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    Recipe for Persuasion: A Novel
    Recipe for Persuasion: A Novel
    Recipe for Persuasion: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    Recipe for Persuasion: A Novel

    Written by Sonali Dev

    Narrated by Soneela Nankani

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors comes another , clever, deeply layered, and heartwarming romantic comedy that follows in the Jane Austen tradition—this time, with a twist on Persuasion.

    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 to join the cast of Cooking with the Stars, the latest hit reality show teaming chefs with celebrities, it seems like just the leap of faith she needs to put her restaurant back on the map. She’s a chef, what’s the worst that could happen? 

    Rico Silva, that’s what.  

    Being paired with a celebrity who was her first love, the man who ghosted her at the worst possible time in her life, only proves what Ashna has always believed: leaps of faith are a recipe for disaster. 

    FIFA winning soccer star Rico Silva isn't too happy to be paired up with Ashna either. Losing Ashna years ago almost destroyed him. The only silver lining to this bizarre situation is that he can finally prove to Ashna that he's definitely over her. 

    But when their catastrophic first meeting goes viral, social media becomes obsessed with their chemistry. The competition on the show is fierce…and so is the simmering desire between Ashna and Rico.  Every minute they spend together rekindles feelings that pull them toward their disastrous past. Will letting go again be another recipe for heartbreak—or a recipe for persuasion…? 

    In Recipe for Persuasion, Sonali Dev once again takes readers on an unforgettable adventure in this fresh, fun, and enchanting romantic comedy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 26, 2020
    ISBN9780063016569
    Recipe for Persuasion: A Novel
    Author

    Sonali Dev

    USA Today Bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love stories that explore issues faced by women around the world. Sonali’s novels have been on Library Journal, NPR, Washington Post, and Kirkus’s Best Books of the year lists. She has won the American Library Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewer Choice Award for best contemporary  romance, multiple RT Seals of Excellence, is a RITA® finalist, and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “Not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog. Find more at sonalidev.com.

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    Reviews for Recipe for Persuasion

    4/5

    216 ratings20 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Such a good book. An excellent modern variation with fantastic narration. A must listen for fans of the genre.
    • 5/5
      Complex plot, fantastically full characters! First of her work I’ve read and won’t be the last. If you’re looking for particularly steamy romance this isn’t that.
    • 3/5
      This is a wonderful story. It’s very heartfelt and believable. The story between mother and daughter as they mended their relationship was masterfully done. Even Ashna and Rico’s story of mending their relationship was enthralling.

      I just felt like I was reading, and all this anticipation built up for when Ashna and Rico would finally “get-together” but instead the author rained on my parade.? I expect just one passionate telling of their physical release, and finally coming together after 12yrs. It fell flat! It was barely better than fade to black sex. I wanted to know what Rico did to help Anaja feel how beautiful she was to him.

      I would only recommend this to someone who just wants a long story to get lost in.
    • 1/5
      Wasn’t bad until politic was brought in…stopped listening and deleted.
    • 5/5
      I am not a huge romance fan, but this one had enough complexity to it to make even my had heart fall in love! I loved the depth of the relationships in this book and the magnitude of the burdens weighing each of the characters down. It felt like they truly had to overcome serious emotional wounds before they could heal enough to live each other and themselves. A beautiful and uplifting story.
    • 3/5
      This Jane Austen inspired contemporary romance novel was a decent, uniquely written diverse-filled read that left me pleasantly surprised on how much I didn't completely hate it. Sure Ashna estranged mother Shobj annoyed me like no other but the rekindle romance between Ansha and Rico made up for it. Overall, it was not a bad read and would definitely keep this author on my radar for future releases.
    • 5/5
      To save her restaurant, Ashna agrees to appear as the master chef on a TV cooking competition show, despite her chronic anxiety. She's shocked when the celebrity she's paired with is her high school boyfriend, soccer star Rico.

      After a string of failed relationships, Rico decides to seek closure with the woman who shattered his heart. When he finds out Ashna is appearing on the TV show, he convinces his agent to book him on it as her partner.

