Title: Sugar and Salt
Author: Susan Wiggs
Published by: William Morrow on Jul. 26, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Uplit Reads
Book Rating: 10/10
The New York Times bestselling author of The Lost and Found Bookstore returns to Perdita Street with a can’t-miss tale of friendship, hardship, redemption, and love between a San Francisco baker and a barbecue master from Texas.
Jerome “Sugar” Barnes learned the art of baking in his grandma’s bakery, also called Sugar, on historic Perdita Street in San Francisco. He supplies baked goods to the Lost and Found Bookshop across the street.
When the restaurant that shares his commercial kitchen loses its longtime tenant, a newcomer moves in: Margot Salton, a barbecue master from Texas.
Margot isn’t exactly on the run, but she needs a fresh start. She’s taken care of herself her whole life, pulling herself up by her fingernails to recover from trauma, and her dream has been to open a restaurant somewhere far, far from Texas. The shared kitchen with Jerome Sugar’s bakery is the perfect setup: a state-of-the-art kitchen and a vibrant neighborhood popular with tourists and locals.
Margot instantly takes to Jerome’s grandmother, the lively, opinionated Ida, and the older woman proves to be a good mentor. Margot thinks Jerome is gorgeous, and despite their different backgrounds their attraction is powerful–even though Jerome worries that Margot will simply move on from him once she’s found some peace and stability. But just as she starts to relax into a happy new future, Margot’s past in Texas comes back to haunt her…
Review:
Emotional, sweet, and heart-wrenching!
Sugar and Salt is a raw, compelling tale that takes you on a journey into the life of Margot Salton as she struggles to juggle a new rewarding endeavour, a handsome, kindhearted man whom she’s wary of loving and a devastating past littered with injustice, violence and heartbreak.
The prose is sensitive and tender. The characters are vulnerable, scarred, and strong. And the plot is a moving tale of life, loss, friendship, family, trust, shame, self-blame, sexual assault, finding love, moving on, and the intricacies of the Texas legal system.
Overall, Sugar and Salt is a timely, affecting, heart-tugging tale by Wiggs that is a little darker than I originally expected, packs a real emotional punch, and ultimately does an exceptional job of highlighting the psychological and emotional devastation caused by rape and the cultural stigmatization that regrettably still surrounds it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to Uplit Reads for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Susan Wiggs
Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends…and fiction. She lives at the water's edge on an island in Puget Sound, and in good weather, she commutes to her writers' group in a 21-foot motorboat. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR, PRI, and USA Today, has given programs for the US Embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and is a popular speaker locally, nationally, internationally, and on the high seas.
From the very start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family and the fascinating nuances of human nature. Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries and languages. According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with "refreshingly honest emotion," and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is "one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book." Booklist characterizes her books as "real and true and unforgettable."
Her novels have appeared in the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List, and have captured readers’ hearts around the globe with translations into more than 20 languages and 30 countries. She is a three-time winner of the RITA Award,. Her recent novel, The Apple Orchard, is currently being made into a film, and The Lakeshore Chronicles has been optioned for adaptation into a series.
The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, where she divides her time between sleeping and waking.
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