Lio Min – författare

From the acclaimed author of Beating Heart Baby, an immersive novel following three estranged high schoolers who are pulled into a video game to pursue the disappearance of their friendThree years ago, Elle (the “E” in the self-proclaimed L.O.V.E. Club) disappeared from Calendula, an affluent Chinese American suburb in inland California. Soon afterward, Liberty and Vera (“L” and “V”) moved away, leaving O alone with her grief, abandonment, and confusion. . . until Liberty and Vera return for their senior year of high school.Though the L.O.V.E. Club’s three remaining members once bonded as outcasts and gamers, they can’t pick up the pieces of their friendship. But the girls are drawn back to their old clubhouse, where they discover, loaded for them to play, a new game created by none other than the missing Elle.One click, and Liberty, Vera, and O are ported into Morning Glory, an ever-evolving botanical fantasy coded with their lived experiences, complicated history, and repressed insecurities. Unbeknownst to the others, O can’t remember the events surrounding Elle’s disappearance—but within the game, Elle has sent O a cryptic hint about Morning Glory’s real nature.While Liberty and Vera defeat increasingly sinister bosses, O grapples with the secret knowledge that her deepest wish, to reunite with Elle, might just come true. But as the girls progress through Morning Glory, O begins to wonder how well she actually knew any of her former best friends and if she’s ready to confront the hard truths—and dangerous revelations—about Elle in her returning memories.

From debut author Lio Min comes BEATING HEART BABY, a tender love letter to internet friendships, anime, and indie rock, perfect for fans of HEARTSTOPPERWhen Santi arrives in Los Angeles, he hopes he can move past the loss of the childhood internet friend he’d known only as Memo. And in his new high school’s marching band, Santi gets a taste of the community he’s always longed for. Even the clashes with his section leader, Suwa, lead to Suwa opening up to Santi first as a friend, then something more. But when Suwa gets a shot at the rock star life he’s always dreamed of, the very thing that drew them to each other—a shared devotion to art—tests their budding relationship.Over years, Santi and Suwa glide and soar, crash and fall, together and apart. This twinned tale about the transitions between boyhood and manhood, internet confidants and IRL friends, the face in the crowd and the star on the stage, stakes and succeeds in making the bold claim: that Santi and Suwa’s fantastic dreams are as essential as art and love and life itself.