When I first released the Sushi series, I had no idea how deeply readers would connect with Lex, Trish, Venus, and Jennifer—and with their wild, meddling aunties and one very stubborn grandma. The stories were a mix of my friends’ family chaos, my love of romantic comedy, and the joy (and frustration!) of navigating faith, friendships, and relationships as an Asian American Christian woman. Now that the rights have returned to me, I’m thrilled to be republishing the series on Amazon so a new generation of readers—and longtime fans—can dive back into the drama, the laughter, and the unforgettable auntie antics. Book 1, Sushi for One? , is available on Amazon now, and the rest of the series is up on preorder. Sushi for One? will go into Kindle Unlimited on May 19, 2025. Each book follows a different cousin in the extended Sakai family as they wrestle with romance, expectations, and God’s timing (and sometimes, Grandma’s interference). If you’re new to the series, here’s the ...

Sushi series now on sale The entire Sushi Series is now available directly from me — early! 🎉 Four cousins—Lex the Jock, Trish the Flirt, Venus the Cactus, and Jennifer the Doormat—commiserate their single status. As the only Christians in their large extended family, they vow to fight the stigma of the infamous family title, Oldest Single Female Cousin. But they have very different ideas about not acting as desperate as they feel about their bleak love lives. Who knew God would have His own plans of true love for each of them? For a limited time, I’m offering early access to all five books of the Sushi series exclusively through my website. 📖 Why purchase direct? • Get the book weeks before it appears on Amazon. • Receive a special gift for buying from my website (details below). • Support me directly — this helps me keep writing more stories. 🛍 Claim your early access copies here ! What about Amazon? For those who prefer Amazon, the books will be available for p...

If you love heartwarming and hilarious stories with a touch of awkward family drama, don’t miss my free short story “The Sushi Toss!” This romantic comedy vignette takes place immediately after the events of my Contemporary Christian Romance novel Sushi for One , and follows the characters into a chaotic wedding scene inspired by my real-life experiences as a single woman at family weddings. Yes—this actually happened to me! Even if you haven’t read Sushi for One , you’ll still enjoy this funny, feel-good story packed with wedding mayhem and family antics. 👉 Click here to download “The Sushi Toss” for free on BookFunnel. (Note: If you’re already subscribed to my newsletter, be sure to use the same email address to avoid duplicate subscriptions.)

“White Soup” is a short story set in my Christian Contemporary Romance Sushi series. It takes place after the events in Weddings and Wasabi . Originally this short story was in the anthology A Recipe for Romance which is now out of print. But now, "White Soup" is available free if you sign up for my newsletter! What’s up with the white soup? Originally, I heard about white soup from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (FYI, my Sushi series short story is NOT a Regency romance). Mr. Bingley is talking about the ball he plans to host at Netherfield: “If you mean Darcy," cried her brother, "he may go to bed, if he chooses, before it begins—but as for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send round my cards.” I researched white soup and made it, then blogged about it here . But then I made the recipe again, simplified and a bit more hearty, but definitely not what Bingley served for dinner, and I b...

Christine Henderson interviewed me if you’d like to read some tidbits about The Lone Rice Ball and some tips on writing. Check out the interview. Christine writes Christian contemporary romance and was in the Once Upon a Starry Night box set with me. You can check out her book The Sweetest Delights in Life here .

I finished the rough draft and self-edit today and sent The Lone Rice Ball off to my editor! She’s wonderful and is doing a rush job on it, so I’ll get her edits back tomorrow and do the final revision on my book before sending it to the formatter of the Once Upon a Starry Night multi-author box set. Here’s the back cover description for Once Upon a Starry Night: A Very Merry Christmas Romance Collection : Enjoy these 12 brand-new sweet and inspirational Christian love stories of second chances, friends to more, unrequited love, new beginnings, and much more from 12 beloved romance novelists. Merry Christmas, everyone! A Country Christmas in the Show Me State by USA Today Bestselling Author Jessie Gussman Will the hope of Christmas bring these two a second chance? Holly’s Hope by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Hickey Can Holly step out of her shell at Christmas or will she retreat and miss out on the joy of romance? One Sweet Christmas by...

Unfortunately I had a bad bout of IBS, which was probably exacerbated by the stress of my looming deadline. As of today, I’m only about halfway through The Lone Rice Ball . Please pray for me that I’ll be able to finish it by the end of the month!

If you enjoyed Weddings and Wasabi please leave a review on Goodreads so you can let other readers know what you thought about it. Thank you!

