Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

9 reviews

thaliareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sonali Dev has done it again, turning a Jane Austen classic into an entirely unique modern retelling. While it is apparent that the plot is mimicking Persuasion, it doesn't feel verbatim or as simple as a retelling, it feels like something new. 

I loved the idea of the celebrity and pro cooking contest and I enjoyed seeing Ashna work through the trauma she's grown into with the death of her father and the absence of her mother. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

This book does have a very high amount of content warnings. Ashna's mother has had a very hard life dealing with bigotry, classism, and sexism from her father first and then the man she was forced to marry. He was emotionally abusive as well as physically abusive leading to domestic abuse and even marital rape. Ashna's father struggled with alcoholism his entire life and eventually that compounded and led to his eventual suicide leaving Ashna feeling the grief of the loss as well as the blame for not being able to prevent it, leading to the panic attacks she sometimes suffers when trying to cook. There are some mentions and discussions of how Rico lost his parents in a car accident when he was young.

harperhoney's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

katemch's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

the_wistful_word_witch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

After reading the first book in the Raje Family series, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into the next book. Recipe for Persuasion is oh so heartbreaking, but so full of the fragile hope of love and forgiveness. It's a perfect blend, just like one of Ashna's teas.

You don't see a ton of Ashna in the first book, so I was glad to get this deeper look at her life as a Raje cousin determined to save her father's failing restaurant while avoiding her estranged mother. So determined in fact that she makes the wild decision to participate in a reality TV show about cooking.

Which is where her old flame, Rico, comes into play. He's still not over Ashna, and it's clear she's still not over him. But life red-carded them. And they were both so young and so scared to share their secrets that they let those fears rip them apart and send them down completely unexpected paths. But now, he's stepping off the pitch and back into Ashna's life.

I also loved getting peeks into Ashna's and her mother Shoban's pasts, despite how tragic it all was. There are more secrets there, which just reinforces the message about open, honest, clear communication from the first book. Their estrangement really tugged on my heart strings as I am going though something similar, although for vastly different reasons. It helped me connect with Ashna even more.

Of course, my heart melted at the happily-ever-after ending, my tears of sorrow turning to tears of joy. This series just keeps getting better and better...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

shaipanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was everything to me. I’ve never actually read Persuasion but this 100% made me want to and despite this being insanely reliant on the miscommunication trope and it being at times overly complicated I loved it so much 
Literally read it in just over 24 hours lol so so so good but definitely be aware of content warnings because this book may be a romance but it’s really dark and has a lot of heavy topics 
Edit: switched it from 5 to 4.75 though bc I just remember like nothing about it lol and I can’t keep something rated 5 stars if i don’t remember anything about it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Islamophobia and Classism

Minor: Abortion

hngisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

jessiemenk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

ticktock's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

alisanti's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault