My mom used to swear she didn’t like dobash cake.
She’d see it on the counter and wave it off like it personally offended her. “No, no… I’m not hungry.”
Five minutes later?
She’d cut the thinnest slice known to mankind. Not a real slice—more like a sample destined for a microscope slide. It was practically see-through. She’d eat it, pat her stomach, and declare she was full.
Thirty minutes later, she was back in the kitchen, quietly cutting another wafer-thin slice. As the night wore on, her visits became more frequent and increasingly secretive, as if she didn’t want anyone realizing she’d lost the battle.
If someone walked in on her, she’d say, “Just a tiny bit more and then I’m done.” As if she hadn’t already made ten trips.
By the end of the night, nearly half the dobash cake was gone, and she’d be raving about how good it was—how this one was especially delicious. She’d tell us to help ourselves to another slice and that we needed to buy it from this bakery again. And when one of us did venture back into the kitchen on her orders, she’d call out, “Bring me a slice… a small one.”
Sound familiar?
Kait Lawson, a BookTok creator on TikTok, reminded me of her. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made me laugh and feel warm because it echoed that same kind of slow-surrender enthusiasm.
When she first picked up The Little Sushi Chef, she didn’t message me saying she was excited. She didn’t post about it with urgency. It wasn’t her “it” book of the week—or even the month.
Her vibe was basically: “Yeah, sure. Eventually.” Totally normal. Everyone has a TBR pile leaning like the Tower of Pisa.
But then a shift happened.
First, she mentioned it in a book haul video. Nice.
Then it showed up in a TBR lineup. Awesome.
Then she posted a “currently reading and loving it.” Yes.
And after that, it went full dobash mode.
A “holy sh*t” reaction video followed by a full review, then by a list of favorite thrillers of the year, and a five-star roundup, a top reads list—the videos just kept coming, just like those repeated kitchen trips.
Last week, she posted a video picking her favorite book for each month of 2025.
August’s winner? The Little Sushi Chef.
Now, Kait didn’t do any of this because I asked her to. There was no payment, no agreement to promote, no nudging from me. Nothing. Nada. She just fell in love with the story and couldn’t stop talking about it.
And now? There’s another dobash cake sitting on the counter.
The Little Sushi Chef Betrayed releases December 16.
A lot of readers fell in love with Book One. If you’re one of them, you can lock in your preorder now.
If you haven’t stepped into Akiko’s world yet—and you’re feeling that familiar “just one slice” curiosity—you can grab The Little Sushi Chef while it’s discounted.
Sometimes the best things aren’t planned. They sneak up on you, slice by slice, until suddenly you realize you’re all in.