22 - A book with a title that contains "salty", "sweet", "bitter" or "spicy"

[Kym]

I just finished reading Bitter Orange for this year's 'fruit or vegetable' prompt and enjoyed it a lot so would recommend it for this prompt.

[Kym]

Sara wrote: "Alright, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet will clearly work. What other ideas do you have for books with one of these words in the title?"

I loved this book - a good recommendation!

[Jess]

I'm going with Bitter by Francesca Jakobi. Creepy mother in the 60s jealous of her son's wife. It sounds right up my street.

[Allison]

Raquel wrote: "I suppose I could give Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet another try--I wasn't sure whether it was the book or just the audio version I didn't like when I tried it the first time. "

I can't speak to the audio book, but I read that book when it came out and quite enjoyed it - though I do remember it being a tad slow at the beginning. I really liked the author's world building. I may re-read it (it's relatively short), or FINALLY finish the Graceling trilogy with Bitterblue

[Soph ♡]

In 'Kindle Daily Deals' yesterday they had Bitter Orange on sale for 99p. Couldn't resist buying it to use for this prompt, and it actually sounds like a decent book.

[StefanieFrei]

Tracy wrote: "Sweetbitter, two birds, one stone."

It was a hype and we had that as a group read - most like me did not like it. They are mainly into drugs and sex and no sense I could really see beyond that... (I would not mind drug and sex if it were funny or a thriller or a message)

[Tracy]

StefanieFreigericht wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Sweetbitter, two birds, one stone."

It was a hype and we had that as a group read - most like me did not like it. They are mainly into drugs and sex and no sense I co..."

Yea, I saw someone mention that somewhere :/

BUT! I also have Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough on my kindle, so theres that too I guess LOL.

[Kym]

Soph wrote: "In 'Kindle Daily Deals' yesterday they had Bitter Orange on sale for 99p. Couldn't resist buying it to use for this prompt, and it actually sounds like a decent book."

I enjoyed it!

[Ellie]

Bitter is much more common in book titles than I would have expected! I have Bitter Greens and Bitter Orange on my TBR and Bitter Sun and Bitter Root #1 on my wishlist.

I also have Sweet Fruit, Sour Land and Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams on my TBR. So I probably won't feel the need to stretch this to "salt" or "spice" after all.

[Jackie]

I have literally nothing on my shelves that will work for this one, even cheating a bit. Guess I will be combing through the suggestions to see what looks interesting!

[Sarah]

Would I be able to use There's Something About Sweetie as my book?

[Anna]

I considered a book I found called Bitter Greens. However, the author giving herself a five star review was a bit off-putting, so I'm unsure now. I'll still post it here as an option if anyone is interested. It's a re-telling of Rapunzel but not YA.

[Nadine in NY]

Same! Usually if I see an author has rated his/her own book here, I ditch it from my TBR list, because ... who does that? Obviously an author will give his/her work high marks, so why bother? It makes it seem like the author is afraid no one else will give the book a good review. But I need a book with "bitter" and I like fairy tale retellings, so this one is still on my list.

[L Y N N]

That’s so funny. I think nothing of an author rating their own book. 😁

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Lynn wrote: "That’s so funny. I think nothing of an author rating their own book. 😁"

Yeah, I thought it was odd when I first saw it, but when I saw more popular authors doing it I figured it must be an accepted thing and not just some weird ploy. Plus, they generally seem to point out that they're the author, so it's not like they're trying to sneak in another rating. It feels more like another way to interact with fans than anything else.

[Ellie]

It's more and more common for authors to leave a "review" where they introduce their own book. Some won't rate but I don't blame them for putting 5* on, they're not usually hiding the fact they're the author.

I don't look at the community reviews section very often though, even regular readers have some bizarre ideas about what the review is for. I just stick to seeing what my GR friends thought!

[Jennifer]

I feel the same way. I also get annoyed when nominees for awards like the Oscars, etc clap for themselves when the nominees are announced.

Nadine wrote: "Same! Usually if I see an author has rated his/her own book here, I ditch it from my TBR list, because ... who does that? Obviously an author will give his/her work high marks, so why bother? It ma..."

[Megan]

Julie wrote: "Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office has been on my TBR f..."

I absolutely adored this book- I came here to specifically recommend it! This was the first Jen Lancaster book I read years and years ago, and I was actually thinking of re-reading it for this challenge. It's definitely a light-hearted fun read.

[Amy J.]

From my TBR pile

or

[Charlotte]

Sandra wrote: "Anyone has any YA suggestions for this prompt? :)"
I'm considering There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon. I read her other book When Dimple Met Rishi this year and it was so cute.

[Shelley]

Sweetland

[Alicia]

Sandra wrote: "Anyone has any YA suggestions for this prompt? :)"

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

[Tabitha]

Assuming it's still on KU, or my library has it, I'll probably try Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet for this task.

