Somewhere between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp starts with Penelope describing how her family owns a Mexican restaurant. She describes how much she works there so that restaurant can be good and hopes to develop her own bakery next door. She is so dedicated that she quits school so she could work more, although her parents are unaware of the situation. 

While her intentions are good, her parents are so disappointed when they find out that she wasn’t going to school they kicked her out of her house. They want her to be in school so she could be successful in the future, but she thought that school wasn’t for her. She’d rather bake.

Making the best of the situation, Pen finds her own apartment to try to show her parents that she can do it without them. Then, she meets a guy named Xander, who works at her parents’ restaurant, and they get really close. He lives with his grandpa because his dad left him when he was younger, but he’s been looking for his dad for a long time. For Xander, it was a goal, but his grandpa knew that the father was never going to come back. 

There is a challenge in immigration status that makes Xander uncomfortable and he has to fight for his family and his employers.

According to Utopia-state-of-mind.com, “Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet is a story about the strength of a community. About what our gestures, actions, and words mean. The ways belonging and family twist within our heart. How we sometimes cannot see the things in front of us, the passion and the love. It’s a poignant story about acknowledging our fears. In order to move forwards, we have to see the reflection in the mirror, our doubts and insecurities. Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet swept me up in the best of ways.”