I wasn’t a huge fan of this book.
It is a fun romance with decent characters. I did feel that the story was very superficial and that it was very unforgettable

Unable to give feedback on this title as no longer have access to the document and it appears I forgot to download.

Recipes To Tempt....
A tale of familial bonds, life, identity, love and cooking! Engaging reading with recipes to tempt, colourful and enticing descriptions and some poignant scenes.

Thank you to Headline for allowing me to read this in return for a review.

I gave this book 3.5 stars (though closer to a 4 than 3 hence the rating here).

This book follows Addy who's been brought up with a Catholic Irish mother and a Muslim Pakistani grandmother. Her father passed away when she was younger and continues to connect with her roots in Pakistan by writing down recipes her and her nana cook together. After finding something out which destroys Addy, she goes on a trip to Lahore with her best friend Jen and Nana to discover more about her father's side of the family. Here, she begins a mission to find her true self, along with family secrets along the way.

My favourite thing about this was following Addy along her journey to Lahore to meet her family and learn more about life in the city. I felt like I was learning a lot as well along the way. Despite the fact that I had guessed nearly all of the major plot twists, I still found it a fun read, especially for summer. It felt like I was also exploring Lahore, despite not being able to due to lockdown.

I will most certainly be trying out one of the recipes at the back of the book in the future as they all sounded absolutely scrumptious. I will now look out for more of Hina Belitz's work in the future!

I got some Crazy Rich Asians vibes from this book and the cover looks amazing, I was so excited to read this book. But it sat on my kindle for way too long before I decided to give it a go and I almost wish I hadn't It wasn't for me, nothing special, nothing that stood out and I was disappointed.

The cover of this book gave me "Crazy Rich Asians" vibes, I love it and I think it's initially what attracted me to the book. I thought the premise for the book sounded really interesting and had a lot of potential but for this book just fell a bit flat. I was expecting a really light-hearted and easy summer read but was disappointed. What I like most about this book were the recipe sections, they had the light-hearted aspect I was hoping for throughout the book and I think the story may have been a lot more enjoyable and entertaining if there had been more of a focus on the cooking. I usually love books the focus on female family relationships but Addy and her Nana just didn't tick the boxes for me, I felt they were only partially developed. The writing failed to completely engage me, with exception of the recipes, I just did not feel the urge to pick this book up.
Really wanted to love this book but was left disappointed.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy.

A Love Letter to Food, Faith and Family.

Synopsis:
Newly-wed Irish Pakistani Addy is a gifted cook and aspiring chef. She hopes to open her own restaurant one day or work for a Michelin-starred restaurant, and is married to the man of her dreams, Gabe. When her marriage comes under strain, Addy, her devoted Nana and her best friend Jen take a trip to Lahore to reconnect with Addy’s Pakistani family. There, she learns about how to accept the bad with the good in life, and to let go of what she can’t change, as well as discovering some truths about her own extended family.

My review:
This is a readable, simply-written novella that on the surface follows all the familiar conventions of chick-lit: hopeful young woman, dastardly handsome man, breakdown of relationship and the subsequent journey of self-discovery as the heroine searches for the strength to move on. However what stops it from being just another chick-lit novel for me was its focus on two things: the alchemy of food to transform our emotions, and the influence of faith and spirituality. This infusion of mysticism and magic realism is, I think, unusual in this genre and possibly not for everyone, but it worked for me.

My favourite thing about this book (and this may or may not have something to do with the fact that I read it while fasting) are the sumptuous descriptions of food. Each chapter opens with a recipe for a dish that is also supposed to be a stimulant for positive emotions like love or happiness, or a cure for various emotional ailments such as sadness, anger, or guilt. The recipes have names like “Unpleasant-Cancelling Lentils” or “Love Me Forever Lamb”, and they also detail the flavours and textures of the dish, its “artistry” – the powers that make it work, and its purpose. The descriptions are sensuous and tantalising and for me were the most enjoyable part of the book, along with gems such as “garlic bread is the infant child of the muscular Adonis that is chilli chutney.” I quite agree!

The author takes you on a journey to another place and culture, which I enjoyed reading about, although I felt it was sometimes in danger of slipping into clichés painting the streets of Lahore as a rural backwater. For instance, “A man in dirtcoloured clothing stood behind a single wooden cart, piled impossibly high with fruit and vegetables. Behind him, a glass-eyed ox stood lazily eating scraps of mangled green and brown herbiage...”

Where I felt a little more let down by the writing was in the unevenness of the characterisation. While Nana shines through as an eccentric, devoted tour de force with the added complexity of life experience, everybody else is a little flat. Addy’s mother comes across as bitter and cold, Addy herself was a bit too self-absorbed and at times histrionic for my liking, and Jen feels like a spare part for much of the book. Without giving away spoilers, I felt that the characters’ motivations were not always convincingly or thoroughly explored enough.

I also had trouble with the “accept everything” mantra. The book opens with a quote by Nietzsche referring to amor fati; this philosophy clearly underpins the narrative, but I think Addy could have had more of a struggle to get to that point, as she appears to be quite passive and lets go of her grievances pretty much immediately. Part of the problem here is that Belitz appears to resort to telling instead of showing. For instance, “It was amazing to me how quickly a new environment, new people, a new country could change my outlook...” Her entire transformation is summed up in a sentence or two and I would have liked to have seen her encounters with the environment and the people a little more fleshed out before this statement.

Overall, this is an enjoyably light read with some deliciously descriptive food-writing. The romance isn’t for me but it would make the perfect beach read (if any of us were going on holiday!).
Thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

dnf i couldnt get myself through this one, i was not a fan at all but enjoy the writing style i will pick up more from the author because of that

I really wanted to enjoy To Lahore With Love, but this book was so disappointing. I was looking forward to a fun, light-hearted and entertaining story set in an exciting location, but the story fell flat from the start, with a plot that ranged from slow to unbelievable and writing that felt bland.

Addy Mayford is a half Pakistani, half Irish woman, who loves cooking and her husband Gabe. Her life is a mostly idyllic dream, a haze of romance and sumptuous dishes, until her husband walks out on her. To help Addy heal, her grandmother, 'Nana', suggests a trip to Lahore. Nana and Addy's best friend Jen join her on the trip, where Addy explores the city, meets family members and encounters a new man.

I struggled to relate to or like Addy at all, which made the book very difficult to read. I appreciated the attempt by Belitz to explore the identity issues that Addy faces, being of mixed heritage, however she simply did not explore it enough making it difficult to understand or believe, at the best of times. I couldn't understand how Addy hid her Pakistani heritage from Gabe for the entire duration of their relationship until their engagement - which was made even more improbably by the fact that their first conversations all focused on aspects of her grandmother's culture. This simply didn't make sense to me, from a plot point of view. She also never addresses her husband's ignorance of her culture, such as his greeting her Muslim grandmother with "Namaste". This could have all been salvaged if it had been addressed in some way, if Addy's trip to Lahore helped her to become more culturally aware, more in touch with her heritage and accepting of it. Instead, this storyline had no resolution and there was no sign by the end of the book that Addy had engaged with her heritage on a deeper level or that she felt like anything more than an Irish girl in Pakistan. Similarly, Belitz touched on the issue of infertility, but then abandoned the issue and never returned to it again.

Another issue that I had with this book was the pacing. Belitz spends the first chunk of the book taking us through Addy's childhood, her youth, the beginnings of her relationship with Gabe. I think that the book would been better if these details were littered throughout the book, instead of having a significant chunk of the book dedicated to events that had no real impact on the main plot. Instead, this approach meant that the book started on the back foot, and the section of the book that is set in Lahore felt rushed and its events felt shallow.

It also meant that the characters felt two dimensional. I think that Belitz saw certain scenes as essential to introduce us to characters of the novel, but I think that she overestimated how much introduction a character needs; we do not need to read an entire chapter of Addy and Jen as schoolgirls to understand that they are close friends., and we do not need entire chapters dedicated to the beginnings of Addy and Gabe's relationship to understand that she is in love with him. We could simply see these characters in action, and infer this from the text. Generally, Belitz tells, instead of shows us, everything in this book, which makes the writing fall flat and removes the need for imagination and connection with the book; there are whole chunks where we are walked through every feeling and thought that Addy has, instead of being made to feel what she is feeling.

One part of this book that showed potential for me was the recipes that feature in between each chapter. This sections had the light-hearted, whimsical tone that I think could have made the book more entertaining, instead of the more serious approach that was taken. They reminded me of the musical Waitress, and had hints of a romantic, other-worldly tone that could have really saved this book.

Overall, I really did not enjoy this book. I wish that I had, but the aspects of this book that could have made it stand out were just not explored properly. The plot, characters and writing were simply undercooked (pun intended).

To Lahore with Love by Hina Belitz is a bit disappointing. The initial premise of a multicultural, multigenerational, all women’s household was intriguing but the story becomes a lukewarm rite of passage that never reaches its full potential.

It has all the ingredients of a great story- cooking as a form of bonding between the two main characters- Addy and Nana, a family secret, the city of Lahore as a backdrop and a relatively strong character in Nana. But the book’s biggest weakness is in its writing. The tone is very flat all through and even in dramatic moments, Blitz’s language fails to engage.

The book could be a great cookbook interspersed with family narratives rather than the other way around. If cooking as a theme excites you then the recipes at the end may be just the thing for you. They read delicious and I did love the creative names. However, if it’s a great book you are looking for, then this is not it. The cover design and the title, also do not do justice to the book. It sets you up to expect the next Kevin Kwan from Pakistan but what you get is much less fun.

Thanks @netgalley for an ARC of the book.

Addy Mayford is from two worlds; raised by an Irish mother and Pakistani Nana in London, she has always struggled with her identity. Her upbringing has been filled with love, food, and stories, but there has always been the shadow of her father’s death when Addy was a child. At twenty-five, everything in Addy’s life seems to be going fine; with the support of her loving husband Gabe, she dreams of becoming a chef. No matter what problems Addy faces, there’s always a recipe from her book that will make everything ok, as if my magic. But when Addy discovers a secret that turns her life upside down, she agrees to go with Nana to her father’s home city. Amid the colours and flavours of Lahore, Addy discovers what she really wants in life and accepts all that she is.

I really enjoyed this wonderful coming-of-age story. It’s a light, easy, uplifting read. Addy, while a little naïve, is a likeable character and I enjoyed her journey. My favourite character is Nana, who is quirky and full of spirit. The first part of the story is about Addy’s life in London and it was interesting to read about Addy’s mixed heritage and the importance of food and storytelling in her upbringing. The story really comes alive when Addy travels to Lahore. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the bustling, sweltering, colourful city. Some of my favourite parts were Addy and Nana’s mouth-watering recipes with a hint of magic.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys uplifting stories full of food and love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Review for the opportunity to read and review this title.

'To Lahore, With Love' is the story of Addy, a British woman with an infectious love of cooking, and her journey to discovering her true self when her life in London is turned upside down. We learn that she has been raised as British, aware of both her Irish and Pakistani heritage, and that she's perfectly content with little knowledge of the side of her family from Pakistan- namely, the now-deceased father who left when she was younger- until a secret about her marriage sends her spiralling into depression and, very suddenly, on a healing trip to Lahore.

For the first half of this book, I thought it was good. The writing style throughout is easy and very readable, and the recipes at the start of each chapter provided such refreshing mini-commentaries on the story as a whole that I found myself to be as excited about what she would be cooking next as I was about the progression of the story. I liked Addy as a character and I loved how passionate she was about cooking, which was and will always be her truest passion.

It was the second half of the book that made me fall in love with it, though. As soon as Addy reached Lahore, her character development increased exponentially. The way she connected with the city and her newfound family was beautiful to read and her changed perspective was drastic and yet completely believable. I found myself seriously rooting for her towards the end of the novel, grinning like an idiot when she did something I was proud of. It's a feeling I haven't felt about a book for a while and it was an absolute pleasure to experience. I must say that Addy makes a lot of discoveries that I didn't always find to be quite as believable or developed as other aspects of the book towards the end, but the growth visible in her responses alone to these made them completely necessary, in my opinion.

As well as the characters, two things that can't be ignored about this book are the recipes and the scene setting. Both of these elements were huge parts of the story and I found them to be so beautifully done that I was, at times, starving for some of the delicious meals that Addy described, tasting them from the descriptions alone, and craving a trip to Lahore. The portrayal of Pakistan was not always idyllic, but the overall description was stunning, with the vibrant sounds, atmospheres and (specifically for Addy) flavours being so incredibly believable. This book contains the kinds of descriptions that make you desperate to go and see the featured places for yourself and I certainly find that, now I've finished it, I've got serious wanderlust.

This book is perfect if you're looking for escapism through a funny, reassuring, and easy read. With the current incapacity to leave the house, I found the ability to escape to Lahore in this story incredibly calming and refreshing. It made me forget my surroundings for hours whilst I kept turning the pages and I'm sure that it would have the same effect on anyone else who picks it up.

Didn’t enjoy this book, found it very confusing & too many things going on for me to focus, being Pakistani myself this book didn’t relate with typical Pakistani’s at all

I really wanted to enjoy this novel, but unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it.
When Addy’s husband cheats on her, she goes to Lahore with her Pakistani grandmother and her best friend. Whilst there, she makes some shocking discoveries, as well as maybe finding love again.
I found the plot predictable, and whilst Hina Belitz writes beautifully about food I did not find her characterisation or description of locations nearly so good. I don’t think this book was a good fit for me

Not badly written and I enjoyed the idea of food well-made with love as a form of therapy but found the main character annoying. She marries at 18, by 20 she is so worried about not falling pregnant she seeks medical advice, discovers her husband cheating and goes to Lahore with her grandmother to get over the shock. That's not the problem. The problem is that her voice is so overly mature - I'm meant to consider her wisdom, in cookery form, as good advice. While I don't doubt there are 20 year olds with this level of wisdom I'm just not convinced this girl is one of them.

Perhaps I am about 30 years too old for the book....

Interesting and enjoyable read. I’d definitely recommend this one. Read over a few evenings and has been a satisfactory read.

Any story set in the Indian sub continent is great to read, this story too was heartwarming. Reminiscent of things and culture which is so familiar yet with subtle yet important differences.