A review by novelty_reads
Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho

emotional inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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? No

5.0

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely devoured this book. 
 
Salt and Sugar was one of my favourite books I’ve read last year. It was sweet, salty and full of heart. Focusing on a family feud between rival bakeries, the book is an enemies to lovers novel showcasing how love can conquer all, and the power of small business. 
 
We follow the book in Lari’s perspective. Her family has owned, run and baked for Salt their entire lives. However, their business is struggling thanks to the competition of a big brand supermarket wanting to take over Salt and its rival competitor, Sugar. In need of a miracle, Lari teams up with Pedro Molina, the great grandson of Sugar’s owner who needs Lari’s help too. The two hatch a plan to enter into a baking competition and use the prize money to save their neighbourhood and businesses from going under. 
 
While being a cute romcom, it would be unwise to label Salt and Sugar as just another love story. This is a story about grief and continuing on with life without that person in it. Lari is struggling after her grandma’s passing with it having taken a toll on not just her or her family, but her neighbourhood as well. Things are getting tougher now as many businesses start selling their stores to a massive supermarket chain who have their sights set on Sugar and Salt. Lari doesn’t know what to do. She wants to continue her family legacy and continue baking but things feel really dire. She joins the school cooking club to help her learn how to bake where she realises she’s not the only one who feels helpless in this situation. She realises Pedro and the Molina family are also struggling to keep their traditions and neighbourhood alive in the midst of constant change. 
 
Even though the focus was on grief and the main character’s experience of it, I liked how we also got glimpses into side character’s too. I liked finding out more about Pedro. He really cared for his family and wanted to pursue cooking in the future by changing up a few recipes and making things more modern and unique. I enjoyed the interactions between him and his friends too however, I wished we had more scenes with them because they were really fun to read about. I also liked how Pedro treated Lari. You could tell they cared for each other and their chemistry felt real and believable. 
 
The only negative I have is with the competition at the end. I wish we had more parts showcasing the preparation because even though we knew the competition was happening, it felt so background even though it was a big part of the story. 
 
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone who loves the enemies to lovers trope, likes books set in bakeries and books that aren’t afraid to tackle big topics. 
 
ACTUAL RATING: 4.8 STARS 
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