Rating 3/5
Plot 3/5
Spice 1/5
Writing 3/5
Character Development 3/5

[I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book]

“Salt and Sugar” by Rebecca Carvalho tells the story of Lari Ramires and Pedro Molina, the grandchildren of two rival Brazilian bakeries. Lari works at her family’s bakery, Salt, which happens to have been at war with Molina’s bakery, Sugar, for generations. When Lari faces a few obstacles (her grandmother passing away and a supermarket chain moving into town and negatively impacting small businesses) Lari and Pedro must set aside their differences and work together to save their bakeries. The more time they spend together, the more they fall for one another however they question if a relationship can bloom despite their families' feuds.

This book had a cute concept! I loved the bakeries' names and the cover is adorable. I also love the rivals-to-lovers trope. If you’re looking for a cute YA romance with the foodie trope, this one is for you!

I really liked this contemporary YA novel! Lari was a great MC, and I liked all of the other characters. Overall, I would definitely recommend!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Rebecca Carvalho is a new author for me so I had no idea what to expect going in. At first, I wasn’t too impressed by the main characters and I didn’t like how Pedro was such a bully. Then, I don’t when it happened – without me even noticing, I fell in love with Larissa and Pedro and I found myself rooting for them.

I fell deeper and deeper as I got to know them and I loved their friends. The author painted strong, unforgettable characters and intense emotions that swept me along with them. I laughed and I cried and the plotline was a really good one too with unexpected twists that kept me engrossed in finding what would happen next.

There was heartbreak as there is with generational feuds, love of family, and the values and bonds that keep us connected. The author did a really good job of crafting this story. And of course, how can I end my review without mentioning all the mouth-watering goodies? The descriptions of the cakes and other baked goodies made me feel like I could almost taste the delicacies. The author’s writing was rich and heartwarming and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for new books from her.

Thank you so much for the ARC, I give the 4/5 I ought it was very cute

I just reviewed Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho. #SaltandSugar #NetGalley

A sweet and salty story of love, loss, family, and never-ending fighting.

Lari comes from a family of bakers. Both her mother and grandmother worked at Salt, their family bakery and Lari's home. But Lari is cursed in the kitchen. She can't even crack an egg without tripping over it. When her grandmother passes away, Lari turns to the kitchen to try to connect with and mourn her grandmother. But this is Lari's vestibular year, the year she's supposed to be deep in her books preparing for college admissions. There's only one way Lari can bake, and that's if she joins her nemesis' cooking club at school. The same boy who bullied her since they were children, whose family constantly steals Salt's customers and recipes, and the very person who Lari hates with all her soul and can't speak to without breaking out a world war.

Salt and Sugar are two bakeries on opposite sides of the street.They have grievances going back generations, a tradition followed by Lari and her nemesis, Pedro. Their grandparents fought, their mothers have shouting matches in middle of the street, and Lari and Pedro constantly compete and irritate each other at school.

The story ran through several great themes. The main one was about the family feud between Lari's and Pedro's families. It did a great job of showing how fights can keep burning for generations, and how fighting breaks up friendships and families. I loved how the theme was presented here. It was written beautifully and I was very emotionally involved and attached to the characters. I hate to call this a Romeo and Juliet, simply because it's over cliched and I don't want to ruin this book by association, but yes, that's the general theme here, although there's a lot more to it than just that.

The characters were very well developed. They each had their own reasons for their feud and also had complicated relationships even within their own families.

The book also also focused on graduating high school, life/career goals, helicopter parenting, mourning, friendships, family relationships... There was so much depth and complicated life issues in this book, it made it feel so real and relatable.

But good emotional crises aside, this book had lots of great food descriptions all over. Be prepared to come out of this book drooling for some Brazilian ethnic foods. I may not be able to find their tight knit community or Lari's and Pedro's friends from the cooking club, but at least I can drown my emotions in the food they made..

While her mother pressures her to prepare for college, Lari tries to deal with her grief over her grandmother's recent death, financial worries, and the constant feuding between her mother and their rivals at Sugar. When a teacher traps her into joining a cooking club run by Pedro, her lifelong enemy, Lari and Pedro have a chance to set aside their history and maybe get to know each other better. But can their burgeoning relationship survive their own families' active and ongoing war?

