3.5 stars

This book made me so hungry! If I lived near Rubi's family bakery, I'd go in every day to try all their delicious treats. I loved how creative Rubi was with her bakes and that she incorporated her Cuban heritage into everything.

The story is fun and easy to get into, with an exciting baking competition and a sweet romance on the side. I did think the plot could have gone deeper instead of staying at a surface level with the drama and emotions. Most things seemed easily resolved and it was clear how everything would end up.

I did enjoy the book and though the audiobook had a great narrator to bring Rubi to life. Great read for summer time.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the copy.

Rubi Ramos's Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra is a YA novel about a Cuban girl in her senior year of high school dealing with pressure from her parents, who have a certain vision for her future. After moving to the US and opening two bakeries, her parents, and especially her mom, have done everything in their power to see Rubi succeed and have a better life than them. Their (primarily her mom’s) vision of a better future includes Rubi going to a specific university and eventually becoming a lawyer.
Except that what Rubi really wants is to bake, just like her parents. While Rubi is allowed to bake at her parents’ bakery during her shifts, she is otherwise banned from baking as a hobby. Instead, she dedicates her time to being the best student possible and to the Future Leaders of Orange County, which is basically the debate team.
I loved that this YA novel showed how complex and complicated it can feel to be a child of immigrants who wants to make their parents proud. Rubi prefers to hide things from her parents than to be honest from fear of disappointing them or letting them down. And if that’s not the realest thing, I don’t know what is. How much she was lying to her parents really did stress me out, though, especially because of how much it stressed her out and how unusual it was for her.
The love story component happened surprisingly quickly and mostly without hiccups, at least at the beginning, and that honestly threw me off. Especially because of all that Rubi had going on in her life and how strict her parents were. And it certainly wasn’t the most impactful part of the story at all. Like, she was lying about so many things that I often forgot she technically also had a secret boyfriend.
The puns were really overdone from the first page, in my opinion, but I also understood why they were happening. Like, I’m not holding it against the book, but it was a little overkill.
Overall, I was stressed the whole time because of all the lying but enjoyed reading about a child of immigrants thriving and making such big moves and getting to show off her many talents.

This was adorable and made me want to eat all the sweets!

Rubi has grown up in the kitchen of her parents bakery. With her parents insistence on Rubi attending Alma University Law School, Rubi's love of baking has been put in the background of her life plans. When Alma waitlists her and her invitation to participate in the First Annual Bake Off Rubi come at the same time, a misunderstanding between her and her parents takes flight. Now Rubi finds herself questioning what she wants for herself for the first time as her love of baking finally gets a chance to take center stage.

As the secret of her Alma University waitlist status and participation in the back off starts to creep up on her, she has to decide what future she wants for herself and how she's going to tell her parents.

I really enjoyed Rubi's journey to self-discovery and watching her step up to follow her dreams. The pressure she receives from her parents, and mother especially, felt authentic. As a mother myself I understand the drive to see your children succeed. I think that Rubi's mother got lost in the fact that she couldn't fulfill her dreams and so she is determined Rubi will do it for her. She just doesn't realize that Rubi's dreams aren't the same as hers and the tension between them was felt.

I thought the plot was well developed, the characters relatable, and the relationships between Rubi and her friends felt authentic. The romance was at a perfect level and I liked that the focus of the story was more on Rubi's journey. I would recommend this to anyone who's looking for their next YA contemporary!

I thought the audiobook was well produced and the narrators did a great job portraying Rubi's voice throughout the book.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the chance to read and review this ARC. I thought this book was adorable for a YA book and loved that it showed if you worked hard, you could get everything you wanted. However, at the same time, you don’t always get everything and I felt this book was unrealistic for the YA readers.

I'm so sad to say I had to abandon this story. I think it just wasn't the right book at the right time- I didn't feel a drive to learn more about Rubi and her story. Again, I'm sad to DNF this one but too many more books are calling out to me. I am not one to chug through something that isn't right at the moment so I am moving on.

This was a cute coming-of-age story. I thought the cultural influences and differences really set this book apart. You can tell the lies Rubi tells is because she feels so much pressure from her parents who just want her to have a better life than them. I think there are a lot of parents out there like that so it’s good to see how to get through it and overcome that pressure. The romance was really sweet! I'm excited to see what this author writes in the future.

