4.25/5 stars

Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti is a romance between Chinese Indonesian, Ellie Pang, and her older brother Eric’s best friend, Alec Mackenzie. They’ve been estranged for ten years once Alec left Ellie after a medical incident, only for him to walk back into her life at Eric’s urging as Ellie steps into taking charge of her life by moving across country to open up her own bakery, away from her overbearing parents and their pressure of who she’ll marry and their expectation and demand of working for the family business.

Older brother’s best friend is one of my bread and butter elite tier tropes, and this book had me eating out of its pages in the same way I wished I could be eating literally any and all of Ellie’s baked goods. I have been in a lowkey reading slump, but this story defied that. For as frustrated as I was about internally shouting at the characters to just!! talk!! to each other!!! I had so much fun reading this book.

But really— it was in fact frustrating reading Alec’s mixed signals. I understand he needed time to grow and develop as a character, but man there were times when I wanted to (lovingly) shake some sense into him. Yet reading his journey into doing his own research and really taking initiative to learn what to cook and how to cater to and take care of Ellie and her diabetes made my stomach swoop. That!! is what I love!! in reading love interests in romance novels!!! (and honestly what I can only hope for from a partner in real life.)

While I am neither Indonesian nor Chinese and while there is no single way to live any one Asian American experience, I found that as a Filipina American, I could relate to some of the cultural values that Ellie was raised with, specifically that I was also raised to always and unquestioningly honor and respect one’s elders— much to the challenge of American-born-and-raised third culture kids. Similar to Ellie, I have also gotten into arguments with my parents when I’ve felt barreled over by certain expectations and differences in opinion, much to my parents’ chagrin, for they believed me disrespectful for simply questioning and having different beliefs. I’m lucky that my parents have never come close to the level of way of Ellie’s mother’s manipulation— all I’m saying is that I relate; I understand her in a very specific way, and despite the discomfort in vulnerability for feeling exposed in this way, I felt *seen.*

In the same way that there is no one way to be Asian American, there is no one way to experience disability, chronic illness, or type 1 diabetes, I felt that Timoti really took care with Ellie and living with diabetes. I absolutely loved that Ellie stood her ground on being able to take care of herself, especially when so many of those close to her acted in ways that never took her own choices into account. (Side note: shoutout to Nick Jonas, Ali Hazelwood’s Love, Theoretically, and this book for giving names, faces, and stories to people living with type 1 diabetes.)

Also!! The food!! I loved reading all of Ellie’s baked creations, and I especially loved reading all the Indonesian food. Food is such a major component of all cultures, and I loved feeling like Indonesian food and the *love* for Indonesian food was shared with me by way of reading this book.

I’m looking forward to reading more from Cynthia Timoti! Thank you, Netgalley and Tor Publishing | Bramble, for the ARC!

4.5! Honestly blown away by this debut novel! This rom-com exceeded my expectations. Fun, fast-paced, with a mix of second chance, fake dating, and brother’s best friend??? Love.

I love a story when the male main character is so clearly infatuated with the female main character but she’s oblivious. The little moments between the characters felt full of genuine care and affection, especially on the part of Alec. I appreciated how headstrong and firm Ellie was as well, especially in navigating her over demanding and controlling parents. This book had me giggling and kicking my feet, but balanced out with some pretty intense rich family drama that kept things interesting. I only wish we got a weeeee bit more about Ellie’s business in the start up and repair phase, but the story made up for it when we got a lot of bakery scenes when she opened up. I appreciate the attention to representing type 1 diabetes, and I will always be front and center to give a Southeast Asian author and their characters their flowers!! Fantastic read, can’t wait to see what Cynthia Timoti does next.

Thank you kindly to Tor Publishing Group for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a fun, cute debut! I had no idea what to expect but the summary sounded right up my alley. I really l order FMC. She is strong, independent and a baker. I liked seeing so much of her T1D in the book. My twin sister had it as well and I appreciated how it was talked about and handled in this book! I hated how her family just wanted to bubble wrap and control her but scared people do that. Our MMC’s response of learning more, listening and understanding to help was a great path.

Our couple was great with good banter. I was exited for fake dating trope but we honestly didn’t get as much as I would have liked. We needed more fake dates and angst! We also needed the bakery to open sooner. I think giving our FMC that catalyst sooner would have helped the storyline a bit.

Overall I binged it in a day and enjoyed it. Will definitely be picking up more of this author’s books and cannot wait for Rob’s book (let’s hope he’s next!).

