"First Love Language" by Stefany Valentine, The Culture in My Veins–A Flicker of the Past

Catie tries to learn more about her Taiwanese heritage with the help of a coworker, Toby. When he asks her to be his dating coach in return, Catie hides her own lack of dating experience.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Broken Hearts and Broken Homes–A Different Love Language
The Culture in My Veins–A Flicker of the Past
Beautiful–Conventionally Attractive
One Perpetual Moment–Obvious
Tongue-Tied–Firsts
15 words 26 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. correlate
    bear a reciprocal or mutual relation
    It’s been so long since I’ve called upon this memory that I can’t remember which word correlates to which animal.
  2. indiscernible
    barely able to be perceived
    But all that come are indiscernible globs of memory distorted by time.
  3. stipend
    a sum of money allotted on a regular basis
    The government will even give you a living stipend just for studying there.
  4. limbo
    a period of prolonged uncertainty
    If I were in San Diego, there would still be several hours of sunlight left in the day. Not whatever this weird evening limbo is.
  5. taut
    pulled or drawn tight
    “I’ll take you out on five practice dates,” I say, exhaling the taut balloon in my lungs.
  6. hindsight
    understanding the nature of an event after it has happened
    In hindsight, I’m glad we never actually kissed.
  7. fumigate
    treat with smoke, especially with the aim of disinfecting
    Jimmy had to fumigate his house once.
  8. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    I haven’t been oblivious to the fact that we look like an actual couple.
  9. pantomime
    act out without words but with gestures and bodily movements
    Toby fries noodles in another skillet but pantomimes locking his lips and throwing away the key.
  10. gesticulate
    show, express, or direct through movement
    With Toby, I don’t have to over-annunciate and gesticulate for him to understand me.
  11. confidential
    given in secret
    “But—” Toby says before I can take a bite, “since this is a family recipe, I didn’t add the last ingredient. That’s confidential.”
  12. genealogy
    the study or investigation of ancestry and family history
    “I hadn’t either,” Granny says, “until I discovered genealogy. I’ll admit, recordkeepers could do a better job of—well, keeping records. Including adoption papers.”
  13. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    And now that I’m in Utah, I’m starting to understand why he was so adamant about that.
  14. reflexive
    without volition or conscious control
    A reflexive shriek explodes from my mouth as I throw my eyes open.
  15. petrified
    struck with fear and unable to move
    Mavis pulls her knees to her chest as I sit there petrified.
Created on Mon Feb 09 08:18:10 EST 2026 (updated Fri Feb 20 17:28:22 EST 2026)

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