I downloaded Recipe for Persuasion via Libro.fm. (I also got a copy from @netgalley and stupidly didn’t read it immediately.) I liked this as much (or maybe more) than the first Raje book. Ashna and Rico were secret high school sweethearts (I’m embarrassed to admit how big fan of the “we loved each other but something came between us but we never really stopped loving each other” type of trope.) A decade later, they’re paired for a cooking competition - Ashna being a chef who took over her father’s restaurant and Rico being a retired (and injured) Premier League soccer star. The setting is adorable, and the Raje family make great secondary characters. Highly recommend!

Oh. Very quick read and highly entertaining. It was interesting enough to keep me at the edge of my seat. I loved that the love interest is Brazilian and we get to see his culture a bit too.

A beautiful romance novel about finding who you are and where you belong. Ashna is struggling to keep her restaurant a float and has the opportunity to play on a reality show. Knowing this is what will pull her restaurant out of the slump and get some PR, she signs on. Only to find out that her long lost high school boyfriend will be her celebrity partner in the competition.
Throughout this journey, Ashna deals with the trauma of being left behind by loved ones, over comes her anxiety to move forward in life and in the kitchen and realizes that the ones who truly care for her are there to support her.

Rating - 3.5 / 5 Stars

** Thank you to Netgalley, William Morrow & Harper Collins, and of course Sonali Dev for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Let me be the first to say this is not what I expected from reading the description of this book. I also want to give a trigger warning for this book based on some sensitive topics: Rape, Suicide, Mental Health, Addiction, and Alcoholism. But if you can handle them, it is highly recommended!

When I clicked request, I honestly did not make the connection that this was a novel based around the story of Persuasion by Jane Austen. I assumed I was about to read an escape into another world, a second chance romance that will fill my heart and make me laugh at times. It was this as well as incredibly worthy of its deeper themes and topics. To me, at its core, Recipe for Persuasion is a follower of the same themes brought up by Austen.

The idea of a second chance romance is one of my favorite literary tropes. Add that to the characters of Ashna and Rico, and its perfectly executed. Due to the multiple layers to each of them as well as the story as a whole, Dev is able to provide an emotional ride that flows with her writing style. I cannot even express how many emotions I felt reading this book.

One of the major flaws that I did find is not really a flaw at all. To me, RfP is not the 100% best rendition and retelling of Persuasion. In order to accomplish this, everything needs to flow perfectly when compared. The only thing I see that Persuasion’s Anne and Ashna have in common is the first letter of their names. That does not deter from the amazing writing Dev provides! I loved both of them equally, however, the connection was a bit off for me and I think that is a bit why my rating is a 3.5 rather than a 4.

The intense themes and topics which this book addresses make it a much more compelling read and I am glad Dev did dive deeper than a chick-lit romance novel. I look forward to reading what Dev brings out next!

This book is a modern day persuasion from Jane Austen. Sonali Dev has a way of writing that draws you into her books and makes them relatable. I love the recipes in this book and would recommend for any Jane Austen fan.

As both a fan of Dev's and of Jane Austen updates, RECIPE FOR PERSUASION was a great read for me. Perfectly twisted for the modern world, this take on Austen's PERSUASION (one of my favorite and often underrated JA reads) is a perfect entry-point for new-to-contemporary romance readers and a surefire win for Dev.

I really enjoyed this retelling! I liked feeling like I was reading a behind the scenes tell all of The Great British Baking Show or Top Chef. It was fun and juicy, but also surprisingly tackled some difficult family topics. I like the romance genre has been tackingling these issues in a digestible way. This book does discuss abandonment, arranged marriage, marital rape, suicide. I know how have a huge crush on Rico and would recommend it to any Austen lover but also just any romance lover or foodie!

Recipe For Persuasion
The Rajes Series - Book 2
By Sonali Dev

Harper Collins - June 2020

Contemporary Romance


Ashna Raje needed a miracle. She was in danger of losing her father's restaurant. It had been so important to him, and she was willing to do almost anything to salvage it. Of course she hesitated when given the opportunity to be a contestant in a reality cooking show, where she would be partnered with a celebrity. The payment, exposure, and potential prize was something she desperately needed, but the idea of cooking in front of a camera was equally overwhelming.

Retired soccer star Rico Silva had expected Ashna to be surprised when she realized who she was paired with, but he never anticipated she'd almost injure herself, or that he would reinjure his knee as he rescued her. The awkward moment turned into a media frenzy that turned up the ratings for their show, and the public's interest in them. He had thought being with Ashna could put his feelings for her firmly in the past, but that had been wishful thinking. There were too many feelings, too many secrets and much too much of a connection. He needed to break through her defenses, help her reclaim the girl she had once been, learn her secrets and maybe they could have a future together.

Recipe For Persuasion is an emotional romance of reconciliation. I loved the concept of this reality cooking show and the interactions of the contestants. Ashna is a sweet heroine, caring and loving of her extended family and friends. Through the story, you learn the history of her relationship with her parents, which left emotional wounds. Unfortunately, that is also where the disastrous breakup with Rico fits in. It was lovely to see Ashna confront her past, but even better watching Rico navigate all the roadblocks placed in his path. He was the perfect hero for Ashna. Recipe For Persuasion does follow Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors, but stands on its own.

Kathy Andrico - KathysReviewCorner.com

Recipe for Persuasion is both a modern re-telling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, and a second book which involves characters from the Raje family of Dev’s earlier book, Pride Prejudice and Other Flavors. Though Recipe for Persuasion includes characters from the earlier book, it also works well as a stand-alone book, and focuses on a different plot with different central characters.

Ashna is the owner and head chef of Curried Dreams, an Indian restaurant which her no longer living father had started. However, she is dealing with some financial difficulties at the outset of the novel, and her assistant is leaving the restaurant for a new job. Her cousins offer her a gig on a cooking competition show which suddenly has space for a new competitor, and she accepts the offer. Little does she know that a man she has a history with, Rico, will be competing against her on the show. Rico has never found closure after their relationship, and has dated a few women who called him emotionally unavailable, a problem he never had before. Recipe for Persuasion also delves into Ashna’s difficult relationship with her mother, who in the past has paid her little attention, instead throwing herself fully into her philanthropic career.

Ashna is a complex character who is insecure, anxious, and deeply emotional at times. We learn the depth of her discomfort and frustration with her mother. We see her complex emotions about seeing Rico and realising he will be competing with her on the show. We also see her ties to her large extended family network of cousins and her aunt and uncle. This is not a book that just touches the surface of its characters, rather, it delves into Asha’s younger days and we learn how she became who she is at the outset of this novel; there is context to everything.

Food features heavily in this novel. Sonali Dev writes lush descriptions of the food that the Raje family enjoys, and the food that Ashna and Rico cook. The food Ashna enjoys with her family sounds delectable. Sonali Dev also describes recipes that Ashna and Rico prepare together, some of which are failures and some of which turn out better.

From the moment Rico and Ashna lay eyes on each other, there are a thousand emotions unleashed. Ashna is speechless with surprise and nearly drops a kitchen knife on herself, saved only by Rico diving for it. Their early conversations are filled with tension and angst and awkwardness. Neither knows how to behave around the other. There is plenty of depth to the relationship, as the author takes us back to their early relationship (and leaves plenty of hints along the way of things that happened before). It is clearly a complicated and difficult situation. As with Anne of the original Persuasion, Ashna had rejected Rico all those years ago. As the novel progresses, it is fun to see the way Ashna and Rico’s feelings develop and the way they slowly open up to each other again.