      Seeing Rico again forces Ashna to come to terms with the tragedy that led to their breakup. Will the truth finally set them free from their past so they can move forward with a future together?

      This stunning romance and family saga is an emotional journey through time and across continents. Scarred and broken by her parents' tumultuous marriage, Ashna feels unworthy of love. Though resentful at first of how Ashna sent him away, Rico can't help wondering how the fierce girl he knew has grown into a woman facing debilitating fear. This heart-wrenching novel takes on dark subjects but ends in a spirit of love and hope.
    • 4/5
      This book hit differently than any other, not so bad, that I have no words to say about it and just thankful I have finished it, but also not so good, that I feel lost after its end. The story was good with so many importantly discussed issues, that I really respected the author for writing such strong females characters, and still making mistakes, because they are just humans. However, the story was a bit stretched, I kept thinking(and then what) (what were you doing all along), at the same time, the timeline was so understandable and thinking back, no it would have been so hard to compress it, many important moments would be missed. I liked Rico, and thought he was so grounded like no other hero, I have read about. The side story of her mother was one of my favorite, and her friends were great and supportive.
      The narrator was calm and steady just like the story.
      Overall, a good story that got me confused, so I will give it four stars with a heavy heart, but I just can’t find it in me to add the last one.
    • 4/5
      This is set in the same universe as Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors and you do see the main characters from it but they are only side players here. Ashne is struggling to keep open her father’s famous restaurant 12 years after his death. It is teetering on the edge in part to some employee’s siphoning off money while she was at cooking school and her inability to cook anything but her dad’s old recipes. Rico is a recently retired star soccer player that was forced into it due to a knee injury. He also happens to be her secret high school sweetheart. I picked this up because I thought the cooking show angle that brings them together and the Austin remix would be entertaining but the family drama in Ashne’s past with a distant mother and an alcoholic father can make this an uncomfortable read. There is a HEA at the end and some closure to hurts that the heroine suffered but it can be a bit emotional.

      Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
    • 4/5
      I loved this modern take on Jane Austen's Persuasion. Ashna gave up her love Rico in the mess of her family secrets and pressures. When the two are reunited years later, Ashna is a mess of anxiety and Rico is determined to keep her at arm's length. Yet as they get reacquainted, they both begin to recognize that things are what they seem. Ashna, in particular, finds this reunion a catalyst for uncovering and coming to terms with her family history and relationships in a way that is both healing and hopeful for the future.
    • 5/5
      Packs A Ton Into Final Moments. The first 90% of this book is solid. Lots of drama over all kinds of secrets and misunderstandings, primarily between a couple that split over a decade ago and finds themselves thrust together when one of them decides to force their way into the other's life. But also lots of intergenerational drama between a mother and her daughter. But then that last 10% or so of the book... wow. If you like the various cooking reality shows, you're going to like this book from that angle, but there really is so much more here. Solid use of the old English source material (Jane Austen) brought into more modern contexts and even a much different specific cultural background... and then bringing even that background into yet another more modern setting. Long at nearly 500 pages, but never overly feels it. Very much recommended.
    • 4/5
      The "Persuasion" in the title refers to Jane Austen's Persuasion, as the conceit of this series is that each book in it features Indian American authors living a romance loosely tied to a Jane Austen plot. I didn't find as much similarity as I expected with Austen's work, although there were a few - the reentry into the heroine's life by an old love, a father who wouldn't have been particularly happy with the romance - although in Austen's work, the father is very much alive to disapprove, and in this work, he has been dead for quite some time. I had also thought that Wentworth was much older than Anne, in Persuasion, but it turns out that they were only four years apart. However, Ashna and Rico, our couple in Dev's work, are even closer in age. Ashna owns a restaurant, which she has inherited from her father, a prince who moved to America and became a chef, making somewhat uninspired food, but coasting on his notoriety, as though Harry and Meghan had decided to take up cooking. Ashna was a soccer player in school, where her real passion lay, but her father wanted her to continue the family business, so when he died unexpectedly, she went to culinary school, breaking up with her boyfriend in a 19th century way - the kind where you unexpectedly cut contact, leaving the crucial things unsaid that would resolve the entire issue in the relationship. Her boyfriend, Rico, went on to become a soccer star, and they meet again when they are paired up on a Celebrity Masterchef-type show that Ashna enters as a way to save her failing restaurant. If you like fluffy romantic comedies, the kind that were big in the '90s and 2000's, but seem to be straight to Netflix now (and I do like them, I think that's a shame - but it is the way the world has gone), this book is up your alley. The characters are sweet, and it will leave you craving Indian food and possibly some tea, after all the culinary descriptions.
    • 2/5
      This is the second book I've read by this author, and probably my last. I read A Distant Heart which I thought was okay but not great. That one is about a girl with a serious physical illness; this one is about a girl who needs counseling. Okay, it never says that in the story, but Ashni definitely needed to talk to a professional after the childhood she had.The book is supposedly based on Persuasion by Jane Austen, but it really isn't even close to that story. Persuasion happens to be my favorite of Austen's books, and I also have read a lot of the various fanfic versions of her books. Like the other book by Ms. Dev that I've read, it's a very serious read. This one deals with alcoholism, marital rape, child abuse (mental), male patriarchy, and dysfunctional families. It is not especially romantic but more of a women's lit book. Rico, the hero and famous soccer star, is all right, and some of the more minor characters seem okay, but Ashna is a horror as well as her mother and father. Why Rico is so determined to get involved with them again never made sense to me. There's was a high school romance but he should have moved on ten or more years later. She treated him pretty badly bad then and still does for most of the book.Anyway, it's a depressing story that mixes in a lot of stuff. There are no surprises; every event is blatantly telegraphed to the reader (not to give any spoilers, but did anyone not get the constant blending of teas or the resolution to the political campaign?).Anyway, that's the last book by this author I'll read. Definitely not for me.
    • 4/5
