Guest post written by The Fortune Flip author Lauren Kung Jessen
Lauren Kung Jessen is a mixed-race Chinese American writer with a fondness for witty, flirtatious dialogue and making meals with too many steps but lots of flavor. She is fascinated by myths and superstitions and how ideas, beliefs, traditions, and stories evolve over time. From attending culinary school to working in the world of Big Tech to writing love stories, Lauren cares about creating experiences that make people feel something. When she’s not writing novels, she works as a content strategist and user experience writer. She also has a food and film blog, A Dash of Cinema, where she makes food inspired by movies and TV shows. She lives in Nashville with her husband (who she met thanks to fate—read: the algorithms of online dating), two cats, and dog.
About The Fortune Flip: This charming rom-com is filled with Chinese traditions, second chances, and a luck-changing love story that will appeal to readers of Helen Hoang, Jasmine Guillory, and Sarah Adams. Out March 17th 2026.
With Chinese New Year comes the celebration of a new cycle in the Chinese zodiac (this year, we’re entering the Year of the Horse), rituals to bring good fortune and prosperity, and traditions believed to attract good luck for the forthcoming year. Some of these traditions include eating lucky foods, such as dumplings and fish, wearing the auspicious color red, and sharing red envelopes filled with lucky money.
In my next novel, The Fortune Flip—releasing March 17, 2026—luck is a major theme throughout. When Hazel Yen and Logan Wells’ bad and good fortunes flip after a visit to a fortune teller, they have to work together to change back their luck. They try everything from lucky foods to luck consultants to feng shui, all while visiting different fortune tellers who can “temp check” their efforts. But is luck something we can attract more of, or is it something we make?
Luck is a word you’ll hear again and again during new year festivities. Many actions are taken in the lead up to, and during, the Chinese New Year two-week period that are centered on what you can do to increase good luck and eliminate the bad. It’s also a time for reuniting with family and friends and honoring those who have passed on. Because it’s believed that good things are better in pairs, I’ve matched books with lucky traditions and rituals for the new year ahead.
If you’re sending—or receiving—red envelopes: Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan
When Lulu, Rina, and Jane find themselves needing to escape life as they know it, the best friends scheme to steal the cash gifts at Lulu’s upcoming high-society wedding. Add to your TBR if you love stories about female friendships and commentary on the pressure women face, all signed, sealed, and delivered with a red envelope heist.
If you’re counting your lucky numbers: 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers by Abraham Chang
Everyone gets seven great loves in their life, according to Young Wang’s uncle. But when Young meets Erena—his sixth love—is she just the penultimate relationship for him, or is she his one true love? Layered with Western pop culture, Chinese numerology and superstition, and the experience of being a first-generation Chinese American.
If you’re gathering with family or honoring your ancestors: Lucky Seed by Justinian Huang
After Big Boss Sun’s death, the Sun family scrambles and schemes to produce a male heir who can take over the family business. According to the family’s fortune teller, if they don’t succeed, the family will become “hungry ghosts” in the afterlife. In the Sun family, there’s no shortage of drama, power plays, and scandalous secrets. If you’re looking for a juicy family saga loaded with twists, this is it.
If you’re resolving disagreements and mending relationships: The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
A Chinese New Year family celebration goes terribly wrong when Meddy’s Second Aunt’s ex-beau shows up with gifts—and accidentally brings one not meant for the Chans. Instead, it was for a business rival to cement their alliance. Meddy and the Aunties decide to return the gift and find themselves in the middle of a decades-long war between rival crime lords. Packed with humorous hijinks, the entertaining kind of chaos, and good intentions, this novel takes you for a ride!
If you’re eating dumplings for good fortune: Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau
This time loop romance about Noelle, who’s stuck repeating the same Friday over and over again, will forever alter the way you view night market dumplings. Noelle thinks Cam, a handsome brewery owner, might be her way out of the time loop, yet when she “meet cutes” with him every (repeated) day, he never seems to remember her. This one is fast-paced, self-aware, and will make you hungry for dumplings (despite everything that happens because of them).
If you’re modernizing time-honored traditions: Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food by Michelle T. King
A food-infused cultural history centered on the life of Fu Pei-mei, a celebrity television chef and cookbook author, who taught the world how to cook Chinese food—all while adapting as the times changed. This book provides a fascinating look into a food icon’s impressive and impactful career, offers insights on identity and the sociopolitical history of China and Taiwan, and illuminates the powerful role food plays through it all.
If you’re ready to celebrate the Year of the Horse: Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen
Two Chinese zodiac matchmakers go head-to-head in a competition to prove whose method works best—traditional matching vs. modern app dating. As Olivia takes on her rival, Bennett, who’s started a dating app that puts her family’s business at risk, she learns a hard, but much-needed, lesson that when it comes to love, the heart doesn’t always care about compatibility. For those who love matchmaking, characters who each other up on dates, sweet family interactions, and lots of food. It’s also a crash course in learning about the signs of the Chinese zodiac (perfect for welcoming the Year of the Horse)!
If you’re hanging lanterns, paper cuttings, and decorations to usher in good fortune and happiness: Double Happiness by Heather Eng
Mei must learn—and choose—what it is she really wants in work, life, and love in this novel about a woman with a carefully constructed life who’s caught between a relentless tech job, her fiancé, and an unexpected new relationship. This one comes out on May 19, 2026, so this is a peek at what’s on my TBR!
