What a wonderful winter read! I loved everything about it: the setting, the main character's personal growth, the secondary characters, the way in which mental health is treated... I just have good things to say about this book. It had some twists I didn't expect, and I couldn't stop reading but at the same time I didn't want to read it too fast because I didn't want it to end.

This is the perfect read for long winter nights, and I recommend you have some Indian food near you while reading it because you're going to get very hungry!

** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher/author for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. **

Following your boyfriend to the Arctic is not something to be undertaken lightly, particularly when the sun is not due to rise for 4 months, yet Maya does just that.
The extreme temperature and perpetual darkness triggers her anxiety and leaves her breathless on several occasions, not least when said man lets her down in spectacular fashion but along the way Maya discovers more about herself and her family than she ever imagined.
Centered around life in Longyearbyen but also jetting off to India, Maya brings colour and spice to the community as she learns more about her mum via the food she cooks- so great even the polar bears want in on it!
I really enjoyed this book and was rooting for Maya all the way!

This book is perfect for a cosy winter evening. I really liked the character development of Maya and the description of the food and surroundings was brilliant! A great read for this time of year.

******** DNF *********

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I need to state at the outset that I did not finish this book. I did try. The novel was obviously well-researched and featured some very interesting facts about living in the Arctic. One particular paragraph on a sleigh-dog "faecal storm" was edifying! And the author has represented a protagonist with significant anxiety with empathy and compassion, which is such a commendable thing.

In saying that, perhaps because I have no first-hand experience with acute anxiety, I found it hard to identify with Maya and found her behaviour in the beginning of the novel difficult to stick with. In short, if a protagonist suffers anxiety, an important story to tell and I want to read it. But I need to find something about the character that I can like. I found it hard to like Maya and to therefore invest in her story.

I am sure, if I had stuck with her story and seen her come out the other side and find happiness, I would have enjoyed it. I just couldn't identify and it was making me frustrated.

I'm still giving this 3 stars. Just because this book did not resonate with me, does not mean others will not enjoy a book set in the Arctic about a woman overcoming both internal and external adversity to find happiness.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK, and the author for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Out on December 9, The Arctic Curry Club is the story of a young British-Indian woman, Maya, who moves with her boyfriend, Ryan, to the Arctic for his work. The story touches on some serious topics including living with a mental health challenge (Maya has chronic anxiety), straddling two cultures, self-acceptance, and finding out where you belong.

The Arctic setting is a new one for me and the author vividly brought it to life. The main character was very likeable and relatable, the story was well-paced, and there was a satisfying ending. I also enjoyed the cooking as therapy element of the story and the way in which food, smells, taste and memories were intertwined. The descriptions of the food were mouthwatering! Overall, a gentle, loveable, comforting story.

Thanks to @AvonsBooksUk and @Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this feel good story. Maya follows her boyfriend to the Arctic and finds the transition very hard to deal with - she feels lost and cannot cope with the harsh realities of life so far north. She opens her late mother’s cookbook and cooks Indian food for the first time. This builds her confidence and allows her to land a job as a chef, make her news and start a new venture. At the same time she explores her culture and finds out the truth of her mother’s death. She faces the secrets within her family and learns to start over again.

A story of hope and new beginnings.

Highly recommended.

This book was so different to what I expected from it but I did love it so very much.
Maya has gone to live in the arctic with her boyfriend Ryan and its nothing like she imagined it to be. I loved Maya, she is such a complex character but so real. She isn't a perfect person like some books portray their main character to be. She is anxious, not confident and haunted by a family secret that she cannot seem to get anyone to be honest about. She has so many questions about her life in India as a child but cannot find the answer.
Svalbard opens a new world to Maya and challenges her very being, she has to be brave, she has to deal with new situations that make her uncomfortable but she bravely takes it on and see's her life transform due to this.
There is also a trip to India for Maya, will this help unlock some secrets to her past?
I just loved the contrast from Maya's life in Lapland to her time in India and the people that she meets along to way. I loved the way Maya transforms throughout the book, you really must give this book a read, its very special.

