Name: Radha and Jai's Recipe for Romance
Rating: 3.928571428571428 (14 reviews)
ISBN: 9780553523294

Nisha Sharma

Told in two voices, teens Radha and Jai, seniors at a New Jersey performing arts high school, reignite their passion for dance and find strength in one another to pursue their dreams.

Radha and Jai's Recipe for Romance

Amanda

A cute, fun story. Would make a great movie in the vein of Step Up or Save the Last Dance but with a Bollywood flair. 
I was a little put off by how abusive Radha's mum is and how little that abuse is dealt with. It seems to be treated as secondary to her father's absences in Radha's life. Radha gets counselling from therapists, but none of them appear to delve into her relationship with her mother which seems like a missed opportunity. 
The book is cute, but not as moving as it should be.

3.5 🌟

Tatiana Alvarez 

Wow! Wow!

Okay, I have to admit, I was extremely skeptical going into this book. I love romcoms, but YA romcoms can be extremely cheesy and I wasn't sure if I could handle that. Or if I would be able to relate.

BUT BOY WAS I WRONG!

Radha and Jai's Recipe for romance is far from cheesy and a story many can relate to. The themes of the story range from family ties, to blossoming love, and overcoming personal fears, even if you are the one standing in your own way. This story was beautiful and so fun to read.

The innocence of Radha and Jai's relationship was something I loved. It was organic and they came together over a shared interest. Was it perfect? No, of course not. Which is why it worked. Both Jai and Radha were keeping secrets from one another, or at least not giving the whole truth. They had this image of the other built up, but realized that the only way to truly know a person is actually talking and having a conversation. The discord in this book is fantastically written and healthy. I love seeing that in a YA book.

I also just loved the dancing and recipes this book had! The dancing sounded beautiful and the food seemed delicious. I appreciated the complicated relationship between Radha and her mother. It is something many people can relate to. Even though I hated Radha's mother when she slapped her and felt as if there could have been more to resolve that big issue in the book, I still liked watching their relationship.

Such a fun and cute read!

Sahi K

This was adorable and sweet and fun, and I absolutely loved all the Bollywood references. I haven’t been reading YA contemporaries at all these days but I couldn’t resist a book by Nisha and she didn’t disappoint. I read it in a bit of a rush because I didn’t wanna put it down but I think the best way to read this one is to relax with a super fun Indian movie songs playlist and let it entertain you

cossette

content warnings for: anxiety, on-page panic attacks, stroke, emotional manipulation/abuse, hospital scenes, miscommunication, bullying, mentions of infidelity

Radha and Jai's Recipe for Romance

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