100 books like Mommy's Hometown

By Hope Lim, Jaime Kim (illustrator),

Here are 100 books that Mommy's Hometown fans have personally recommended if you like Mommy's Hometown. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Heart and Seoul

Carla Luna Author Of Field Rules

From my list on romance that will have you packing your suitcase.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a romance author with a perpetual case of wanderlust. Though I’m always up for a good road trip, my true passion is visiting other countries. Among my odd travel quirks are collecting hotel soaps (I have over 200 different ones!) and memorizing airline codes. Years ago, I worked as an archaeologist, and was lucky enough to travel through the Mediterranean and the Middle East. These days, I’m more of an armchair traveler, which is why I love writing (and reading!) romances that transport me to a new location. 

Carla's book list on romance that will have you packing your suitcase

Carla Luna Why did Carla love this book?

In 2021, my son spent a semester abroad in Seoul. While he was there, I picked up this book to get a better feel for his experiences in South Korea. At the start of Heart and Seoul, Hara, a 25-year-old Korean-American woman, has just lost her adoptive father. His death prompts her to travel to Seoul to learn more about her birth parents, whom she’s never met. Though the story includes a swoony love interest, what I enjoyed the most about Hara’s journey was the way she adapts to life in South Korea. The setting is so richly described that I got an amazing sense of Seoul as a vibrant city, filled with beautiful monuments, delicious street food, and quirky cafes. While the book is marketed as a romance, the love story isn’t fully resolved until the sequel, Seoulmates, which is equally enjoyable.   

By Jen Frederick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Heart and Seoul as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One woman learns that the price of belonging is often steeper than expected in this heart-wrenching yet hopeful romantic novel and first in the Seoul duology by USA Today bestselling author Jen Frederick.

As a Korean adoptee, Hara Wilson doesn’t need anyone telling her she looks different from her white parents. She knows. Every time Hara looks in the mirror, she’s reminded that she doesn’t look like anyone else in her family—not her loving mother, Ellen; not her jerk of a father, Pat; and certainly not like Pat’s new wife and new “real” son.

At the age of twenty-five, she…


Book cover of This Burns My Heart

Eugenia Kim Author Of The Kinship of Secrets

From my list on historical fiction set in Korea.

Why am I passionate about this?

Eugenia Kim’s debut novel, The Calligrapher’s Daughter, won the 2009 Borders Original Voices Award, was shortlisted for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was a critic’s pick by the Washington Post. For that novel, which is set during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea, 1910-1945, and for her second novel (below), whose first half is set during the Korean War, 1950-1953, she read more than 500 books and twice traveled to Korea in order to accurately depict these little-known slices of history.

Eugenia's book list on historical fiction set in Korea

Eugenia Kim Why did Eugenia love this book?

This book will capture you with a heroine who is both irresistible and flawed, and will engross you with increasing twists in a triangle of love and sacrifice. The story explores how a fateful choice colors a decade of marriage, and challenges a young woman’s ambition already constrained by traditional Korean culture. Sam Park paints all the flavors of post-war Korea in this vivid debut, and his understanding and expression of the human heart is universal.

By Samuel Park,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This Burns My Heart as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Chamara is difficult to translate from Korean to English: To stand it, to bear it, to grit your teeth and not cry out? To hold on, to wait until the worst is over? Such is the burden Samuel Park's audacious, beautiful, and strong heroine, Soo-Ja Choi, faces in This Burns My Heart, an epic love story set in the intriguing landscape of postwar South Korea. On the eve of marriage to her weak, timid fiance, Soo-Ja falls in love with a young medical student. But out of duty to her family and her culture she turns him away, choosing instead…


Book cover of Your House Will Pay

Danielle M. Wong Author Of Last Liar Standing

From my list on psychological suspense and thrillers.

Why am I passionate about this?

While I appreciate a variety of genres, my love of psychological suspense and thriller novels has only intensified over time. I often devour these books in one sitting—eyes darting across each page as my mind tries to guess the next pivotal twist! As an author, I aspire to create the same electrifying rush for my readers that my favorite stories give me. My debut novel, Swearing Off Stars, was inspired by my travels and received an Independent Press Award, a Benjamin Franklin Award, and an International Book Award. My writing has appeared in Harper’s BazaarHuffPostPopSugar, and Writer’s Digest. I hope you enjoy the recommendations on this list!

