At the moment, I’m reading the Chinese fantasy series, A Thousand Li by Tao Wong, set in a version of historical China. It’s what’s called a “Cultivation” novel where the character does some woo-woo stuff and moves energy around in his body and eventually is able to do some cool magic. I didn’t expect to like this series so much! The first book is a little weaker compared to the next several volumes, but it’s still very enjoyable, and I was hooked pretty easily. I’m listening to it on audiobook, and the narrator, Travis Baldree, is AMAZING! He does the Chinese names really well, and the different voices are fantastic. What are you reading today?

I realize it’s not a traditional hinamatsuri photo, but I couldn’t help it, the cat was so cute! Happy Girls’ Day!

Can you guess what this is? I’m on the Sweet Romance Reads blog today with a little info on the strange sweet my character is making in A Dangerous Stage . Check out the blog post here.

Hahahahaha! My husband, Captain Caffeine sent me this cartoon. The Asian and the knitter in me loves this one: My parents taught me to use chopsticks at an early age so they’re pretty comfortable for me. Did you know there are differences between Japanese and Chinese chopsticks? The Chinese ones tend to be blunter and more slippery whereas the Japanese ones are pointier and sometimes have a textured tip to make it easier to grab food. My mom will eat salad with a chopstick, which I have to admit is a bit easier than a fork, for me. Any of you knit? Any of you use chopsticks?

My grandmother used to always make me bright pink chi chi dango mochi every Girl’s Day, and when she could no longer make it, my mom would make it for me. These days, the local mochi shop in San Jose has lots of different flavors of chi chi dango every weekend, but somehow I remember my grandma’s mochi tasting much better. :) Happy Girl’s Day!

Happy Chinese New Year! This year is the Year of the Rabbit. The Chinese zodiac is split into 12 animals, and their years are 12 years apart. My mom was born in the Year of the Rabbit, so you could calculate her age if you wanted to. :) My humorous Christian romantic suspense serial novel, Year of the Dog , is a reference to the Chinese zodiac because the heroine is a dog trainer. It’s a prequel to my Warubozu Spa Chronicles series, which is set in my birth state of Hawaii. Here’s the book description: Year of the Dog serial novel by Camy Tang Marisol Mutou, a professional dog trainer, is having a bad year. While renovating her new dog kenneling and training facility, she needs to move in with her disapproving family, who have always made her feel inadequate—according to them, a job requiring her to be covered in dog hair and slobber is an embarrassment to the family. She convinces her ex-boyfriend to take her dog for a few months … but discovers that his brother is the irat...

Last year, I really got into brewing oolong teas, black teas, and Chinese green teas gongfu style. It’s a method where you use a little more tea leaves but steep for a very short time (usually only 15-25 seconds), and then each steeping after that is a few seconds longer. When doing such a short steep, the tea is not bitter at all. I like how each steeping of tea tastes just a little different, because the tea leaves will release certain compounds first and other compounds later. Also, you can usually steep it anywhere from 5 to 9 times, depending on the tea. You can use a tiny gaiwan teacup to brew tea just for yourself, or you can use a teapot. There are some teapots made specifically for gongfu brewing, although they tend to be very small, ranging from 200 mL to 300 mL (although there are some that are larger and smaller, of course). There are a few teas at MastersTeas.com that I really love, but which are very expensive since they’re very high quality. However, some of them ...

I happened to read a review of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer , and the reader mentioned being confused because characters switched between using first names and last names. I didn’t comment on the review (it’s my policy never to do so), but I thought it might be useful for my readers for me to mention why I have some characters referring to certain others by their first names or last names or titles. When I was researching British titles, many published historical authors recommended this article , which is one of a series of very informative articles on how the British refer to those with titles. The article writer mentions that especially in the Georgian/Regency/Victorian time period in England, people did not refer to each other by their first names unless they were childhood friends or close family, and even close family would often refer to a peer by his title name (or a nickname of his title name) rather than his first name (i.e., “Hart” for Lord Hartley). It struc...

