This YA novel focuses on Rubi, the high school daughter of Cuban immigrants who own and operate two bakeries in southern California. Her parents’ greatest hope for her: to get a scholarship and college education at the prestigious Alma University. But Rubi’s heart is forever drawn to the food and culture of her homeland, despite her parents’ objections to following in their footsteps.

When her plans for Alma hit a serious setback, she enlists the help of Ryan, a cute surfer, to assist her in academics, while also entering a local bake-off competition on a whim. When her baked creations land her in the judges’ favor as the competition continues, Rubi is faced with a dilemma: Does she continue to pursue her passion for baking or should she follow the path her parents have for her?

This novel focuses on the lives of immigrants who come to the United States with hopes and dreams for themselves and their children, and the first generation children who strive to honor their parents’ journey and struggle. It celebrates the food and culture of Cuba, while seeking to educate us on its history. It also highlights microaggressions that many immigrants face as they seek opportunities for education and employment in the United States.

I loved learning about Cuba: its food, culture, and history. The food descriptions in this book are phenomenal (definitely do not read this on an empty stomach)!! I also liked the connection Rubi has with her parents and her friends, and reading about her struggle to honor her parents’ dreams, while staying true to her heart. I will say that the love connection with Ryan seemed a bit insta-love and surface-level for me, and I did struggle to feel the meaning behind that relationship. Also, the book did wrap up a bit too neatly for me towards the end. But overall, if you enjoy YA books focusing on food, culture, and the experience of immigrants in our country, you should read this book!

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy, in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a fun and cute book! I loved the whole Bake Off element because I’m obsessed with those kind of shows and the family dynamics were so accurate and I loved seeing it all play out. Even put a few tears in my eyes. Recommend to anyone who loves baking and cute stories about family love

A fun, feel-good summer read! Rubi Ramos is trying to follow the plan her parents have laid out for her: get into Alma University and become a successful attorney. The only problem is she gets waitlisted. If she wants to solve this problem before her parents find out, she’ll need a cute tutor to help her improve her math skills–enter Ryan, the sweetest math genius surfer. Everything is going according to plan until a baking competition comes to town and Rubi can’t resist entering. Baking is her true passion. Now Rubi is at a crossroads, will she pursue her parents’ dream or her own?

I had a wonderful time reading this book! It’s the perfect summer read: light, fun, and meaningful. This is a story about shedding others’ expectations and finding the strength and conviction to chase after your dream. If you’re looking for a sweet, coming-of-age story full of fantastic food and an adorable love interest, check this book out!

(Actual: 3.75) Super cute YA romcom with an ensemble cast of characters that were all as relatable as they were diverse! I loved the writing and how well-developed Rubi's admittedly complex relationship with her family is portrayed. Additionally, I can appreciate that the novel highlights how, while we may all come from different places, our core wants, needs, and struggles - especially as teenagers coming into our own - are often the same and again, are things we eventually can all reach at least some common ground/understanding on. I also really enjoyed how this felt like a true "coming-of-age" story - while yes, there is small romance plot, it doesn't take up the whole story, and I think it's left open-ended in a way where I could envision Rubi meeting her "true" soulmate/partner after the novel ends. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and would read more from the author in the future!

A fun story guaranteed to make you hungry! Plenty of swoony moments and family drama make for an engaging and relatable story. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, as this eARC was provided to me in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Rubi Ramos's Recipe for Success is a contemporary YA coming-of-age novel following Rubi as she struggles to balance her love of baking, her position on the school debate team, and the conflicting dreams of herself and her parents. As well as the complicated emotions stemming from being waitlisted for her dream school.

It reminded me of By the Book by Amanda Sellet in that it really leans into its chosen theme, baking in this case, and the characters learn life is more complicated than you might have planned. (It could also be a good fit for fans of Kasie West.)

Though, compared to Seller's, Parra gets Rubi paired with her love interest—a surfer mathlete named Ryan—about 30% of the way in verse closer to the end of the story. Also, oh boy, the second-hand embarrassment off the relationship in this one. Rubi and Ryan are very cute, if a bit insta-love, but even as some of the banter leans a hint, a whiff in the direction of spicy, Rubi feels, or comes across as, deeply embarrassed and flustered about flirting.