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

This novel was a wonderful, uplifting and quite inspiring rom com. I appreciate the story showing about the real life situations that one with type 1 diabetes deals with. Especially the guy who was so repulsed and made shitty remarks, that is a real thing. I do not have diabetes, but I grew up with my dad having type 1 diabetes. He got it at 24 years old, a year before I was born, because he got super sick with a cold or the flu, virus mutated and attacked his pancreas, and viola! Type 1 diabetic. I grew up hearing the stupid things like people telling him to "eat an orange" to cure his diabetes and so forth.
I also really like how this novel touched on situations like loyalty with family and how some families may tout the importance of all of that...and then not have it for you. I appreciate this novel really looking at that situation but also discussing how people get away from that and make their own way. Overall, a lovely and funny novel and it was very entertaining! I would pick up this author again, for sure.

From the moment I saw the description – "Crazy Rich Asians meets Always Be My Maybe" – I was completely hooked by Cynthia Timoti's Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice. Huge thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this book, and please know that all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Ellie's background truly embodies the "Crazy Rich Asian" family dynamic, but beneath the surface lies a heartbreaking reality of a manipulative and controlling mother. On the other side, Alec comes across as wonderfully grumpy, and Ellie's resilience and unwavering positivity shine as a potential light in his world, especially considering everything she's had to navigate in her life.

One aspect of the book that truly stood out was the informative and eye-opening representation of Type 1 diabetes. I gained a much deeper understanding of the daily realities someone with this diagnosis faces.
Timoti expertly weaves together beloved tropes like brother's best friend, fake dating, and the classic "only one bed" scenario, adding layers of fun and anticipation to the story. As someone who loves bubble tea, I also thoroughly enjoyed the Asian representation throughout the book, with all the delicious mentions of my favorite drink!

While there are definitely some spicy scenes (which I personally skipped), the overall feel of the story is undeniably cute. I particularly enjoyed watching Ellie's personal growth as she bravely starts to free herself from her toxic mother and build a new community after her move, finding wonderful support in her brother and Naomi. The push and pull, the will-they-won't-they dance between Ellie and Alec was thoroughly enjoyable, adding just the right amount of sweetness to the narrative.

The ending and epilogue were satisfying, even if they did feel a touch abrupt. The story beautifully builds the connection between Ellie and Alec, navigates their individual conflicts and growth, and then culminates in a happy ever after. I appreciated that the ending, while positive, still acknowledged the ongoing complexities of their family situations, highlighting that no family is perfect, and yet they choose to move forward together.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice. It's a charming story with engaging characters, insightful representation, and a satisfying journey of growth and romance.

This was a really cute debut rom-com. I actually enjoyed this much more than I was expecting. I was first drawn into this adorable cover, and then I read the description and knew it sounded right up my alley. This author created such a fun story and great characters. A FMC that was so independent and knew the kind of love and life that she deserved. I was rooting for her from the start in her bakery venture and then finding true love. I loved the banter between the two characters and the descriptions of food, it was just so lovely. There's a blend of romance tropes like grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers, one bed, and the building up of the characters feelings for each other felt relatable and real. Overall a solid, sweet debut.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

I was super interested in reading this book because I'm also Chinese Indonesian who immigrated to the US when I was a teenager. I didn't think I would relate so much with the story of Ellie but I totally did! Thankfully my mom is the total opposite of Ellie's mom but all of the story about the food and the family tradition was similar experience I had growing up.

Ellie's parents immigrated to the US from Indonesia and had worked so hard to create a food empire but that came with a price. Her parents, especially her mom, took control of a lot of Ellie's life. Especially after she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Trying to break off of her mom's control, Ellie moved to the west coast after getting fired from her job. She decided she wanted to fulfill one of her dreams of becoming a baker.

But when she arrives, the storefront she signed a lease for, needed a lot of work. And who showed up when she didn't know anyone in this new city? None other than Alec, her brother's best friend/childhood crush who broke her heart. They haven't seen or talked to each other in ten years but he showed up to help her out with her new business.

Alec offered to help her with repairing the damages at her store and in turn, they decided to fake date to help him close a business deal. And of course, as they spent time together daily, old feelings came back. And not just for Ellie.

I love how this book took me on a roller coaster of emotions. I was so angry at how controlling Ellie's mom was and how her mom basically inserted herself on every single aspect of Ellie's life. I also felt bad that Ellie and Alec lost touch for that long, and sort of wasted something that could be good for both of them. All the family drama I got to learn throughout the book was also so juicy! I read this book so quick because I couldn't put it down.

Overall, I'm so happy I get to read this book early and I hope Cynthia would write more books in the future!

