I really enjoyed this book, I thought the story was phenomenal. I loved the familial relationships, the dance plot, the Indian recipes, and the romance. This was an absolutely lovely book. It is so infused with culture and life that every word seems to explode off the page. I really enjoyed reading about the dances, food, and struggles of these two young teens trying to make difficult choices in their lives.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Thank you so much to Random House Children’s Books for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much. My So-Called Bollywood Life was already a favorite YA contemporary of mine so I had no doubt that I would enjoy this book going into it. Nisha Sharma does an excellent job of encapsulating the experience of being a young Indian-American teen and balancing school, extracurriculars, family life, relationships, all while trying to maintain your culture and heritage in the United States, and Radha’s journey in Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance was no different.

Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance is a desi YA rom-com that tells the story of Radha Chopra, an extremely talented Kathak dancer, whose life is uprooted after she discovers a secret about her mother. After leaving her life in Chicago and enrolling in the Princeton Academy of the Arts in New Jersey, she meets Jai Patel, captain of the Bollywood Beats dance team, and the two teens work together to make the most out of their senior year.

Let me first start off by saying that I literally felt like Nisha Sharma stared into my soul when writing Radha’s Kathak journey in this book. The book starts off with a letter to the readers in which Sharma describes how she studied Kathak for over eleven years before getting caught up with other commitments and losing both of her grandfathers. As someone who started learning Kathak in kindergarten and then took a few years off to focus on college applications before getting back into South Asian fusion dance, I greatly regretted having to stop one of the things I loved doing. This book perfectly described how I feel about dancing and feeling that “dance joy,” as Radha describes it, and I absolutely loved reading about Radha’s story as a Kathak dancer. Any mention of the chimes of her ghungroos to the familiar tatkaars made me smile. I also found the arc of Radha’s performance anxiety and the issues her parents were facing to be really refreshing. Familial troubles and mental health are not very popular topics discussed within South Asian communities, and I really admired Sharma for not only including these discussions in the book, but also for hiring sensitivity readers to specifically review the discussion of mental health.

I also really loved reading about Jai’s relationship with his family and Director Muza. At times it was a little confusing to fully understand how exactly Director Muza and Nana Veeru fit into Jai’s family, but it started to make a bit more sense as the story progressed. I do admit that his relationship with Radha kind of resembled the insta-love trope, but their relationship did feel more grounded and realistic, in a sense, than the whimsical love story in My So-Called Bollywood Life, which Sharma mentions in her letter to the readers as well.

And I can’t end this review without mentioning the yummy recipes that were included at the beginning of each of Radha’s chapters! As a college student who's very new at the whole adulting thing, I definitely struggle with properly making South Asian food, but reading Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance makes me want to practice my culinary skills and cook these familiar dishes :)

I highly recommend Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance (and any of Nisha Sharma’s YA books) for any young South Asian teen, for anyone looking for a heartfelt contemporary story, and for any dancer who’s looking for their dance joy.

"An infusion of food and dance, this contemporary romance will have readers ready to dance while craving the savory dishes from Radha's recipes." Cecelia Beckman Sheaf & Ink

Nisha Sharma magically blends food, dance, and culture into this savory romance. She gives us a glimpse into what it’s like to be a competitive dancer and how those pressures can leave scars both on our bodies and minds. Radha is a great dancer. She has mastered over the course of her short life the skills to be legend. Though at a cost. Where at some point dancing no longer brings her joy, but a fear that sets its claws deep into her mind leaving her unable to breath, locked in a state of panic.

But, once she no longer is shackled to the idea of competing, her mother moves to New Jersery for a fresh start.

What I love most about this book is the reconnection Radha has with her father. We can see he’s been an absent presence in her life from the opening pages. Radha’s father is a chef. Upon her departure from Chicago, and after her parents divorce, he gives her his father’s recipe book. And when we get to New Jersey, every chapter there after begins with these deliciously instructed recipes from Radha’s grandfather book. As we move through the story Sharma perfectly gives Radha a chefs hat where she plays around with the recipes, tweaking them to fit the flavor and taste that she finds scrumptious. Further, the moments she has with her father, be it text, facetime, or in person, they make your heart melts at how these two begin to bond over a shared love of cooking.

