On this episode, we chat with author Jane Pek, author of our February 2025 book club pick The Verifiers, and most recently its sequel The Rivals. Jane shares with us her journey into becoming an author as well as the inspirations behind writing a murder mystery series surrounding an online dating detective agency, with the bearing heart of an Asian American family drama.

Follow Jane on Instagram at @janepekwrites and check out her novels The Verifiers and The Rivals available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On our mid-month check in for March 2025, we highlight some of the latest Asian American publishing announcements, discuss the latest book to TV adaptation news, check in as the first book ban case hits the Supreme Court, and share some exciting news for the podcast!

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:

• BLACKPINK: A Little Golden Book Biography by Jessica Yoon
• The Swan’s Daughter: A Possibly Doomed Love Story by Roshani Chokshi
• Honeytrap by Kiana Krystle
•  I Dance by Diana Rañola; illust. by Christine Almeda
• The Summoning of Tess Pham by Trang Thanh Tran
• The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
• The Vale by Abigail Hing Wen; Illust. by Yuna Cheong
• Every Day I Read by Hwang Bo-reum; Translated by Shanna Tan
• The Chinese Lady by Bo Wang
• I Got You, Allen Liu by Derrick Chow
• Habbi’s Treasures by Yoojin Grace Wuertz; illust. by Dung Ho
• The Take by Kelly Yang
• G Is for Gratitude, by Rina Horiuchi & Risa Horiuchi
• Don’t Feed the Hungry Ghosts by Connie Chang & J.M. Blakemore
• Bad Dog, Benny by Maggie P. Chang
• Where There’s Room for Us by Hayley Kiyoko
• Strong as a Lion by Karla Sy; illust. by FelishiaHenditirto
• The Riceball Fairy by Michelle Lin; illust. by Alyssa Hutchings
• The Late Bird by Sha’an d’Anthes
• Where Does Dinosaur Go? by Songju Ma Daemicke; illust. by Sian James
• The Dinosaur and the Bird: A Tale of Prehistoric
• Friendship by Richard Ho; illust. by Jamie Green
• Fatal Glitch by Erin Entrada Kelly & Eliot Schrefer
• A Party for Bear by Alice Wang
• Stone Lion by Debbie Fong
• Wake Up, Poppyville! by Vikki Chu
• Flowers of the Season by Mishy Wang; illust. by Bianca Austria

Book news mentioned on this episode:

• ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ TV Series adaptation for Max
• Julie C Dao’s ‘Rise of the Empress’ Fantasy Series a Go at Amazon
• Mahmoud v. Taylor Supreme Court Case
• Books & Boba is nominated for an Ambie

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On this episode, we discuss our February 2025 pick, The Verifiers by Jane Pek, following Claudia Lin, an underachieving Asian American woman with a complicated and somewhat dysfunctional family situation, who is recruited to become an investigator for an online dating detective agency and gets drawn into a vast conspiracy involving big tech and data when one of her clients ends up dead under mysterious circumstances.

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

Welcome to our first book news check-in for the new year (both new years)! As always, join us as we highlight some of the latest publishing announcements of books by Asian authors, as well as go over some recent awards and industry news!

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:

• But I Won’t Miss Me by Tiffany Tsao
• The Magnificent Banyan Tree and the Green Tong Lau by Stephanie Ellen Sy; illust by Ishita Jain
• Go Tuk Tuk Go! by Varsha Bajaj; illust by Bao Luu
• Ami Moon and the Galactic Peacekeepers by Frances Lee
• The Fear Factory by Moniza Hossain
• Sweet Heat by Trinity Nguyen 
• Bad Idea, Right? by Trinity Nguyen
• A Boy Called Hero by Marie Miranda Cruz
• Afternoons with Ammama by Meghana Narayan
• Robot See, Robot Do by Vikram Madan
• Duck-A-Muck by Vikram Madan
• Extraordinary Eliana and the Magnificent Hmong New Year by V.T. Bidania; illust by Suji Park
• Two Little Hot Dogs by Camey Yeh
• Sisters Alone by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
• Robot Ramen Cafe by Deandra “Nika” Tan
• All That Chandni Knows by Khushboo Patel
• Raja’s Journey by Varsha Bajaj; illust by Chaaya Prabhat.
• The Last Giant by Jade Zhang

Book news mentioned on this episode:

• APALA Awards for Youth Literature
• Bookshop.org now offers ebooks

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On this episode, we discuss our first book club pick of 2025, Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe, a modern re-imagining of the classic Chinese folktale The Legend of the White Snake, starring two immortal sisters who used to be best snake friends living along West Lake in Tang Dynasty China. When free-spirited Emerald is involved in an altercation with some cops in Central Park, conservative and pragmatic Su flies to NYC to whisk her sister away to her bastion of safety in Singapore, putting their co-dependent and often toxic centuries old relationship to the test once again.

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

We’re back! After an unintended extended hiatus dealing with the double whammy of early parenthood and uncontrollable wildfires, Books & Boba is back with our belated discussion of our December 2024 book club pick  Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo and translated by Jamie Chang, a seminal modern text about what it’s like to be a woman in modern Korea. Helping us discuss this short but dense novel is our special guest Virginia Duan, writer and entertainment editor of Mochi Mag!

Follow Virginia at: @themandarinmama

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors