Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev (The Rajes 1)

A few months back, I read an ARC of the most recent book in The Rajes series, Incense and Sensibility, and it made me want to know more about this family, so I finally picked up #1, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors.

This book follows middle daughter, Trisha, a neurosurgeon, as she tries to convince a patient to have a surgery that will save her life, but remove her sight. The patients brother, DJ (DARCY JAMES) is an amazing chef, and friend to Trisha’s cousin. He gets a job catering Trisha’s older brothers Gubernatorial fundraising dinner and everything the family does is being scrutinized. Old demons from Trisha’s past crop up, looking for trouble and her pretentiousness has her and DJ snapping at each other for over half the book.

Look, I get it, Elizabeth and Darcy hate each other for most of P&P and then all of a sudden are in love, but in this story, it felt like all the family drama upstaged their journey. Also, there is zero sex in this book. Just some kissing at the end. So, for a no-sex book, the romantic relationship between the characters needed to be INTENSE. I was going to give it 2 stars, but I’m kicking it up to three because it did remind me to be brave through some of my insecurities and I liked that.

Lastly, this book has ALL THE CONTENT WARNINGS. There are a lot of conversations about death, lots of histories of rape/trauma, cops pulling guns on black people, lots of scenes in hospitals, difficult pregnancies and miscarriages. If you love tightly woven drama, then this is a great book. If you are worried about being triggered…pass on this one. -Ford