EDGAR ALLEN POE AWARD NOMINEE!
I was just minding my business this morning, eating my toast and typing into my word document when I received word that MY FLAWLESS LIFE is one of five nominees for the Edgar Award for best Young Adult! Honestly, I’m shocked and so proud. Thanks so much to the judges at Mystery Writers of America. I’m incredibly grateful to be nominated with so many other wonderful writers, and glad that this book keeps finding more readers.
STARRED REVIEW from PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY!
My book’s second trade review is in and it’s another star! I’m overjoyed that the reviewers at Publisher’s Weekly enjoyed the book and that it’s getting so much early love. You can click on the photo for the full review link, though it does contain spoilers, so reader beware 👀.
Junior Library Guild chooses My Flawless Life as a Gold Star Selection!
I’m honored to share that the Junior Library Guild has chosen My Flawless Life as a Gold Standard Selection! This means that it will be sent to over 2500 librarians across the country and will get a little gold sticker on its cover :) I’m so glad that the book is getting so much early love and that Hana’s story will reach even more young readers. Thank you, Junior Library Guild!
Kirkus Star for My Flawless Life!
I’m so excited to share that Kirkus has awarded My Flawless Life with a star! I’ll let the review speak for itself below.
MY FLAWLESS LIFE
BY YVONNE WOON ‧ RELEASE DATE: FEB. 14, 2023
A 17-year-old works as her high school’s undercover fixer, solving her classmates’ problems, although she can’t solve her own.
Two years ago, Hana Yang Lerner’s life fell apart when her father was forced by a scandal to resign from his position as a Democratic senator from Virginia. Though Hana, who has a Chinese American mom and White dad, still attends the same prestigious Washington, D.C., school, she no longer speaks to her best friend, Cuban American Luce Herrera. Her other friends no longer speak to her either—at least not in the open. Behind the scenes, Hana’s classmates hire her to make sensitive problems go away. Now, an anonymous person going by Three has hired her to fix something for Luce. But the job turns out to be about much more than Luce; it involves Luce’s jock boyfriend, Hana’s one-time friend group, and interconnected secrets that spiral out and back around again. And Hana isn’t the only one on the case: James Li, her Chinese American former childhood friend, is also investigating for their school newspaper. As the two work together, unspoken truths threaten to push them apart once again. Hana is determined to complete Three’s job, but to do so, she may have to confront mistakes she’s made and her own stalled life. This gripping mystery is deepened and complicated by explorations of Hana’s trauma and relationships. The slow burn allows room for character development that elevates the novel.
Thought-provoking high school drama with dark, serious undertones.(Mystery. 13-18)
Cover Reveal for My Flawless Life
I’ve been patiently waiting to reveal this stunning, slap-you-in-the-face cover for my next novel, My Flawless Life, which is a young adult thriller about a teenage “fixer” named Hana Yang Lerner, who fixes the problems of her wealthy classmates in their elite Washington DC-area private school. Plotting this book nearly broke my brain, but I’m so thrilled (ha!) with the results. It’s a mystery, with twists upon twists upon twists, and the cover, which is truly the cover of my dreams, has clues. What do you see?
I want to send a huge thank you to Yuta Onoda for the incredible illustration, Molly Fehr, for the whip-smart design, and everyone at Katherine Tegen Books and HarperCollins for helping me transform my word document into this beautiful book. For a longer summary and to pre-order, click on the photo above :) Forthcoming 2.14.2023. Thank you for being here and for reading!
National Endowment for the Arts Prose Fellowship!
I won a prose fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts! I submitted the first two chapters of an adult book that I’ve been working on (on and off) for seven years (!). It’s about a woman who stumbles into the illegal counterfeit bag market in Chinatown, NY, and takes it over to become the kingpin of Chinatown. It’s been a really long road with this book, and I had been considering abandoning it because I wasn’t sure if what I wanted to say was even worth saying anymore. So this award has really felt like a gift of both financial and emotional support. I’m so grateful to the NEA staff and readers, and am honored to be in the company of the 34 other fellows. Here is a link to the full list: NEA prose 2022 fellows.
Glowing Kirkus Review!
I normally don’t read reviews, but was so happy and surprised to read Kirkus’s enthusiastic recommendation of IF YOU, THEN ME. I kept waiting for the “but” and it never came. If you’d like to read it, the link is below!
“This page-turner offers a peek into the dark side of Silicon Valley through the eyes of an earnest newcomer and sheds light on issues hidden beneath the glitz of startup culture, including old-boy networks, unsustainable lifestyles, and the lure of promises that are too good to be true. . . A riveting cautionary tale.”
Cover Reveal!
My book has a cover! And it’s so cute :) Huge thanks to Julia Yellow for the incredible artwork, and to Molly Fehr and everyone at Katherine Tegen Books for putting so much thought and time into the cover.
New YA novel
I'm so excited to share that I have a new YA novel dropping ~summer 2021 with the amazing Katherine Tegen Books at HarperCollins.
IF YOU, THEN ME is about love, power, and money in Silicon Valley and what happens when a teenage girl gets all three. I'm so proud of it and can't wait to share it with you.