Danielle's book list on psychological suspense and thrillers

Danielle M. Wong Why did Danielle love this book?

While this novel is a suspenseful psychological thriller in its own right, the story also tackles racial tensions and contemporary family dynamics. I admire the way Steph Cha explores grief, revenge, violence, racism, and justice over the course of Your House Will Pay’s fast-paced plot. This is absolutely a must-read.

By Steph Cha,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Your House Will Pay as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Two families. One desperate to remember, the other to forget.

Winner of the LA Times Book Prize, Best Mystery/Thriller
Winner of the California Book Awards' Gold Medal for Fiction
Shortlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
Shortlisted for the Macavity Awards, Best Mystery Novel
Shortlisted for the Anthony Awards, Best Novel
Finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award

'Masterful.' Ruth Ware

'A searing examination of racial and family politics that is also an immaculately constructed whodunit.' Daily Telegraph, Summer Reads

'Writing a page-turner about racial politics in the U.S. is a delicate enterprise fraught with pitfalls, but Cha…


Book cover of Throwback

Nancy McCabe Author Of Vaulting Through Time

From my list on contemporary young adult on time traveling teens.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've always been obsessed with time travel, which transcends science fiction and offers ways to experience and reinterpret history, explore philosophical ideas, comment on the past, and imagine the future. I love the possibilities for humor and character development and plot twists across every genre and audience. One feature of all of the books I’ve chosen for this list is that they’re about contemporary young people and grounded in real lives, and time travel happens in all sorts of ways: through magical, mysterious forces, an app, tap shoes, a diary, a rideshare vehicle. I’m less interested in imaginary worlds and more fascinated by the way time travel can shed light on our own times.

Nancy's book list on contemporary young adult on time traveling teens

Nancy McCabe Why did Nancy love this book?

This book was released a couple of days before my list was due, but I was captivated by the description of it as “Back to the Future meets Joy Luck Club.And Throwback engaged me immediately.

I sped through the story of Samantha Kang who, unable to connect to her mom and worried about her grandmother’s health, finds herself thrown back from 2025 to 1995. There, she gets to know her teenage mom and her grandmother in a whole new way.

The contrasts between the post-pandemic gender-fluid TikTok generation and the regressive attitudes of the analog 1990s are brilliantly highlighted, Sam’s social-media savvy voice pitch-perfect, her observations about race, class, gender, pop culture, and being the child and grandchild of immigrants incisive and provocative, humorous and relatable.

I was glad I waited for this novel before I completed my list!

By Maurene Goo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Throwback as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

"No one can blend family, humor, satire, and love into a single perfect story like Maurene Goo can . . ." - Marie Lu, No.1 New York Times bestselling author

Samantha Kang has always butted heads with her mom, Priscilla, who is a first-generation Korean American, a former high school cheerleader and expects Sam to want the same all-American nightmare. Meanwhile, Sam is a girl of the times who has no energy for cliched high school aspirations. After a huge fight, Sam is desperate to get away from Priscilla, but instead, finds herself thrown back. Way back.

To her shock,…


Book cover of Native Speaker

Don Lee Author Of The Partition

From my list on by now-established Korean American authors.

Why am I passionate about this?

A Korean American author myself, I published my first book in 2001, and in the ensuing years I’ve been heartened by the number of Korean Americans who have made a splash with their debut novels, as these five writers did. All five have ventured outside of what I’ve called the ethnic literature box, going far beyond the traditional stories expected from Asian Americans. They established a trend that is happily growing. 

Don's book list on by now-established Korean American authors

Don Lee Why did Don love this book?

I feel Chang-Rae Lee broke out of the mold of Asian American books that always dealt with immigration or stories set in Old Asia. A young man, Henry Park, is hired to infiltrate the campaign of a Korean American running for mayor in New York City. Yes, this delves into the issues of assimilation and alienation, but the novel is about so much more. It’s lyrical and poignant and universal in its explorations of familial and marital love. 

By Chang-Rae Lee,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Native Speaker as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The debut novel from critically-acclaimed and New York Times–bestselling author of On Such a Full Sea and My Year Abroad.

In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away.

Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has…


Book cover of In Full Bloom

Sung J. Woo Author Of Everything Asian

From my list on debut novels by Korean American writers.

Why am I passionate about this?

