Customer Reviews

Weddings and Wasabi

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Her whole life, Jennifer has done what her family expected of her. When she graduates from college, the family expects her to work at her aunt's restaurant. Instead, Jennifer wants to start her own catering company. Her efforts to start a business bring her across the path of Edward, a handsome man whose family owns a winery. Will Jennifer chase her dreams even if it means disappointing her family?

The final book of the Sushi Series, Tang wraps up this series with a short novella. While the plot is not as developed as the other books, Jennifer's story is a nice closure to the series. Fans of the series will ignore the rushed storyline to find out what happens to the four cousins.

I applaud Tang for self-publishing this story so that loyal readers could find out what happened with Jennifer. The story is a nice, light end-of-summer read.

... for Camy Tang's Sushi Series. Yes, it's short, but it does what the author intended - it wraps up the series and gives Jenn her own story, with an interesting surprise. Thanks Camy, for giving your fans one more "loud Asian chick-lit" story.

I am a fan of Ms. Tang because of the other books in this series. However, this one fell a little short, literally. It read like a short story and sometimes lacked supporting details, especially regarding the lead heart throb, Edward. For example, the reader is told several times that Edward considers himself boring, yet we are never really given evidence to support his opinion. The book description asks whether Jennifer will still be attracted to Edward when she finds out that he isn't really the daring bad boy that he appears to be when they first meet. Unfortunately, the question is never really answered.

The aunties and cousins are as entertaining as ever. Mimi seems to have grown from what I remember in previous stories. Perhaps she will get her own story in the future. Grandma's quiet conversion as well as her confidence in Jenn were my favorite parts of the story.

Overall, Weddings and Wasabi was a quick and fun read. I just wish there was more to the story.

I was a great fan of the previous books in this series: Sushi for One?, Only Uni, and Single Sashimi so I was glad to hear that Camy Tang had finally written a book about the fourth cousin, Jennifer Lim, but I wondered. Since writing the first three, Ms. Tang had gone off in a different direction, creating an Asian-American Christian suspense romance novel series: Deadly Intent, Formula for Danger, and Stalker in the Shadows, also very enjoyable but an altogether different kind of writing. Could she recapture the screwball comedy lunacy of the first three novels in the Sushi Series?

I needn't have worried. At the end of chapter 1, Jenn, the "good" cousin is thinking, "Sure, she knew him. Knew the next time he came for his goat she'd ram her chef's knife, Michael Meyers style, right between his eyes."

Yep, same old cousins, same old Sakai family.

The title of my review comes from the famous line so frequently uttered by Bugs Bunny when he has been pushed too far and is about to invoke his own version of Shock and Awe. First uttered by Groucho Marx and others in Duck Soup it was a signal to the audience that peaceful and placating Bugs was about to massively retaliate, a deliberate attempt on the part of director Chuck Jones to justify to the audience the mayhem that was about to ensue.

Camy Tang performs something similar here. Jenn, the quiet cousin, the good cousin, the one who liked everyone to get along,... the doormat, finally rebels against the selfish expectations of her censuring and crying and arguing and yelling and nagging family after they ruin her culinary degree celebration party by inviting the thug who beat her in college and trying to force her to go to work at the family restaurant. So they respond by trying to bully her.

BIG Mistake.

With the help of her four cousins: Lex, Trish, and Venus, the heroines of the first three books; Mimi, finally fighting on the right side this time; and Edward Castillo, the (in Jenn's opinion) dreamy, Hispanic, Harley-riding but secretly nerdy farmer who rescued her from a couple of flat tires, Jenn will wage a war of increasing retaliation against her vengeful and uncaring family, and before I give you the wrong impression, let me assure you that every minute of it will be falling down laughing on the floor funny. According to the Author's Note, Ms. Tang was listening to the album Every Time I Breathe for inspiration while she was writing this book. As for me, I was hearing The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1936-1958 playing in my head while I was reading it.

So thus ends the saga of the screwball Sakai Family, or does it? After the events of this novel I can see the makings of a 5th book: cousin Mimi's story. In a Customer Discussion on the Sushi for One? Product Page Ms. Tang contemplates it, and the observant reader will notice that in this novel Ms. Tang places her Sushi Series and her Deadly Intent series into the same universe.

Note: Ms. Tang is also the author of the start of another Asian-American Christian suspense romance novel series: Protection for Hire.

Note: For full disclosure I was given this ebook by the author rather than purchasing it.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a book with a title of Weddings & Wasabi but I was pleasantly surprised with a fun, up-beat and humorous tale of love. It wasn't until I went to write the review on this book that I noticed it was titled book 4 in a series. I'm not sure how I didn't know that before but I feel this book did pretty good standing on its own. There were a few moments I was confused but 95% of the time I understood what was going on and was enthralled in the story!

The main character is Jenn and she has just graduated from culinary school and her family is expecting her to take over her Aunt's Japanese restaurant. Jenn is a good girl and has always done what everyone expects of her and never questions it. However, Jenn's heart is in opening her own restaurant. Jenn meets Edward, a handsome young man who owns his own winery. With Edwards help Jenn begins to realize that her dreams are not out of reach and family is more supportive than she can understand.

Weddings and Wasabi is a short novella but it is jammed packed full with a delightful story and compelling characters. I enjoyed zipping through this story and loved the humor that it brought to my day, especially with the annoying goat and the entertaining dialogue. This book is sure to entertain many especially those that have been following the series.

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the author through FIRST Wild Card Tours for providing me a copy of this book for me to review.