[Yoo]

Sweet Little Lies

I've just finished this book and its a good read if you like crime/police investigation. A great debut and would definitely read others as I believe it will become a series. Only 98p on Kindle

[Sarah]

Some books I've found that fit this prompt are:

Salt ~

The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar.

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

The Salt House by Lisa Duffy

Sweet ~

Sweet Light by Jen Wylie

Bitter ~

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

Bitter-Sweet Harvest by Chan Ling Yap

Bitter Roots by C.J. Carmichael

I haven't found any fiction on Spice besides cookbooks...But I'll most probably go with one of the ones I have listed!

[Shana]

oshizu wrote: "I'll also be reading Bernice L. McFadden's This Bitter Earth. It's the second book in a duology.

I'll be starting with the first book, named book:Sugar|495369] for that other prompt. :D"


I have both of these books on my list as while. Thanks for sharing!

[Jennifer]

I read Bitter Orange this summer and loved it. It is also set in the summer so you could use it for “a book set in the season you read it” prompt or the flower/vegetable/plant on the cover or in the title prompt as well.

Sarah wrote: "Some books I've found that fit this prompt are:

Salt ~

The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar.

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

[book:The Salt House|326..."

[Sarah]

I bought The Witch of Salt and Storm a while ago. This must be my push to read it. Has anyone read it?

To those considering Bitter Greens, it follows three different women, one of whom had an interesting story to me, one was just okay and the third was really dull, so I found myself waiting for the interesting chapters to come around

[Nadine in NY]

Sarah wrote: "I bought The Witch of Salt and Storm a while ago. This must be my push to read it. Has anyone read it?

To those considering Bitter Greens, it follows three differen..."

Thanks. I'm one of those considering Bitter Greens for this. I will approach it with expectations appropriately lowered! An okay book that I have high expectations for will be a crappy reading experience, but an okay book that I have average expectations for can be a fun reading experience, you know?

[Kym]

Ellie wrote: "Bitter is much more common in book titles than I would have expected! I have Bitter Greens and Bitter Orange on my TBR and Bitter Sun and [book:Bitte..."

I read Bitter Orange this year for the Fruit/Vegetable in the title prompt Ellie - I really enjoyed it.

[Sarah]

Salty Baby I've already read it, but a great book

[Verena]

I want to read Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking this year! It's not a 100% perfect fit, but so, so close, no?

(Otherwise, the above-mentioned Bitter Orange is also on my TBR.)

[Darci]

This prompt is a lot harder than I thought it'd be. The only word that shows up at all on my TBR list is sweet, and they're all cookbooks. So I'm going with Sweet Revenge: Passive-Aggressive Desserts for Your Exes & Enemies. It at least looks entertaining.

[Lorraine]

While browsing for something else I found "The Bitter Side of Sweet" which takes place in Africa. I'm going to try this one.

[Christina]

Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster.

[Umairah (Sereadipity)]

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore could work

[Becky]

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet

[Marlene]

I'm currently halfway through Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins. All the books in this series start with "Sweet" so this works nicely.

[teal]

For this prompt, I just finished "Sweetheart" by Chelsea Cain. I *highly* recommend this series (Sweetheart is book #2) for anyone into serial killer reads!

[Nadine in NY]

TealJ wrote: "For this prompt, I just finished "Sweetheart" by Chelsea Cain. I *highly* recommend this series (Sweetheart is book #2) for anyone into serial killer reads!"

Thank you for this rec!! I've got Heartsick on my TBR, and if I like it (and why wouldn't I like it??) I now know I can read book#2 for this challenge!!

[teal]

You're welcome, Nadine! (Sorry, I don't know how to quote messages!). I could *not* put Heartsick down... I hope you love it, too!

[Angelina]

I already have Sweet Heart so going to read this, hope it’s good.

[Stephanie]

I'll probably be reading Home Sweet Murder because I love a bit of James Patterson!

[Mirel]

Last year I read Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet, which I enjoyed. Fantasy setting with loads of allusions to fairy tales and with plenty of things to think about.

Haven't decided yet what I'm going to use for this prompt yet.

[Ashlee]

Chrissi wrote: "I just read Salt to the Sea - highly recommend!

I'm going to read The Map of Salt and Stars for this prompt, stretching the "salty" bit. I had it on my TBR and hav..."

I've chosen the Map of Salt and Stars for the same reason

[Megan]

I’m currently reading Sweet Little lies by Caz Frear. This book actually could be about 5 different prompts! I’ll decide later as the year goes along which one exactly I want to put it under but for now I did pick it for sweet in the title.

[Jenn]

I suppose this might be the year that I get around to reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

[Courtney]

Im going with Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler. I fits with a prompt in this challenge and the ATY challenge.

[Amanda (AJ)]

I’m reading The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag for this one.

[Carolina]

I just searched “salty” on Goodreads, and a novel by Jimmy Buffet popped up! It’s called A Salty Piece of Land.