A review by madanxiety
A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson

lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.0

The pacing of this novel seemed off to me. There were several points in the novel where it felt like anticipation was building toward something,
e.g. Logan tasking Xavier with making his own dish for his first shift,
and then it just time jumps and we're talking about something else. I also didn't really connect with the characters, specifically Xavier.
Very early on, Logan communicated the importance of honesty to him, and Xavier went ahead and was dishonest anyway. It seemed childish to me.


The writing style or humor was also forced.
E.g., Xavier explaining to himself "oh Logan is probably straight, but he could be bi or pan, and sexuality is a construct so blah blah."
Even if that is how some of us think IRL, this type of writing always comes off as the author explaining things to the reader like it's our first day on the planet. I think it stems from authors not trusting their audiences enough to understand the nuances of their narrative. 

In terms of the plot, I was surprised by the ending,
with Xavier choosing to stay and not go to Berlin. I mean, it's not THAT surprising, but I was rooting for him to go, plus he had just gotten done saying it was the one thing in his life he was doing for himself. After only knowing Logan for what? A couple months? If he was my friend, I'd be telling him to go. LOGAN should've been telling him to go. I guess the point is that we don't always follow the paths we set up for ourselves, but I just think that if you have the chance to live in another country for a year and it's only gonna cost you $5000 to do it, you're kinda crazy not to.
 

I ended up feeling like the protagonists were not honestly that compatible outside of sex, which is kind of not what a HEA romance is supposed to do, lol. It was really the age gap, like they really were in different places in their lives.
I just was not convinced that Xavier ending up teaching, freelancing, and food prepping is like a happy ending for him lol, even if he has a man. Maybe if he'd liked the town more, but from the jump, he always wanted to get tf out of there. So it's just so unrealistic and even concerning that he'd pull a 180 like that. Again, if he were my friend, I'd be telling him not to move so fast.
That said, I'm sure other people connected with this novel, but it wasn't my cup of tea. 
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