Given that two of my favourite places in the world are India and the Arctic, I was immediately drawn to this book, and I loved it. The author captures the spirit of both places brilliantly, from the biting cold of the far north where the first thing she and I felt on stepping off a plane at temperatures of below 20 degrees was the crackle inside your nostrils, to the heat, chaos and total strangeness of arriving in India for the first time in my case, the first time she can remember in Maya's.

We get to know Maya through her relationships with others, both past and present, and it is so interesting to see her take charge of her life little by little. Also fascinating is how she makes sense of her past through the reclaimed memories that come to her through cooking Indian food.

I cannot imagine arriving in the Arctic at the beginning of the 24 hour darkness of winter, and I enjoyed the return of the sun and Maya seeing the true colours of her surroundings for the first time. This was a great parallel with her awakening from the past which had held her back for so long.

One small thing that needs to be changed - please replace the word longitude with latitude in Part One!

Four and a half stars because I wanted it to go on for longer.

Maya is a short, (very) plump, half-Indian, half-English woman. Brought up in India until she was seven years old, she and her father moved to England after her mother's death. Maya has no memories of her time in India and suffers from crippling anxiety, even in quite innocent situations, which has forced her to give up her career as a chef and take much less rewarding work (can you tell I can't remember what). Her boyfriend Ryan studies polar bears and so she has agreed to move to the far north of Norway, inside the arctic circle, for a year when he gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study them up close and personal.

Maya and Ryan soon realise that life in the arctic circle is not quite what they expected, Ryan is in his sporty element, husky sledding, long-distance skiing etc, whereas Maya has no friends, no job, is scared of getting lost in the snow, and can't stand the 24-hour night.

One of the guys who runs an arctic excursion business for tourists hears that Maya was a chef and offers her a part-time job cooking for the small groups of tourists. One of the tour guides asks Maya to cook some Indian food and she is too embarrassed to admit that she doesn't know how to cook Indian food, which leads her to explore her cultural heritage with a trip to Bangalore and the help of her father's Indian fiance and her mother's old cookery book. But as Maya cooks her mother's recipes she finds that they spark memories she thought long buried and lead her to uncover some family secrets. Maya uses her mother's recipes to start up a supper club, inviting a small number of paying guests to eat a home-cooked Indian meal.

I loved this, in fact I read all the way through the night to finish the novel. While some parts of the story were (to me) predictable, there were also lots of things that weren't. In the author's notes at the back Dani Redd notes that she has spent time in both India and the arctic circle and I think the authenticity shows through. I really wanted to cook some of the delicious recipes Maya serves to her guests, I especially loved the way she adapted certain recipes to use ingredients available in Norway, even if some weren't always successful.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is such a cute cover and I actually enjoyed reading this book! Can't even believe that this is the author's debut book as well.

Plot:- Maya Reed Kaur joins her boyfriend, Ryan to Arctic -- sub zero temperatures, dog sledding, freezing cold weather, and polar bears. She finds her late mother's recipe book and while browsing through the recipe book, she gets vivid flashbacks of her childhood in Bangalore, India. Meanwhile, using her mother's recipe book, she makes friends, makes meals fused with both Indian and Arctic styles and creates her own Arctic Curry Club.

Writing:- This is actually one of the unique and multicultural books I have read--it's like India meets the Arctic region. I have never been to Arctic so by reading this book with its vivid descriptions of snow, cabins, polar bears, made me feel like I was in the Arctic area. Being a Sri Lankan which is almost similar to the Indian culture, some of the recipes that Maya was making made me feel hungry and pictured Maya making reindeer curry in the Indian style. I do like Maya's developing relationships with Adam, Mikkel and Rita and how she initially hated living in Arctic and soon began to like living in this snowy place. The writing was great, though in the end, I opted for Maya and Jobin, her childhood friend to get back together. The author also did a good job drawing the reader into the story, making the reader feel like they are part of the story.

Characters:- Initially, I didn't very much like Maya--I thought she was a whiny character. But gradually I grew into her, I was amazed at her courage and how she overgrew and started opening up her own restaurant in the Arctic. Mikkel, Adam and Rita are favorable characters as well.