My recommendations are more like a diary of my nascent writing career. I don’t mean to get melodramatic here, but these five Korean-American authors literally (get it?) built me. None of them know this, but they were a quintet of Dr. Frankensteins who created Sung J. Woo, writer. I dared to write my first novel because these authors showed me how, in the best possible way, the only way, really: through their printed words. When I held their books in my hands, I believed a little more that I could do the same. I’ll always be proud to be in their debt.

Sung's book list on debut novels by Korean American writers

Sung J. Woo Why did Sung love this book?

The year is 2003, and I’m finishing up my first year at NYU’s Creative Writing Program. And a colleague of mine tells me a recent Korean-American graduate will be publishing her first novel. He tells me that Caroline’s book is a romantic comedy in novel form. And I pause for a moment – ten years ago I could not name a single Korean American writer, and now we have our own Jennifer Weiner? How cool is that? And how cool is In Full Bloom? You probably have never heard of this novel, and now that you have, you will thank me when you race through these hilarious pages. Ginger Lee is our heroine, and yes, that type of punny humor is de rigueur in this book. I don’t know who I love more, Ginger or her mother. Probably her mother. 

By Caroline Hwang,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In Full Bloom as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Caroline Hwang's debut novel, In Full Bloom, all Ginger Lee wants is a promotion at the fashion glossy A la Mode magazine. All her mother wants is a nice, professional Korean son-in-law. Unable to keep her mother at bay, Ginger reluctantly agrees to let her play matchmaker.

At work, Ginger's efforts at advancement are thwarted by style fiends better practiced in the art of office warfare. Away from the job, she's surprised that her arranged dates are rejecting her before she gets a chance to reject them.

With wry humor, lively dialogue, and a compassionate take on being a…


Book cover of Finding Junie Kim

Mahtab Narsimhan Author Of Mission Mumbai: A Novel of Sacred Cows, Snakes, and Stolen Toilets

From my list on to travel the world without leaving home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been an avid reader. At school, during recess, I would find places to hide so the teachers wouldn’t find me and insist on sending me out to play. Exploring other countries also fascinated me but, growing up, we did not have the money to travel the world. Books became my means of travel. I especially love books written by authors who have lived or grown up in that setting. It’s why I find writing stories in an Indian setting easy and satisfying. The highest compliment from my readers is when they feel immersed in my stories and come away feeling like they’ve been to India and now want to eat an Indian meal. 

Mahtab's book list on to travel the world without leaving home

Mahtab Narsimhan Why did Mahtab love this book?

An intergenerational story about a young girl, Junie Kim, who finds the strength to face up to the bullying and racism in school thanks to the stories shared by her grandparents is heartbreaking and inspiring. 

Though this story is set in North America, the flashbacks to Korea during the war between the North and South are chilling and authentic.  

It was fascinating to read about the Korean War and the struggles of the masses as they tried to escape to the West in search of a better life for themselves and their families. It also gave me a sense of relief that I was living in a country (and a time) where life wasn’t a challenge every day. 

By Ellen Oh,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Finding Junie Kim as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

For fans of Inside Out and Back Again and Amina's Voice comes a breathtaking story of family, hope, and survival from Ellen Oh, cofounder of We Need Diverse Books. When Junie Kim is faced with middle school racism, she learns of her grandparents' extraordinary strength and finds her voice. Inspired by her mother's real-life experiences during the Korean War, Oh's characters are real and riveting.

"Both unique and universal, timely and timeless." -Padma Venkatraman, Walter Award-winning author of The Bridge Home

"A moving story that highlights how to find courage in the face of unspeakable hardship." -Hena Khan, award-winning author…


Book cover of Dance Dance Revolution: Poems

Simon Wu Author Of Dancing on My Own: Essays on Art, Collectivity, and Joy

From my list on overthink and cry at the club with.

Why am I passionate about this?

For the last seven years, I’ve worked with art and artists, particularly those who prioritize spaces like nightclubs as spaces of expression. Museums and nightclubs have both helped me bring my fullest self to fruition, from my queer experiences to my immigrant experiences. I believe something magical resides within those spaces that connect friends, family, and music, and it remains difficult to put a finger on, but you recognize it when you see it. These books are just a taste of a way to better understand that experience of collectivity—across love, friendship, and art—and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have! 

Simon's book list on overthink and cry at the club with

Simon Wu Why did Simon love this book?

