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2026 William C. Morris Award Finalist

“An engaging plot and details of daily life provide glimpses into the diversity within LDS and adoptive family cultures. A sweet, thoughtfully developed romance with some unusual twists and layers.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A white and Taiwanese American adoptee reconnects with her roots and experiences first love in Valentine’s romantic and profound debut. Humorous moments of joy and connection—facilitated by the love interests’ shared cultural appreciation and deepening attraction, as well as Catie’s desire to broaden her understanding of her personal history—deftly buoy sensitively rendered depictions of heavy topics surrounding grief and transracial adoption.”

—Publishers Weekly

First Love Language

Written by Stefany Valentine
Published by Penguin Workshop

Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother.

So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her door: Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it.

With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought.

Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.

Primary ISBN: 9780593750964
Publication Date: January 2025
Available As: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, eBook
Young Adult, Age 12 or older

Community Represented: , ,

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (San Diego CA, Salt Lake City UT)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Immigrant

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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