Salty, Bitter, Sweet
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A slow-burn romance in a cutthroat kitchen! There’s more to becoming a top chef for 17-year-old Isabella Fields than just not getting chopped … especially when the chances of things heating up with an intriguing boy and becoming a food star in the kitchen are both on the line. Isa’s family life has fallen apart after the death of her Cuban abuela and the divorce of her parents. And after moving in with her dad and her new stepmom, Margo, in Lyon, France, Isa feels like an outsider in her father’s new life. She balances her time between avoiding the awkward “why-did-you-cheat-on-Mom” conversation and her diligent aspiration to become a premiere chef. Despite Isa’s world being turned upside-down, her father’s house is located only 30 minutes away from the restaurant of world-famous Chef Pascal Grattard, who runs a prestigiously competitive international kitchen apprenticeship. The prize job at Chef Grattard’s renowned restaurant also represents a transformative opportunity for Isa who is desperate to get her life back in order—and desperate to prove she has what it takes to work in an haute kitchen. But Isa’s stress and repressed grief begin to unravel further when the enigmatic Diego shows up at the house unannounced. How can Isa expect to hold it together when she’s at the bottom of her class at the apprenticeship, her new stepmom is pregnant, she misses her abuela dearly, and things with Diego reach a boiling point? Mixing up only the best ingredients, Salty, Bitter, Sweet: Is a clean and wholesome rival-to-lovers trope set in a cutthroat kitchen environment Is a perfect book for foodies ages 13 and up, and features a Latina main character who is trilingual Explores complicated family dynamics and relatable themes of friendship, acceptance, grief, and learning to care for yourself Perfect for TV fans of Top Chef, Chopped, and The Great British Bake-off, as well as YA titles such as With the Fire on High or A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow Has authentic representation of Mayra Cuevas’ background
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cuban-French Isabella Fields, 17, is the only American among 15 students chosen for a three-week apprenticeship at La Table de Lyon, a Michelin three-star restaurant in the world's gastronomic capital. One graduate will be selected to stay on for a year, and the competition is intense. For Isabella, the apprenticeship is a chance to press "a reset button to erase everything that's happened in the last year." Her beloved Cuban abuela, Lala, died, and Isabella emigrated from Chicago to France with her father and new, pregnant stepmother Margo; she's avoiding "the why-did-you-cheat-on-Mom conversation," as well as her overwhelming grief. But the high-pressure environment of Chef Troissant's kitchen is a far cry from the love-filled cooking on Lala's Kansas farm. When Margo's smoldering stepson Diego moves in with them, Isabella finds her attention growing divided. Though Diego and Isabella's eventual partnering is never in question and character development is slight, Cuevas effectively touches on the complexities of female ambition in a male-dominated field and multiracial identity ("Never Cuban enough, or French enough, or American enough that's me, a dissonant three-course meal"), making this an engaging, multilayered read for aspiring chefs. Ages 13 up.
