Sonali Dev

From the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors comes another , clever, deeply layered, and heartwarming romantic comedy that follows in the Jane Austen tradition--this time, with a twist on Persuasion. Chef Ashna Raje desperately needs a new strategy. How else can she save her beloved restaurant and prove to her estranged, overachieving mother that she isn't a complete screw up? When she's asked to join the cast of Cooking with the Stars, the latest hit reality show teaming chefs with celebrities, it seems like just the leap of faith she needs to put her restaurant back on the map. She's a chef, what's the worst that could happen? Rico Silva, that's what. Being paired with a celebrity who was her first love, the man who ghosted her at the worst possible time in her life, only proves what Ashna has always believed: leaps of faith are a recipe for disaster. FIFA winning soccer star Rico Silva isn't too happy to be paired up with Ashna either. Losing Ashna years ago almost destroyed him. The only silver lining to this bizarre situation is that he can finally prove to Ashna that he's definitely over her. But when their catastrophic first meeting goes viral, social media becomes obsessed with their chemistry. The competition on the show is fierce...and so is the simmering desire between Ashna and Rico. Every minute they spend together rekindles feelings that pull them toward their disastrous past. Will letting go again be another recipe for heartbreak--or a recipe for persuasion...? In Recipe for Persuasion, Sonali Dev once again takes readers on an unforgettable adventure in this fresh, fun, and enchanting romantic comedy.

Recipe for Persuasion

Julie Burszan 

This is a beautiful book, I just wish there had been content warnings in the beginning. It tackles some very dark content, and it does so well, but it can still be heartbreaking to read.

From the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors comes another , clever, deeply layered, and heartwarming romantic comedy that follows in the Jane Austen tradition—this time, with a twist on Persuasion. Chef Ashna Raje desperately needs a new strategy. How else can she save her beloved restaurant and prove to her estranged, overachieving mother that she isn’t a complete screw up? When she’s asked to join the cast of Cooking with the Stars, the latest hit reality show teaming chefs with celebrities, it seems like just the leap of faith she needs to put her restaurant back on the map. She’s a chef, what’s the worst that could happen? Rico Silva, that’s what. Being paired with a celebrity who was her first love, the man who ghosted her at the worst possible time in her life, only proves what Ashna has always believed: leaps of faith are a recipe for disaster. FIFA winning soccer star Rico Silva isn't too happy to be paired up with Ashna either. Losing Ashna years ago almost destroyed him. The only silver lining to this bizarre situation is that he can finally prove to Ashna that he's definitely over her. But when their catastrophic first meeting goes viral, social media becomes obsessed with their chemistry. The competition on the show is fierce...and so is the simmering desire between Ashna and Rico. Every minute they spend together rekindles feelings that pull them toward their disastrous past. Will letting go again be another recipe for heartbreak—or a recipe for persuasion...? In Recipe for Persuasion, Sonali Dev once again takes readers on an unforgettable adventure in this fresh, fun, and enchanting romantic comedy.

A Novel

Sven Test

3.5 stars! It would have been 4, but I didn't like that we don't get to experience the romance, since it's barely there.

Sheena

This Jane Austen inspired contemporary romance novel was a decent, uniquely written diverse-filled read that left me pleasantly surprised on how much I didn't completely hate it. Sure Ashna estranged mother Shobj annoyed me like no other but the rekindle romance between Ansha and Rico made up for it. Overall, it was not a bad read and would definitely keep this author on my radar for future releases.

Fun and much better than the first in the series.  An easy summer read.  The one element I didn’t love was all of the flashbacks.  I definitely found value in knowing some of the background details in the flashback but after a few pages I always wanted to jump back to the main story.

