What a great YA read, with a good balance of family, friendships and romance. There were times I wish the author had provided a few more vignettes about the relationships with her mother and grandmother. The narrator was so likable, and even her follies were likable. I would happily read more books by this author.

This is a charming debut young adult romantic comedy by Rebecca Carvalho . It’s a modern Brazilian take on Romeo and Juliet with a lot of heart.

You’ll enjoy this YA novel if…

* you enjoy the enemies to lovers troupe. Pedro and Lari despised each other in the beginning and there was a lot of history with all that anger - I was beginning to wonder how in the world it’d ever turn around.

* you are a foodie. Foodies will absolutely love this book! I do not know very much about Brazilian cuisine, but the descriptions had my mouth watering and made me want to try so many of the foods that were discussed in the book.

* you enjoy multigenerational family stories - particularly feuding families. This novel is about an intense rivalry between 2 Brazilian Bakeries in the same neighborhood. The history is long, the resentments are deep and the fighting is unreal. The fighting was a bit over the top in my opinion and I cringed at the mothers’ behavior
throughout the book, but it definitely set up a difficult situation for the kids.

* enjoy a good, clean romance. I love that this is a clean romance, especially because it’s a young adult novel. This would be a great addition to any middle or high school library and for any class studying Romeo and Juliet to give a modern take on the classic story.

*you enjoy learning about other cultures and traditions. The Brazilian themes were wonderfully entrenched throughout this entire novel and I loved that aspect of this book so much.

* Also - the book cover is gorgeous!

Overall, this is a wonderful novel about families, expectations, forgiveness, and following your dreams. Thank you to @netgalley and to @inkyardpress for the advanced digital copy of this novel that is released in November of 2022.

This book is full of rich descriptions of Brazilian bakeries and family life. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy the rivals to lovers trope.

Okay, so I technically am rating this book 4.5 stars but it's rounded to 5 on here. This book was amazing and I couldn't put it down. The feud, the baking, and the romance combined into a lovely story. The development that both sides of the feud underwent was beautiful. The only thing that I was not into were the pop culture references in the beginning/middle. They just felt shoved in there with no real connection to the story. Otherwise an amazing book and very well written.

Thank you Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the Digital Advanced Copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this book for an honest review. (Publish Date: November 1, 2022)

I really enjoyed how this book focused on two grandkids from two rival bakeries in Olinda, Brazil. This wasn’t your typical Romeo and Juliet story! So much of this modern tale was focused on the food, culture, and traditions that I really got to know about life as a 17-year-old in Brazil.

Since their families had been feuding for decades, Larissa (Lari) Ramires from Salt and Pedro Molina from Sugar had grown up being taught to despise one another. Suddenly, Lari’s beloved grandmother and head chef at Salt dies, and a new supermarket chain begins shutting down the local shops in town. Salt and Sugar are both in jeopardy of closing, and with all the adults losing hope while continuing to feud, it’s up to Lari and Pedro to try to stop them – even if it means working together.

I was expecting this book to be a love story from earlier on, but Lari and Pedro couldn’t stand each other and fought constantly through the first half of the book! Thankfully, after countless ups and downs, this story has a wonderfully happy ending.

My only small complaint regarding this book was there seemed to be too much dialog at times and too much random fighting among the bakeries. It felt a bit exaggerated at times and could have been scaled back while still maintaining the same effect. Also, I’m unfamiliar with many of the foods the author mentioned (and any Portuguese), so I was incredibly thankful that the publisher allowed me to read this book on my Kindle so I could easily look words up like fubá (cornmeal), bolinhos (cookies), broas (ladyfingers), and coxinha (a popular Brazilian food where dough is filled with meat or cheese, then battered and fried).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone wanting to read a great YA romantic comedy while also learning about life in Brazil. I plan to purchase a hard copy of this book once it’s published, so I can read it again and again!

A super cute, modern take on Romeo and Juliet! I loved the characters and the intense familial history. I did think there was some drag in the beginning but once you hit 50%, you'll fly through the rest. Reading Salt and Sugar made me incredibly hungry and I cannot wait to try some of the foods mentioned throughout! I am so happy there was a happy ending and I definitely enjoyed my read. 3.5/5 stars - thank you #NetGalley for a copy of the book!

An absolute foodie delight! A recommended first purchase for YA and high school fiction collections.