Now, for the romance…

It’s incredibly sweet.

Radha and Jai both have their struggles to work through. For Radha it’s strengthening her inner joy and finding a way to manage her anxiety and fear of performing. For Jai it’s realizing he can have his dream of becoming a doctor by going to a school of choice while still helping his family. It’s the innerconnections, the links that are weaved between these two as they struggle along on uneaven footing (even though they are brilliant dancers) when it comes to their relationship.

And the ending!!!

Friends, it’s to adorable for words. I was literally pumping my fists ready to join in the merriment and dancing and screaming YES! (You’ll know what I mean when you read it)

With yummy food recipes, a whole lot of dancing, and heartfelt moments, Nisha Sharma’s Radha & Jai’s Recipe for Romance is charmingly sweet narrative of love and finding your true happiness.

Happy Reading ̴ Cece

I enjoyed this YA romance. The protagonists were both likable, and they seemed like a good fit together. I loved the recipes at the start of Radha's chapters. I loved how she was connecting to her father, even across distance, through learning to cook with him using her grandfather's recipes. I loved how she was also starting to create her own recipes, and to be perfectly honest, that sweet potato/marshmallow Thanksgiving samosas sounded really good. I know nothing about Kathak dancing, but Radha's complicated feelings about it and how she both loved it and yet it was also a major source of anxiety for her as well and it caused conflict in her relationship with her mother all felt very real.

This book was so sweet and a quick read. The biggest problem was that it made me SO HUNGRY because the food descriptions were amazing. I ended up watching some videos of kathak because the book made me curious - it's so cool. The interplay between expectations and desires that both Radha and Jai constantly felt never felt forced, just like their relationship. While I think some of the adult characters fell flat, I understand that they weren't the focus. If you want to immerse yourself in dance and descriptions of Indian cooking this is the book for you!

This was a fun story that explored Indian culture in an exciting way! I really liked the Bollywood dance team idea, but it was obviously less involved than in My So-Called Bollywood Life. This book (obviously) featured a lot more cooking, which I personally was not really interested in. There was also heavy element about kathak, which I am unfortunately rather unfamiliar with. Overall, this book was about Radha's complicated relationship with dance, and Radha and Jai's complicated relationships with their families, This book is emotion-heavy, as opposed to plot-heavy. Unfortunately, the writing let me down a bit. My So-Called Bollywood Life got away with the clunky writing becuase it was sweet and funky; that doesn't cut it in a serious and emotional story.
Overall, this was an interesting exploration of two teens working their way through tangled problems, but it didn't quite hit the mark.

Between Radha and Jai's Recipe for Romance and My So-Called Bollywood Life, we've established one thing: Nisha Sharma has a knack for writing books that are consistently fluffy and stuffed full of joy! From the food to the dancing - both classical and Bollywood, the dresses, and the sprinklings of Hindi, Gujarati, and Punjabi throughout the work, this book is proudly representative of parts of Desi culture. The romantic aspects - kissing in the rain, breaking into a group dance to Chaiyya Chaiyya on the train, drama at the final dance showcase - all feel bold and cinematic (reminiscent of the grand style of Sharma's debut heroine: Winnie - who, by the way, makes a cameo appearance in this book!). But the book is grounded in its realistic exploration of family, loyalty, anxiety, friendship, and pursuing one's dreams. I greatly appreciated the representation of physical (stroke awareness, quadriplegia) and mental (anxiety) health and how the individual characters and their families are affected by it. I have rarely seen discussions of mental health and therapy appear in a positive light within the South Asian community. Reading Radha's experiences with anxiety and panic attacks and how the book's characters turned to therapy for closure, healing, and understanding were extremely heartwarming.

The contrasting family structures and relationships that Radha and Jai had were quite refreshing - seeing Radha's fraught relationship with her mother grow was especially impactful as it drove home the point of how differently love is expected, shown, and appreciated. I loved the recipes from Dadaji's notebook, and the comments Radha makes in writing and over the phone while talking with her family about cooking and connecting with her culture, captured how food is history and is culture, and spoke to the distinct way in which culture is transmitted across generations, especially among diasporic folks.

