Isa is 17 and feels like her world is falling apart; her parents have just gotten divorced after she witnessed her dad cheating on her mom, her grandmother she was very closed to just died and she feels torn in many different directions. But not only the events in her life are worrying her, she is also trying to figure out where she fits in in the world. She is mixed-raced, with her father being Cuban and her mother being France and her growing up in America, she wonders if she is enough of anything and where she truly belongs.
To cope with those feelings, she throws herself into cooking, her favourite activity, and moves with her father and his new family to Lyon, France, to participate in a very exclusive cooking competition. The prize? An apprenticeship with star-chef and Michelin-star-awarded restaurant owner, Chef Grattard. While Isa tries to juggle her private life and the stress from the competition, she slowly learns to question what it means to be truly happy. Of course, it helps that she's suddenly confronted with a gorgeous guy from Spain and his dog, who start living in her family's house and who is all about happiness.

For anyone who loves food (TW (for my fellow veggies): lots of dairy, lots of meat), and has ever struggled with their own identity, I think this book is a must-read.
Isa is prickly and easily irritable at first because she is overwhelmed - and who cannot relate to that? She has only one goal in mind and that is to become a three-star-chef herself. It takes a lot of love from the people around her, to make her relax and to start asking herself what she really wants from life instead of what she's always forced to want. I think that is a very important message.

In this book, there is a lot going on. The themes of grief and death are explored (TW: death by Hepatitis and mentions of drug addiction from minor characters), as well as the question where she fits into the new family dynamics her father has established for himself (TW: infidelity). Luckily, Salty, Bitter, Sweet also explores a lot of positive themes, such as first love, friendship, trust and the realisation that people will care for you, help you and be there for you if you let them.

Salty, Bitter, Sweet is a book for everyone who has ever had to come up with a coping mechanism and especially for those, who have been taken over by it. It is for everyone who is looking for answers about themselves and feel like figuring out the answers is a heavy burden. This is a book for all the teens who have tried to fit in and didn't and leaves you with a sense of love, satisfaction and lots and lots of appetite.