Jo M

Recipe for Persuasion is, hands down, the best Persuasion retelling I've ever read. Dev masterfully handles the dual requirements of writing a retelling - include enough of the source material to be recognizable and write a story that can stand on its own without requiring detailed knowledge of the original. The core themes, characters, and events of Persuasion are present but transformed to fit a mixed race couple in 21st century America rather than a cross class couple in 19th century Britain. Many retellings make the mistake of sticking too close to the source material by recreating every single plot point and character in a new setting without truly considering how the new setting would change motivations, social expectations, class & race relations, etc. Dev clearly recognizes what the heart of Persuasion is and was able to recreate that heart while changing and reconsidering all the new details of the setting as necessary. Just as important is that Recipe for Persuasion absolutely works as a stellar novel on its own, rather than just as a retelling. This is a novel that is going to appeal to readers whether they've read and loved Persuasion or not. I eagerly look forward to see what else Dev writes in the series and I'll be exploring her backlist as soon as possible.

Lauren Sullivan

Content warnings:(view spoiler)[ marital rape, forced marriage, verbal abuse of a child, MC witnesses dad’s suicide (before book, but described multiple times on page), panic attacks (on page), depression, PTSD, alcoholism (MC’s father was an alcoholic), chronic pain (due to soccer injury and surgery) (hide spoiler)]

While I had my issues with the first Raje family book, most of it had to do with the handling of Emma’s medical issues, so I was hoping for, well, less Trisha in this book. Plus, since this is a Persuasion retelling, it has my favorite trope – second chance romance. Whatever the reasons, I liked this book better than the first, though I still had some issues.

Once one of the hottest restaurants in Palo Alto under her father’s ownership, Curried Dreams is now a sad and rundown remnant of its former self. Ashna, still struggling with her grief over her father’s death and now her mother’s sudden decision to come back into her life, not to mention how to keep the restaurant afloat. When her cousins pressure her to join a reality TV cooking competition, it seems like it may be her only hope for saving the restaurant. Rico is coming to terms with his career-ending injury when a friend’s bachelor party makes him realize that he’s still hung up on his high school first love – Ashna. Convinced that only closure with her will allow him to move forward with his romantic life, he finagles his way into the same TV show. When their reunion becomes a viral video, it seems like they might have a chance. But can they rid themselves of enough of their past baggage to see if they can have a future together?

“It might be time to stop believing the thing that’s easiest to believe.”

I waffled back and forth over calling this a romance. While Ashna and Rico are the main characters, there’s simply too much else going on that pulls the focus from their relationship. For instance, for the first ten chapters, the POV is balanced between Ashna and Rico, and then suddenly we switch to Shobi, Ashna’s absent mom. I enjoyed exploring Shobi’s own experiences with second chance love and contrasting and comparing it to Ashna’s experiences, at times more than I enjoyed Ashna’s. One of the things I didn’t like about the previous book was that every character had a wildly tragic soap opera-style backstory, whether it was a plane crash or abuse. I can’t speak for other readers, but that degree of tragedy doesn’t exactly spell romcom to me. That’s still true in this book, but it felt more integrated into the story this time. I also enjoyed the cooking competition portions, though I wish there had been more to it.

“What? I might have found someone to melt through the famous Ashna Raje ice.”
The problem wasn’t the melting. All it took was for them to be in the same room and there were puddles all over the place, not a sliver of ice in sight. The problem was the ghosts of their pasts, and how much those ghosts had altered them both. The problem was finding each other around the ghosts, melted or otherwise.”

Both Ashna and Rico are laboring under a lot of emotional baggage, and their mistaken understandings of the events that led to their breakup are the least of it. For Ashna, despite her training, whenever she tries to cook anything that isn’t one of her Baba’s recipes, she has a panic attack. It doesn’t take a psychologist to link that back to her turbulent home environment with an alcoholic father and a mostly absent mother. Rico had his own trauma, with being ripped from his home and sent to live with an aunt after his parents died in a car crash. Their relationship as teenagers is mainly based on seeing each other clearly, even if they keep it a secret from those around them. Their reconnection as adults, or at least as much of it as we get in between all the other family drama, is piercingly bittersweet. I would’ve loved to have more time devoted to it, because what was there was enthralling. As for everything else, I wasn’t completely happy with the resolution, either (view spoiler)[Ashna’s reconciliation with her mother or her choice to embrace cooking (hide spoiler)].