This was cute but it wasn’t my favorite. I loved the care that was given to Ellie having diabetes (it was handled really well and was really informative imo) while pursuing her dream of owning a bakery, but I wish there was more of a focus on the actual bakery and getting it ready for opening. The pacing was an issue for me, there was so much work that needed to be done on the space and it felt like you blinked and suddenly all the work was done and the bakery was ready to open. I also didn’t like that Ellie spent years blaming Alec for something that was absolutely not his fault, and that took me out of the romance aspect of it a bit.

Both of my parents are diabetics, and I was recently told I am pre-diabetic, so I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis of this one. The portrayal of diabetes was done exceptionally well, in my opinion, and I'm sure that will be very much appreciated. The sugar-free bakery was a neat idea and created a very determined FMC in Ellie. Although she did act a little petulant and immature at times after running into Alec, I enjoy a good second-chance romance, so I liked experiencing Ellie and Alec rekindle their relationship after he initially broke her heart so long ago. I felt deep sympathy for Ellie with the micromanagement and overcontrol from her parents throughout her life, and it was special to see her break free from that and experience life under no one's control but her own. The humor and banter were good, and the angst was at an appropriate, not overdone level, in my opinion. Overall, it was an enjoyable romance with wonderful T1D representation.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Fun and fast paced, Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice is an engaging rom-com with lots of diverse representation.

Summary: Ellie is tired of her micromanaging, toxic family and of course, the best time to move across the country and start over is after an embarrassing and now viral failed marriage proposal (set up by said controlling family). So, Ellie moves across the country to finally follow her dream of starting a sugar-free and low carb bakery, inspired by her experience living with type 1 diabetes. And then she runs into Alec Mackenzie, (brother's best friend, childhood crush, and hot developer guy) who's one of the few people she knows in her new town to help her set up her bakery. So, its a romance book :)

tbh, before starting this book, I expected more from the romance and less from the T1D rep. What I got was pretty much the opposite. The romance was cute, a little steamy, and filled with plenty of tropes (fake dating, only one bed, a little second chance, it's always been you, and more), which is somehow both fun and too much at the same time...but both the MCs could be kind of stubborn and difficult about it and the romance wasn't all that memorable.

However, the best thing about this book is the T1D representation! Finding books with T1D rep is pretty difficult and finding accurate rep is near impossible. So I was pretty surprised and really happy to find that this book and strong FMC did a great job representing T1D. It was a surprising and refreshing change!

I also really liked the bakery idea. I don't know if I'm fully on board with branding it as "guilt-free", but low carb and delicious baked goods? I like the idea and definitely want Ellie's recipes!

Final thoughts: This book is a sweet and fast paced rom-com, a solid debut novel, and has a great storyline idea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Ok for starters, I really enjoyed this book. The start had me cracking up so much with the viral moment. I really enjoyed how our FMC wants to forge her own way and is trying to separate herself from her toxic controlling parents. I really enjoyed the inclusion of diabetes type 1 and how it handles, how accurate it is. For our MMC , I would said I like him for most of the part, but his self preservation tactics I hate. Also the third act break up gave me such a big crazy rich asian vibes 😅 with all that was going on. But overall it was fun a entertaining. Definitely would love to get more stories from the side characters as well 👀.

A debut fake dating, second chance, forced proximity, Pride & Prejudice retelling romance that has fantastic disability rep (she has type 1 diabetes) and tons of secret mutual pining. I loved this on audio narrated by Eunice Wong and highly recommend it for fans of books like Only and forever by Chloe Liese or Drive me home by Carly Robyn. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

The beginning was so good - I was so excited, but then it just...didn't do it for me. I just didn't FEEL in sync with the characters or the plot in the way I hoped.

Ellie is such a courageous character. She has diabetes and her family has always made decisions for her.
When she turns down a proposal that her family wants and goes viral on the Internet she decides it's time to get out of town and create her own life.
She moves to open a bakery of treats she has created that are okay for people with diabetes to eat and are guilt free. I loved the recipes she comes with, they are different and sound delicious. I loved the matcha chocolate chip cookies.
When she first gets to her new destination, things look bleak. But along comes Alec, a boy she had a crush on years ago, but that crushed her heart.
He helps her get back on her feet. But she also helps him by pretending to date him. Things get a little bit complicated. But they both seem to still have feelings for each other.
Things take a turn though when Ellie's family gets involved and she learns a secret from long ago.
Ellie continues to go on with her dream, but is fighting to make it all work.
I loved how brave she is and sticks to her guns.
This is a lovely book about starting over and fighting for yourself and your dreams.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