Overall--overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. If you feel like you want to visit Arctic and have Indian food, this book is the one for you!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

I love reading, I don’t think I’ll be surprising anyone saying that I am a book addict, I always have a book with me when I travel and 5 at my work table… So, when a book surprises me, it’s like finding a new friend, a book that I wanted to like but instead I loved and couldn’t stop thinking about it. This is what happened to me with the “The Arctic Curry Club”, I liked the plot, so I hoped it would make me travel to another country and have a good time. But in reality it did much more, it empowered me and make me believe in the light when everything is dark. Step by step; with the right persons on your side you can survive everything.
I’ll advise you that this is a book about mental health, depression and physical abuse; told in a very light way but with enough emotions to make you crumble in your sofa.
Don’t expect this to be a super romantic story, it’s a sweet story full of delicious food and some male characters, yes, but they don’t really have a strong paper in the story and I think I loved much more this book for this. This is a book to remember us, the reader, that we don’t need a partner to be happy or to get better in our worst moments; good friends, yes, of course, but that’s all.
Maybe you are wondering if the book is really about food, yes, believe me, you’ll get hungry whenever you start reading it, there are so many delicious recipes that I would love to read this book in an Indian restaurant while trying all the delicious food Maya creates! Just thinking about it makes me hungry!
This had been an amazing read; sweet, emotive and realistic, possibly one of my favorites this year.
Are you ready to discover “The Arctic Curry Club”?

In many parts and ways, this doesn't feel like a debut novel. It's really well thought out and clearly well planned and researched,

I love books that feature food, but I would have loved there to be some recipes included at the back of the book so we could try them at home.

Seeing a character with anxiety was really great. I felt Maya's anxiety was really well written and portrayed. I didn't love reading about a character who smokes, but that's just a personal preference.

The Arctic Curry Club is a fun and entertaining read. We follow Maya as she’s moved to the northern most town in the arctic with her boyfriend Ryan. If you’re expecting the usual rom-com read you won’t be disappointed but this book is far more than that. We see Maya’s character develop as she deals with many changes happening during her time in Longyearbyen. She also returns to her family in India where she makes new discoveries that shape her character. I found this book to be very enjoyable, great descriptions of food and scenery and some memorable characters. I would rate this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author for the advance review copy.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book so much so it was read in one sitting, I could not put it down.
Loved the setting in the artic and loved how descriptive the book was.
Characters were brilliant and I liked the storyline of how Maya faced with all her problems finally conqueres them through sheer determination and will
Well done to the author for tackling subjects such as anxiety and depression, can't wait to read more from the author

I struggle to believe this is a debut novel. It is so accomplished that you could be forgiven for thinking this is the work of an author who has been publishing books for years.

I love Maya’s way of calming her anxiety by writing lists. I also have the tendency to overthink, and make a mountain out of a mole hill (where did that expression come from, I wonder?), and I find writing my worries down helps, if not to get rid of them, then to help me manage them.

The idea of the Arctic - or a holiday anywhere by the home of Father Christmas - really excites me, but maybe I underestimated just how hard it would be to live there. And yet, Dani describes it so beautifully with the snowfall and the northern lights, but doesn’t pretend it’s always so lovely, what with the snowstorms and roaming polar bears.

I might be able to bake, but I’d love to be able to cook like Maya does in this book - it clearly gives so much joy to people.

I personally didn’t like Maya’s boyfriend Ryan, right from the off. I found him selfish and self-centred and unempathetic (is that a word?) and just really irritating and he didn’t deserve Maya, who is so sweet.

It is so sensitive the way Dani has written about the tough topics such as anxiety, depression, death, suicide, grief, isolation, remarriage, break-ups, drug abuse, alcoholism, and culture differences. She never makes it over the top or purely for entertainment purposes. There’s a lot to contend with, but it is written so well that each has their appropriate place in the story.

When I started this, I planned to read a few chapters then get some work down in the house, then read a bit more, then do dinner, then a bit more, then go to bed, ready to read some more the next morning. But no. I started it late one evening, and read until 2am so I didn’t have to put it down.

This book should come with a million trigger warnings. I found difficult to read because of the level of anxiety emanating from the main character, obviously a testament to the writer's skills but also difficult for some people.