Familial relationships play a central role in the novel. Sonali Dev weaves together a broad cast of characters from within the Raje family. We learn the backstory of their relationships at an earlier age. One of the relationships at the forefront of Recipe for Persuasion is the relationship between Ashna and her mother, Shobi. In the past, their relationship had always been strained. However, Shobi unexpectedly flies to the US to live with Ashna and try to repair their fraught relationship. Meanwhile, Ashna has great nostalgia for her father (who committed suicide) and she tries to carry in his footsteps through her work for the restaurant. As well, cousins, a cousin in law, and an aunt and uncle play a role in the events of this story. In particular, we learn of how she cares about her aunt as a mother figure unlike Shobi who has stood by her side through the years.

Ashna’s mother, Shobi’s perspective is given space in this novel as well, and we come to see the context for her views and actions. In this way, Sonali Dev paints a complete picture of each of her characters and allows us to understand them fully, including their history that led to their present relationships and life. Shobi’s perspective shines a light on why she has behaved as she has and what her side of the story is in her relationship with Ashna.

While Recipe for Persuasion has an interesting array of characters and a fun plot, there were moment when it felt like there were too many side characters and too many threads to the story line. The novel might have been still more compelling with greater focus on the main storyline (the romance between Ashna and Rico) and less on so many family members and friends. That said, it is still an enjoyable read for its plot and for the complete picture that Sonali Dev gives to us of the central characters.

Overall, Recipe for Persuasion is an enjoyable story about love and family. The characters are full of depth and the story is entertaining. Readers who enjoy a modern take on a classic story will appreciate this novel. However, you do not need to be a fan of Jane Austen’s Persuasion to enjoy this lovely novel.

I previously read Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by the same author which was a Pride and Prejudice retelling while this is a Persuasion retelling. This isn't really a good retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, however it is a really fun rom-com with interesting characters, and a very interesting setting!

I absolutely loved this book. I started out not sure how well I liked our cast, but by the end I even loved the one character I couldn't even stand in the beginning. This book tackles some heavier topics and weaves in the sweetest love story. I *do* wish that our heroine had sought some counseling, because her childhood was filled with some real trauma. But I loved the story enough to overlook that hole. I hope to return to this book next time I need something to make my heart flutter and sing.

This book had a lot of characters to keep track of - I wish I was more familiar with the original version to better place the parallels between the characters and events. I really enjoyed the main story between Ashna and Rico. The side stories that went on every few chapters did not keep my interest. After reading this book, I would recommend to those familiar with the original Austen novel.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy

In this retelling of Persuasion, former couple Ashna, a chef and Rico, a retired elite footballer are reunited on a reality cooking show where she's forced to confront all the insecurities plaguing her.

I've never read Persuasion so I don't know how closely Dev's version follows it but on its own it's a turbulent family drama filled with heightened emotions and sad backstories. Ashna's father died years ago saddling her with the responsibility of running his restaurant, Curried Dreams. She never aspired to owning or running a restaurant but does it for the sake of her father's legacy, much to the detriment of her own health and happiness. Rico for all his success on the pitch is now searching for his next career move off of it so when he discovers that Ashna is doing the reality cooking show he gets the idea that he should go on it as well. He could then revisit their relationship and get the answers he needs about their breakup. Once he arrives, he realizes that he's not even sure what he wants out of this awkward reunion.

Dev's writing is, as ever, phenomenal. There's so much life in her descriptions that it's as if she's inserted you into those scenes. You can sense everything and it's a talent that's so magical, so hers. Perhaps it's because of that I had a difficult time with parts of the story, especially concerning Ashna's complicated relationship with her father and estranged mother. Ashna's pain touched me on such a personal level that I'd have to stop and take a few breaths before continuing. As if her story wasn't convoluted enough, her mother, Shobi's sudden appearance makes Ashna feel as if she's been ambushed. For reasons that are completely my own, I didn't like Shobi at first but as she got to tell her story in fragments, I gradually felt more empathy towards her, and it was all I could do not to holler at her and Ashna to just speak and listen to each other.

