Title: Beating Heart Baby
Author: Lio Min
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Date published: July 26, 2022
A complimentary digital copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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?
⤖ My Review ⬻
I cannot stop thinking about this book! I couldn’t agree more with Mary H.K. Choi’s—one of my favourite authors—description of Beating Heart Baby as “dizzying, sexy, and utterly heartfelt.” I honestly couldn’t have said it better. I went in kind of expecting an LGBTQ high school love story and found myself holding in my hands something that was so much more (not that high school love stories can’t be special and aren’t important)!
Lio Min really took me on a journey with these characters emotionally as well as through their lives and experiences—I would say more on this but I’m wary of sharing anything close to a spoiler, so I’ll resist. Beating Heart Baby, true to its name made my heartbeat pick up and I swear that it also made my heart swell in my chest. This elder emo was very satisfied.
The love story Lio Min shared in Beating Heart Baby was my favourite kind of love story—just the right mix of adoration, pining, desire, and pain. I also felt a whole range of emotions for characters and occurrences outside of the romantic portion of the plot. Beating Heart Baby made me feel a lot.
There was also so much nostalgia here for me, as there will be for many other readers. Beating Heart Baby truly is not just a love story but also a “love letter to internet friendships, anime, and indie rock” as Choi so aptly put it. I also definitely wasn’t opposed to the mentions of kdramas as well as other dashes of Korean, Japanese, and other cultures. I loved Beating Heart Baby and wish that I could have spent more time with Suwa and Santi as well as their friends and family. Such a great read!
⤖ About the Author ⬻
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.
⤖ Places to Purchase the Book ⬻
⤖ Let's Chat ⬻
Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