But the love story isn't really the focus. The focus is on Rubi and her dreams and the dreams of her parents for her as immigrants from Cuba. And the complicated situations she finds herself in as she gets waitlisted for her dream college, but her parents believe she has already been accepted—and tell the whole community.
As such, the story heavily relies on the miscommunication trope, which makes sense in the story and with the characters but can be repetitive at times or cause moments where you just want to grab all the characters by the shoulders and shake them to come out with it already.

Rubi is sweet, creative, and resourceful, and I do mostly like her as a character. And I enjoyed the focus on the composition of the food, the baking competition, and how Rubi related to her family and herself through food was really the star of the story for me, verse the debate team and school plots. And I think the characters on the debate team with Rubi could have used some additional characterization to bring them from feeling flat and one-noted to more well-rounded and relatable.

But I think this book would make a cute gift to someone struggling with the college application process because I can't think of too many protagonists that get waitlisted for their colleges' verse accepted/rejected.

I would also rec this book to people who are looking for:
- Accidentally messy family drama
- Baking competitions and sweet food descriptions
- Hannah Montana style double-life antics!

TWs: Racism, Classism, Bullying, Food

Note: There is also a line in chapter 12 in my eARC version about someone's (bake-off contestant) cosmetic surgery / large chest that feels both wildly out of place and out of character. It threw me off so much I felt like mentioning, and I can't imagine how an actual teenager would feel reacting to it if they also looked like that.

Rubi Ramos also features a lot of fandom references that could be humorous or annoying, depending on your preference. I noted LOTR, Spiderman, and Star Wars. I don't remember HP, but it might have slipped by so be careful if HP is a trigger for you.

Once again, thank you to NetGalley for the eARC. Rubi Ramos's Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra.

This was such a fun YA book to read! Rubi has all the ingredients she thinks she needs for a successful future as a lawyer. She’s on track to get into her dream school. She’s leading her debate team to the ultimate victory. And she’s perfecting her own spin on tried and true Cuban family recipes at their bakery (behind her mother’s back!). But months away from graduation, those tightly woven threads start unraveling faster than Rubi can hang on.

She’s waitlisted to her school–putting all her other plans at risk. A chance encounter with a hot surfer slash mega math genius throws another surprise twist in the mix, but Rubi accepts Ryan’s help to strengthen some of her weaker areas. When she also gets a chance to showcase her baking skills at a local competition, Rubi has to decide if going against her parent’s wishes to participate in anything baking related will be worth the fallout.

This was a beautifully written book. I loved the puns, the heartfelt journey we went on with Rubi, and the bonus layers of a little romance sprinkled in along the way. Plus the food descriptions will absolutely make you drool!

*Thank you for the advanced copy for review.

Rubi struggles with going for what she truly loves and wants to do versus what her parents want her to do. They want her to succeed and do and be what they couldn't. But is what she loves not successful as well?

This was a pretty cute story and I enjoyed it. The characters were all likable.

I really wasn't a fan of the writing here, which is why I have decided to DNF it about halfway through. The story seemed fine enough so far (though the romance was very much of the insta-love kind), but I could not get into it because of the flat prose...

Thank you NetGalley and the author for this ARC!

I was entertained with this book! It was a good read and I would absolutely recommend reading it to my friends. Quick easy read

Rubi Ramos's Recipe for Success is an adorable coming of age novel that explores the problem between navigating family expectations and pursuing your passions.

As someone who doesn't normally gravitate towards YA books, this novel was a huge surprise to me. It was heartfelt, fun, and very well written. I loved how authentic and relatable the characters were, especially Rubi. She was driven, kind, passionate, and easy to root for. I really felt her struggle between her family expectations (law) vs her passion (cooking). I loved the writing around food in this novel, as well. The descriptions of the various dishes were mouthwatering and the puns based on food had me physically cracking up.

All in all, this was a very well written debut novel and I will looking forward to what Jessica Parra does next!

