Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2022
352 pages
Genre: Romance
Publication Information
Lio Min's Beating Heart Baby is a "dizzying, sexy, and utterly heartfelt" (Mary H. K. Choi) love letter to internet friendships, anime, and indie rock.
When artistic and sensitive Santi arrives at his new high school, everyone in the wildly talented marching band welcomes him with open arms. Everyone except for the prickly, proud musical prodigy Suwa, who doesn't think Santi has what it takes to be in the band.
But Santi and Suwa share painful pasts, and when they open up to each other, a tentative friendship begins. And soon, that friendship turns into something more...
Will their fresh start rip at the seams as Suwa seeks out a solo spotlight, and both boys come to terms with what it'll take, and what they'll have to let go, to realize their dreams?
"Min's debut is a luminous homage to music, art, and the power of found family...This achingly romantic novel features racially diverse and variously queer characters, each of whom is given ample space to develop. Min's personal-feeling prose epitomizes the current age, in which lifelong bonds are forged through computer screens and group chats, emphasizing connection in its myriad forms." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Min writes with finesse and care, grappling with the complexities of navigating the music industry and growing up queer...A lyrical, rhythmic, and promising debut, this queer romance is a hit." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Blistering, deeply emo, and shimmering with the messiness of intimacy, Beating Heart Baby is a dizzying, occasionally infuriating, gleefully sexy, and utterly heartfelt exploration of identity, culture, and finding home within your art and in yourself. Brimming with music, profoundly specific internet, and the magic of cooked food with chosen family, Lio Min's debut is as much a salve as it is nourishment." - Mary H. K. Choi, author of Yolk
"A stunning heartbreak of a novel that will mean so much to so many. I couldn't put it down—following the always tender and often romantic journeys of these beautiful boys. A story about how love can shape you and open up the entire world. Lio Min is a superstar to watch." - Maurene Goo, author of Somewhere Only We Know
"You know that feeling, when you hear your favorite song for the first time? Lio Min has captured it in electrifying prose. Beating Heart Baby reached deep inside me and healed wounds I always assumed I'd be carrying forever." - Adib Khorram, author of Darius the Great Is Not Okay
This information about Beating Heart Baby was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lio Min has listened to, played and performed, and written about music for most of their life. Their debut novel Beating Heart Baby is about boys, bands, and Los Angeles. They've profiled and interviewed acts including Japanese Breakfast, Rina Sawayama, MUNA, Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens, Raveena, Tei Shi, Speedy Ortiz, and Mitski.
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