weren’t built for you. As Mulan pretends to be her ailing father in a high-stakes business deal, she must navigate a world dominated by tradition, masculinity, and corporate power plays, all while falling for the very CEO she’s trying to win over. With her signature wit and heart, Sutanto explores the intersections of race, gender, and belonging, wrapped in a rom-com that celebrates both cultural pride and personal reinvention.

Love is hell in “Alice Chen’s Reality Check,” a fake-dating, rivals-to-lovers romance set on a reality television show … with a murder mystery on the side. Alice Chen is desperate. Drowning in student loan debt and her mother’s medical bills, she’s ready to do whatever it takes to give her bank account a boost … even if that means competing with her fiancé on “Dawn Tay’s Inferno, a reality TV show designed to put couples to the test. When she arrives, she comes face-to-face with her (upsettingly hot) former academic rival Daniel Cho. To make matters worse, her fiancé cheats on her with another contestant and Alice has to fake-date Daniel in order to stay on the show. Things only get more complicated when a dead body shows up on set, and Alice’s feelings for Daniel morph into something with a little more spice as they spend more time together trying to crack the case.

This unauthorized biography traces the rise of Jungkook — from his modest beginnings in Busan to his status as a once-in-a-generation global icon. “The Meaning of Jungkook” explores how the youngest member of BTS helped usher in a new pop era, shattering expectations around class, beauty and authenticity along the way. While many Americans were introduced to Jungkook through BTS’s 2020 smash hit “Dynamite,” the book situates his story within a broader lineage of Asian artists striving to break into the U.S. market. With the global rise of Korean culture, from BTS’s Grammy nods to Lisa’s role in “The White Lotus,” Jungkook’s journey becomes a lens for understanding fandom, fame and cultural power in the 2020s.

In this heartfelt and whimsical rom-com, Canadian Pakistani author Alina Khawaja blends Muslim representation with a touch of magic. On the eve of her 30th birthday, Ziya Khan decides to give up on publishing after yet another rejection, certain the world doesn’t want to read love stories about brown girls like her. But when she wakes up to find a man in her home — the living, breathing manifestation of her creative muse — Ziya’s world is turned upside down. As the muse helps her rediscover the joy of writing, romance begins to bloom. But the closer Ziya gets to finishing her story, the more her muse begins to fade. With her passion reignited, Ziya faces the ultimate choice: her art or her heart?

Ocean Yoon has never felt very Korean, even if she is descended from a long line of haenyeo, Jeju Island’s beloved female divers. Ocean’s also persona non grata at the Alliance, Korea’s solar system–dominating space agency, since a mission went awry and she earned a reputation for being a little too quick with her gun. When her best friend, Teo, second son of the Anand Tech empire, is framed for murdering his family, Ocean and her misfit crewmates are pushed to the forefront of a high-stakes ideological conflict. But dodging bullets and winning space chases may be the easiest part of what comes next. 

This thrilling adventure delivers hyperkinetic action sequences and irresistible will-they-won’t-they romance alongside its nuanced exploration of colonialism and capitalism, and ultimately asks: What do we owe our past? How do we navigate our present while honoring the complicated facets of our identity? What can our future hold?

In this enchanting sequel to “The Dallergut Dream Department Store,” international sensation Miye Lee returns with another heartwarming, whimsical tale that invites readers deeper into the mysterious world of dreams. Penny, no longer the newest hire, explores the Company District — home to the dream-production companies and the Civil Complaint Center, where customers can lodge complaints about their nightly adventures. As she investigates a series of unusual cases involving “lost regulars,” Penny uncovers the emotional threads that tie dreams to the hearts of their dreamers. Light yet unexpectedly profound, The Dallergut Dream-Making District is a healing fantasy full of wit and wonder — a gentle antidote to the noise of everyday life.