I do love a JA retelling! I’ve read so many of them and plan to bore you with so many reviews. This new series by Sonali Dev forces on the Raje family. In the first book, Pride , Prejudice and Other Flavors, we meet Dr Trisha Raje who is an acclaimed neurosurgeon. The immigrant Indian family is descended from royalty and now settled in San Francisco. We learn that Trisha broke some trust with the family over a scandal with her older brother who is an aspiring politician and her father won’t get past it. There is an up and coming chef who’s sister needs brain surgery and immediately he clashes with the dr, She makes assumptions about chefs and is arrogant in her status. He is full of Pride and won’t let her get away with her prejudice but he also needs her help. Of course you know where this is going! I loved the cultural take on the story. The food descriptions are yummy! This retelling manages to be original by adding in family subplots, touching on racism and having some new original characters. An easy 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Dev’s second book in the series is Recipe for Persuasion. I liked this one also but not quite as much as the first book. Persuasion is not my favorite of the JA novels but this one was an original take on the classic. Chef Ashna Raje is the cousin of Dr Trisha Raje and is trying to keep her family's Indian restaurant afloat. She joins a reality cooking show where the chefs are teamed up with a celebrity, aka dancing with the stars, to compete for a large payoff that could keep her business alive. She gets paired with celebrity soccer star Rico Silva . Of course they have a history and losing Ashna years ago was extremely painful and something he hasn’t moved on from. This retelling , similar to the first one, did a great job of making it original enough to be super interesting. There are some heavy topics so it’s not a breezy romance. We go back and forth from Ashna to her mother who was forced into an arranged marriage, an alcoholic father and child neglect. I loved the food in the story and getting to learn more about this family. It was a bit heavier then I expected and that slowed me down in the first half. I was expecting a fun romance and I’m not sure I would classify it as such. But, started to love the characters and even though I knew how this would turn out, I was still anxious to get there. I give this 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Because of the way she handled the story and because I really cared about these characters people.
The 3rd book in the series is due out in July and I can’t wait!
Let's talk food. I don't eat a lot of Indian food but as i expand my horizons and read more diverse characters, I'd also like to do the same with my food. So, I found this recipe on the Skinnytaste.com site. It is Salmond Coconut Curry with Spinach and Chickpeas. I'm always a little afraid of curry but this was delicious. https://www.skinnytaste.com/salmon-coconut-curry-with-spinach-and-chickpeas/
I highly recommend it. I did omit the Fresno Chili and i couldn't find the curry powder it called for so substituted with what my store had. Overall delicious and new flavors for me! I will make this one again!
For Recipe for Persuasion I felt inspired by some of the fresh fruit she used and i made myself a Mango Blackberry vodka cooler! Found this one on Pinterest! My mango wasn't super ripe so this was good but could have been better if I found a good mango. Still, delicious and refreshing.
More JA to come!
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