Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev | Summer Quickies
Romance at a Glance is a podcast where hosts Bridget and Shani review romance novels and interview some of romance’s biggest authors diving into candid conversations about life, relationships, and sexual desires. Expect 100% honest reviews, spontaneous singing, life lessons, indecent anecdotes, and bawdy humor. Leave us a rating and review on iTunes.
Full transcript available below.
Book Review at a Glance
Heroine Rating: Ashna
Shani: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Bridget: 🍑🍑🍑
Hero Rating: Rico
Shani: 🍆🍆🍆
Bridget: 🍆🍆🍆🍆
McDreamy to Mc Steamy:
Shani: McDreamy
Bridget: McDreamy butttt for some reason I wasn’t super connected with their love
Classy to Nasty:
Vanilla, PG 13 Fade to Black
Romance at a Glance Reviews Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev
Season finale of our contemporary summer quickies with Recipe for Persuasion
We got the chance to interview Sonali on the podcast. You can check that out here.
Trigger warnings for this week's ep: marital rape, suicide, alcoholism, and child neglect.
Sometimes the hardest thing is when you pick up a book with the expectations that it is going to be one thing (in this case a fun rom-com-esque romance novel) and then you are delivered something completely different (a more heavy, trigger-warning containing family drama with a romance).
We are trying to figure out ways that we can start to understand these distinctions before we get into a book. Because as you’ll hear in the episode, if we were reviewing this not as a romance, our review would be higher. The complexity of the world-building and character development we thought was superb. Sonali can write. Authors should take note of this woman and how she crafts 3-dimensional characters. But we weren’t delivered what we were promised and were not aware of all the triggers in this book before beginning it.
This is a very loose interpretation of Persuasion. If you are coming with Jane Austen feels then this is not the book for you. However, it is a well-written story.
Some major points we discussed:
2nd chance romance - liked first ½ better than 2nd half
Bridget loves soccer. This book gave her Bend it Like Beckham vibes when she was describing/flashing back to their high school love and her hiding the soccer from her parents.
Loved that Rico makes a super rash decision to go on this cooking show and be paired with Ashna and she almost cuts off her toes.
Calling out her mom for getting her life dream and then realizing she missed out on her daughter’s life.
Liked the cousins/aunt dynamics
Happy she got over her block about cooking with help from him (calling her out), but that she went by herself and made the decision and then didn’t let him dictate they should slow down and she didn’t know her own mind.
PG-13 - Fade to black (but why?!)
Thought her mom’s martial rape scene was so sad. And sadly probably not that rare. But I did love that she immediately kicked her dad out and never saw him again and used the power of the family for good (and still loved the mother in law and sister in law)
Rico - questioning her and challenging her but also supporting her and hiding her.
The bromance between her cousin and rico (him being on the campaign)
Thought it was sort of believable because of the PTSD that she would forget how terrible her father was
On Romance at a Glance, we discuss and review all genres of romance novels, as well as get into the nitty-gritty of real-life romance, relationships, and sex... while cracking each other up. Expect some spontaneous singing, funny anecdotes, honest reviews, and naughty language.
Quick Guide Review of the Book and Notes
Book Title: Recipe for Persuasion
Author: Sonali Dev
Audio Narrator: Soneela Nankani
Part of a Series: Yes, Book #2 of the Rajes (Book #1 Pride, Prejudice and Other Spices)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Art:
Shani: Thought it was going to be lighthearted. Liked the brown people.
Bridget: The illustrated cover had nice colors, definitely gave me the vibe of the rom-com, and the two main characters weren’t white. However, this book is much darker and tackles some darker subjects including marital rape, suicide, alcoholism, and child neglect.
Synopsis: Chef Ashna Raje desperately needs a new strategy. How else can she save her beloved restaurant and prove to her estranged, overachieving mother that she isn’t a complete screw-up? When she’s asked/coerced by her cousins to join the cast of Cooking with the Stars she is in a panic, she can only cook the recipes exactly as her father did.
