Book Review: Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Romance

This book made me realize I want to read more books with south Asian main characters. This felt so familiar and so much like home. Such a cozy read!

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Synopsis:

Review:

Radha and Jai were very real characters. The problems and issues they faced, no matter how different, were valid.

Even though I don't know the first thing about dance, I could understand how much it sucked how she lost her dance joy after the whole incident when she would start feeling it again a little bit after she met Jai. The way she was described while dancing really did let me realize how good she was.

Jai had a completely different issue than Radha. While Radha never had to worry about money or work, Jai is ready to throw his future away just to help out in his family shop. I really related to Jai more than Radha. Jai felt the need to help his family rather than going to college because he wasn't able to help when he was younger and was ready to take any responsibility needed to help the overall family. The family oriented aspect of him was what I really related with him on. I would do anything for my family and so would he.

Though, Jai was kind of idiotic stubborn (not that this took away from the book). It just made me roll my eyes because it reminded me of..well..me. His family, literally everyone around him, was like “go to college!!”. Yet, it wasn't until the very very end where he was like “yeah you guys are right”. But, the thing that pushed him to do it made sense it the rest of the context of why he wasn't going to college, and honestly was quite sweet too. Overall, I loved Jai’s character development and story. He definitely felt more like the main character than Radha. But I believe dancer’s will relate to Radha a lot more than I could because they might have a better time understanding the feelings she’s having.

I loved the development in Radha’s relationships. I was the type of friendship she has with her cousin in India, even though they have an age gap. I loved their dynamic so much! Seeing her and her father’s connection become closer and stronger through cooking was amazing. I loved the extra touch of having Radha create her own cookbook with her own touches to the recipes.

Like father once told me, it's not about picking a stable job, it's about following the right dream.”

Radha and Jai supported each other so much and in exactly the way the other needed. Radha pushed Jai, sometimes crossing a line of his, but she wanted the best for him. Jai carefully tried to push Radha back into dance because he saw the sheer talent in her. Though, c'mon, the author gave us the miscommunication trope not once, but twice. And when Jai loses his anger, it's not pretty, he can get pretty offensive. Other than that, these two were the cutest.

I loved the large amounts of Indian cultural aspects included. I understood a lot of them and they felt very familiar since I am also from the South Asian area. It just felt so real, I loved it completely.

The plot was well paced. I never felt really uninterested, other than the little miscommunication parts. The dance routines and cooking kept things interesting and moving. I loved all the relationships and friendships throughout the book, the side characters were so amazing!

Dream for yourself, Jai. You do what you want. We are not holding you back. You are the only one holding you back.”

Overall,

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