Rico's story isn't all sunshine and roses either but he seems to have found some measure of peace in the years gone by. To be honest, I was super grateful that Rico was more put together than Ashna and Shobi. He was a good counterbalance to their combined grief. Any more and it would've been too overwhelming for me. The moments when Rico and Ashna shine are during the cooking competition when they manage to set aside their awkwardness to create amazing, mouthwatering recipes. Those moments become a sweet respite from the heaviness permeating the rest of the story. I was curious about some of the recipes they concocted and even looked up a few that I might try on my own.

Recipe for Persuasion evoked many feelings in me and that is certainly what I expect from an incredible story - something that makes me react, feel and question. As I said at the beginning, I've never read Persuasion so I don't know how it compares. To me it's about healing as all the characters in Dev's retelling are confronting their feelings, as distressing as they are, opening up to their vulnerabilities as they've never done before. It's frightening and risky but they all come through. To that effect, I also think that what romance there is between Rico and Ashna is overshadowed by Ashna's longstanding pain, and Shobi's story arc. I didn't take it as a romantic comedy in the way of whimsy but rather as an intense and earnest story, written from the heart, that will affect each reader differently.

I absolutely loved this take on Jane Austen's Persuasion! the main characters had great chemistry, and the secondary characters added some great texture to the plot. Can't wait to read the next in the series.

This was not at all what I thought it was going to be. The fact that a big part of it was Ashna’s mother's story, which was heavy and devastating at times, really took away from Ashna and Rico getting their second chance. I know the author did all of this for a reason, but it just wasn't my type of romance at all. Ashna’s toxic family history overwhelmed the romance to a point where I lost interest and really didn't want to read anymore. All of this obviously has to do with personal preferences, and that being said, I really do believe that the writing itself is wonderful and there are readers out there that would enjoy this one. And I would definitely recommend checking out the previous book!

Books that talk about food of course make me think about cooking—and they make it sound easy! Definitely plan on a meal of good Indian or Brazilian food while reading this book.

This story definitely followed an unexpected path. Ashna agrees to do a Food Network show to help out her friend (a producer on the show) and because it provides a convenient excuse for why she can’t visit her mother in India. Rico has to retire from his athletic career after an injury, but sees his ex-girlfriend is scheduled as a chef who needs to be paired with a celebrity and has his agent arrange it so he can work with her. That part of the plot ends up pretty predictable.

What was a pleasant surprise was learning more about how the characters grew into who they were now, compared to who they knew each other to be before. A lot has happened in the 12 years they were apart. They both need to untangle their own tragedies and past relationships before they can move on and be at peace with each other. The character development and discovery was the best part of the story.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 out of 5 stars. While there was a little steamy romance, most of the story was contemporary fiction. The reality TV angle was fun, and the food sounded delicious.

This was my first Sonali Devi book and I really enjoyed it. I like to expand my horizons and while this felt more women's fiction than pure romance, the story was intricate enough to keep me interested. Angst is expected in a retelling of Persuasion and this book definitely delivered on that aspect. An entertaining retelling with an unique spin.

Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen novels, so of course I was going to read this modern romance that riffs on Persuasion‘s themes!

Recipe for Persuasion is a loose follow-up to last year’s Pride, Prejudice & Other Flavors. The Raje family is still the center of the story, but here, the focus shifts to Ashna Raje, who was a supporting character in the previous novel.

Before getting too far into discussing Recipe for Persuasion, I want to get one thing straight, which is that the blurb above is very misleading. I think if you go into this book expecting a heartwarming romantic comedy or a fresh, fun, and enchanting romantic comedy, you’ll be both disappointed and quite possibly very confused.

Because at no time in my reading of Recipe for Persuasion did I feel it was a comedy. Not at all.

Which does not mean it was not a good read. I actually enjoyed it very much. But readers should know that this is a much sadder and darker story than the synopsis would make it out to be.

Okay, let’s get down to business. Ashna and Rico were high school sweethearts, very much in love, but each with a ton of baggage related to family expectations and demands. They dreamed and planned for a life together, but ended up apart after a really terrible set of circumstances, and the faulty communications at the time which led each to believe that the other had betrayed him/her.