I almost forgot! Thanks to my mom for reminding me!

The best part about writing novels is that I get to include little personal things in my books. I absolutely love food, so I always include one or two foods in my books that are special to me. In my romantic suspense, Deadly Intent , the heroine’s family is having a get-together with friends and family. At get-togethers with my family, my mom will usually make Chinese chicken salad. It’s a really yummy dish that’s surprisingly easy to make. It’s also not too exotic (unlike some other Asian food I grew up with). As kids, we loved it, and my mom was happy since we were eating our veggies. :) Chinese chicken salad 1-2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded 1 head iceberg lettuce 1/4 c. cilantro, coarsely chopped (optional) 1 package won ton skins (optional) DRESSING: 1-2 teaspoons sesame oil 1/2 cup salad oil 2 Tablespoons sugar 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt freshly ground black pepper finely shredded celery (optional) Whisk together dressing, adding or sub...

I’m happy to announce that my first Contemporary Romance story in 5 years releases today! The Wedding Kimono is one of TWELVE novellas in this massive Christian Contemporary Romance collection. Here’s the back cover description: Weddings for every season and occasion. Adventures, mishaps, and dream destinations—this collection has it all! As our guest of honor, you’re cordially invited on a journey through twelve heartwarming and inspirational novellas that will take you from small-town America to romantic Paris, from the sunny shores of Hawaii to New Zealand. Office romances, friends-to-lovers, second chances, and more await you in these stories full of forgiveness, redemption, laughter, and love. Say “I do” and claim your copy of this limited-time anthology by your favorite USA Today and bestselling Christian romance authors! January Hope by Kari Trumbo Clothing historian Cleo goes on the hunt for an 1880s fashion magazine wedding dress. Discovering it's part of a mu...

I had a lot of health issues for almost all of August and about half of September, and I’m still struggling with IBS. The only thing I could do to get my mind off the pain and nausea was to read, so I ended up reading a bunch of books on my TBR pile. I read a lot of really excellent books and thought I’d blog about them (since I wasn’t getting any work done while I was sick). Today I’m blogging about The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 1 (Light Novel) , the first book in a light novel series. I actually read the first book in this series a while ago, but the 3rd volume just came out and I pretty much devoured it. This has become one of my favorite series lately. It’s a novel series set in historical China, but since it’s a light novel series, it’s not the same tone as a typical English-language novel set in historical China. It’s actually rather light-hearted at times and with a kind of magical atmosphere to the story that sucks you in. Here’s the back cover description for book 1: ...

Since this is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, I’m participating in a special ebook sale on Bookfunnel! All the ebooks in the promotion are wholesome, sweet, or Christian romances that feature Asians! My Christian Contemporary Romance, Weddings and Wasabi , is on sale for 99 cents! This is the first time I’ve had this book in a Bookfunnel promo, and also the first time it’s been on sale in several years. Also, my Christian Romantic Suspense, Unshakeable Pursuit , is also on sale for 99 cents! (I know a lot of you already have this book, but if you know anyone who doesn’t, this is their chance to pick it up for a sale price!) Click here to check out the Asian romance ebooks promo!

My friend Audrey Appenzeller is friends with some missionaries in Japan. They told her about this podcast, which she passed on to me: ”They also mentioned that a fellow Pioneers worker to Japan is currently in the US and started a Christian lifestyle podcast in Japanese. If you know people who might be interested, feel free to pass along the link below. This person is planning to release a new episode every Tuesday.” The website is https://anchor.fm/teatimewithuspod Here’s a (cleaned up) translation of the home page (thanks to Deepl): Welcome to the “Teatime with us” podcast. “Teatime with us” is where Jessica, an American, and Nao, a Japanese, discuss a variety of everyday topics during teatime. It's a Christian Lifestyle Podcast to chat in a casual atmosphere like ☕ ️Whenever you're on your way to work or school, while cleaning up, or maybe during your 3 o'clock teatime, feel free to listen to try it. We will see you at our next teatime! This would be great for a...