Essentially, this is a book about food, family, life, and love, a fun, romantic read that will leave you with a smile on your face and hope in your heart.

This is a book I’d love to add to my classroom. This is a feel good novel that combines love of food and dance. This will appeal to students and I love the different cultures and cuisine in this book.

This young adult romantic comedy is a multicultural delight exploring love. Friendship and passions of dancing. I received this novel as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Radha and Jai's Recipe for Romance is such a great, lighthearted read that I cannot recommend enough. A lot of Radha's journey to rediscovering her love for dancing and finding a new passion in cooking as well as Jai's conflict of helping his families business or going to college are both experiences that I could easily relate to. I really enjoyed that this book has romance but doesn't entirely revolve around Radha and Jai's romantic relationship and you get some insight in their relationships with their family. The recipes were a nice touch that help give the book its own personality and made me pretty hungry while reading. Overall, it's a solid 4 star read! The only reason I didn't give it 5 is because the pacing was off for my personal taste but that's pretty particular to me.

Radha & Jai's Recipe for Romance will make you want to order takeout and binge watch the best of Bollywood.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Radha Chopra once dedicated her entire life to competing in karnak dancing, but when she discovers that her mom has been having an affair with a judge, her career is over, along with her parents' marriage. Now she's starting her senior year at a performing-arts school in New Jersey after making a deal with her mom: she'll give dancing one more try, without competing or performing, and her mom will pay for whatever she wants to study in college. And with the absence of her father, she discovers her grandfather's book of recipes and devotes most of her time to mastering them.
Jai Patel is in an entirely different situation. As the captain of the school's Bollywood dance team, he knows he is admired by many, but he can't see himself following his dreams of going to medical school in the future. His father was in an accident years ago that resulted in him becoming almost completely paralyzed, and Jai's brothers had previously dropped out of school to take care of their father and the family's store. Jai doesn't even want to acknowledge what he wishes the future could be like.
The two meet one day at their school's arboretum, and start spending more time together when Radha agrees to be the choreographer for Bollywood Beats. But Radha soon learns that she might not be done with performing after all, even if just the thought of it gives her panic attacks.
I absolutely loved this story! Radha's chapters all start with recipes, and you'll want to make them all by the end of the book. I've mentioned before how much I love books that have food as a central theme, and if you do too, this fits perfectly into that category.
I also liked how Radha's relationship with dance was more realistic than I've seen in most similar stories. She truly enjoys dancing as an art form, but her experience with it was almost completely ruined by the strict standards of the competing world. She was going up against dancers almost twice her age in international competitions-- no wonder it caused her so much stress! We also see her mother, Sujata, go from an overly controlling stage mom to accepting that she wants for her daughter is not always going to be what she gets. Sujata was strict, but not full-on abusive, and it was good to see her development.
Please pick up this book once it comes out. Or request an ARC through NetGalley if possible. It's so worth it!

4/5 stars!

When a disaster happened at an important dancing competition, Radha had a lot to cope with as she moved from Chicago to New Jersey to start at a new school. There she meets Jai, who has his own troubles within his family. The two fall in love as they deal with personal issues, school, future, and family in this YA romance.

This is a nice story featuring strong yet flawed main characters. I enjoyed the hero's family dynamics that included some touching scenes. And though the heroine's family went through a lot, I liked the closeness the heroine had with her cousin and father. This book also featured dance as a focal point in this book and I enjoyed reading about it, especially the Kathak dance. As a personal preference I wanted more details in some parts. Overall, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more Nisha Sharma books in the future.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.**

This is a great book. The romance elements of this book were very fun and sweet, and the deeper and somewhat heavier elements about both Radha and Jai's families and the issues that arise either because of trauma or poverty are handled very well. The dance scenes are electrically written and really seem to capture the passion that both characters have for dance in general and their respective styles in particular. Also, the food element was very fun (but terrible, in a way, because it made me so hungry every time I'd pick the book back up.)

