Julie Tieu Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Standalone Novels
The Donut Trap | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Circling Back to You | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Fancy Meeting You Here | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Julie Tieu is an emerging new voice in the romance fiction genre. The Chinese American author was born and brought up in Southern California where she also went to school.
Like many novelists, she discovered her love for writing and reading while she was still very young. While still a third grader, she was given an assignment and remembers telling her teacher that she would become an author as an adult.
She was lucky that she had parents and teachers that provided a lot of encouragement but as she grew older, her interest in books that she had to read in school began to fade.
Since she did not know how one went about becoming an author, she told herself that becoming an author was nothing but a foolish childhood dream.
But then she started reading romance fiction and became obsessed with reading which ultimately revived her obsession with writing. She published “The Donut Trap,” her debut fiction work in 2021, and has been publishing at a steady clip since then.
When she is not writing her novels, she can be found dreaming of her next travel adventure and hunting for delicious eats. She also likes to watch cooking shows and TV shows such as “New Girl” and “Parks and Recreation.”
She currently makes her home in Los Angeles where she lives with her husband who was her crush from high school and their two energetic daughters.
As a child, Julie Tieu grew up reading the likes of “Ramona” and “The Babysitter’s Club.” However, it was when she read Helen Hoang’s novel “The Kiss Quotient” that she realized that she wanted to become an author.
It was not the first romance fiction work that she read but it happened to be the first in which she felt that the characters had a lot of parallels to what she had.
During this time, she was not getting enough sleep since she had very young kids. As such, she found her escape by reading romance fiction and she was hooked. She has come to read a ton of romance fiction since then.
Another important work of fiction that would push her toward becoming an author was Luren Ho’s “Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic.”
The novel was all about how pregnancy affects people’s relationships with family and friends, which she found to be very funny and relatable.
“The Donut Trap” by Julie Tieu opens with a twenty-year-old named Jasmine Tran trying to find her identity just like most people her age.
She is currently living with her parents and works at their donut shop since she has just finished college and has yet to find a job.
She ultimately reconnects with a guy from college named Alex whom she had always liked but never got the courage to talk to. Alex checks off most items on her list as he is Chinese, he is acute, has a great job, and is just perfect.
Jasmine is messy and awkward but also very endearing. She was born to Cambodian immigrants with Chinese roots but she has become very Americanized, particularly with regard to her thinking.
Her parents have made many sacrifices for her but she was never good at school, even though she studied hard. In the end, she went off the rails with recreational drug use and partying.
Jasmine finished college only to find that she could not find a job as most places asked for experiences that were impossible to get without a job. At the same time, she could see that her peers were moving along fine and making great leaps in their careers.
It is a relatable work that many people looking to find an identity after college can relate to.
Julie Tieu brings her new voice back again in this sequel to her first novel. “Circling Back to You” is a sexy and hilarious new novel that tells of colleagues who make the decision that their relationship needed to be taken outside the office.
Cadence Lim has gone from being a man who worked as a number cruncher behind the scenes to becoming one of Prism Realty’s most integral members.
But despite becoming one of the most important people at the company, she still has a very complicated relationship with her aging father from whom she has been estranged for years.
This relationship has always weighed heavily on her but she is now seeking a new beginning. At least Cadence can depend on Matt Escanilla her favorite co-conspirator and co-worker.
Matt is a top broker but has always been unsuccessful with love. He has been single for years and has now had to deal with constant nagging to settle down from his Filipino family.
Their relationship becomes complicated when they go together on a business trip which lands them in their hometown.
To ward off his family, he asks Cadence to be his pretend girlfriend but despite it only being pretend, he now starts seeing her in a very new light.
Things turn even more interesting when they have an office rivalry that threatens their fledgling relationship.
Julie Tieu’s novel “Fancy Meeting You Here” is an exciting contemporary romance fiction work that has been called a romantic comedy celebrating female friendships and weddings.
The lead in the novel is Elise Ngo, who has been asked to be a florist and bridesmaid to her friends. Beth, Jesse, and Rebecca are all getting married in just a few months and as such, Elise has a lot to juggle.
However, the exposure and the work she will do will be a boon to her flower shop which has recently been struggling. Rebecca will be having the most high-profile wedding with high-ranking political guests invited.
This means that the stakes will be high and Elise will have to be at her best, She hires an outside catering company headed by Ben Yu who happens to be the enigmatic younger brother to Rebecca.
While the man is aloof and prickly, he provides Elise with much-needed help as he helps her far beyond the wedding. She soon comes to realize that there is more to Ben that the handsome and gruff exterior.
Their romance story takes off but is then complicated by the political campaign season. Will Elise finally get the happily ever after she has wanted for years?