This was such a fun and inspiring read. I love Rubi's drive and passion throughout the book. She tries to be the perfect child and live her parents (mostly mom's) dream. They want her to get into Alma, an Ivy League college, and forget baking (what her parent's do for a living). Being the good daughter Rubi follows her parent's recipe for success and joins the right clubs in high school and gets the grades. To bring up her math grade this she needs a tutor, enter surfer and math genius Ryan.

They have a great meet cute and some other scenes throughout the book, but it's not the focus which was refreshing. He added to the story, but it was mostly about Rubi and how she keeps her heritage close to her through baking her great grandmother's recipes.

I highly recommend this book.

This story is about a first generation Cuban American 17-year old high school senior. Rubi is delightful; it was a lot of fun to read. There is a romance, but it's not the main plot and it's kind of cute.

"It struck me then: all my life I'd been so afraid of picking the wrong answers I'd hardly ever asked myself the right questions."

I am once again asking publishers to include pictures of the delicious confectionery concoctions mentioned in books like these because my Top Chef-obsessed self needs to see these tasty treats and having to constantly Google image them really slows down my reading pace.

Jokes aside, this was a solid YA contemporary with a storyline you've probably encountered before, but that's elevated by its inclusion of age-appropriate romance and powerful prose.

"Every single bone in my body ached from the weight of living between hyphens."

Highlighter-worthy, no? Parra's beautiful writing allowed me to truly feel the pressure placed upon Rubi's shoulders. Not only is she battling the typical stresses of seniors in high school (ex: the highs and lows of first love, keeping up with grades and extracurriculars to get into college, etc.), but she's also facing the burden of living up to her Cuban parents' sacrifices for her to have "better." Which comes into play when deciding which path to choose: follow her passion for baking? Or follow their dreams of her attending an Ivy League university?

You'll have to read the story to see how Rubi calculates her recipe for success, but I will say if you're a foodie or a fan of baking-competition shows, this one's for you!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC
A light and tasty story that had my stomach grumbling with the scrumptious sounding pastries.
Rubi's parents have planned out her future, go to Alma University, be a successful lawyer, and never have to spend hours baking and working like they do. But baking is where Rubi's heart lies, and as much as she tries to follow the perfect recipe for success, her heart always draws her back to the kitchen. A chance to enter a Bake Off that comes to her town soon leads her down a road she won't be able to come back from.
Baking competitions in books will always have my heart, and this one was no different. I loved the diversity, the romance, and the character growth that Rubi goes through. There is romance, but I would say the main plot and story focuses on Rubi coming of age, baking, and dealing with her family. (I actually almost enjoyed parts of the story without romance more, I think a first for me)
I also really liked the inclusion of the racism and classism that she has to deal with in school and from other adults. While not particularly palatable, it shone a very real light on what's it like trying to navigate the world as anything other than white and privileged.
Be warned if you do read this, your stomach will be growling and demanding all of the tasty sounding treats that Rubi makes!
I would definitely recommend this, especially if you like sweet and diverse baking ya romances.

4.2

A warm thank you to everyone at Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this title! This book was the perfect blend summer vacation vibes and competitive baking with a dash of romance in its layers. Rubi Ramos’ Recipe For Success (say that three times fast) was certainly a delectable and palatable read. Being waitlisted at a college isn’t a good feeling, and I love how she expertly juggled all her engagements in order to ensure that she could fight her way out of Alma’s waitlist. I’m a sucker for sweet treats so Rubi’s Rosca de Reyes cake and her other tasty creations sounded absolutely divine. I would have loved some recipes being included in the book — I may not be the best baker but I sure can try! Thus, I gave this book a 4.2 out of 5 stars. I simply can’t wait to see what Jessica Parra has in store for readers in the future.

Yum, this was a delicious read. If you've ever sat and binge-watched a food competition show, drooling at the concoctions, this sweet YA read is for you. Rubi's descriptions of her recipes and creations were truly mouth-watering.

