Title: Pride, Prejudice, and Other FlavoursAuthor: Sonali DevSeries: The Rajes #1Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Retellings, RomancePace: SlowFormat: eBook, NovelYear: 2019 I wanted to love this so much more than I did. I definitely enjoyed it, but i suppose I’ve gotten a lot more picky about how quickly a book draws me in. I still read it, but found myself…

I read the first book in this series last year, which was a Pride and Prejudice retelling, and enjoyed it, so I'd been looking forward to trying out this one which is a take on Persuasion!

Summary:

This series follows the Indian-American Raje family, and in this book our main character is Ashna, who is running her father's Indian restaurant. One day, her TV producer friend, China, asks her to step in to be a chef on a cooking show which partners chefs with celebrities to see who can teach their celebrity to cook the best. The love interest is Rico Silva (aptly named Frederico after the character in Persuasion), who has recently had an injury which has taken him out of his football career. Ashna and Rico were together in high school, but broke up, and Rico decides to get onto the cooking show as Ashna's partner to finally get closure from their relationship. Then, a viral moment happens between them when they first meet again for the show. Things escalate from there, with Ashna learning more about her parents' story, and why her mother left her and her father.

Thoughts:

I didn't enjoy this as much as Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, and I think that's because I don't remember the plot of the original Jane Austen novel as well as I do for Pride and Prejudice. If I had re-read Persuasion first, I think this would have hit way different. Without having that comparison which made the first book so fun, it was just any other contemporary romance novel, which doesn't grab me so much. This also meant I was scrutinising the writing more, and it felt quite overly wordy and clunky for me at times. This book also has the same problem as the first one in that the characters have all had such tragic things happen to them and it seems like they can't catch a break. Having said that, I loved the callbacks to the events of the first book, and meeting all the characters again!

I enjoyed the story arc between Ashna and her mum, and how we slowly realise that Ashna resented her mum, yet didn't have the full story. It made me reflect on how it's good to give grace to parents sometimes, and the reason they say some things only comes from their experiences in life (within reason obviously). It was heartbreaking when Ashna learned about her father's true nature, and how he had treated the people she loved. Also, I think Sonali Dev is pretty good at showing how a character feels about something without outrightly saying it which made for another layer to the story.

I found this book quite similar to another book with a cooking show I read last year, You Had Me at Halloumi, as the way the TV elements are described are similar in this book. Fortunately, Rico is much more developed as a character than the love interest in You Had Me at Halloumi was. In general, Recipe for Persuasion also has some great food descriptions. Much like You Had Me at Halloumi, this book had some great humour as well; I especially laughed at Rico thinking it's hot that Ashna can drive a manual car, as that's normal here in the UK (although I don't think that was intentional from the author!).

Overall, this was OK with some nice relationship dynamics and fun humour, but nothing to write home about. I think I will still continue with the series, but would need to re-read the original Jane Austen the books are based on first.

Just Finished: Recipe for Persuasion (The Rajes #2)

I'm back to my reading older books on my TBR goal for this one, I added it to my list four years ago! After a few short books in a row, it was nice to get into a longer one. A Pride and Prejudice retelling as well, I was sat!

Summary:

The book centres around Trisha Raje, a brilliant surgeon who is the youngest daughter of the Raje family. The Rajes are an influential family in California who moved there from India, where they are descended from royalty. The eldest of the siblings, Yash, is running for governor and the family is preparing for a fundraising dinner for him in a few weeks.

Enter DJ Caine, a private chef who will be catering the dinner. He meets Trisha while making the food for a previous event at the Raje house, and she implies that what she does is superior to his work. DJ's sister, Emma, has cancer which was thought to be terminal, but he then learns that Trisha has the answer to saving her life. From there, DJ and Trisha have continual misunderstandings of each other, culminating in all the situations you would expect in a Pride and Prejudice retelling!