I was excited to read this book based on the description but it didn't work for me. The characters were ever developed to the point that they felt real. Also, the pacing felt off with the book feeling very slow and then rushed. Plus, I didn't care about the romance. Some readers may enjoy this book but it didn't work for me.

I love the 'enemy to lovers' trope and this book absolutely delivered on that front. There was a natural progression from enemies to allies and I really enjoyed watching as the characters bonded over shared experiences and came together when they needed to. The one issue I had was the writing style - it just wasn't for me - but other than that, I really enjoyed the storyline. Also, the food! I loved loved loved reading about the food!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Cute story, I loved the characters and got hooked right away.

I enjoyed the spin on Rome & Juliet in this tale of baking and rival Brazilian bakery families. I liked how intense and deep the backstory was, though I felt like the reconciliation was maybe a bit too easy -- on Lari's part.

This book was absolutely fantastic!!! I love every second of this book. I would describe this book as a enemies to lovers, cooking, Romeo and Juliet.

We have two feuding restaurants that are across the street from each other. They have been feuding for several generations. The two youngest of the family, Pedro and Lari, go to the seem school and feud with each other because that is what their families have always done.

One day a big corporation supermarket comes to try and take over the town by shutting down all the family restaurants. This causes a lot of stress on both families.

Will Pedro and Lari put aside their differences to help save the town? You should definitely read to find out!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press to letting me have an ARC for this.

A huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book in advance!

A Romeo & Juliet retelling of sorts with some "enemies to lovers" trope thrown in.

The concept of that sounds fantastic! I was all in when I requested this ARC.. I'm not sure if it's because this is a young adult novel and I'm not a young adult anymore, or what the problem was for me, but I couldn't love this book. I just couldn't.

What I LIKED was the culture and the yummy food that the bakeries made and brought in.

What I did NOT like was the immaturity of every character in this book.
The teenagers were more mature than the adults, who screamed at each other like toddlers throwing temper tantrums at every turn.
The teenagers fed off of that because that's all they knew and it was really difficult to read.

In my opinion, even if you're raised with a family feud going on, when you reach a certain age, there should be enough sense for a person to think for them selves and not react so off the handle irrationally and TOTALLY immature....

Unfortunately, it isn't a win for me.

"I'm saying, be free to be the baker you want to be."

I really loved how this book takes place in Brazil, because I never got to read a novel that delves into the Brazilian culture before. Also, I LOVE high school romances, especially when they are enemies-to-lovers😏 Lari Ramires and her family bakery called Salt, have always been having life-long beef with the neighbouring bakery, Sugar. Sugar is run by Pedro Molina and his family, who Lari totally despises, especially after he bullied her back in elementary school. However, after Lari faces tragedy with her grandmother's death and learns that Salt is at risk of shutting down and being sold, she is forced to team up with Pedro because the same thing is happening to Sugar, and they need to fight back. But what happens when both Lari and Pedro spend more time together? They both learn about each other's parental pressures, and those glares between each other turn into lingering looks of lust. Pretty soon, Lari starts to realize that there is more to Pedro than she assumes, and even starts to fall for him. But their families will never support them being together due to their family feud. Also, can a Ramires honestly trust a Molina, or are they doomed from the start?

I love when a book takes us to a country I’ve never been before (cause I’m afraid of flying & this is the easiest way to travel without leaving my home or spending thousands of dollars) and this book takes us to Brazil where two bakeries have a multi-generational rivalry going and the youngest of these generations have to decide if they want to keep it going or not. In a way, it gives Romeo & Juliet but without the unnecessary deaths (that is still very weird to me, btw). There are plenty of laughs and mishaps throughout this story that created balance to the grief that was laced throughout it. With there being the sudden loss of a beloved grandparent & parent, I was a bit in my feels but didn’t feel overwhelmed. This was a really nice read.

This was an okay book. I enjoyed the setting. Lari's grief over the loss of her grandmother was very realistic. The mom was annoying and the fact that she went from screaming lunatic to accepting Lair's choices within a few pages was a bit unbelievable. The romance was okay. The descriptions of the food made my mouth water.