And then, to make matters worse, she is paired with retired footballer heartthrob Rico Silva, her secret high school boyfriend.
Rico has come back for closure to figure out what happened to make the love of his life turn her on him after high school. What he didn’t expect was to feel the same spark for her or for her to feel like he wronged her.
Ashna’s mom comes back from India to try to fix their estranged relationship and explain her life choices to her. Can Ashna get over the trauma of her childhood to open back up to Rico?
Heroine Rating: Ashna
Shani: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Bridget: 🍑🍑🍑 I liked Ashna - I think she overcame a lot in her life and finally flourished and forgave herself and everyone else for the past so she could move forward. Like that she didn’t take shit from her mom. Liked that she slowly let Rico back into her heart. The joy she made blending her chai teas.
Hero Rating: Rico
Shani: 🍆🍆🍆
Bridget: 🍆🍆🍆🍆 A sexy football from brazil but partially raised in the US and playing in the Premier League is a literal wet dream. Happy he found a new calling with the campaign strategy and I loved how much he adored and worshipped her.
McDreamy to Mc Steamy:
Shani: McDreamy
Bridget: McDreamy butttt for some reason i wasn’t super connected with their love
Classy to Nasty:
Vanilla, PG 13 Fade to Black
Favorite Lines in the Book:
Shani:
“I do believe I tried everything... logic bribery punishment separation.” - Ashna’s grandma about her dad
“Do you really think I would propose to you on live television. Its like you think I don’t know you at all.”
“Thanks for knowing me. Also I would have killed you if you had of done it. There were knives there.” Rico and Ashna about his private proposal
Bridget:
The downside of choosing cowardice was that there was only so long you could hide. Problems were patient. They always waited you out. — Ashna deciding to face the music
Favorite Review:
Shani’s from Goodreads:
Ashna’s story really should have been two books! One about Ashna’s mother Shobi-and her hellacious relationship with Ashna’s dad- and another about Ashna and Rico. For me, the story fell short. The content was simply...too much to process..
At this point, I can tell you more about Ashna’s family drama more than I can about her and Rico, much less their second chance together, because the family drama consumed all the space. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the book was advertised differently. Total misconception on my part, so please don’t let this deter you from giving this book a try! Sonali Dev has a beautiful writing style and she tells a really good tale that makes you think. This one just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Bridget’s from Goodreads:
Lubnaa (Romance Library) rated it 3 stars
…...
Why the 3 star rating? Well, this book isn’t just about Ashna and Rico. Ashna’s mom also gets her own story through flashbacks and in present time as well. I can understand why the author chose to tell Ashna’s mom’s story in detail, but I’m just not a fan of this choice. First of all, I really disliked the flashback technique the author used – it was confusing and disorienting. Second of all, while Ashna’s mom has gone through some terrible things, I couldn’t for the life of me bring myself to care about her.
…. - read her full review on goodreads
Worth the Read?
Shani: Yes if you go in knowing about the trigger warnings and that it is more women’s fiction.
Bridget: 3 stars - I was definitely intrigued by the family enough that I’d read the next book. 2nd chance romance is not my favorite trope. I liked the gender-swapping of the first book (Pride Prejudice and other spices), but like Shani said, know what you’re getting into.
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Full Podcast Transcript
Recommendations:
Welcome to Romance at a Glance, a podcast that uses romance novels to dive into candid conversations about life, relationship dynamics, and sexual desires.
As hosts Bridget and Shani review books and interview some of romance’s biggest authors, they explore the breadth of the genre, openly embracing the sex, diverse couplings, and taboo in order to create a safe space for listeners to be exposed to different lifestyles, fantasies, and to pique their naughty curiosity.
Expect 100% honest reviews, spontaneous singing, life lessons, indecent anecdotes, and bawdy humor.
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