Review of Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors

Are you a huge Jane Austen fan? Do you love books that feature food? Then check out my review of Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors!

Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

Published on May 7, 2019 by William Morrow

Synopsis adapted from Goodreads: It is a truth universally acknowledged that only in an overachieving Indian American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep.Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon. But that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family. Trisha is guilty of breaking all three rules. But now she has a chance to redeem herself. So long as she doesn’t repeat old mistakes. Up-and-coming chef DJ Caine has known people like Trisha before, people who judge him by his rough beginnings and place pedigree above character. He needs the lucrative job the Rajes offer, but he values his pride too much to indulge Trisha’s arrogance. And then he discovers that she’s the only surgeon who can save his sister’s life. As the two clash, their assumptions crumble like the spun sugar on one of DJ’s stunning desserts. But before a future can be savored there’s a past to be reckoned with…

Review of Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors

I am a diehard fan of P & P and am always up for a retelling. Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors was a fantastic reimagining that used the overall hate-to-love set-up and the class issues of the original to make a completely unique and captivating story.

Extra points for a gender-swap too, though I think you could argue that there were elements of Darcy and Lizzy in each of the main characters. One was Dr. Trisha Raje, a renowned neurosurgeon descended from Indian royalty. The fact that she has no time to find love exasperates her large, tight-knit family. The other was DJ (whose name was actually Darcy) a chef of Anglo-Indian and African parents who was orphaned and has an adored younger sister.

When DJ cooks for a fancy party hosted by a member of Trisha’s family, they have a meet-not-so-cute where she puts her foot (and his food) in her mouth and he thinks she’s rude, snobbish and completely horrible. They soon realize she’s the doctor set to operate on his sister, and awkwardness and continued mutual hatred ensues.

My favorite parts of the story were the food and the family relationships. Trisha has a close, boisterous family, and DJ clearly dotes on his sister. The food descriptions made me starving (and made me feel really sorry for myself as I was reading this on a plane with only a bag of pretzel nuggets for company).

I loved Trisha as a doctor, but at times I felt that the medical drama with DJ’s sister needed its own book. And there was a scandal with Trisha’s brother (and a dastardly female Wickham character) that I think could have been rethought a bit.

But overall I absolutely enjoyed this. It felt a little like Pride and Prejudice meets a family reality TV show with a dash of Food Network. Which was just about perfect for me as a reader!

Have you read this? Tell me what you thought!

Love Pride and Prejudice retellings? Check out my reviews of Pride by Ibi Zoboi, and The Austen Playbook!