This was my first book by this author, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I got was a beautiful retelling of Persuasion, with all the heartache, angst, and family drama that entails.

Ashna Raje is a chef, running her deceased father's restaurant, and trying to keep it from failing, after a lot of bad breaks. Her best friend China is a TV producer, and tells her about an opportunity to be on the reality show, Cooking with the Stars. Winning the prize money would help her pay of the restaurant's debt, but what China doesn't know-what no one knows-is that Ashna has a panic attack any time she tries to cook anything besides one of her father's recipes. Meanwhile, her super successful, but absentee, mother is finally trying to make amends, and Ashna just doesn't have the energy for it. What is she going to do?

Frederico Silva is a worldwide soccer phenom, who just had to retire after a career-ending knee injury. He has no idea what he's going to do with his life now, which has him thinking about the past, and about the first and only girl he ever loved. He's never really looked back in the last 12 years, but recent events have caused him to wonder about Ashna, and what her life is like now. He never got closure, so he looks her up. He finds out about the show, and gets his agent to get him on the show as one of the celebs, paired with Ashna as his chef. The first time they see each other again goes horribly awry, but it's caught on film, and the internet is eating it up. But, how can he and Ashna really work together with all that's broken between them. Has he made a terrible mistake?

There's truly a third main character here as well, in Ashna's mother, Shoban. We get some of her story in flashbacks, which causes you to get to know her better, and really feel for her situation. All the things that happened to her in her life, led to the decisions she was forced to make along the way, including leaving Ashna with her father. She's in town to finally try to fix things with Ashna, but Ashna isn't really giving her a chance. What will it take for Ashna to hear Shobi's truths, and truly understand her?

This was honestly a family saga with a lot of women's fiction elements, but it also had a wonderful second chance romance happening between Ashna and Rico. I have a love/hate relationship with second chance romance, because all the angst is just not my jam. As this is a retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, I knew all the basic beats to expect at least, so that made the angst more tolerable for me. But I often wanted to grab Ashna and tell her she really needs to be speaking to a therapist. Immediately. She has some serious PTSD, and panic/anxiety, with self-recriminations and a boatload of guilt piled on top. The girl needs a professional, and I really wish this had been dealt with a little more deeply. Ashna was strong, you'd HAVE to be to deal with all she's gone through. But, everything was so internalized. She never just said what needed to be said, until she was driven past her breaking point, both with family, and with Rico.

Rico and Ashna still were drawn to each other and had mega chemistry after all the years of separation, but they each thought the other abandoned them without a backward glance, and that's a hard thing to forgive, much less forget. They were constantly at odds during the show's filming, and there was massive strain between them. It was hard to watch them each with these internal thoughts and feelings, but unable to express them to each other verbally. They both needed to use their grownup words, but neither managed it until it was almost too late.

Shobi's story was truly a devastating one, but one that is likely very common for her generation. I felt for her, even when she made wrong decisions, she was always doing what she thought was best for Ashna, and for herself. I was glad to see her truly trying to make Ashna understand her, but she was always afraid to push too hard, as Ashna clams up so quickly when under stress. It was a very interesting dynamic between mother and daughter, and I enjoyed watching them come to an understanding about each other.

Ultimately, this was a story about forgiveness, of others, but mostly of yourself. We don't always make the right decisions, and we might not always have all the facts about a situation. People are fallible, family most of all. We can let it ruin our lives, or we can determine ways to make it work for us. This story was a bit of a slow start for me, but I ended up really loving it. Rico was a total dreamboat, and I adored the way he loved with his whole heart. Ashna had me struggling early on, but in the end I just felt so much for her, and wanted her to do and be better. She made me love her too, in the end.

If you enjoy a book with flawed, but loving characters, a large family with crazy dynamics, and a mother-daughter love story, along with your romance, this is definitely the story for you.

Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev. 3.5 stars

This is a follow up to last years Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors and it focuses on a supporting character, Ashna Raje. Ms Raje is a chef/owner of Curried Dreams. The restaurant is not doing well and she gets dragooned by her cousins to be a chef in a Food Network competition. Her celebrity partner is Rico Silva, a famous soccer player. But unbeknownst to most, she and Rico have a “past”. I was hoping for a little light hearted rom com, but this book turned out to be very serious. Ashna has been deeply hurt in her life, you could say emotionally abused by her parents. Her parents made a lot of mistakes and Ashna paid for it. I thought the flashback chapters that provided context were a little distracting. I loved Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors and I was hoping for more food episodes in this book. Other than some descriptions about tea, this book was a little sparse on the food commentary. However, I did like the book and I hope that Ms. Dev will continue with the Raje family. (I have to find out if Yash get elected.)

Thank you a Netgalley and Harper Collins Publishers/ William Morrow Paperbacks for this ARC.

@netgalley @harpercollinsus @williammorrowbooks #partner thanks for this e-ARC of Recipe for Persuasion in exchange for a review!!

This was a cute read! While it started out slow, I definitely was into the characters at the end. Besides, who wouldn’t be into a fake TV show “Cooking with the Stars”!? (bet you can’t guess what reality show it’s based on 😜)

Ashna and Rico were each other’ first loves in high school, but something happened that drove them apart for more than a decade. Now, they’ve reunited as partners for the cooking show (Ashna is the pro chef, while Rico is the celeb — a world-famous soccer player), and let’s just say the kitchen is heating up! While definitely a romance, the book also really delved into the complicated relationships Ashna has with her mother and late father and cultural differences in the family values. Overall, a lighthearted and fun read!

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev: Ashna has been dealing with one blow after another for much of her life, the latest being her need to save the restaurant that she hold so dear to her heart. When her friend is looking for a chief to fill a space in a new reality cooking show, Ashna jumps at the chance after all what could be the worst to happen, she is a chief after all. Well that is until her past pushes his way into her present.

Pro footballer Rico has nothing but time on his hands, after an injury to his IT band has put him out of the game. After attending the wedding of a close friend if his, Rico begins to question why has he never been able to settle down. With both his body and his ego bruised Rico decides to use his celebrity status to work his way into the role of Ashna’s partner in the cooking show she has just joined. You see Rico and Ashna were childhood sweethearts but after Ashna rejected his young heart, he never really recovered and now Rico wants some answers.

I have to say this was very half and half for me, I can’t say I did not enjoy this book, but at the same time I can not say it was a wow read for me. I will say the authors previous novel was a much better take on the Jane Austen retelling. However in saying this Dev has done a good job in delivering a multi layered story, we get to see Ashna's background and how she had to deal with her parents unhappy marriage, a cruel mother and her alcoholic father. Where as when it comes to Rico the focus is more on his future and his story with Ashna, rather than looking into his past.

I will say that I found the blurb slightly misleading, I went into this book expecting a cute romance but what I got was a rather heavy complex read. This novel was filled with alcoholism, parental neglect, emotional abuse and family guilt. In saying this I will add that putting all the heavy topics aside this was an interesting story. In terms of our two lead characters; my heart broke for Ashna, she really had to deal with a lot guilt from her family. As for Rico I think he did Wentworth proud, he was everything you would want in a hero.

Overall I felt that the author over explained where it was not needed and then skimped on details that would have been helpful and this added to the darker note of this novel, really was not a major winner in my opinion. I will say the most redeeming quality of this novel for me was Rico's love for Ashna and how pure and how it had no bounds.

This story of re-found love is an an excellent follow up to the first in the series. There are points where the heroine’s blindness to her own trauma is incredibly frustrating, and it makes me angry that there aren’t more people suggesting therapy to her through out.

This book was a delightful with a lot of heart! Ashna has had to deal with a lot of loss and tragedy in her life. She is haunted by memories of her father and her ex boyfriend and has a rough relationship with her mother. Through a cooking competition she finds out a lot of things about herself, her family and love.

Although the 'twist' on Jane Austen's Persuasion was not the feeling I got when reading this novel, I think it does hold a place on its own. Between the description and the cover art, I thought this would be a lighter read, but dark things exist in this book and the romantic relationship fell short for me. I did not feel the chemistry between the two for a second-chance shot at love. I think I was just confused by the tone of this book and I didn't really know how to respond to it. I think if it focused more on one of the arcs, i.e. the relationship - cooking show, or the family trauma, it would give more of a defining tone.

