A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson
LGBTQ+ Romance
12/6/2022 by Berkley Publishing

Review by Kate H.

A Dash of Salt & Pepper by Kosoko Jackson is a funny yet serious novel about a young gay black man who must return to his small fishing town in Maine after losing both his dream job at a start-up and his boyfriend.  Xavier is planning a quick turnaround – the last thing he wants to do is stay in his hometown.  He will parlay his NYU and University of Chicago business degrees into another opportunity that will take him out of Harper’s Cove and back to the city life he craves. Soon after he returns to his parents’ house, he meets Logan, or rather mistakes Logan for a burglar.  Logan is a local chef and restaurant owner, and the divorced father of a teen girl.  He’s older by over a decade, cautious, and hot – but their adversarial introduction leads to a delicious tension that is not quite enemies-to-lovers, but similar.

The whole novel is narrated from Xavier’s point-of-view, and I honestly could have read hundreds of pages more of it.  He is funny, self-aware, and honest. Young, but not naïve. His commentary is interspersed with his thoughts about being a black gay man growing up in Harper’s Cove, a student, and a young professional.  His parents worked “middle-American” jobs and his father didn’t go to college.  The more we learn about Xavier, the more we see that he is juggling a lot of expectations – his own, for sure, but also society’s ideas of success and the extra hurdles that black gay men must jump.  Some readers may wish for a dual narration., because you do want to know Logan more, but I was very satisfied for this to be mainly Xavier’s story.  

I loved the scenes with Mya, Xavier’s best friend.  One of the few other black people in Harper’s Cove, Mya is a 2^nd grade teacher who has stayed in their hometown while Xavier went off to the big cities. I cackled at their barbed dialogue and loved the way she took charge in so many situations in the book.  She is the friend who knows Xavier so well that she can see things he misses.

Xavier doesn’t find out for sure that Logan is bisexual until many, many chapters in, but hoo-ha what a scene.  Completely clothes on, but I’m surprised my Kindle didn’t ignite.  Their romance is a little unconventional – less because of their age gap per se, and more because of where they both are in life.  At times it felt slow and old-fashioned, but it makes sense. The big conflict part of the plot made me mad, and I was yelling at Logan over Xavier’s shoulder.  But I have almost forgiven him.

And all praises for this epilogue, which did not invoke matching tuxedos or shared real estate, but fit the two guys to a tee.

Grade: A-

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