Better Reading Preview: Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

Better Reading Preview: Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

The lake in the middle of her father’s kitchen is only the first in a series of disasters in Zeina’s life. Nassar’s recent health crisis has seen his well-established community restaurant, Casablanca, losing ground and customers to trendier competition.

Casablanca’s deterioration is not the only chaos in Zeina’s world but, unlike her husband who won’t speak to her, her best friend who is sliding towards self-destruction, and her cousin who is stealing Zeina’s life story for content, the restaurant is something she can fix. And Zeina, lonely and adrift, needs something she can fix.

Taking leave from her prestigious chef position, Zeina throws herself into caring for her ailing father, immersing herself in the familiar foods and flavours of her childhood, trying to save both him and his restaurant. But working in the kitchen – and her childhood home – brings memories, secrets, and unexpected ambitions simmering to the surface. When it comes time to make hard decisions, Zeina will have to accept that growing up is an ongoing process – one that never gets any easier.

We have 30 copies of this book to give away. For your chance to Preview this book, click on the link and fill in the registration form.

OUR FORM DOES NOT GO LIVE UNTIL 1:30PM – IF YOU CAN’T SEE IT AFTER 1:30PM, PLEASE REFRESH YOUR PAGE. THERE IS NO NEED TO EMAIL BETTER READING – IT IS A SIMPLE REFRESH ISSUE. 

This Preview sign-up period has now closed. Keep an eye out for future Previews being announced!

Better Reading Preview: An exclusive chance to read and review free books before anyone else

We invite our trusted community to engage directly with the nation-wide conversation about books by registering for Preview, our new crowd-sourced book review platform. Due to the insight and perceptiveness of our readers, we are launching a platform that allows your voice to be heard.

How do I express interest in reviewing a book?

Like us on Facebook AND subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven’t already!) to hear about the next Preview campaign. You must subscribe to our newsletter to hear about the latest Preview campaigns.

When a campaign is launched, readers will have 24 hours in which to send through their expression of interest, by filling in the registration form above. After 24 hours, Preview readers will be randomly selected from the pool of those who expressed interest in receiving and reviewing a free advance copy of the specified book. Usually these advance copies are printed three to four months before they hit bookshops, making Preview a great way to find out about upcoming titles before anyone else.

But be warned – there are only limited copies of each Preview book available for review.

You will only be contacted if you were successful in being selected.

When you register you are expressing interest for the following:

A free advance copy of the specified book sent to your postal address, in exchange for a brief review of the book that may be used for promotional purposes by Better Reading and the relevant publisher.

Important details:

– We need all your details, including your email address and postal address, for your expression of interest to be successful.

– Preview is currently only open to Australia-based readers.

– A successful registration to review a Preview book is for that single title, only. With every new Preview book announced, you will need to express interest again.

– When announced, Preview expressions of interest are open for 24 hours.

– Better Reading and the relevant publisher will never share the details provided by Preview reviewers for any purposes beyond the relevant Preview campaign.

– Preview demand is very high, and there are only limited spots available for each title. To keep things fair, if you fail to provide a review for a Preview title on two occasions, you will unfortunately not be selected for future Preview titles.

What happens after I express interest?

If you have been successful, you will receive a confirmation email shortly afterwards from Better Reading. This will contain a review deadline and a link through which to submit your review. It will also contain other details on the reviewing process.

About your Preview review:

– Preview reviews may feature on the Better Reading website and the Better Reading Facebook page. The relevant publisher may also use the reviews for promotion. When reviews are used for promotional purposes, each reviewer will only be identified by their first name and Australian state. Reviews may be edited slightly, just for the purposes of brevity and clarity.

– Social media posts about Preview may be shared by Better Reading on its social media channels and/ or website.

– All Preview reviews must be no longer than 200 words and must be received by the deadline specified in your confirmation email. You will generally have four weeks to submit your review, from the time you receive your book.

– We want you to have fun with Preview – post photos of your book on Instagram or Facebook when you receive it, and when you’ve read it, share your thoughts using the hashtag #BRPreview. Be sure to tag Better Reading in your posts – we love to hear from our readers! And if you have a Goodreads account, we encourage you to share your reviews there too.

Reviews

Living Your Own Recipe for Life: Read an Extract from Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

Review | Extract

11 August 2023

Living Your Own Recipe for Life: Read an Extract from Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

    A Superbly Crafted Feast: Read Our Review of Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

    Review | Our Review

    9 August 2023

    A Superbly Crafted Feast: Read Our Review of Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

      Your Preview Verdict: Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

      Review | Preview

      1 August 2023

      Your Preview Verdict: Bitter & Sweet by Amal Awad

        Related Articles

        Podcast: Amal Awad on the Experience of Migrant Women

        Podcast

        7 December 2023

        Podcast: Amal Awad on the Experience of Migrant Women

          Publisher details

          Bitter & Sweet
          Author
          Amal Awad
          Publisher
          Pantera Press
          Genre
          Fiction
          Released
          01 August, 2023
          ISBN
          9780645240085

          Synopsis

          The lake in the middle of her father’s kitchen is only the first in a series of disasters in Zeina’s life. Nassar’s recent health crisis has seen his well-established community restaurant, Casablanca, losing ground and customers to trendier competition.

          Casablanca’s deterioration is not the only chaos in Zeina’s world but, unlike her husband who won’t speak to her, her best friend who is sliding towards self-destruction, and her cousin who is stealing Zeina’s life story for content, the restaurant is something she can fix. And Zeina, lonely and adrift, needs something she can fix.

          Taking leave from her prestigious chef position, Zeina throws herself into caring for her ailing father, immersing herself in the familiar foods and flavours of her childhood, trying to save both him and his restaurant. But working in the kitchen – and her childhood home – brings memories, secrets, and unexpected ambitions simmering to the surface. When it comes time to make hard decisions, Zeina will have to accept that growing up is an ongoing process – one that never gets any easier.

          Amal Awad
          About the author

          Amal Awad

          Amal Awad is a journalist, screenwriter, author and performer. She has contributed to ELLEFrankieMeanjin, Going Down Swinging, Daily Life, Sheilas, SBS Life and Junkee. As well, Amal has produced and presented for ABC Radio National and has held senior editorial roles at a number of trade publications. Amal is a public speaker, appearing at schools, universities and writers’ festivals around Australia. She presents workshops on storytelling and creativity, has been a regular panellist on ABC TV’s The Drum and was a TEDx Macquarie speaker in 2019. Amal is the author of two novels – Courting Samira and This is How You Get Better – and the non-fiction books The Incidental Muslim, Beyond Veiled Clichés: The Real Lives of Arab Women and Fridays With My Folks: Stories on Ageing, Illness and Life. She has also contributed to the anthologies Growing Up Muslim in Australia: Coming of Age and Some Girls Do …: My Life as a Teenager. Her next non-fiction book, In My Past Life I was Cleopatra, will be published by Murdoch Books in 2020. As a screenwriter, Amal has several film and television projects in development. She has also directed short films, a pursuit she continues alongside writing and performing.

          Books by Amal Awad

          COMMENTS

          Leave a Reply

          Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *