Spotlight & Giveaway: Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Cynthia Timoti to HJ!

Hi Cynthia and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice!

 
Hi Harlequin Junkie, and thanks so much for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The book is about Ellie, who’s trying to escape her controlling family who’s been micromanaging her entire life, especially since her type 1 diabetes diagnosis. After a viral, humiliating public proposal orchestrated by her parents and their business partner, she escapes to the other side of the country to chase her dreams of opening a sugar-free bakery. But her quest to build a new life is met with a huge setback and might even be doomed to failure. The only person who can help her is the one person she can’t stand the most: Alec Mackenzie, her brother’s best friend and the man responsible for crushing her teenage heart ten years ago.

But Alec has a proposal of his own: he needs a pretend girlfriend to seal a business deal. All they need to do is feign love and affection, while trying not to maim each other. As the thin line between hate and fake-madly-in-love starts to blur, buried secrets resurface, and Ellie must learn to trust her heart.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

This is a snippet from their meet-cute, which I just really love:

I opened my eyes to find a pair of eyes the color of matcha infused with lightly roasted cocoa beans, and framed by incredibly long lashes, peering down at me. From memory, I knew that the frown on his face hid a lone dimple on the left cheek. A faint scar cut through his right eyebrow, making him look like he’d been in a knife fight. Some people had argued that the overall combination could be called hot, but I wouldn’t go that far. Maybe he could be classified as cute, at best, but I certainly wouldn’t be caught dead saying that—at least not within hearing distance. He smelled as nice as I remembered too, like citrus, spice, and sunshine.

Him.

The last person on Earth I had expected to see.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I came up with the name for the fictional city in the book, Port Benedict, from my son’s middle name.
• This book started off as a completely different story, but as I was writing the first draft, my youngest son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and after fielding lots of curious questions from friends and strangers, I thought giving my main character the same condition would hopefully help share a bit more awareness about it.
• I gave one of the minor characters in the book the surname ‘Tanujaya’ and that was based on my family’s Chinese surname—Tan (陳)—before my grandfather changed it into something more acceptable back in the old days in Indonesia.
• The scene where Ellie described having lion dance troupes at her parents’ annual Lunar New Year parties is based on someone I know in real life!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

They both had crushes on each other when they were younger! But I think what attracted Alec to Ellie is her strength, her resilience, and how she always tries to do her best no matter how challenging things might be. And I think it’s important to Ellie that Alec is always there for her, and he admires and accepts and loves her for the person that she is.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

There’s a scene that makes me blush when I wrote it, but I’ll let the reader discover that on their own (hint: it’s in Chapter 20). There’s also a scene that has me smiling the entire time I was writing it, when they’re about to fake-kiss for the first time, because there’s a ton of awkwardness and uncertainties but also longing, and I think it’s just the cutest scene. Here’s a snippet:

“They definitely are.” We were walking too far apart for two people who were supposedly in a loving, committed relationship.
“Should we hold hands or something?”
“Sure.” Without hesitation, he laced his fingers through mine. “Maybe you could also gaze adoringly into my eyes.”
I turned my scoff into a cough, then forced out a bright smile to avoid looking suspicious to our audience. “Why should I be the one to gaze adoringly at you? It’s an equal opportunity world, so you can gaze into my eyes.”
Alec suddenly came to a complete stop and turned me around to face him. He cupped my face with both hands and stared deeply into my eyes.
“Is that better? Is my gaze adoring enough?”
I struggled to contain my giggle. Giggle? I don’t do giggles. Be professional, Ellie.
So I returned his stare, gazing back into his eyes, only that was a mistake, because standing this close, I could see every single brown fleck in them, and could count each and every strand of those long eyelashes.
“Your hands are hanging by the sides of your body.” His voice was low, husky.
“Of course they are. Where else are they supposed to be?”

Readers should read this book….

If you’re a fan of romcoms with fun banter, a bit of spice, lots of food descriptions, and family chaos mixed in, then this is the book for you!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I just turned in edits on book #2, which is a story set in the same universe, currently planned for publication in 2026. It will feature two characters from Salty and I’m really excited for their story to be out in the world!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 Print Copy of SALTY, SPICED, AND A LITTLE BIT NICE

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Navigating expectations and pressures from family and friends can be tricky at times. How do you manage, set boundaries, and communicate your own set of expectations with those people around you?

 
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Excerpt from Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice:

This whole thing was never about love and marriage. It was about profit and loss.
If I said no, my father would be furious, and my mother would say that I couldn’t afford to be choosy, because apparently at twenty-eight, my childbearing ability was rapidly deteriorating. More importantly, our collective business ventures would go up in flames, because the rejection would be an enormous scandal. I could already picture the number-one trending YouTube video of the month: Marriage Proposal Gone Wrong! Daughter of prominent businessman rejects the country’s Most Eligible Bachelor!
No. Pigs, turtles, and rabbits would fly, and hell would freeze a thousand times over before that happened. Maybe I should accept now, sparing our families the painful embarrassment, then quietly break the engagement after a few days. Just be kind, respectful, and honest, and everyone would understand.
Yes. Brilliant plan.
Then I opened my mouth, and my brain must have buckled under the pressure, because what came out was, “Nope, but thank you for asking.”
George turned beet red, while gasps from shocked guests echoed around the ballroom, the loudest (and angriest) coming from my parents. I took a few steps back, ready to flee, when my heels knocked over the wineglasses.
Yep, the ones with the lit tealight candles merrily floating inside.
Horrified, I watched helplessly as the glasses tumbled over each other and crashed like dominoes and nightmares, setting the roses ablaze. The shocked gasps escalated to panicked shrieks, and right there and then, I knew one thing was certain.
My life, as I knew it, would never be the same.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Crazy Rich Asians meets Always Be My Maybe in this deliciously sugar-free rom-com from debut author Cynthia Timoti.

She’s salty, he’s spice–there’s no room for sugar in this fake relationship, but it may be sweeter than they think…

Ellie Pang has had enough of her controlling family​ who has been micromanaging her life since her type 1 diabetes diagnosis​. When her parents orchestrate a public proposal from their business partner’s son, a proposal that goes humiliatingly viral, Ellie escapes to the other side of the country to put her dream of opening a sugar-free bakery into action. After all, she’d done her research. How hard can it be?

She hits a snag when her storefront turns out to be a dump and in need of major renovations. Worse, the only person who can help her turn things around is Alec Mackenzie, her brother’s best friend and the man responsible for crushing her teenage heart ten years ago.

But Alec has a proposal of his own: he needs a pretend girlfriend in order to cement a business deal. All they need to do is feign love and affection, while trying not to maim each other. As the thin line between hate and fake-madly-in-love starts to blur, buried secrets resurface, and Ellie must learn to trust her heart.
 
 

Meet the Author:

Cynthia Timoti writes fun, sexy multicultural romcoms with plenty of heart and snark, where happy endings are always guaranteed. She was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, and moved to Australia when she was seventeen. She spent too many years working in finance, even though numbers aren’t her strongest suit.

When Cynthia’s not writing, she’s probably trying to make a dent in her TBR pile, hunting for the perfect cup of bubble tea, and collecting pretty notebooks that she’ll never use. Cynthia currently resides in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and two sons.
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