(Yet another example of bad communications leading to heartbreak, which is a standard trope of the genre, and which drives me bonkers as a plot point… but I digress.)

Now, twelve years later, Ashna is a French-trained chef who’s struggling to keep her late father’s classic Indian restaurant viable, and Rico is a superstar soccer player forced into early retirement by a devastating knee injury.

When Rico is reminded of Ashna while attending a friend’s bachelor party, he decides to Google her. And when he learns that she’ll be appearing on Cooking with the Stars, he makes sure to get a slot on the reality show as her cooking partner. Rico is looking for closure, a way to get past the hurt from all those years ago when Ashna turned him away, giving into family pressure that he just wasn’t good enough for the high-class Raje family.

Meanwhile, Ashna is consumed by the guilt and trauma that accompanied her father’s death, experiences horrible panic attacks when she tries to cook anything not on her father’s original menu, is estranged from her super-feminist mother… and has never, ever gotten over Rico.

Their first meeting on set for the cooking show involves a near-miss with a very sharp knife, and suddenly, they’re a viral internet sensation. The pressure is on. Each wants to win… and also to prove to the other that they’re totally fine, which is so not the case.

Over the course of the book, we learn much more about Ashna’s past. Especially powerful are the chapters told through her mother’s point of view, which show her experiences as a young woman and the horrific situation she was forced into. Here’s where content warnings might be important: Someone expecting a romantic comedy probably won’t be prepared for scenes of abuse and rape, and I can only imagine how traumatic it would be to encounter these scenes while expecting a light romance.

This piece of the story is handled very sensitively, but of course, it’s awful and heartbreaking to read about. It also explains so much about Ashna’s experiences as a child, her parents’ marriage, her lingering resentment toward her mother, and her inability to move forward in a meaningful way in any sort of adult relationship. There’s really a lot to unpack here.

On a brighter note, Ashna and Rico have great chemistry, and I really enjoyed the scenes that show their teen years and the early stages of their romance. Because she is so traumatized, Ashna isn’t exactly a fun character (sympathetic, yes, but not fun), but luckily, Rico is — with his swagger, charm, and man-bun, he’s clearly supposed to be walking sex appeal, and this definitely comes through in the writing.

The San Francisco setting is a big plus for me, and I enjoyed revisiting the Raje family members from Pride, Prejudice & Other Flavors. As for Austen elements — the general themes of Persuasion are present, but not in such an obvious way that it feels like a retelling. As with Persuasion, the young lovers are separated in response to family pressure, but not really in the same way as in the Austen novel. Still, it’s an interesting way to weave the classic into a modern romance, and bonus points to the author for having Rico quote Frederick Wentworth’s “half agony, half hope” line!

Overall, Recipe for Persuasion is a very good read, although the balance between truly painful memories and emotions and the bustle of a reality show doesn’t always work in terms of tone. Still, I really enjoyed Ashna and Rico’s journey back to one another (there’s never any doubt, after all, that they’ll find love again)… and who can resist a book that lovingly describes so much amazing food?

Maybe that’s my main complaint, when all is said and done: This book should come with samples! I want to try every dish and cup of tea that’s described in Recipe for Persuasion.

Another delightful Austen adaptation that has me hoping for others from Sonali Dev! This book was a bit darker than its predecessor, but still a good read.

ARC courtesy of Netgalley

Even though she had far different dreams as a teenager, Ashna Raje became a chef after her father's death so she could keep his legacy—Curried Dreams, his once-renowned Palo Alto Indian restaurant—alive. But twelve years after her father's passing, the once-bustling 500-seat restaurant can barely fill 30 tables a night. The updated recipes her cousin's husband-chef has recommended would go a long way toward improving Curried Dreams' popularity—if only Ashna could bring herself to make them. But there's more trauma in Ashna's backstory than just her father's suicide, trauma that has her experiencing a panic attack every time she tries to cook something other than one of Baba's recipes. All her family thinks Ashna's investment in the restaurant is unhealthy, and her estranged mother is threatening to sell Curried Dreams in order to get Ashna to move on with her own life, rather than continually pay homage to her father's. So Ashna feels backed into a corner when her friend asks her to be a contestant on the television cooking contest show she produces, because the prize money for the winner would be more than enough to give Curried Dreams a much-needed physical makeover, and keep her mother's threats at bay. So she represses her shyness and her propensity for panic and agrees to join the cast.