My Christian contemporary romance, Single Sashimi , includes some of the wilder tales from my and my husband’s stints as youth staff workers at our church. The Steven character in the book is actually the same Steven who’s the associate pastor and youth group leader at our church now, since I wrote Single Sashimi when he was still in youth group. :) He’s a young man in his late twenties (maybe early thirties?), and he’s full of great ideas and lots of energy. On one particular Saturday, my husband and I were at youth group as usual. Steven had bought a tug of war rope—the really long, thick kind that looks like it belongs on a sea trawler. The opening game for the kids was, of course, tug of war. Then we came indoors for a three-song worship set. After worship, we usually split up into Junior High and High School for lessons, but this time Steven had an idea: “Okay guys, we’re going to have a tug of war--staff versus kids. If you guys win, we’ll ditch the lesson and go out t...

Shoshanna Gabriel was one of the twelve authors who participated with me in the Christian Contemporary Romance anthology, Save the Date . Shoshanna’s novella in the anthology was titled Countdown to Her Cowboy’s Christmas Wedding . In celebration, I wrote a knitting pattern for the cozy tube scarf used by Shoshanna’s heroine, Kate. Tragically, Shoshanna died before Save the Date was released. To honor her memory, I wrote Kate’s Tube Scarf into my novel, The Lone Rice Ball . It only has a small mention since my story is set in Hawaii (and pretty much NO ONE wears wool scarves in Hawaii), but I made the excuse that my heroine had knit it in anticipation of a trip to Tahoe. This is a soft, squishy scarf in a subtle lace pattern, knitted in fingering weight yarn, in a heathered brown-red colorway and also a multi-colorway in orange, burnt umber, and brown. However, the color possibilities are endless! This is a great way to use one skein of a lovely hand-painted sock yarn, and ...

I found another deleted scene from Sushi for One tucked away in the depths of my computer. This one was a short scene originally inserted at the beginning of Chapter 24, but it got axed since I was over word limit, and my editor pointed out it didn’t do much for the storyline. For those of you who haven’t read Sushi for One , don’t worry, this won’t ruin the book for you. For those of you who have read it, you’ll hopefully get a chuckle over some of the snarkiness that got cut from the original book. Back cover description: She’s searching for Mr. Perfect. God keeps sending Mr. Unexpected. Lex Sakai is completely unfazed by her family’s dreaded title, Oldest Single Female Cousin. As a competitive volleyball coach and athlete, she has bigger priorities. So when her iron-willed grandmother threatens to cut funding for Lex’s team unless Lex brings a date to her cousin’s wedding, Lex does what any competitor would do—she creates a game plan. Convinced God has the perfect man ou...

I found this yesterday and had completely forgotten about this. I had originally plotted a different set of dates for Lex in Sushi for One and one of them was Duane the Dweeb. He got combined with/switched to George in a later revision, and I rewrote their date scene, but I found the original scene tucked away in my computer. For those of you who haven’t read Sushi for One , don’t worry, this won’t ruin the book for you. For those of you who have read it, you’ll hopefully get a chuckle over some jokes I didn’t include in the chapter 8 that’s in the book. Back cover description: She’s searching for Mr. Perfect. God keeps sending Mr. Unexpected. Lex Sakai is completely unfazed by her family’s dreaded title, Oldest Single Female Cousin. As a competitive volleyball coach and athlete, she has bigger priorities. So when her iron-willed grandmother threatens to cut funding for Lex’s team unless Lex brings a date to her cousin’s wedding, Lex does what any competitor would do—she cre...

Dave Hogan/Getty Images When I saw this stunning red Marchesa gown worn by Anne Hathaway, I knew it was perfect for Venus Chau—the bold, brilliant video game developer heroine of my novel Single Sashimi. The Grecian draping instantly reminded me of Venus’s elegance and strength, and I imagined a custom version for her, complete with a little extra bling (because Marchesa always delivers sparkle). Fashion plays a fun role in the book, especially when the heroine is navigating a high-stakes career, a complicated family, and unexpected romance. Want to see how this glamorous gown fits into the story? Single Sashimi is Book 3 in my Sushi series —Christian romantic comedies with quirky heroines and chaotic family drama. 📖 About the Book: Old wounds. New game. Can love be the ultimate win? Video game developer Venus Chau would rather eat cold french fries every day for life than work for Drake Yu again. But when her grandmother makes her an offer she can’t refuse—help Drake’s ...

In Protection for Hire , there’s the character of Josh Cathcart who appears twice--once when Tessa is picking up her new friend Karissa, and again at a very dangerous and romantic ball. Those of you who read my Sushi series may also remember Josh from a particularly memorable scene in Single Sashimi that involved massive amounts of red peppers and a slice of pizza--which really happened to a youth group member at my church. :) In case you haven’t read it or need a refresher, here’s Josh’s first appearance in Single Sashimi . I think it completely explains his behavior in Protection for Hire . :) In this scene, Venus is helping with the church youth group and the scene opens with a youth group game that we really did at my church several years ago. Josh, a tall high school boy, clutched his stomach with one hand while the other still held the half-eaten slice of pizza. Except it was no ordinary pizza—this one had gobs of dried red pepper flakes piled on top of it. Sweat streame...