Overall, I thought this was a dramatic and interesting take on Persuasion, if not the romance I was looking for. I’d give this 3.5 stars and recommend to anyone looking for a heartwrenching multicultural drama.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sahi K

CW: talk of past alcoholism, suicide and rape; ptsd and panic attacks 

I have a thing for desi Jane Austen retellings, so as soon as I saw the announcement for this book, I knew I was going to read it. Second chance romance on the other hand is not my favorite trope, but because I knew how Persuasion turns, I thought I would love this one too. It didn’t end up working that way though. 

The bare bones of the story is quite close to the original, but I was actually excited for the reality cooking show plotline which turned out to be just ok. The author’s writing is pretty descriptive in places which also didn’t really work for me. I liked the characters of Ashna and Rico individually and there was chemistry between them when they meet again, but we only are ever told and I never got to see why they were so deeply in love with each other even after more than a decade. Ashna’s mother Shobi is the other POV we get and my feelings for her kept oscillating between like and hate. I really wanted to like and root for the characters, but their pasts are so full of tragedy that it just depressed me. To be honest, I only kept waiting for them to get their act together and finally be happy because I couldn’t bear how much they were wallowing in their misery. 

On the whole, maybe I read this book at the wrong time or I just had wrong expectations, because despite being objectively well written, I didn’t enjoy it much. If you are in the mood for a contemporary romcom which will make you swoon or smile, this is definitely not it. It’s more tragic and sad for the most part, and I just wasn’t ready for it. But maybe it’ll work for for you if you go in with the right expectations.

Kayla 

I have to say that I preferred Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavours. I’m not sure why, perhaps because I’ve never read Persuasion by Jane Austen, I just was not clicking with this book. .
.
I love Ashna! I think she is fantastic and has a great story. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Rico, I’m not sure why lol I know I keep saying that but I really don’t know! He had an interesting back story as well (both characters have tragic pasta) but he seemed to hold on to this grudge against Ashna and I just did not understand why. .
.

Ruby Huber

This series just absolutely SLAPS, this book didn't slap quite as hard as Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors but it was still so much fun. Some dark themes in there though, darker than I personally expected or wanted in this sort of rom com story but it is what it is. The premise of a cooking version of dancing with the stars was suchhhh a good idea and frankly I wanted more of that less backstory and sad stuff.

Lisa W.

What a read! I am emotionally drained after reading this but for all the right reasons. 

I was skeptical but hopeful when I picked up this book. However I didn’t know it would be a game changer. Simply based on the thought that the first book in the series was just mediocre in my opinion. This one was not... it shook the table in ways I didn’t expect it to. 

Let me first say, this book isn’t for the everyone. It has very heavy, taboo topics that can be triggering for readers. Rape, suicide, alcoholism, child abuse, etc. The author handled this exceptionally well in my personal opinion. She weaves in and out of each character’s storyline beautifully. Going into the past when necessarily, then bringing it back to the impacts of the present. 

Although I wasn’t over the moon about the first book, I think it is necessary to read prior to reading recipe for persuasion. It gives you a good understanding for the supplemental characters like Trisha, Esha, Dj, Mina, Yash, etc. I was happier to see them than I thought I would be. 

For anyone that has read Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians, they would get my reference. I’ve always compared Ashna to Astrid for whatever reason. I was very glad to get Ashna’s story and it was nothing like I imagined. I loved the development that took place towards the end of the book. Dev didn’t take the easy way out and make her completely fall head over heels when she sees Rico. She made the readers work for it. She took us through the journey of overcoming 12+ years of pain and boy was it worth it. 
I’m so happy Ashna didn’t give up cooking but rather reclaimed it for herself. That’s what mattered most. 

Rico Silva. I’m pressing charges on you for stealing my heart. You didn’t even bother gently coaxing it out of my hands but rather you ripped it out as soon as you met me. How utterly rude! (Do it again). How can you not imagine him to be the sexiest man walking the earth. I know I do. Ugh!!!

Justine Rose

A romance where the romance didn’t actually feel like the main plot line. It was good, and I enjoyed it more than the first book in the series (mainly because I liked the two main characters a lot more), but it wasn’t perfect. Either a 3.75 or a 4, but it definitely made me want to reread the original Persuasion again 😅

Recipe for Persuasion

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