Maya and her boyfriend Ryan have moved to Longyearbyen, the worlds northern most city after Ryan got a fellowship monitoring polar bears. She suffers terribly from anxiety and is struggling to find her feet. Her mother died when she was young and shes troubled by the fact she cant remember her childhood.

She gets a job as a cook and is tasked to make curry. Her mother never taught her to cook Indian dishes. But she finds a recipe and gives it a go. While shes eating it she get flashbacks to her childhood. It was her mothers recipe.

She feels doesn't quite 'fit in', shes not British enough, not Indian enough. I guess most people can relate, the feeling of being judged without a person really getting to know a you and to have a snapshot decision made.

A trip to her fathers wedding in India gives her more questions than answers and more flashbacks and lots more recipes. She finally gets a chance to learn about Indian food. The contrasts between the two countries was so wide. I thought it was quite sad that her mothers mental health had been almost airbrushed out of her memories and her father didn't tell her anything.

The storyline does have some darkness and is quite sad but its also uplifting and heart-warming as Maya goes on an incredible journey.

Moving to the Arctic with her boyfriend seems just like one of those crazy life-changing things a girl should do when she’s in love.

For Maya, the 24-hour darkness, sub-zero temperatures and lack of direction, this is less of an exciting new adventure and more of a combination of crippling loneliness and anxiety.

Determined to prove to her boyfriend that she is more than her ‘dark days’, Maya accepts as job as the camp cook for End of the Road Cabins for polar survival classes and day trips in the snow.

When she’s asked to make a warm and spicy curry, Maya discovers Indian food is sparking memories of growing up in Indian – memories she lost after her mother died when Maya was seven years old.

What I liked: Redd built a cast of sweet but tough characters around Maya. While she is struggling with adapting to the Arctic, with rediscovering her love of Indian cuisine, and learning to cope with the return of strange and confusing memories, they rally around her protectively.

The way Maya processes her anxiety, the support she receives from her family and her new friends, and how she manages all the massive life changes after her move, make Maya a very strong, resilient character that audiences can relate to. Her panic and anxiety can overwhelm her but she’s found methods for coping that bring the terror down a notch so she can function.

‘For my whole life I had been looking for home. But why would that be in a place that I’d left? Perhaps I had to keep moving forward in order to find it…’

Mikkel, Adam, Rita, Jobin and Uma are new people in Maya’s life but they are incredibly kind and thoughtful people that smooth the road ahead for Maya – sometimes by pushing her when she needs to build her momentum and sometimes by offering her a place to unwind, vent or the soft landing we all crave.

What I didn’t like: Some of the descriptions of Maya felt a little unkind. She is described as a pear shaped woman, voluptuous with some weight to lose. My issue with these descriptions is they seemed to be added in arbitrarily and don’t really add to the story. The quote is a great example – Redd describes Maya’s size, but I don’t really understand what she is trying to say here. What does the size of her bum have to do with her height sitting down?

He (Ryan) extended his arm and I nestled into his shoulder. My bum’s so big that sitting down we’re similar heights, and it actually hurt my neck a little, but I was reassured by his warmth and solidity.

A lot of the crueller descriptions are narrated by Maya and seem to reflect her anxiety. As Maya comes into her herself, rediscovers her memories of India, of her mother, and develops her own style of curry for the Arctic Curry Club, a lot of those negative descriptions of her body disappear.

Conclusion: This book was so much more than I expected. It explored India, childhood trauma, mental health, relationships and courage – so much more than I expected from the blurb.

The cover and title initially drew me to this book. Reading the blurb tempted me to give it a go, and I'm pleased I did. It didn't turn out to be the book I was expecting, but it was a good read regardless.

Maya finds herself living in the Arctic, having moved there with her partner Ryan who is studying polar bears and the environment. She is a former chef, and meets local resident Mikkel who needs help with cooking at his lodge - hence the Arctic Curry Club is born. How will life in the Arctic turn out for Maya and Ryan? Will things run smoothly?

The descriptions of both the scenery and the food were stunning - I felt like I was tasting the food I was reading about, it was so vivid! The characters were believable and the anxiety that Maya experiences throughout was well handled. I wasn't expecting a story about mental health, but it was sensitively done. Overall, 3.5 stars for me.