I was genuinely surprised and challenged by this inventive book by Cathy Park Hong that follows a mysterious translator into a dystopic new world.

Written in a pygin that combines over ten different languages, this poetry collection is deeply weird but oddly moving, despite its formal inventiveness, and connects politics to poetry in a novel and haunting way. 

By Cathy Park Hong,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dance Dance Revolution as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named one of the Los Angeles Times's Best Science Fiction Books in 2007, Dance Dance Revolution is a genre-bending tour de force told from the perspective of the Guide, a former dissident and tour guide of an imagined desert city.


Book cover of Sunday Funday in Koreatown

Jess Hong Author Of Lovely

From my list on I wish existed when I was a kid.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up Asian American, the lack of representation I felt was constant and palpable. I think often about what it would have meant and how beneficial it could have been had I been able to see myself in picture books as a child. This is a list of books I wish little me could have read growing up because when I read them now they speak to that same vulnerable space in me that I still carry. They are a balm to my heart and mind, making me feel connected to both myself and others that look like me and share similar experiences.

Jess' book list on I wish existed when I was a kid

Jess Hong Why did Jess love this book?

Growing up as a first-generation Korean American my heart ached with love to read this book. It truly celebrates Korean culture and its ties to family. Kim portrays our young protagonist Yoomi, a black and white cat experiencing something everyone has gone through—a bad day while highlighting some of the warmth and joyful things about Korean culture, my favorite topic being food. The end cap of the book features a recipe for kimbap. I love that she does this because growing up my mother would pack me kimbap for lunch and kids would immediately peg it as sushi. Little me would have felt so seen and loved by this book and I’m so happy it exists today.

By Aram Kim,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sunday Funday in Koreatown as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 3, 4, 5, and 6.

What is this book about?

Yoomi and Daddy are going to Koreatown today! This story celebrates family, resilience, and Korean culture.

Yoomi has planned the perfect Sunday! But the shirt she wants to wear is in the laundry. And she doesn't have the seaweed she needs for a kimbap breakfast.

So Yoomi wears another shirt and eats a different breakfast, and she and Daddy take a bus to Koreatown, where they read Korean books, eat Korean treats such as patbingsu and tteokbokki, and visit Grandma. Though Yoomi's perfect day is filled with mishaps and things don't always go her way, Yoomi learns the advantages of…


Book cover of Free Food for Millionaires

Sung J. Woo Author Of Everything Asian

From my list on debut novels by Korean American writers.

Why am I passionate about this?

My recommendations are more like a diary of my nascent writing career. I don’t mean to get melodramatic here, but these five Korean-American authors literally (get it?) built me. None of them know this, but they were a quintet of Dr. Frankensteins who created Sung J. Woo, writer. I dared to write my first novel because these authors showed me how, in the best possible way, the only way, really: through their printed words. When I held their books in my hands, I believed a little more that I could do the same. I’ll always be proud to be in their debt.

Sung's book list on debut novels by Korean American writers

Sung J. Woo Why did Sung love this book?

And now the year is 2007, and here’s the big-ass Korean-American book we’ve all been waiting for – Free Food for Millionaires. In baseball terms: while the rest of us first-time novelists choked up our bats and hit our singles and doubles, Min Jin swung for the fences. At the center of the novel is Casey Kim and her quest to find her passion, never mind the consequences of being basically disowned by her parents, but make no mistake: the scope of this book is like that of Casey’s favorite authors, George Eliot, the Brontë sisters, and Anthony Trollope. There are multiple generations of Koreans at work and play here. It’s exactly the type of book I love to read and never even consider writing, because I just don’t have that kind of ambition. Thank goodness some do!

By Min Jin Lee,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Free Food for Millionaires as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The brilliant debut novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of Pachinko.

'Ambitious, accomplished, engrossing... As easy to devour as a nineteenth-century romance.' NEW YORK TIMES

Casey Han's years at Princeton have given her a refined diction, an enviable golf handicap, a popular white boyfriend and a degree in economics. The elder daughter of working-class Korean immigrants, Casey inhabits a New York a world away from that of her parents. But she has no job, and a number of bad habits.

So when a chance encounter with an old friend lands her a new opportunity, she's determined to carve a…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Korean Americans, home, and South Korea?

Korean Americans 33 books
Home 82 books
South Korea 36 books