A deliciously sweet YA rom com with so much culture embedded in. The characters are relatable and understandable.

Lari Ramires cresceu em Olinda em meio a guerra entre sua família e os Molina, uma briga que dura gerações e parece que nunca terá fim. Lari está passando pela dor da perda da avó, e se sente mal ao ver a mãe tentando comandar a Salt sozinha, mesmo que qualquer tentativa sua de ajudar acabe em desastre, e que sua mãe não a queira envolvida nos negócios. Na escola Lari tem que conviver com Pedro Molina, com quem está sempre competindo, assim como suas famílias.

Após uma das competições não acabar bem, Lari aceita entrar para um clube na escola para poder dar um ponto extra para sua turma, mas não imaginava seria o clube de culinária que é comandado por Pedro. Lari não sabe cozinhar e teme que Pedro use isso contra ela, mas quando o futuro de ambas as padarias fica em perigo, eles precisam de unir para tentar salvar os legados de suas famílias antes que seja tarde demais.

Salt and Sugar traz o cenário de Olinda e um pouco de Recife com pratos que conhecemos bem, e confesso que fiquei com vontade de comer tudo. Eu fui positivamente surpreendida com a profundidade dessa história, tem algumas questões além da briga entre as famílias, uma delas é como o comércio local pode ser destruído por grandes empresas.

Eu me apeguei muito a Lari e Pedro, eles tem suas próprias dificuldades quando se trata de família e futuro. A Lari tem a pressão da mãe para cursar economia, sempre é lembrada de que será a primeira Ramires a ir para a universidade, mas sente que não é o que a fará feliz, ao mesmo tempo que não tem coragem de dizer isso para a mãe. Pedro quer comandar Sugar um dia, mas encontra resistência em seu avô que não aceita suas novas ideias e nem que ele faça um curso mais moderno de culinária.

A Rebecca Carvalho é Recifense, mas hoje mora nos EUA e foi sua família e infância que inspirou essa história

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, but can I trust them? Lari and Pedro's families run rival bakeries that are across the street from each other. With Deals Deals moving into town, the bakeries livelihoods are at stake. The two team up to try and save their respective bakeries but the blood between their families seems insurmountable.
Opinion
The book was a bit slow at first but the feud between Lari and Pedro reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. I really wanted to know what happened between their families to make them such enemies. The little hints interspersed throughout the book kept me reading. By the end of the book, I was in tears, laughing and having that warm "feel good" moment time and time again.
I would put this book into the hands of any middle/high school student who loves romance. The farthest the romance goes is a kiss, which is perfect for younger readers. The story would also appeal to middle and high schoolers because Lari and Pedro are both in high school and struggling to find their place in their own families.
Many thanks to Net Galley and Inkyard Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

3.5 stars. Enjoyable, with some great food descriptions and character growth. Sometimes it felt like there was too much going on, but overall a solid YA enemies to lovers romance.

This book was fun. I was happy to find that it is a clean rom-com. There was no cussing and no sex. We need more books like this in high schools!

I really loved the premise of this, enemies to friends to lovers, Romeo and Juliet trope based around small bakeries that are rivals. Lari Ramires and Pedro Molina come from Brazil where Lari's family runs Salt and Pedro's family have Sugar. The premise being despite decades of disagreements between their families they have to work together Ito take on the large chain grocery store that’s decimating the town.

This coming of age story touches on issues such as grief, overcoming family expectations, and the affects of large scale capitalism on small businesses and lives. I loved the banter and chemistry of the characters, that it was set outside of the US which is always a delight to read something non-western-white. The writing style and world building is just fantastic.

I really appreciated how the history of rivalry between the families emphasises how resentment and hatred can fester and run out of control and how these are passed from generation to generation. That ending too, it just got me and Iwas in tears, this book was such an emotional read and I loved it, I need more , I really would love more , please ?

Overall a fabulous, beautifully written debut, one which I wholeheartedly recommend.

Thanks to netgalley and Harper360YA for a free copy in return for an honest and voluntary review