Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti is a fun, enjoyable romance read with wonderful characters.
Ellie Pang has a controlling family who have arranged a very public proposal for her by their business partner’s son. Ellie has only known him for a few months, and she turns him down.
But the proposal goes viral! When a daughter of a prominent businessman turns down the country’s most eligible bachelor, it’s big news.
Ellie’s dream has been to open a sugar-free bakery. She loves cooking sugar-free and is always experimenting with recipes as she has type 1 diabetes. She escapes to Port Benedict, the other side of the country, far away from her family, to make a new start. Her shop, leased online unseen, turns out to be in need of major renovations.
Unbeknownst to Ellie, Alec Mackenzie, her brother Eric’s best friend and the man she had a crush on for all her teenage years, also lives in Port Benedict. He has his own problems and needs a “pretend” girlfriend for business reasons.
A deal is struck. Ellie will be his “pretend” girlfriend if he renovates her shop.
Spending time with Alec, Ellie finds her feelings are confused. There is tension and chemistry between them. She has many questions from the past and senses Alec is hiding something. Ellie’s life decisions are based on her pros and cons lists as she stumbles from one hilarious disaster to the next.
The story is written in such a fun and entertaining way that you adore Ellie. You feel for her with her interfering mother and her cultural expectations. You admire her for her strength and achievements as she makes new friends and her new independent life.
There is plenty of action, humour, emotions, and great relatable characters to keep you engaged in this easy-to-read book.
This one is hard to put down once you start reading and is certainly worth the read. Five stars!
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
This was a quick fun read but with a serious message.
I loved how it dealt with the issue of Type 1 Diabetes and how there is no need to wrap people with this issue in cotton wool. It also shows just how Ignorant so many people are regarding how it comes about that you are diagnoised. Amazing how many perople think its because you over indulged in sugar.
This book also deals with how hard it can be to have over bearing parents especially when they feel they need to control every aspect of your life.
This is a great book for a rainy weekend read.
Salty, Spiced and a little bit Nice is Cynthia Timoti’s debut book and it’s a ripper!
I was sucked in from the start. Ellie Pang has been controlled and micro managed by her family since she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child. After a public proposal set up by her parents to further the family business goes viral Ellie has finally had enough and flees to the other side of the country where she can finally realise her long held dream of opening a sugar free bakery.
Little does she know her childhood crush also resides on the other side of the country and when her plans go slightly pear shaped Alec MacKenzie comes to her rescue. As much as he’s the last person Ellie wants to see, her heart has other ideas and slowly he gets back under her skin.
I really enjoyed this book, you felt all the emotions with Ellie, you loved and hated the characters. It was fun and light-hearted but also tackled some big issues.
As a fellow Mum to a Type 1 warrior thank you Cynthia for raising awareness, of the symptoms, the many decisions needed everyday to manage T1 and the stereotyping T1s are faced with, you nailed it!
Thanks Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan for the copy to read and review.
Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice by author Cynthia Timoti was a really enjoyable and a fun read that had me chuckling throughout the book. In this rom com we are introduced to Ellie Pang who has finally had enough of her controlling and micromanaging family – especially her interfering mother! Ellie is left humiliated after a marriage proposal by the son of her parents’ business partner end up going viral. Fed up, Ellie up and leaves headed for the other side of the country with plans of opening a sugar free bakery. After discovering her “new” store is basically nothing more than a dump in desperate need of renovations and ends up with help from the unlikeliest person – her brothers’ best friend who Ellie had a crush on when she was growing up. Alec Mackenzie and Ellie are sworn enemies after he crushed her heart several years ago. In return for helping Ellie fix the bakery he asks her to be his fake girlfriend, so he is more favourable for a business partnership. Love and hate are very much a thin line and tends to blur the more time they spend together in their fake relationship.
A huge thank you to Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan Australia for my copy of Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice.
Thanks Beauty and Lace for the chance to read Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti.
This book was a fun, light hearted read that dealt with a diabetic storyline with honesty.
Ellie Pang has always been controlled by her family and when she refuses to marry the man chosen by her family and her mother disowns her after the proposal goes viral she escapes to the other side of the country to fulfil her dream of opening a sugar free bakery as she is diabetic.
Ellie doesn’t know the boy she had a crush on as a teenager and who is her brother’s best friend also lives there – obviously their paths cross and fireworks start.
A great read that was thoroughly enjoyable ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice is a fun story of sweet treats and spicy meets.
The chemistry between the two main characters kept the story moving well and the addition of the overbearing parents and their actions added some great drama.
The delicious baking definitely added to the story and I found myself craving sweet treats whilst reading.
Having a character with diabetes showed the lived experience well, however at times the information seemed more detailed and medical seminar than day to day life.
This was definitely a sweet read.
Thankyou Beauty and Lace and PanMacmillan for the opportunity to review ‘Salty Spiced and a Little Bit Nice’ by Cynthia Timoti.
Ellie (Elizabeth) Rae Pang has just rejected the marriage proposal of a very eligible George Fitzgerald, much to the disgust of her wealthy and very business orientated parents.
More or less disassociated by her parents but still close to her brother, golden child Eric, and his girlfriend Naomi, Ellie makes a decision.
She decides to follow her dream of owning and running a sugar free bakery because of being a type 1 diabetic.
This will take her far away from, in particular, her domineering mother.
Eric arranges with his long time friend Alec to keep an eye on Ellie and support her.
This is not well accepted by Ellie as they have history!
Arriving in Port Benedict and sighting her bakery she finds reluctantly, that she needs Alec’s help! In return she owes him a favour!
A lovely read, a 29year old following her dream and the author’s comments at the back of the book was of particular interest with her family’s personal experience with type 1 Diabeties.
Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti is a great read that had me hooked from the start.
After a humiliating marriage proposal orchestrated by her controlling parents to boost their business, Ellie Pang escapes to the other side of the country to start her own dream business. But when things don’t quite go as planned, Ellie is forced to accept the help of Alec Mackenzie, her childhood crush and the one man she doesn’t want to spend time with.
But when Ellie offers to be Alec’s pretend girlfriend to help him secure a business deal, what could possibly go wrong? The chemistry between Ellie and Alec is obvious to all but them. Between controlling parents, delicious sweet treats and business deals can these two find their Happily Ever After?
A very enjoyable rom-com read.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan Australia for the opportunity to read and review this great read.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to review Salty, Spice and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti.
The main character is Ellie Pang who has had Juvenille Diabetes for years. Ellie’s parents have micromanaged her for years and Ellie is ready to escape. Her parents arranged a public wedding proposal from their business partners’ son. Ellie gets away across the country to start her longed for career as a baker of sugar free treats. Unfortunately when she gets to the shop a tree has fallen on the building. She gets the only man she trusts to help, her childhood crush and her brothers’ best friend, Alec.
I enjoyed this book with plot twists and drama. It is a great romantic comedy.