A review by thaliareads
Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

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.