Three or four years ago, I felt God’s calling to have my books translated into Japanese so that I could release my Christian romance fiction in Japan. On December 1st, The Spinster’s Christmas in Japanese released in ebook and print book! It’s available in Japanese in both the photo version and also the illustrated version. I wrote this book specifically for non-Christian women, in order to introduce them to Christ. If you know of any Japanese women who enjoy fiction, please be sure to send them to the Japanese language pages on my website or buy them a copy of the Japanese version of my book!

My favorite manga right now is Chihayafuru by Suetsugu Yuki (you can watch the anime Chihayafuru for free on Crunchyroll. , it’s also one of my favorite anime series). The series also got two live-action films (a part one and a part two), and I happened upon the promotional video for the movies which features the J-pop song “Flash” by Perfume. It’s a really catchy song and I love it! I bought it on iTunes . The cover art for the single was drawn by the manga artist, Suetsugu Yuki! Flash - Single - Perfume Here’s the PV: I so want to see these movies! Well, subtitled, since I don’t understand Japanese. :)

Several of you awesome peeps have emailed me and posted on my Facebook page, asking about the third Protection for Hire series book. Well, I’m working on it right now! Since Zondervan opted not to publish the third book in the series, I’ll be self-publishing this one. And since I’ll be self-publishing, I can do a little genre-bending. It’ll still have the same (twisted) humor and suspense/mystery, but it’ll also be a sort of “what if?” storyline. I’ve been calling it a Dystopian, but that’s not accurate—it’s not a far-flung future like The Hunger Games or Divergent , but more like a, “What if something catastrophic happens next week?” It’ll set the stage for more books in that “what if?” story world, which will be more like true Dystopian books. Why Dystopian? Because I stinkin’ love them!!!! I didn’t realize this until recently, but Dystopian and “what if?” storylines have been very popular in anime and manga for a long time, and that’s what I would watch and read when I...

If you ever go to Hawaii, you must visit Royal Kitchen and try their char siu manapua. It is a little golden bun so delicious that it will send you into a higher plane of consciousness. Basically, it’s marinated pork baked inside a fluffy bread bun. It’s like those Chinese steamed bao buns you see in restaurants and sometimes at bakeries, but manapua is usually baked rather than steamed. You can get steamed manapua too, but I tend to like the baked ones. You can get the manapua stuffed with char siu pork or other things. I’ve also eaten it with kalua pork , which is Hawaiian-style smoked braised pulled pork. Captain Caffeine had frozen some pulled pork he made in his smoker a few months ago, so I pulled it out of the freezer to make manapuas on my own, using this recipe for the bun. I’m too lazy to knead, so I used my bread machine to make the dough. I just put all the ingredients in my bread machine, with the liquid ingredients first and then the flour and yeast on top, and pu...

A few weeks ago, my parents were in town and we went to Shuei-Do, a shop in San Jose Japantown that sells mochi and manju. Mochi is a rice cake made with sweet rice that’s been pounded into this sticky, slightly chewy texture. It can be a plain dumpling (my grandma adds it to soup for New Year’s) or it can be filled with a variety of things like sweet red bean paste (azuki or adzuki), sweet white bean paste, and even peanut butter or fresh strawberries. My family always has a mochi-making session before New Year’s so Grandma has mochi for the traditional mochi soup. Update: I found this video I’d made years ago of my grandma and my mom making mochi for New Year’s! Even though my grandma usually only ever made mochi in late December, there are some families who make sweet mochi (for snacks or desserts) throughout the year just like Shuei-Do and other mochi shops. So in a scene in A Dangerous Stage where Tessa is visiting Mrs. Akaogi, I have her making mochi. Mrs. Akaogi i...