I enjoyed this book and the connections it made to Persuasion by Jane Austen. I loved the relationship between the two main characters and I really loved the setting of a food network competition show.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for my review. Jane Austen fan or not-you will love this story! Chef Ashna Raje is doing everything she can to keep her family's restaurant from failing-even if it means joining the cast of Cooking With the Stars in order to get her restaurant some much needed P.R. Ashna immediately changes her mind when she finds out that the celebrity that she will be teaching to cook is none other than her first love and FIFA soccer star Rico Silva. Rico and Ashna were first loves: she understood that Rico didn't want to follow in the footsteps of his famous soccer playing father and Rico saw that Ashna had skills that weren't only put to use in a kitchen. It all ended badly in a series of misunderstandings and now Rico is willing to humiliate himself on national T.V. to get Ashna to come back to him, but will they create enough heat in the kitchen to save Ashna's restaurant or will they crash and burn a second time? This was a funny, romantic read that I didn't want to end! Loved it!

Sonali Dev, the author of Recipe for Persuasion and many other books, has a knack for creating brilliant masterpiece Bollywood type love stories that central around Jane Austen stories. Another fantastic book by this glorious author.

I had higher hopes for this. Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel and while this is a supposed retelling of that classic, I think that's only in the barest of sketches. Don't get me wrong...the story is good, but I think if you're going to do a retelling it should hold closer to the original plot. In this novel, Dev darkens the backstory of the characters quite a bit and adds in storylines that not part of the original. If you had stripped away the Persuasion comparison, I think this is a good contemporary romance, but other than the "love lost and found again" trope and an attempt a the larger cast of characters this wasn't a smash. I don't know that the cooking show setting really worked for me either.

This being said, I was pleased by the diversity of characters and backgrounds that they had. They were not stock by any means and I learned a bit about different cultures that I hadn't known before. All in all, Persuasion seems to be a hard book to do as a retelling. I've not yet come across an adaptation that has done it justice. But if you take Austen out of the equation, Sonali Dev's Recipe for Persuasion may be just the dish you're looking for.

Chef Ashna is out to prove she can redeem herself and her family’s restaurant from the brink. A cooking contest offers her a chance to bring Curried Dreams back from doom. Her first impressions are of disrepair , uncaring employees and and uncaring owner. Caught up in her parents fighting , she feels responsible for the end of their marriage. It is this guilt that has informed all of her important decisions as an adult. A long list love renters her life and it is their back and forth of his things were and where they are now that is the focal point of this story. A chance at love again in front of the cameras gives the story depth. It was a mother’s choice of a different life in service to others that parallels the choice Ash makes in the end ,that being to stop blaming her birth as the cause of her parents troubles.

Jane Austen’s Persuasion gets a modern facelift Desi-style in this standalone sequel to Sonali Dev’s 2019, Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors, as Indian American chef, Ashna Raje, and Brazilian footballer, Rico Silva, encounter each other once again as acrimonious cooking partners on a reality TV show. I love that the author has cooked up a series of modern retellings of Jane Austen’s classic works by giving members of the Raje family their chances at romance.

In Recipe for Persuasion Ashna’s family is convinced a reality cooking show is just the jumpstart her dying restaurant needs and she is willing to do anything to preserve this last bit of her father who opened the restaurant.

As a pro footballer at the top of his game, Rico thought he had moved on from Ashna’s rejection. That is until he is injured badly and yet another relationship didn’t work out. He decides he has to do something about not being over his teenage love so signs onto the show to be Ashna’s partner. He vents his long-smoldering anger, but also understands as an adult what his teenage self couldn’t when he learns the true state of Ashna’s affairs. Understanding her leads to an understanding of the past.

Ashna had a difficult childhood. Her father, a prince, was forced out of India for some trouble he got into and lost the lifestyle he was accustomed to making him a bitter, angry man. Her parents were stuck in a loveless marriage where abuse and alcoholism were rife and Ashna was physically abandoned by her mother while the remaining parent’s issues were just as unhealthy for her so that, even after his death, she works to please a father who was never going to be pleased.

It was his dream to go to Paris and become a superb chef which she did for him and she now can’t even create her own dishes without bringing on an anxiety attack. She can only keep his restaurant just as he had it and cook only his dishes which is why the restaurant is failing. Others see it and she refuses to heed them because honoring her father is all she has left. Into this situation steps the boy become man from her past and she hasn’t gotten over him.