      Recipe for Persuasion is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, set in contemporary Palo Alto, California. Sonali Dev transposed the British aristocrats and sea Captain of the original to an extended family of Indian nobility and the son of a Brazilian soccer legend and his lover. I haven’t read the original, but I have read enough tales involving British aristocrats to welcome the refreshing change of perspective.Ashna and Rico met and fell in love in high school. As the end of their high school years approached, Rico and Ashna independently approach her father, Baba, and ask him to bless their relationship. Baba rejected Rico, saying he is a lower-class, illegitimate bastard unworthy of the daughter of a prince. Rico and Ashna separate, both believing the other rejected them.The story takes place ten years later. Ashna, desperate to save her father’s deteriorating restaurant, agrees to participate in a televised battle of chef-celebrity teams. Rico, an international football star, is still haunted by Ashna’s rejection. Forced into early retirement by a gruesome knee injury, he arranges to team with Ashna in the cooking competition. He no longer has feelings for her, but he wants to know why she dumped him.Recipe for Persuasion is not a typical sunny romance novel. Issues of depression, marital rape, alcoholism, suicide, child abandonment, forced marriage, and unplanned retirement are core elements of the plot. These cloudy elements appear in juxtaposition to Dev’s cloying, heavy-handed depiction of Ashna’s and Rico’s emotional attraction. Like iron shavings to a magnet, they cannot be in the same room without the force of their unspoken attraction pulling them together. Dev relies heavily on clichés. Ashna’s and Rico’s eyes communicate enough messages to fill an encyclopedia. Their hyperacute interpersonal perceptivity would make a telepath like Professor X envious. Hardly a page fails to describe a message their eyes communicated and an intense emotional reaction they experience. Dev’s impressive but excessive inventiveness slows the pace of the story to that of a slog through a muddy field, particularly in the middle of the book.The conclusion was a disappointment. Ashna’s and Rico’s bravura performance in the televised cooking competition revitalizes the restaurant. That sets up the conventional happy-ever-after ending. Unfortunately, Dev stumbles and does a face-plant while reaching for a surprise ending. The nonsensical result is disappointing. Yet… I like the characters and the basic story. I found myself rooting for Ashna and Rico. I wanted them to find each other and to be happy-ever-after. I appreciated Dev’s adroit transformation of Shobi from an unfeeling mother who abandoned her daughter to a woman who deserves our sympathy and admiration. Despite its flaws, Recipe for Persuasion is well worth reading.  
    • 5/5
      I fell in love with this book right from the beginning. Always a sucker for something of the romantic nature, this book had a pleasant spin on that genre. The characters were all lovable (to me, at least) and I found myself rooting for Ashna. I liked the cultural undertones that were a bit different for me, which I feel made the story even better. I haven't read many books that depict romance in a culture different from my own, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The idea of arranged marriages is painful to me, and while I'm not totally ready to 'smash the patriarchy,' I can certainly appreciate the notion of doing so which permeated through the pages of this book. A definite must-read.
    • 4/5
      If you’re looking for modern Austen adaptations, these books are it. As you can surmise from the title, this is Dev’s take on Persuasion, which I enjoyed more than the original, honestly. Dev gave me the development between Anne (Ashna) and Wentworth (Rico) that I was craving from the original. Yes, family relationships and social standing are still a big part of this book, but the focus is on Ashna and Rico, their past, and their feelings for each other when they’re reunited.This book is also a lot darker than the first and deals with themes like marital rape, alcoholism, depression, and suicide – so if you’re looking for a fluffy Austen adaptation, look elsewhere. In fact, there’s so much going on in this story, and a lot of it comes at Ashna at once, that I think she’d benefit from some therapy!My only issues with this book were the idea of fated lovers who don’t feel like a whole person without being in a relationship with the other (just not a trope I’m into) and how expressive the characters’ eyes were. This seems silly (it is, really), but I’ve never read a book where it felt like entire conversations were happening with just peoples’ eyes. I don’t find eyes to be that expressive in real life and I’m not into it when writers focus a lot on what people are “saying” with their eyes.Those are minor complaints, however, and I’m happy to know Dev plans to write her own versions of Sense & Sensibility and Emma. Can’t wait to read them!**note - I never received my copy from the Early Reviewers program, so I went out and bought my own**
    • 4/5
      This is about Ashna Raje, the cousin of Trisha from Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors. Ashna agrees to be involved in a celebrity cooking show because she desperately needs money and publicity to keep her restaurant going -- not expecting to encounter her ex. Rico, a footballer suddenly facing retirement due to an injury, has joined the show because he thinks seeing his high school girlfriend again will help him find closure. Forced to work together, the things they discover -- about themselves, each other and why their relationship fell apart -- are unexpected.This has lots of emotional intensity, which is exactly what I want from Persuasion retellings (even if I wasn’t expecting it to get quite so sad and dark). Ashna and Rico are very aware of each other’s pain, and even when things are tense between them, are quick to help each other. Meanwhile, Ashna’s mother is trying to reconnect. Shobi was absent for significant parts of Ashna’s childhood, and Ashna’s anger at her mother is visceral and intensely understandable. But as Shobi’s story is revealed (to the reader), Shobi becomes unexpectedly sympathetic and her choices make sense. Shobi tried to protect Ashna from the dark and difficult realities, unaware that Ashna has overheard conversations and drawn her own conclusions. Both Ashna and Shobi know only half the story, and have their own dark, traumatic experiences that deeply affect them. (Shobi was coerced into an abusive marriage; Ashna feels responsible for her alcoholic father’s suicide.) Their reconciliation isn’t unrealistic, but I would have found it more realistic, and more satisfying, had it taken more time -- more conversations. And more scenes of things getting better, tentatively but hopefully, would have been welcome relief after everything they have been through. Compelling. I liked it a lot while reading it but I wanted something more from the ending. It feels rather misleading for the blurb to describe this as an “enchanting romantic comedy”. If this was a fic on A03 -- and it easily could be, being a Persuasion retelling -- that’s not what its tags would say!
