The Labor of Care is on HELLAPINAY, y’all! In May’s book review roundup from the brilliant Pia Cortez, my book is sandwiched among some pretty awesome titles in their series, #GetLit!

I’ve been following hellapinay on Instagram for a while now because its Pinay-centric content gives me my whole life. And when the infamous book-reviewer and homie, Pia Cortez aka the brains and beauty behind Libromance offered to review my book, I was over the moon. My hopes for my book was that people outside of the academy would read it and relate to it or find it interesting or see themselves in it. And when I read Cortez’s words, “In many ways, reading brought me closer to my mom. She spoke to me through the stories I read, as I understood her own pain. I saw my mom not just as my mother, but as a fellow immigrant, a Filipina, a woman of color trying to survive and thrive in this world.” At that moment, I wasn’t just hella pinay, I was hella crying.

Having Pia, a powerful Pinay writer, feature my book on her list on this amazing Pinay platform alongside so many bad-ass writers like Arundhati Roy and poet, Aja Monet, makes my heart so happy.