Thoughts:

It's an odd one with this book. I didn't think it was absolutely blow me away levels of good, and a book which makes me think that would normally get a 3-star rating from me, but I enjoyed the story so much still which has bumped it up! The relationship between Trisha and her sister was really cute, and the parts about Trisha's family not valuing what she does as much as what her brother does drew me in and made me feel so sorry for her. It showed what the dynamics can be like in an Indian family, where sons are often more appreciated than daughters. This made it even more crazy when DJ assumes she has everything because you get her perspective too. The whole time I was thinking "no, she has struggles too!". It was also enjoyable to consider which characters go with the Jane Austen counterpart, and reflect on how the author might have made those choices. I saw another review where someone said they appreciated that Sonali Dev didn't try to shoehorn in every original character, which I definitely agree with. I also want to eat DJ Caine's food so badly now! Additionally, as a bookworm, I really loved this quote: '"If I didn't read", she had told him once, "I wouldn't know how to believe that there was more to the world than this."' That hit me in the feels!

A couple of things I didn't like so much were that I felt like the period between DJ and Trisha having their "Darcy first proposal" moment and the end of the book felt quite rushed. It felt like DJ didn't get enough time to really reflect on how he'd misunderstood Trisha. Additionally, I agree with another reviewer how it seems like nothing but tragedy has happened to the characters and everything is high stakes for everyone. No one seems able to catch a break in this book!

Overall, for me this book wasn't absolutely breathtaking, but I found the story really sweet in general and enjoyed the foodie elements. I think I will continue Sonali Dev's series with the Raje family through other Jane Austen retellings!

Dear, dear lord. Where do I even begin with this?

Okay, let me jumpstart this by saying that I did not absolutely hate the book. I had my problems with it, including a slight lag in the very last act which made the process of completing the novel more painful than necessary, but I found it not without its merits. At least, at the time.

What I'm trying to say is that every time I think of a "positive" about the book, my brain immediately jumps to its "negative" counterpart. For example, I really liked how the book was populated with interesting, headstrong female side characters — only to have all of them FAWNING over their brother, the male lead Yash. After a point, it stopped feeling like genuine admiration and more like... a build-up for the romantic lead. Which is not a bad thing, except it's definitely a lazy writing thing.

And then there's Yash himself. And his romantic interest, India. (Yash is Edward Ferrars, by the way, and India is Elinor) (I don't even want to get into what I felt after finding out that the yoga practitioner, adopted-by-a-half-Indian-mother-but-ethnically-Thai character was called India. And that her sister was called China. I don't want to say I was offended because I think that term has been over-used in our cultural lexicon, but I definitely felt a teeny tiny bit enraged. If that's allowed criticism, of course, of a diaspora author by an Indian Indian). Anyway. Yes, Yash and India. Who have no faults except that they are too good and pure and perfect for each other but circumstances yada yada yeah I'm already yawning. China (whose Willoughby was a South Korean actress, by the way) had the far more interesting storyline of homophobia in East Asia vs the absence of it in northern California. But it was pretty much sacrificed at the altar of... "you are too good for me" "no, YOU belong to the people. let me make this sacrifice". This might be a me thing, but how am I supposed to enjoy a romance novel when the lead pairing is just so BLAH????

Another grouse: Jane Austen was funny. Sense and Sensibility is a good comedy. But the laughs in Incense and Sensibility were unfortunately few and far between.

And another grouse: this book was casteist as fuck!!!! The Rajes come from "Indian nobility", and there are constant references to Yash fulfilling his "duty" and the thing that was "born to do" aka be a "good leader". Now there is one specific caste in Indian culture that's supposed to do all this (and usually fails at it, but we will get to that later). And then there is also a very convenient prophecy that their descendant, Yash Raje, could become the President of the United States?? I mean, it's never said so explicitly, but there was a very telling mention while introducing the Raje sister who saw this prophecy.

Will this very meh, 2-star rating/review stop me from reading other Sonali Dev's Jane Austen adaptations? Not yet. I still have some hopes (even if they are dubious).

Will this turn out to be my 2025 brainrot, or will I invent hate-reading through this series? Only time will tell.