Camy Tang - Sushi for One?

Praise for Sushi for One?

The sassy narrative is solid chick lit, with all the requisite chatter about boobs, yummy food, body type, finding a guy, and loser dates refreshing to have Tangs voice in Christian fiction.

Publishers Weekly

Snappy dialogue, a fun story, and a likable character who is deeper than she at first appears Sushi for One? satisfied my appetite for great fiction!

Virginia Smith, author of Just As I Am

At last a fun look at Christianity from the eyes of the Asian community. Lex Sakai is a wasabi-hot, fiery heroine that just might find the man of her dreams if she can listen to God, stand up to her controlling grandmother, and learn to trust others along the way.

Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt, authors of Emily Ever After

With katana-sharp wit, Camy immerses readers in the comedy and conflict universal to all families while vibrantly painting the specifics of Asian-American culture. A romance hasnt made me laugh this hard since My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Sharon Hinck, author of Renovating Becky Miller and The Restorer.

SUSHI
for
ONE?

To Captain Caffeine. I love you.
Youre worth a billion of those espresso makers.

ZONDERVAN

Sushi for One?
Copyright 2007 by Camy Tang

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition January 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-54239-1

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tang, Camy, 1972
Sushi for one? / Camy Tang.
p. cm. (Sushi series)
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27398-1
1. Dating (Social customs) Fiction. 2. Man-woman relationships Fiction. I. Title.
PS3620.A6845S87 2007
813'.6 dc22

2007006672

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, NewInternational Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with the Books & Such Literary Agency, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, California 95407-5370. www.booksandsuch.biz.

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CONTENTS

Thanks to:

Wendy Lawton, for being the best agent in the entire world.

Sue Brower, for looking past the fact I messed up my pitch and for seeing the potential in my story.

Rachelle Gardner, for your encouragement and enthusiasm in editing my manuscript.

David Robie, for being among the first to believe in me.

Sharon Hinck, gifted writer, awesome friend, generous mentor, encouraging prayer warrior, and feeder of my stamping obsession.

Pamela James, Heather Tipton, and Cheryl Wyatt, for being my friends, sisters, faithful cheerleaders, and prayer team.

Meredith Efken, for staying up way too late talking, for 2 a.m. fire alarms, and for surviving the flying termites with me.

Mary Griffith, for the hilarious stories you tell, the fabulous courses you teach, and for your help along this writing path.

Meredith Efken, Sharon Hinck, Ronie Kendig, and The Critique Boutique, for your fabulous, speedy critiquing.

The San Jose Christian writers group Shelley Bates, Kristin Billerbeck, Marilyn Hilton, Lisa Kalenda, Dineen Miller, MaryLu Tyndall for keeping me sane.

Dave Kawaye, for the cheesy Star Wars pickup lines. Muah to Mirtika Schultz for the Cuban Spanish translation. The ACFW loop, for your horrific bridal shower game stories. Robin Caroll, for your self-defense class expertise. Kayoko Akaogi, for helping me with my Japanese translation.

Stephanie Quilao, for your wealth of experiences, enthusiasm, and fount of fabulous ideas.

My blog readers, for making me feel not so alone in cyberspace.

The Nikkei Volleyball League, without whom Lex and Aiden would have no one to play with.

American Christian Fiction Writers, for being such an amazing group of encouragers, teachers, mentors, helpers, and cheerleaders.

Mom, for encouraging me to read, and Dad, for letting me monopolize the Apple IIe. My family, for being supportive and happy for me.

My husband, for letting me pursue my dream.

Lord Jesus Christ, I would be nothing without You.

Eat and leave. Thats all she had to do.

If Grandma didnt kill her first for being late.

Lex Sakai raced through the open doorway to the Chinese restaurant and was immediately immersed in conversation, babies wails, clashing perfumes, and stale sesame oil. She tripped over the threshold and almost turned her ankle. Stupid pumps. Man, she hated wearing heels.

Her cousin Chester sat behind a small table next to the open doorway.

Hey Chester.

Oooh, youre late. Grandma isnt going to be happy. Sign over here. He gestured to the guestbook that was almost drowned in the pink lace glued to the edges.

What do I do with this? Lex dropped the Babies R Us box on the table.

Chester grabbed the box and flipped it behind him with the air of a man whod been doing this for too long and wanted out from behind the frilly welcome table.

Lex understood how he felt. So many of their cousins were having babies, and there were several mixed Chinese-Japanese marriages in the family. Therefore, most cousins opted for these huge not to mention tiring traditional Chinese Red Egg and Ginger parties to present their newborns, even though the majority of the family was Japanese American.

Lex bent to scrawl her name in the guestbook. Her new sheath dress sliced into her abs, while the fabric strained across her back muscles. Trish had convinced her to buy the dress, and it actually gave her sporty silhouette some curves, but its fitted design prevented movement. She shouldve worn her old loose-fitting dress instead. She finished signing the book and looked back to Chester. Hows the food? The only thing worthwhile about these noisy events. Lex would rather be at the beach.

They havent even started serving.

Great. Thatll put Grandma in a good mood.

Chester grimaced, then gestured toward the far corner where there was a scarlet-draped wall and a huge gold dragon wall-hanging. Grandmas over there.

Thanks. Yeah, Chester knew the drill, same as Lex. She had to go over to say hello as soon as she got to the party before Grandma saw