Salt and Sugar

By: Rebecca Carvalho

Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

The grandchildren of two rival Brazilian bakeries fall in love despite their families’ feud in this delicious debut rom-com perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Gloria Chao.

Trust neither thin-bottomed frying pans nor Molinas.

Lari Ramires has always known this to be true. In Olinda, Brazil, her family’s bakery, Salt, has been at war with the Molinas’ bakery across the street, Sugar, for generations. But Lari’s world turns upside down when her beloved grandmother passes away. On top of that, a big supermarket chain has moved to town, forcing many of the small businesses to close.

Determined to protect her home, Lari does the unthinkable—she works together with Pedro Molina to save both of their bakeries. Lari realizes she might not know Pedro as well as she thought—and she maybe even likes what she learns—but the question remains: Can a Ramires and a Molina truly trust one another?

©2022 Rebecca Carvalho (P)2022 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Amazing rendition

Unpopular position: I hate Romeo and Juliet.

However, I felt like this was a practical and well constructed Romeo and Juliet type story. I love the emotions, food, and that the story didn’t end with the kids killing themselves. Imani Jade Powers did a wonderful job of putting the right emotions into each chapter.

Great Family/Romance read

I loved this book. it was a easy listen and great story of how family plays a big part in our lives even when it comes to who u love. Hope to read more from this author.

Neither Rom nor Com to be found

“You’re going to be the first Ramirez to go to college.”
It would be charitable to call this a dramedy: this was 95% family drama and 4% romance and 1% comedy. The endless shouting, squabbling and vitriol between families determined to keep hate alive was exhausting. The drama included a gentrification theme, as their rival bakeries Salt and Sugar are both dying in the shadow of the shiny new megastore. Further, the drama also included constant pressure for her to go to college and become an accountant and him to stick with the ancient family recipes.
These pressures also extend until the very end, making this a majority stress-filed listen.

Amid all the baggage, the only bright spot was a love of cooking that Pedro and Lari share. Even that, however, didn’t really translate into a believable romance. Or maybe the reason I didn’t buy their chemistry was the super slow simmer that took 8 hours to get to a first kiss and only delivered two kisses in the entire story. Rather than pitch this as a rom-com, the summary would have been better pitching heartfelt family fiction. This was cozy, with zero cussing, violence, or sex,
but for me to love this as a cozy rom-com, I needed a lot more Rom and a lot more Com.