A review by thebakerbookworm
Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp

emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was definitely more sweet than bitter! Hehe. We get POVs from Pen and Xander, two different narrators in the audiobook and both were excellent. Pen and Xander are easy to like and root for, and I loved their individual growth over the course of the story and the growth of their relationship with each other.

There is a good plot here, but I would say it's more character-based. A lot of the plot has to do with Pen and Xander coming of age and figuring out who they are, and parts of it felt a little unrealistic (but this is true for most YA books I think). The setting was wonderful though—there are so many food descriptions in this book, you will be hungry throughout the whole book! I loved all the scenes at Nacho's Tacos, Pen's dad's restaurant (major flashbacks for me, I worked at my dad's restaurant as a kid), and the family aspect within this community and all that I learned about Mexican culture. So many good developed side characters too.

Overall I enjoyed this quick audiobook and this sweet story! Now I'm gonna go eat some tacos.

Thank you to Libro.fm, Hachette Audio, and the author for my ALC.

Read if you like: eating, cooking, community families, not backing down.
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