(2) YA The summer before heading to MIT, in 2013, eighteen-year-old Aria finds herself banished to her artist grandmother's remote Northern California home after an unfortunate revenge porn incident. There she meets Steph, a twenty-something lead singer in a queer band. Their physical attraction is immediate, even though Aria has always dated boys and Steph has a girlfriend. Suddenly all aspects of Aria's identity seem to be in transition. Is she gay or straight? An artist or a scientist? A dutiful daughter and friend or the kind of person who would cheat with someone else's partner? When tragedy strikes, Aria realizes that asking the questions is more important than having the answers, and that life, as her grandmother Joan wisely observed about making art, "could be extremely frustrating, but the point of it was the process." This deeply perceptive bildungsroman thoughtfully explores several absorbing topics, but first and foremost it is an intimate, exhilarating story of first love. It's billed as a companion novel to Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club (rev. 1/21), and readers will be delighted to discover the connection between Aria's and Lily's stories.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(1) YA High school senior Lily Hu lives in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1954 with her medical professional parents; she behaves obediently and dreams of working at the Jet Propulsion Lab like her aunt Judy. But she hides a secret yearning. After seeing an ad featuring "Tommy Andrews Male Impersonator," she sneaks out to the performance at the lesbian Telegraph Club with Kath, a white classmate who shares Lily's longing. Soon the two are club regulars, even though Lily's parents have warned her they are being watched (after her father's citizenship papers were confiscated by the FBI) and could be deported. When an incident at the Telegraph threatens to uncover Lily's lesbian identity to her family, she is forced to make a difficult choice. This standout work of historical fiction combines meticulous research with tender romance to create a riveting bildungsroman. San Francisco, "with its steep stairways and sudden glimpses of the bay between tall, narrow buildings," is almost a character itself. Interspersed flashbacks that detail the personal histories of Lily's parents and Aunt Judy and timelines of world events further put the 1950s Chinese American experience into context for readers. Lo's (Ash, rev. 11/09; A Line in the Dark, rev. 11/17) comprehensive author's note includes an absorbing section on "Lesbians, Gender, and Community" and a select bibliography of print and film resources.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) YA When her best friend Angie falls for Margot, Jess's unrequited longing becomes jealousy. Angie hopes that the three of them, plus Margot's hostile best friend Ryan, can become close. Then, after a party, one of the four girls dies from a gunshot. Who killed her? Lo's taut storytelling expertly doles out clues and draws characters as complicit in unexpected ways for an addictive psychological mystery.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(2) YA Reese (Adaptation) is distracted from the discovery that the government has been working for decades with aliens called the Imria as she juggles her feelings for her Imrian ex and her new guy. When huge secrets are revealed, romantic alliances get back-burnered as Reese tries to understand what's next for Earth. Clever plot and strong world-building are this sequel's strengths.

Reviewer: April Spisak | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2013

(2) YA When birds start intentionally crashing into airplanes, Reese is stranded at the airport. Later, after crashing a rental car, she wakes to discover mysterious repairs to her extensive injuries. The novel, set in a just-future United States, is absolutely compelling, and a sharp twist at the climax makes everything that happened an even more satisfying puzzle to unravel.

Reviewer: April Spisak | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2012

(2) YA In this several-hundred-years-earlier prequel to Ash, Taisin and Kaede travel with the prince to the Fairy Queen's palace. Feelings grow between the young women, even as they face supernatural dangers that pick off members of their party. The author's "Tam-Lam"-meets-I Ching–inspired setting is delicate and unusual, and the episodes are varied and emotional enough to retain readers' interest.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2011

(2) YA Ash lives in a pseudo-historical Celtic society in which magic is just starting to be regarded as superstition. She first meets Sidhean, a handsome, seductive fairy, then forms an unlikely friendship--and falls in love--with the king's huntress, Kaisa. The juxtaposition of Kaisa and Sidhean as Ash's suitors invites readers to consider the nature of fictional and folkloric constructs of romantic ideals.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2009