Rubi wants to be a cook and work in her family's restaurant, but her parents want more for her than to be a chef.

This book was well written, and the characters well built and round; however, this was more of a case of wrong time for me. I've been maxed out with books about teens who want to be chefs but of all the ones I have read, I know this one is enjoyable.

Should you be in the mood - this book will give you all the feels for Rubi and her grand plans to have it all. She gets herself into situations when perhaps being honest with those in her family would solve her issues.

It's a wild ride none, less.

Rating: 4.5/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

What would you do if your parents had a path set for you and you wanted that path, until something happens and a whole new path opens for you. Would you take the chance at the new path and maybe break your parents’ hearts, or would you stick to the path you know?

I loved every second of this book. I was hooked after the first page and it just continued until the end, where I was sad because I felt like it went too fast.

I thought the plot was done well. It was well written and had the right amount of a YA rom com feel to it, with all the drama, the teenage drama and of course the happy ending. I thought the pace of the book was not fast but not slow, it was perfectly in the middle. The author did an amazing job writing this book, I had a really hard time with putting it down so I could sleep instead of reading/listening to it (I was lucky enough to have the eARC and Audio of this book)

Rubi is such a young adult, and you can see the struggles that she is having with not giving into the pressure of school, spending time at her family’s bakery, studying and of course doing what she loves not what her parents want from her. I know at her age, I felt the pressure to please my family members and get good grades, so I could go to college and make them all proud. So, I was able to relate to her character, and the author really made her character someone who was so easy to connect with. I loved that her family is close even though she does hide a secret from them. They still have a close relationship, and you can see and feel that in this book.

I loved the young romance in this book, it brought me back to my youth. It was so sweet and cute, the connection that Ryan and Rubi have based on the same platform of wanting to make your parents proud but at the same time encouraging each other to do what they love and what will make them happy.

I do have to say that reading/listening to Rubi make all those yummy desserts really made me want to find a Cuban restaurant to see if they have what I read. They all sounded so delicious, and I know a lot of that might have been because you can feel the love that Rubi puts in them. She is proud of her family’s background and wants to share her parent’s hardship of coming to America from Cuba by showing her love for her country’s food and parents.

I think this was an amazing book, and the narrator did an amazing job by really bringing this book to life. I really felt as if it was Rubi telling me her story and not just having someone read the story to me. I loved how she put love into words at the right time.

I would recommend this book to EVERYONE who reads YA, with romance, coming to age.

I want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review this book

This was such a cute and fun read. Rubi's got her life all mapped out, but that life doesn't include her real passion which is baking. Her mapped out life also doesn't include a potential boyfriend and this stage but when does life ever go exactly according to plan. When an amateur baking competition is announced Rubi knows this is potentially her last chance to do some baking before college starts but it means breaking the baking ban her mom has set as well as lying to her parents. Not that that's the only thing she's lying about, she also got waitlisted for Alma while her parents think she got in. And Enter Ryan, a math genius who helps tutor Rubi to hopefully get her grade up and off of Alma's waitlist as well as helping push Rubi outside her comfort zone. I really like Ryan's involvement in Rubi's life and though he really helped her go for what she really wanted. The story was a bit of chaos and a whole lot of fun and had a wonderful ending.

Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra
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Rubi is trying her best to stick to the plan: focus on her GPA, her debate club tournament, and get into Alma U. This means NO BAKING. But when she gets news that there is a new baking tournament near her, she has to determine if the plan is hers or her parents and if it is worth sacrificing.
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This book found a little home in my heart and just dug in and made me feel happy.
I love Rubi. I loved how strongly she connected with her familiy’s love for and roots in baking. And I loved a lot of the messages in this story.

Most parents want what is best for their kids. But there is a difference in wanting them to have a happy and successful life and planning that life for them.

There is one thought Rubi has in the book about when people’s dreams are stolen and how it is not fair for that person to project those dreams onto another person. And I GOT IT.

I felt a LOT for Rubi in this book and enjoyed every minute of it.

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 After writing up these thoughts on the book I raised my rating a half star. Rubi deserves it.