When I chose this book, I was enchanted at the thought of the Persuasion story being set in a modern Indian-style setting. I loved the lavish descriptions, the traditions, cultural background, and, oh my stars, the food. I was so hungry reading this one that I had to whip up some hummus. The connection of family was strong including Ashna’s cousin Trisha who had her story in the first book.

I thought the author did well making Austen’s classic the bones of this story and filling it in with modern characters and modern concerns. I glanced at the blurb and noticed it describes Recipe For Persuasion as a RomCom. Personally, I think that gives the wrong impression. This had some humorous moments, but it was not a light story. It read closer to women’s fiction for me because so much had to be addressed before even the romance could grow.

Speaking of the romance, I was underwhelmed. I liked them, especially Rico, as individuals and cheered for them to find peace and their happiness. I wasn’t feeling their adult reunion romance. I couldn’t see what maintained it over the years to that strength since, in this version, they were teens who fell in love and this is way longer a gap in years. In addition, I wasn’t feeling it between them as adults.

Ash was a mess and she was content to stay that way. She was wilting and so down on herself. I struggled with her parts of the narration and even preferred her mother, Shobi’s narrative sections about her miserable past and inability to connect with her own child as a result. So, Ash, as a woman to capture the confident and handsome adult Rico’s interest? Um, no.

And, that brings me to Rico’s prickly anger. Just after they broke up, sure, be angry, but it makes no sense to me that he still feels it so strongly and places so much blame this many years later. Turns out like the original character, his anger was masking something else. I liked the process of his eyes being opened and grasping this new chance. Rico did end up being rather romantic when he got over it. Spoiler alert, sorry Wentworth fans no “You pierce my soul,” letter though he found a different way to be swoony.

In summary, I liked but did not love this book. To be fair, my personal mood and my struggle to read this style book is also a factor. I found the heroine and her romance only mildly engaging, but on the other hand, there was a richness to the setting and background that drew me in, a hero who caught my interest, and the author’s writing style was solid. Again, I would recommend this more to fiction than straight romance fans and those who enjoy modern retellings.

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the colorful cover. The second thing was the description. A take on Jane Austen's "Persuasion" with characters of color? Sign me up!
Ashi is a chef, struggling to keep her dead father's restaurant afloat. Her father died when she was just 18. She has a terrible relationship with her mother who ran off to India and left Ashi behind in the US to be raised by her aunt and uncle. Rico is a handsome, suave newly retired soccer star. He can have any woman in the world but there's only one girl who is his true love. He and Ashi have a past. Ashi's friend signs her up to be on a Food Network competitive cooking show where she will be paired with a celebrity. Rico finds out and has his manager do whatever it takes to get him on the show and to be Ashi's partner. Sparks fly - but are they the good kind? Will they win the competition, save the restaurant and find love?
I really wanted to like this book. I struggled to finish and I almost gave up. I didn't find any of the characters likeable. There's also a lot of dark stuff in this book that shapes the relationships that Ashna has with her parents. I was expecting something lighter and romcom-y and this barely had any of that. I think I was also expecting to find recipes scattered in the book. I'm not sure where I got that idea, but it may have helped? It just wasn't for me.

A multicultural exploration of romance and family with a pinch of Austen = Perfection!

Ashna and Rico found each other as teenagers at their most vulnerable and despite finding love they couldn’t weather what life threw at them. Twelve years later neither have found love again and both are once again at a vulnerable turning point when fate brings them back together.

Ashna’s journey to self love and acceptance is so beautiful and Rico’s support of her, even when he thinks he just wants closure, is just as moving. Their banter and knowledge of each other on a soul deep level create a romance worthy of its Austen inspiration. But for me, the exploration of Rico’s Brazilian and English roots and Ashn’a Indian heritage through food and love combined with Shobi’s journey are what make this book so amazing.

I also really loved the flashbacks to Ashna and Shobi’s youth that showed how very similar mother and daughter actually are.

I’m a devotee of this series and can’t wait for more of this family and their journeys.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book but all opinions are my own.