This adorable bakery-inspired Romeo and Juliet novel will be a fabulous addition to our middle-grade library. I cannot wait to share this sweet story with my students.

What a cute read about such a tight-knit community! I am a sucker for any book about family rivalries and could see a ninth grade teacher using this as a complementary text for Romeo and Juliet/analyzing the new West Side story. I just adored Larissa and Pedro and their romance, but the build up was worth the wait for them to be together. Their budding romance/rivalry and the descriptions of delicious food makes this a bookshelf keeper, and since I got a digital ARC from NetGalley and Inkyard Press (thank youuuu), I will have to snag a physical copy for my classroom.

Love between rival families’ children theme with sweet, salty, mouth watering bakeries make you extremely hungry with well developed characters! Yes, I’m in!

Two rival bakeries in the same street: across each other. Ramires family only prepares savory foods as Molinas family only prepares sweets.

After Lari’s grandmother’s sudden dead, her mother barely manages the bakery by herself and Lari is way too much clumsy to create another disastrous scene at the kitchen which may result with being banned to be inside the bakery forever.

Unfortunately Pedro’s family business has its own problems. The supermarket chain’s decision to move to town will affect entire small businesses and force them to be closed.

Both Lari and Pedro are ready to fight but only way to win is teaming up, gathering forces to save their businesses by burying hatches.

After hating a person for a long time, it may be real challenge to work alongside.

Absolutely entertaining, smart execution of enemies to lovers theme. Both Lari and Pedro are lovable, genuine characters and their palpable chemistry make you smile. The food recipes are mouth watering. The family feuds, regrets, grief blended well into this sweet romance story.

I’m looking forward to read more works of the author!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

This was a really sweet book, I loved it! Although I get why Lari's mom behaved like that with her, I still feel like she was a little too mean which made me feel a little disappointed when they reconciliated too quickly. I also didn't like how Pedro's mom behaved towards Lari and her mom knowing that their grandmother and mother, respectively, had recently passed away. But aside from that, I liked how the enemies aspect was handled and how Pedro and Lari's rivalry was depicted, especially the bit where we learn that they had their own feud when they were little instead of blindly disliking each other.

Although I would've loved seeing Pedro and Lari date a bit longer or at least see more of their romantic feelings, I was still pretty satisfied with their romantic moments, as well as their blossoming friendship throughout the book. Another aspect that I absolutely loved about this book was the description of the different brazilian dishes and desserts. Overall, this was a really cute and wholesome book!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC

This was one I wanted to love but I just didn't. I didn't really like Larissa or Pedro. I know they are trying to do right by their families but it seemed to take too long to get to the point of where this was going.
I liked the talk of food, the imagery was great and had my mouth watering.
I liked the look at grief within the families and the cultural differences that shaped the characters and their bakeries.
I think some of my teens will like this one because of the food and the cultures.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

Salt and Sugar is a funny, sweet, entertaining rom com.
This was a fun read, lots of laugh out loud moments, lots of great scenes, this was just on point and the dialogue hilarious.

I loved the bakery part of it. It was just so much fun to see where Lari and Pedro's relationship went. Because these two are at war with each other.

I really liked the love, hate thing they had going on - the chemistry was fizzling from their first interaction and little tiff in the book! I absolutely loved it.
The character development, the relationship between these two simply fire.

This is my first read by the author and I thoroughly enjoyed the crazy ride.
I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.
Salt and Sugar is one amazing ride and I can't wait for it to he out in the world for other's to read this amazing story.
Rebecca Carvalho out did herself with this one.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Inkyard Press,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

This was such a great read! I absolutely loved the main characters and the plot of the story. The author did a great job making the story interesting and keeping it moving. I loved how unique the story was and all that the author brought to it. Great book!

The grandchildren of two rival bakeries find themselves falling in love, and the families are not happy. On top of that, their bakeries, Salt and Sugar, find their futures threatened by a big business coming in and forcing smaller ones to close. Lari and Pedro feel they need to do something to save their family’s bakeries so the big business won’t win and buy them out. They let their families know they want to run the bakeries and end this long rivalry. Will their idea work? Will the families even let them continue their love for each other?

This was a sweet story about family rivalries in a tight-knit community. Sometimes the dialogue slowed down the pace, but it had a great heart.