But that's not the only thing about this book to fall in love with. This was a sweet read perfect for young adults leaving high school. That uncertain time in you're life where you feel this pressure to KNOW what you want to do and where you're going and have a plan for the rest of your life (reminder: you don't have to know). The pressure of generational expectations, like Rubi experiences. Her parents sacrificed to give her a "better" life than their own. They gave up their own dreams to see her realize a dream. But at some point Rubi starts to realize this family "recipe for success" isn't exactly her own dream of what her future holds.

Rubi's been destined for Alma University and their law program since she can remember. It's been studying, good grades, and debate team. It used to involve her family bakery too, but once she hit high school she had to start on a more narrow path to college. This is when "The Ban" came to be. This is when she negotiated work hours at the bakery to make her resume well-rounded but cease baking and creating.

One thing we know about pressure and build up is that eventually it combusts. Rubi is at a war with her heart and her head and it all comes down to one day. The big debate competition and the baking contest she's secretly entered that happen on the same day.

I thought Parra did a great job captured that responsibility, pressure, and guilt children often take on even if that isn't the parents intentions. Very relatable read and inclusive, relevant to the current teen generation without talking down to them.

Thanks so much to the author, Wednesday Books (St. Martin's Press), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book, as well as Dreamscape Audio and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy, in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } My reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

I was drawn in by the gorgeous, colorful cover and the promise of a cute baking-romance, and this enjoyable YA read did not disappoint!

I thought that Rubi was a really sweet main character, and while there were big parts of her story and personal history that I couldn't personally relate to she still felt very real for me, and I could easily see other people feeling represented by her story of the complexities of being a first generation child of immigrants. I also really enjoyed getting to watch her relationship with Ryan blossom, and I think that they are two characters that would bring out the best in each other.

I will also mention that I listened to this book in audio format, and really enjoyed the way that the narrator told it. While I don't think that you absolutely HAVE TO listen to this one on audio to get the full experience, I do think that it is worthwhile in this format.

Overall I would recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers who are looking for a relatively low stakes YA romance. I think that the best way to read this book might be listening to the audiobook while doing some cooking or baking - I think that Rubi would approve of really getting into the spirit!

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary YA novel about making choice and finding your path. This was an ok novel at the start but I found myself loosing interest in it.

A teenage girl must figure out whether she lives up to her beloved parents’ expectations and go off to college and be a lawyer, or embrace her own joy of baking with a sprinkling of first love on the side. Jessica Parra’s debut standalone work forecast the feels for a sunny, summery coming of age tale and- I couldn’t pass up that stellar cover.

Rubi’s parents emigrated from Cuba to the US and baking is their livelihood. They want something more than they have for their daughter so her mother squelches any of Rubi’s pesky tendencies toward wanting to bake and push her toward college and the legal career to follow. Rubi dutifully obeys the baking ban even though her head is full of dreamy desserts and she’s got a little problem with math keeping her from being accepted into college.

Enter sweet, handsome surfer and math tutor, Ryan O’Reilly who is easy on Rubi’s eyes and they build a rapport when they share their teenage burdens.

All seems to be going well if shakily until Rubi spots that tempting baking contest that comes to town and her true longing surges to the forefront and she has to start keeping secrets from her parents.

Rubi Ramos’ Recipe for Success was the light teenage story I was expecting and I would have not guessed it for a debut effort. I loved the focus on Rubi and her family showing their Cuban American roots and immigrant dreams. Rubi wants to honor her parents’ efforts to get them where they are, their love and dreams for her, and be true to her Cuban roots. For her, this is food and community. I enjoyed her hilarious baking witticisms about her life, feelings, and thoughts.

It felt very much the YA story with Rubi’s actions and choices, but it’s not deeply dramatic which suited my mood. Rubi and Ryan have a tender, sweet first crush romance and Rubi has a great friend group, but this is more secondary to Rubi figuring out how to do what she loves and get her parents’ blessing for it and this involves baking her heart out in the baking contest.

Side note, all the foodie mentions had me salivating so I warn others that food will definitely be on the mind.

So, a cutie YA full of family, friends, baking, and first love hit the spot and must be considered for the summer beach read stack.