Spice Up Your Bookshelves With This Sweet Romance Read

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Anne Mai Yee Jansen is a literature and ethnic studies professor and a lifelong story lover. She exists on a steady diet of books, hot chocolate, and dragon boating. After spending over a decade in the Midwest and the Appalachians, she returned to the sun and sandstone of California’s central coast where she currently resides with her partner, offspring, and feline companions. Find her on Instagram @dreaminginstories

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The ingredients of a successful rom-com are humor, relatable characters, a fun twist on the tropes, and, of course, a good love story. Enter Cynthia Timoti’s debut novel—it’s equal parts enemies-to-lovers and fake dating, with a dash of small town romance and a pinch of spice. Oh, and did I mention all the baking? (And you know when things heat up in the kitchen, the bedroom’s not far behind!)

Families are complicated, and Ellie Pang’s super-wealthy family is no exception. When the guy she’s been on a handful of dates with proposes in a really public way, Ellie listens to her heart for once and turns him down. Unfortunately for her, she accidentally sets everything on fire when she does, and the whole thing ends up on social media. Now her parents are furious because the match would have been perfect for their business, and Ellie has to find a way to stand up to her family.

All access members continue below for more on a romance that balances dreams, love, and a main character with type 1 diabetes.

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Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti

When her extremely controlling mother goes too far, Ellie decides it’s time to listen to her heart and move to the small seaside town in the Pacific Northwest and pursue her dream of opening a sugar-free bakery. What she doesn’t take into account is her childhood crush, Alec Mackenzie, showing up to help her when she needs it most. Alec inadvertently broke Ellie’s heart before disappearing from the East Coast for a decade, but he may be offering more than help if Ellie’s willing to read between the lines.

Timoti combines two popular romance tropes — enemies-to-lovers and fake dating — with delicious results. Ellie and Alec have a romantic history that’s made even more complicated by a near-death experience Ellie had as a teenager. She had mismanaged her type-1 diabetes with near-fatal consequences, and Alec disappeared without a trace shortly thereafter. Old wounds cut deep, but in the present, Alec has his own messy situation that results in a hilarious fake dating situation. As a trope, fake dating is always entertaining, but when the couple doing the fake dating can barely be civil to one another? Well, let’s just say there are lots of comedic mishaps.

I love Ellie as a character. Her parents (especially her mom) are insufferable, refusing to actually educate themselves about what it means to live with diabetes. The result is that Ellie has had to learn to advocate for herself in a world that’s likewise clueless. Timoti embedded some powerfully educational moments within the story, and did so in a way that felt organic to the story (as opposed to pulling me out of it). Throughout the novel, Ellie advocates for herself, educates others when needed, and repudiates people who demean her. She’s an empowered character who debunks misinformation about people who live with diabetes and, through her actions and words, normalizes it.

In fact, Ellie does a lot of standing up for herself throughout the book. It begins in a very satisfying way when Ellie walks away from her family and their mistreatment of her to chase her own dreams. Not only that, but when the engagement video goes viral, she also has to put up with all kinds of comments about what an idiot she was to walk away from such a handsome, rich, eligible bachelor. She continues to demonstrate strength as she works on securing what she needs to become a small business owner and, ultimately, as she seeks out ways to make her business a success.

As an Asian American reader, I loved the way Timoti folded Asian American characters and culture into the story. Not only is Ellie Chinese Indonesian American, but Alec is also mixed race (Asian and white). Their families’ cultural backgrounds inform how they interact with them and how they experience the world. Additionally, Timoti sprinkles in other Asian American characters and small businesses celebrating Asian American culture and food. Since the novel has lots of cozy feels from the small town setting, the setting also plays a significant role. The outcome of this particular form of representation is that — without feeling forced — the novel feels like a celebration of a diverse range of Asian American people and experiences.

I can totally understand why this one was billed as “Crazy Rich Asians meets Always Be My Maybe,” but I liked how Timoti sidestepped the billionaire romance trope by opening the novel with Ellie’s rejection of her family’s wealth. Not only is it nice to have the female love interest be the rich one, because it’s more often the other way around in romances centering on a cishet couple, but it also evens the playing field since Alec has his own budding real estate empire.

At the end of the day, Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice is a really fun love story. The characters are multifaceted, the small town setting is inviting, and there’s a lot of humor in the telling. With such a strong debut novel, I’m excited to see more books from Cynthia Timoti in the future.