But what Sonali Devi nailed perfectly in this retelling is the incredible PINING. The bare-bones of Persuasion are definitely present in this retelling. I think Sonali Dev did a good job translating Persuasion to a contemporary context set in the world of football and cuisine. Today, women have a lot more options and are more financially independent. How do you write a modern Anne Elliot without making her seem like a wimp? The Regency time period is different and Anne is definitely a product of her time, given the social and economic restrictions placed on women back then. And I bet that writing a second chance romance à la Persuasion is 10 times harder.

Second chance romance is probably one of the hardest tropes to write. To Ashna’s surprise (and dismay), she gets paired up with her first love, Frederico Silva, who is now a world-renowned football player. She decides to participate because 1) it is good publicity for Curried Dreams and 2) the winning prize is a substantial amount of money that she can use to restore the restaurant. Ashna is offered the opportunity to compete in a reality cooking show on the Food Network where chefs are paired with celebrities.

In Recipe for Persuasion, we have Chef Ashna Raje whose father’s legacy, a restaurant named Curried Dreams, is in shambles. If I had to sum up Persuasion in one sentence: Recipe for Persuasion has the honour of being my very first Persuasion retelling. My deep love for Persuasion is partly why I’ve never actually read a Persuasion retelling before this one. It has the best love letter (and love declaration) of all time. It is the gold standard for second chance romance. It is the original second chance romance. Persuasion is hands down my favourite Jane Austen book. Look for the “Scroll down further for the content warning” sign. Note: There is a content warning at the very end of my review. I received an ALC from Harper Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Recipe for persuasion sonali dev