There was a mish-mash of tropes here. We have an enemies-to-lovers coupled with the second-chance trope. Add in the heroine losing her job and home in one moment. The embarrassing wedding proposal that begins the book was a great start, but then our heroine leaves her over-protective, arrogant, and interfering parents to drive to the west coast and open her own bakery specializing in treats that don’t use sugar. She’s supposed to be so smart, but she leases a location sight unseen. Of course, she arrives to find that the location has been trashed in a storm. And surprise, surprise, her brother’s best friend whom she had a crush on as a teenager only to be turned down just so happens to live in this relatively small town and runs a construction business. How lucky! And he needs a pretend girlfriend so that the woman seeking to partner with him won’t hit on him. But the woman turns out to be the nicest possible woman. Why couldn’t he just turn her down gently and say he only wanted a business relationship? This was one of the weaker excuses for a fake relationship storyline.

I just didn’t believe any of it and I got tired of the overused tropes. There is a hint of Crazy Rich Asians with the evil mother. But that was just introduced and used when the author needed plot development. Where was the father while his wife was driving his daughter to disappear? Why did the brother put up with this interference?

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

I knew based on the first chapter that I would be giving this book a 5 star review. Interesting, surprising, and well written. I started paying more attention to the chapter titles around Chapter 5, and found them fun and intriguing! The last sentence of each chapter was so riveting, I couldn't help but keep reading on to the next - and before I knew it, I'd finished the book in a couple of hours.

Our FMC, Ellie has a lot to deal with when she leaves her home and family, to break out on her own on the other side of the country. Her goal of starting a bakery with healthy alternatives (for others with T1D like her or similar conditions) faces many challenges, and I love the way she creates her own motivation to pursue her dream. "Swallowing the scream that was threatening to spill out of me, I took a few deep breaths, counted to twenty, then opened my eyes, feeling my heartbeat slowing down. Okay, shit happens, right? Problems and challenges are part of life. It was how I reacted to them that mattered."

Enemies to lovers is a favorite trope of mine, and this one was different enough to be really enjoyable. There are a couple of miscommunications (as expected in a rom-com), but the ones detailed here aren't ones you encounter often. If you like fake dating and enemies to lovers, definitely pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group/Bramble for an e-arc of this book!

title: Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice

author: Cynthia Timoti

publisher: Bramble

publication date: May 6, 2025

pages: 336

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: needles, T1D hypo episode

summary: After Ellie rejects the world's most eligible/desirable bachelor in what becomes a viral video, she decides to follow her lifelong dream of opening her own diabetes-friendly bakery. She moves across the country to get as far away from her controlling family as she can, only to find that her brother's best friend and the man who broke her heard ten years earlier not only lives in the town where she now resides but also is her only hope of getting some major and necessary renovations to her new shop. Complicating matters even further, for business reasons of his own, he needs a girlfriend to help his business. They can help each other.

tropes:

fake dating
brother's best friend
enemies-to-lovers
only one bed
manipulative family
starting over
second-chance romance
tasty treats

what I liked: 

T1D representation
family dynamics
obstacles
humor

what I didn’t like: mom was too evil to be believable

overall rating: 4 (of 5 stars)

This is cute, but it’s not for me. DNF around 68%. Ellie and Alec don’t seem to have matured since they clashed as teenagers. I want heroes to pursue the heroine rather than running away from her.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

DNF at 48%. I like what this was *trying* to do, particularly with the diabetes rep, although the emphasis on “guilt free” eating felt rather troubling. But the romance gave me the most intense feeling of apathy, especially the fake dating aspect. This trope has not hit for me lately, and while there’s nothing objectively wrong with the book, but I just had little interest in continuing.

5/5 stars
1.5/5 spice

Tropes:
Brother's Best Friend
Forbidden romance
Fake dating
Forced proximity
One Bed
Mutual pining
Single POV

This one to me by surprise. I want expecting the emotional turmoil this one churned up but I loved every moment. So much pining and forbidden desires... Ellie and Alec were so fun together. They had the banter from the start and I just KNEW it was going to be good when they finally admit to their feelings.

The emotional trauma of parental control was very well done. I was rooting for Ellie to finally get her chance to prove she's a badass. I appreciated the way T1D was portrayed, having had personal experience with a family member dealing with it. I loved that Ellie nipped all the abelism in the bud and stuck to her plan. So much to root for her and her success outside of her romantic entanglements.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. It had depth, humor, and angst. I highly recommend for fans of romcoms, lighthearted forbidden romance, and diverse characters. I feel like there's going to be a follow up book based off the epilogue and if there is I'm soooo excited.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered voluntarily.