Recipe For Persuasion is the second book in The Rajes series. This can be read as a stand alone so you don’t need to read Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (the first book) beforehand. Overall, I liked this book better than the first one. I thought that the plot was intriguing and the characters were deeply complex. However, I did feel that the story did drag out a bit. Ashna and Rico’s chemistry seemed more like tell than show where the story keeps saying they are deeply in love, but it never really shows why they’re still in love with each other after all this time. I wasn’t a big fan of Ashna’s mother Shobi even though I understand that she’s an integral character in book. Though the book was very well written and I was rooting for the characters, I felt like I was waiting for the characters to get their stuff together despite their troubled pasts. This contemporary romance is not lighthearted by any means. If you do decide to read this book, be forewarned that there are quite a few triggers which I’m surprised that this wasn’t put in the beginning of the book. Trigger warnings include suicide, alcoholism, rape, anxiety, and death of a parent.

A flavorful tale of second chance romance, missed connections, forgiveness and family secrets.

This modern-day Persuasion retelling wasn't the romcom I was promised, but it was something diverse and deeper, something I wouldn't be able to come across often. That alone, merited another star from me. I have to admit before anything else that I haven't read Persuasion, I hope it did not affect the reading experience. I just took the book for what it is, of course with the knowledge I gathered about Persuasion, so I could at least give my honest thoughts on it. I was keen on giving it three stars, but the last few chapters wrapped everything up in a neat little bow. I have to admit the story dragged on for a good 65% of the book, not only until few chapters left that everything made sense and started to shape up. It was like a dance of two steps forward three steps back, and sometimes I just want Ashna and Rico to just kiss already. But more on the serious side,Recipe for Persuasion showcased the culture of patriarchal masculinity, how women are supposed to bring themselves to a certain standard, on their dependence to men and how they are perceived to be as the weaker sex. It portrayed the glut of male entitlement and how women are always the one to be at the receiving end of it. What I love about Recipe for Persuasion is the backstory of Shobi (Ashna's mother) which gave so much meaning to what Ashna had become. It was sending a clear message on women breaking the chains of toxic masculinity and forging their own path even at a costly price. At first, I hated Shobi, I couldn't grasp where she was coming from, but when everything unfolded albeit a little too slow for my own liking, it was able to put things into perspective. I feel like it's more Shobi's story than that of Ashna. I found Ashna's character to be a little frustrating and weak, Rico on the other hand is just too precious, there's just not one bad thing about him. The book's conflict comes from a good chunk of misunderstanding between Ashna and Rico, Ashna and her mother, and Ashna and her father. It's as if the whole story revolved around this unresolved family secrets that has been taking everyone hostage, afraid to reveal what they truly feel, resulting into ripples of irreparable damage.

TW: marital rape, suicide

2.5 stars
While the first book would have been a solid loose P&P retelling were it not for a mishandling with the Yash subplot, I found Recipe for Persuasion bland by comparison. There is the basic setup Persuasion there, with the reunited lovers once parted due to class differences, but it loses all the punch of the original in Dev’s reimagining.

Neither of the leads is particularly likable or memorable. In fact, not being a fan of vengeance plots, I found Rico’s ploy to worm his way into the Rajes’ cooking show after having a chip on his shoulder years later after being dumped by Ashna in high school immature, and he didn’t become endearing over time either. And while Ashna doesn’t have anything wrong with her, she’s not particularly memorable either. I had no idea what they saw in each other.

And while Ashna’s mother is self concerned and neglectful, it was her arc that ultimately carried me through the book, especially as the circumstances of her abusive marriage to Ashna’s father were revealed, and handled with far greater delicacy than the issues of the previous book. I would have been much happier if the story had shifted to focus more on her and her relationship with Ashna, as well as her finding love again.

From a brief glance at the reviews, this one is definitely polarizing, with some loving it, and some sharing my sentiments. I think if it interests you, I’d recommend reading it for yourself to form your own opinion.

An absolutely charming book. Although recalling Jane Austen's Persuasion, Dev does a marvelous job of doing something Austen's book does nott -- bringin us into the minds of the main characters. With complicated but loveable characters and a sub-plot of old and new conceptions onf women's roles, it's a wonderful book.

A great and first-class read by new-to-me author, Sonali Dev! Dev entertainingly brings us the story of an ex-couple who are reunited on the set of a cooking show. Humorous antics follow, as one can imagine! I will definitely be reading more from this author!