I wish that I knew how to properly articulate why I struggled to connect with this book, but honestly, I can’t. Every time I try to write something new for this review, I end up deleting it for fear that my criticisms are too harsh or just inaccurate. I think I feel a little disappointed because this book should (and did!) appeal to me for so many reasons—a Cuban-American teen chasing her dreams with a side of summer romance!!—but I ultimately just… never felt excited while reading, or felt like I could really connect with the book.

Despite being pretty lighthearted, this book is very stressful. Rubi has a lot of expectations placed on her and ends up needing to maintain some big lies for a majority of this book, so I spent a lot of the reading experience with tense shoulders and a clenched jaw. Even the more “lighthearted” moments with the love interest, Ryan, feel pretty small or even like an afterthought; their relationship blooms pretty quickly and with almost no real development. Sure, their scenes are pretty cute, but they’re pretty unimportant overall… to the point where I was kind of surprised that he even made it onto the cover. This book feels like less of a summer romance and more like a journey of self-discovery, complete with the classic “it’s not my dream, parent, it’s yours” line in the third act.

The ending of the book was very sweet, but I wish that there had been more moments of clarity and joy spread out. I’m sure that there will be many readers who love Rubi and her journey, and I’m glad that this book exists. I’m also excited to see what other books the author releases in the future!

One of the things I loved about this book is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s a lot of celebration of puns and baking and the goofy awkwardness of first relationships and love. I loved those parts of the story.

RUBI RAMOS’S RECIPE FOR SUCCESS has a lot more than that to offer, though. We experience the pressure Rubi faces in her parents’ expectations for her, and her conflicting desires for her own life. She wants to do what’s right by her parents and honor the sacrifices they’ve made for her. But she also wants to find a way to make room for her own dreams. The struggle felt so real.

The romantic elements of the story are really sweet. It’s a simpler plot element, so there’s not a lot of drama or big trope-y conflict. That made for kind of a refreshing read, actually.

I think fans of baking stories like SALT AND SUGAR by Rebecca Carvalho or sweet romances, like books by Kasie West will enjoy Rubi’s tale of culinary confections and family connections.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

A cute story about Rubi Ramos, a young woman in her senior year of high school and striving to live up to her parents' dream of sending her to Alma University. To make it there, she's got a "recipe" for what it will take. Yet, part of that recipe is taking away something she loves....baking and creating baked goods and she's struggling to fulfill that part of the equation.

Rubi struggles with some challenges along the way in trying to make her (or is it her parents') dreams come true. Can she make both things happen or will something have to be given up to find true happiness? She will eventually figure it out with the help of some friends and a very intriguing red haired boy who she falls in serious "like" with.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Rubi Ramos not only had a recipe for success but also a recipe into my heart. Connecting to a character is something only a few books can do, and this one was it.

Learning about Rubi’s heritage (as a fellow Caribbean girl) made me so so happy. Her parent’s struggles to move to United States and to keep their businesses good and going where a good reminder of how immigrant parents always look for the best for their children.

The relationship Rubi had with her parents, herself and her friends was a very real one. That, along with the stories from Cuba, made it much easier for me to feel her as not only a good character but a person, a friend.

The romance that takes place in the book is fast paced yet romantic and very very beautiful. It had me smiling from ear to ear.

It was truly a pleasure reading this book and I’m looking forward for more!

This book was so cute and so fun. Rubi is such a fantastic characters and it was fun to see her discover herself. We almost could have done without the romance aspect, but it was cute too so all good. This book will make you hungry, have pastries ready!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙟𝙤𝙮𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.

📍 Read if you like:
• Family Stories
• Coming Of Age
• Baking Puns
• Cuban Culture

I really enjoyed this book a lot more than I was anticipating. I picked it up on a whim on NetGalley and found myself super intrigued by the premise. I love when a book has diverse characters and a great representation, in this case, it’s the Cuban culture.

I also listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it! This is a Young Adult and at first, I thought it was a romance. While it does have those romantic elements, it was more of a coming-of-age story for Rubi.

I loved the talk of food and baking. There were some puns I started laughing at. This is the kind of read you’ll pick up in between those darker books. It was so uplifting and heartwarming.