In the title alone, you know you are in for one kick of a story. I love the dry humor of a Tang story. It's witty and funny, while not being *too* over the top. Throw in a little farm humor (i.e. the goat living in the yard and eating all the herbs) and I couldn't help smiling more than once (and groaning in sympathy for the characters)

I've only read one other book in this series, and while this book is the self-published novella conclusion for Jenn, I think I would have gotten a little more out of it if I had read more of the family's story. There were a few times I was a bit lost, but I think this is probably the conclusion, fans of this series have been looking for.

For a shorter story, there is great conflict in the story. From the goat in the backyard to the diabolical aunt, the poor girl certainly had her share of heartache and trouble. Not every end is neatly tied up, but I actually liked that, I have hope though as a reader that Jenn is going to be just fine. (smile)

A cute, enjoyable story with great spiritual undertones, it shows a bit of the chaos that must run in the Lim family. Sure to entertain many as it did me.

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the author through FIRST for providing a copy for me to review.

Camy Tang has written another winner for her Sushi Series. In this final novella, Jenn Lim has just finished up her degree in Culinary Arts and wants to try a hand in her own business. Her family(Aunty Aikiko) has other plans for Jennifer. She wants Jennifer to the family restaurant, and all in the midst of Trish having a wedding.

This story was not only a conclusion but you catch some subplots of other women from the Sushi Series, wrapping up with new beginnings. Jenn just happened to be the subserviant one, the quiet one, and somehow, once she met Edward, it changed everything. She learned that its okay be Christlike and disagreeable to those who want to control you, she also learned that a crazy mishap can turn into yummy Malaysian Basil sauce.

For this book to be a novella, Camy Tang has mastered telling a great story in a short book. She maintained pacing, plot, and character while making it all worthwhile. I also highly recommend her other books in the Steeple Hill Suspense category.

Jenn just graduated from Culinary School. The family expects her to now run her Aunty's Japanese restaurant. Everyone knows that this is why Jenn has gone to cooking school. Jenn doesn't want to run the restaurant for her aunty though. She wants to open her own catering business. But in Jenn's family what she wants and what is expected of her are two very different things.

When Jenn finally realizes that her family does not care what Jenn's desires are she decides that she is going to take control of her life and branch out on her own. She decides to open her own catering business instead of going into Aunty's business. This brings the wrath of her Aunty onto to her. With the support of her cousins Jenn plans her first catering job for her cousin Trish's wedding.

While heading to a wine-tasting vineyard Jenn and her cousin Trish are passed by Edward on his Harley. They get a flat tire and Edward turns around to help them out. His family owns another vineyard nearby. He and Jenn are immediately attracted to each other. He too comes from a large family that can get very loud! After meeting Edwards's family she realizes that she has neglected to pray for her business, she has neglected going to church and she has neglected reading her Bible. She soon remedies those things just as her dreams seem to start falling apart.

As always Camy Tangs books crack me up! Filled with a crazy family, a water gun attack, an Aunty bent on revenge, and a goat, Weddings and Wasabi is one wild ride! I do have one complaint though, Weddings and Wasabi was not as long as the other books in the series. I think that Jenn's story could have been more detailed. It was over too soon!

I knew that Camy Tang wrote Christian novels about Asian-American families living in northern California. I even bought two of her print books but I couldn't read them because the type was too small for me to read. So when "Weddings and Wasabi" came out for the Kindle, I just had to buy it.

A Story About Many Things!

What a surprise! The story is about many things. In a way, it is a coming of age story about the heroine, Jenn, who at 30-something, comes into her own as an independent family member and self-actualizing individual. It's an intriguing story of an extended Asian American family. Jenn has over fifty cousins living close by that she can call by name. It's a culinary story with lots of cooking. Jenn has just earned her cullinary degree. It's a wacky story with motorcycles and a central character who is a goat named Pookie. (Seriously).

Inspiring, Intriguing, Good Times & Sad

It is also an inspiring and intriguing story that weavs prayer and Christian values into complex family relationships where Buddhism is still practiced. It's also a sad story because life can be sad at the same time the good times are happening.

It's One Big Novella!

"Weddings and Wasabi" may be a novella but more happens in the story than you'd expect to find in a 300 page novel. (In fact, the author has indicated that"Weddings and Wasabi" would have been a novel if she had had the time to write it. She's now writing mysteries under contract for Love Inspired but still wanted to finish out this series for her Sushi fans.)

What Kind of Book Is This?

I did ask the author, who was doing a blog appearance at the time, what kind of book "Weddings and Wasabi" really was. She called it a "humorous contemporary romance". I differ a little with this description. I think "Weddings and Wasabi" is somewhere between a genre romance, where the central focus is on the relationship between the hero and heroine and women's fiction, where the central focus is on issues important to women.

There Is a Romance

There is a budding romance going on with Edward but it is not the central focus of the novel. Jenn and Edward seem ideal for each other and given more time they should find love and happiness. Edward looks the part of a bad boy with his new Harley motorcycle and leathers but he really works with his hands in the family vineyards.

Gateway Book -- Well Edited!

"Weddings and Wasabi" is a fun and easy way to sample Camy Tang's Sushi Series. It is an easy read. The editing is excellent. I did not find one typo or have to read any sentence twice to derive its meaning. I hope the author has time to give us Mimi's story!

Five Stars & Highest Recommendation!

This book was one I had been wanting for a while. I finally found it here and it was a good price too! I already had the other three books written by Camy Tang. I will say that it was shorter than I would have liked but, worth the money.