As if all the above weren't enough, Ashna discovers that the celebrity she's to work with on the show is none other than wildly popular footballer (i.e., soccer) star Rico Silva—the Brazilian American boy with whom, back in high school, she had her first, and only meaningful, romantic relationship. After a career-ending injury, Rico is reassessing his life, part of which includes trying to understand why all the women he's dated after Ashna have found him "emotionally unavailable." So he convinces his agent to get him a guest starring role on the upcoming celebrity chef show on which Ashna will be competing, hoping to clear the air between them once and for all and then to move on with his personal life.

Unfortunately for Rico, as soon as he sees Ashna again, he's right back where he was when they were teens—deeply, recklessly, hopelessly in love. The flashback scenes which depict their adolescent romance are both realistic and touching, showing us two introverted, grieving, outsider teens who find (almost) all their emotional needs can be met by one another. Except there are a lot of things that Rico learns not to talk about, secrets that Ashna won't share. And when an ugly bit of emotional manipulation on the part of Ashna's father (rather than the direct persuasion on the part of a female mentor, as in Austen's original novel) leads Ashna to give Rico up...

Since both Rico and Ashna feel their original overwhelming connection once they meet again as adults, there isn't a lot of new romance building here; instead, the story is more about Rico gradually persuading guilt-ridden, ashamed, and angry Ashna to trust him once again. The scene in which he gets her to play soccer again—really terrific!

Strangely, though, the middle of the book also features flashbacks from the life of Ashna's mother, Shobi, who has become an outspoken advocate for girls' and women's rights back in India. These flashbacks that show how Shobi came to be married to Ashna's father, and why she ended up leaving him (and also her only child, Ashna) behind in California when he became too abusive to stand. Perhaps Dev included such scenes so that readers wouldn't see Shobi only from Ashna's decidedly biased point of view (Ashna pretty much worships her dead father and hates her mother). But these scenes feel odd and misplaced—it's as if we've temporary been thrust into a family saga instead of a het romance. They also made me feel like Ashna was pretty immature (or again, just majorly emotionally traumatized), for her continuing hatred of her mother, when it was so obvious how much of a jerk her father was...

For a celebrity chef cook-off romance, there isn't a lot of on-set shenanigans or tension here; most of thee focus is on Ashna's family trauma, and her finally coming to terms with it. And for a story that purports to be a <i>Persuasion</i> retelling, there aren't a lot of parallels with Austen's novel, beyond Rico feeling that Ashna thinks he's not good enough for her family. No mean sister, no other men being attracted to Ashna, no potential heir to the restaurant trying to woo Ashna away from Rico, no trip to Lyme.... Unless you read Ashna's father as a gender-switched, psychologically manipulative Lady Russell? Or as a cross between both Lady Russell and Sir Walter Elliot?

I absolutely ADORED LOVED <i>Pride, Prejudice, and other Flavors</i>, and <i>Persuasion</i> is my favorite Austen novel (OK, maybe a tie between it and P&P), so I was looking forward to this second book in Dev's Austen Desi retelling series with a lot of anticipation. Too much, perhaps. Dev's writing is still outstanding ("The downside of choosing cowardice was that there was only so long you could hide. Problems were patient. They always waited you out"). But this reads less like a romance, and more like an uncomfortable melding between romance and women's fiction and family saga.


As a 50-something woman, I loved this line, spoken by Ashna's aunt: "I like to believe we changed things at least a little, your mother more than me. But in this changed world, you girls can't seem to see how it was for us. You can't see our obstacles because we removed them for you. And now you get to judge us from a perspective that we weren't lucky enough to enjoy" (Kindle Loc 5335).