Delayed Pleasure: A Novel

· One World
Ebook
240
Pages
Eligible
This book will become available on June 16, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.

About this ebook

From the author of the classic coming-of-age memoir Fresh off the Boat, tragicomic autofiction about how one very messed up and haunted manchild finds love in spite of himself.

Hubie lives an exciting life. He hosts a traveling food show, produces it with his two best friends, and tastes the best the world has to offer for a living. He also treats his romantic partners as courses on a tasting menu. He has one rule when it comes to romantic partners – three months and then it’s over. Hubie is no hubbie.

Then he meets Anastasia, a mysterious woman who seems to share his approach to life--she wants fun, she wants sex, and she wants to be able to take off before dawn. They have chance encounters in all sorts of glamorous locations – a luxury spa in the Utah desert, Goldeneye in Jamaica, exclusive private clubs in LA – but each time they are with other partners. When they finally connect the chemistry is undeniable. But beneath her carefree exeterior, Anastasia has a secret – she is a high-end madam, linked to the underworld and trying to find a way out. Hubie has secrets of his own tied to his violent past and the trauma of growing up in an abusive household. Just as they find a way to be together, the specter of their pasts rises to threaten everything. Will they be able to accept each other fully when they know each other's truths? Can they shake off shame, regret, and human baggage to free themselves to love?

Light-hearted with hidden depths--just like it's two protagonists--this book uses love as a means to understand how two people can truly embrace a second chance when having come from a world of trauma and pain. Does it require cutting off their pasts entirely? Is that even possible? Delayed Pleasure will beckon readers gently into deep waters before of course delivering its happy ending.

About the author

EDDIE HUANG is a Taiwanese-American multi-hyphenate who has made his cultural mark as an author, chef, restaurateur and director. A former attorney, he later turned to cooking and opened BaoHaus, a Taiwanese bun shop in New York City. He is widely known for his memoir Fresh Off the Boat, which was adapted into a popular ABC sitcom in 2015. Huang also hosted the Viceland show Huang’s World, which explored cultural identities through the lens of food. In 2016, he published his second book, Double Cup Love: On the Trail of Family, Food, and Broken Hearts in China. In 2024, he directed, produced and starred in the documentary Vice is Broke.

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