This was an absolutely lovely book. It is so infused with culture and life that every word seems to explode off the page. I really enjoyed reading about the dances, food, and struggles of these two young teens trying to make difficult choices in their lives.

Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance is a delightful story that YA readers will love. It presents an honest look at anxiety, the pressures of growing up, and family tension. Readers will love the descriptions of cuisine and Bollywood dances. Highly recommended.

As soon as I read the excerpt I knew I had to read this book. Radha is a talented dancer that is suffering from anxiety due to a past incident. She moves to a new school with the hope of finding herself and healing.

I like how realistic Radha, Jai and their families are portrayed in the story. They may not necessarily always get along but they genuinely love and want the best for each other. I was easily able to feel their pain and want them to succeed. I liked the way the two MCs found the answers they were looking for in themselves and not each other. The recipes left me so hungry and jealous that I don’t know anyone that can cook that well. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As usual, Nisha Sharma delivers a cute, heartfelt story that left me smiling. I recommend it 100%.

Another feel good, motivational, entertaining read made me smile to my ears ( I’m testing their flexibility because my smile gets wider at each second)

Quick summary of the storyline: Radha Chopra knows how to move like dancing queen; she’s talented Kathak dancer. But after learning horrible truth about her family, she feels betrayed because of her own mother’s wrongdoings and she leaves the international competition, giving up her dancing career, moving to Chicago from Jersey.

She meets with hot Bollywood dancer Jai and slowly they become more than friends Jai wants Radha’s help to be choreographer of his dancing team to win the competition and in the meantime both lovers deal with their deep family issues, facing their own troubles.

It so obvious for me to fall for this book: even though I have silliest dance moves I love to read about dance (at some parts Radha and Jai reminded me of Dirty Dancing’s Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman) food, different cultures, traditions. The books represent South Asia culture always pick my interest and as a fan of classic Bollywood movies, I’m always interested to read, watch and learn more! It’s exotic, eccentric, vivid, colorful, inspirational mosaic and as you dig deeper you enjoy yourself more!

The things made me love this book:

Both Radha and Jai are likable characters who are dealing with their problems from the past. The way of evolving characters to grow up, fight against the obstacles for building a common future together was fascinating to read!

When I read the dance parts: I wish I could watch their live performances. The depictions were so incredibly realistic. The joy, the adrenaline, the fun with the combination rhythm and ethnic music bring out the best of the characters. After reading those parts I jumped on my couch and tried to do some moves. But... well... yes I’m ordering a new couch on Amazon right now and its expected arrival date is two weeks later! Dammit! I should find a better place to sharpen my dancing skills.

The representation of anxiety issues are also genuine. I suffered from them at my young ages, now more wisdom combined with reading, devouring sweets and booze, practicing kick-box helped me to kick ass of entire anxiousness but this book reminded me of those days and I easily connected with Radha and I loved her boldness, her way to deal with her issues.

Overall: this is fast, entertaining, feel good reading I was looking for earned my four blazing dancing, Indian, traditional, joyful stars!

Special thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children’s/ Crown Books for young readers for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This was a fully filmy, Bollywood, ishq wala love type read and I found it to be sweet and meaningful. The various Desi elements from the food to the dresses and dance sequences are described vividly. Radha’s character struggles with performance anxiety and questions her future aspirations which bring ta focus on mental health. I don’t often read books with Indian representation that acknowledges seeking therapy for healing and closure. It was heartwarming to see Nisha include therapy and gently inform the experience the character has after undertaking it. The contrasting relationship that Radha and Jai share with their respective families was intriguing, revealing that love can be shown in different ways. Nisha sprinkles homemade recipes throughout the book of some of my favourite mouthwatering Indian delicacies, which I highly recommend readers to try! Radha’s father teaches her various dishes and those interactions made my heart full as I enjoy my father’s cooking and the love and passion he has in the kitchen. A fun, warm, romantic read that leaves you with a sense of hope and is a reminder of my favourite Desi parts of me that I am proud to celebrate.