Lari Ramires comes from a long line of bakers and aspires to join their ranks at Salt, her family?s bakery in Olinda, Brazil. Across the street is rival bakery Sugar, which is owned by the Molinas, who have been the Ramires? enemies for generations. Hostilities rise when an aggressive supermarket chain starts forcing neighborhood businesses to close their doors. After an incident places Lari in an after-school cooking club headed by classmate Pedro Molina, Lari begins to formulate a plan: if the two of them team up?after all, he is cute?they could bring their families together and stand up to big business. With nods to Romeo and Juliet, Carvalho uses the enemies-to-reluctant-allies thread to pull the story along while setting up a delectable romance. Although the families fight frequently and tears flow excessively, the author?s use of her own hometown offers a sweet authenticity to the proceedings. Multigenerational family dynamics, profound grief, and the timely struggle of small businesses to stay afloat against big-business encroachment make this debut a layered, delicious read.