    • 3/5
      I didn't love this one as much as Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors but I LOVE that it was set in the same universe with the same characters and the focus on food, family, and friendships. Ashna Raje desperately needs to come up with a way to save her restaurant. She's been the owner and chef at Curried Dreams since her father's suicide when she was 18. These days all she seems to do is stress out and have panic attacks and things are only about to get worse when she finds out her best friend has signed her up for a cooking show. She want's to reject it but she desperately needs the money to save her restaurant. When she finds out who her celebrity partner though she wants to curl up under a rock and die. It's her first boyfriend (the one no one knew about) who has gone on to become an internationally famous soccer player. Why is he back in her life after all this time? How long can they keep up the charade that they don't know each other? Ashna was a tough nut to crack but once the reader is able to peel back all the layers to her anxiety and history; she becomes much more understood and beloved. I also really liked Ashna's mother's story-line. I can't wait for the next one in this series!
    • 5/5
      Chef reality show gets very REAL!A very loose nod to Austen's Persuasion. Ashna Raje is trying to hang onto her beloved father's once successful Indian restaurant at all costs. The restaurant is in crisis, millions of dollars were embezzled and now she is doing all she can to lower overheads and rebuild the restaurant, her father's dream. And that's the crux, Ashna needs to discover her own dream.Her cousin persuades as her to take part in a reality tv cooking show. Grand prize of $100,000 Little did Ashna know that the former love of her life would be her partner. Soccer star Rico Silva has used his influence to ensure this. Being thrown together, in the spotlight and off, forces Rico and Ashna to re-evaluate themselves, their reactions and other aspects of their lives.Devastating secrets are forced into the open. For Ashna that includes reassessing her relationship with both her mother and her father. Ashna's father was an Indian Prince sent by his family to the United States to build a new life for himself and his family. Her mother had deserted the Prince and Ashna many years before, returning to India to advocate for girls sporting rights that developed into female empowerment in other areas of life. To say Ashna and her mother's relationship is fraught is a massive understatement.Although Ashna's mother's story raises interesting issues about relationships between generations. Including the idea that current generations accept the status quo of women's rights as they are now without appreciating previous generation's historical situations and the cost to them. Those forgotten battles are the legacy that current generations move forward from.On the surface this story is a very readable modern love story, but underneath, with its richly woven background, darkness hovers, resentments simmer, and redemption possibilities hide around the corner, if one is brave enough.I loved the title. Talking, being open, and forgiving are necessary ingredients for persuasion to happen in this situation.Rethinking this novel, I came to appreciate even more it's depth. I decided this is actually a five star read and not the four star I was originally going with.There are comic moments, but Recipe for Persuasion is far from a romantic comedy. A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley
    • 4/5
      *E-ARC received from Edelweiss Plus with the understanding that I would post an honest review. No money or other goods were exchanged, and all views are my own.*Ashna Raje is a chef trying to keep her deceased father's restaurant afloat, but having a really tough time because she has panic attacks any time she deviates from his recipes. With her business struggling, she reluctantly agrees to her cousins' proposal that she join a baking show where she's paired up with a celebrity. But then her celebrity ends up being Fredirico "Rico" Silva the former soccer star and high school ex-boyfriend that her family never knew about.I really liked the first book in this loose series playing off of Jane Austen's work (one of the families has the last name Dashwood, for example, and they reference Persuasion in this one as well). But I really really can't stand the trope of we're mad at each other because we can't have a conversation, and that's not just the issue between her and Rico, but also with Ashna and her mother. The plot took awhile to get going, and I simply didn't find it as delightful as Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors - though to be fair, that could have more to do with my familiarity of Pride and Prejudice over Persuasion. I wasn't catching all the Easter eggs and getting just as much enjoyment out of that than the story itself. Enjoyable, just not quite reaching my expectations.