I also really enjoyed the family and their connections to each other. They were each interesting and it was so fun following Rubi as she tries to live her dream. This is a young adult story - at times it did get repetitive & I went into it with a wrong impression - but the book as a whole was so fun!

Thank you so much NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy and ALC in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Racism, classism

I have to be honest: this book first hooked me because of the cover. I am so glad it did! I adored Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra. It is such a cute read! 

Meet Rubi Ramos. She bears a lot of pressure as a second-generation immigrant from Cuba. She is trying to find her roots through food and live up to her familys expectations.
She is also a baker who loves creating recipes. 

When she finds out about a baking contest, she is immediately drawn to it and the possibility of it helping her out of the baking ban placed on her by her parents. Will Rubi be able to partake in the contest without her parents finding out, and what will happen with that cute surfer-slash-math tutor? 

Overall this was a beautifully written book, and I cannot wait to reread a physical copy. I highly suggest adding this to your summer reads list and taking it with you for a day at the beach. Warning, a side effect of reading this book is you will want yummy baked goods almost the entire time. 

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Here's the thing: I'm following GR's rating system and 3 stars is a firm "I liked it." And the truth is, I do but it also felt...a little chaotic with some of what I thought would be major plot points pushed to the side and others I thought should be shifted into a main focus.

I really feel for Rubi, I do. She's the only daughter of immigrant parents who left Cuba for America. There's very obviously some tough emotions that her parents don't share regarding why they left for Cuba and then the toxic immigrant parents who put their hopes and dreams into their children and then become disappointed when the children don't exactly do what they want. Rubi feels this immensely, and she mentions it a lot--like how she feels like she is an investment, and the weight of this investment is on her shoulders. I was a little disconcerted, too, at how often Rubi's mother is simply called "the Boss." It really disassociates and disconnects the reader but also provides insight into how Rubi feels about her mother. It's very obvious that Rubi as a closer relationship to her dad and this is seen through their shared love of baking and their collective attempt to bend the "baking ban."

The synopsis also states that Step 2 in Rubi's "Recipe for Success" is to be a successful lawyer, but to be honest, I don't even see her desire to be a lawyer throughout the book. Her full passion is thrown into baking, with some dedication to her debate team (okay, which is called Law and Debate so maybe I can cut some slack). I found her being a lawyer as a way to appease her parents. Rubi gave lots of thoughts to future baking recipes but very little to what she could accomplish as a lawyer, if it's what she really wanted.

I also found there was so much suspended disbelief in terms of the baking competition. Am I thinking about things too literally? It was a bit chaotic, and when the fourth and final challenge came along, I thought, "Really? Rubi's still allowed to do this?" I won't say what for spoiler's sake, but logically it didn't make sense. I'm not saying her concoctions weren't great because really they all sounded so mouthwatering, but I think we as readers, especially in the contemporary genre, expect large aspects of the plot to be believable.

I wasn't convinced of the romance between Ryan and Rubi either. It felt kind of forced, and I just didn't think they spent enough time together to warrant their romance. Maybe because it felt a bit like instalove to me and that isn't my jam. I wished we dove deeper into Rubi's friendship with Devon, especially leading up to Devon's confession toward the end of the book.

What a fun YA read! Loved the baking contest premise and Rubi's search to follow her dreams. Throw in some romance for an unputdownable, perfect for the beach, read,

Recommended!

Give me all the food tangential YA romances about coming into your own! Hearts everywhere.

First, the family bakery- sights, smells, sounds, descriptions makes me want to find the closest Cuban bakery because I know I couldn't do it justice. Second, the family pressure to succeed-- Rubi *must* get into Alma and be successful, her family didn't get here here for nothing, she won't spend time in the bakery when she has designs on more, but Rubi still wants to be a baker too. Third, the romance. I was squeeing from the first meet-cute with Ryan from the hysterical banter that then moves straight into flirting to their instant comfort with one another.

And while there was a stereotypical arc to the story, it's the cadence of it and expectation of it that makes it sweet, heartfelt, and focused. And the "she got in" mistake between the college and the bake-off reminded me of the Netflix-adapted To All The Boys which the majority of the book works toward resolving. In the end, the win-win-win situations were just the kind of spring into summer read. Rubi and Ryan!