The Arctic Curry Club – ARC Book Review

‘For my whole life I had been looking for home. But why would that be in a place that I’d left? Perhaps I had to keep moving forward in order to find it…’

Soon after upending her life to accompany her boyfriend Ryan to the Arctic, Maya realises it’s not all Northern Lights and husky sleigh rides. Instead, she’s facing sub-zero temperatures, 24-hour darkness, crippling anxiety – and a distant boyfriend as a result.

In her loneliest moment, Maya opens her late mother’s recipe book and cooks Indian food for the first time. Through this, her confidence unexpectedly grows – she makes friends, secures a job as a chef, and life in the Arctic no longer freezes her with fear.

But there’s a cost: the aromatic cuisine rekindles memories of her enigmatic mother and her childhood in Bangalore. Can Maya face the past and forge a future for herself in this new town? After all, there’s now high demand for a Curry Club in the Arctic, and just one person with the know-how to run it…

A tender and uplifting story about family, community, and finding where you truly belong – guaranteed to warm your heart despite the icy setting!

This is such a cute cover and I actually enjoyed reading this book! Can’t even believe that this is the author’s debut book as well.

Plot:- Maya Reed Kaur joins her boyfriend, Ryan to Arctic — sub zero temperatures, dog sledding, freezing cold weather, and polar bears. She finds her late mother’s recipe book and while browsing through the recipe book, she gets vivid flashbacks of her childhood in Bangalore, India. Meanwhile, using her mother’s recipe book, she makes friends, makes meals fused with both Indian and Arctic styles and creates her own Arctic Curry Club.

Writing:- This is actually one of the unique and multicultural books I have read–it’s like India meets the Arctic region. I have never been to Arctic so by reading this book with its vivid descriptions of snow, cabins, polar bears, made me feel like I was in the Arctic area. Being a Sri Lankan which is almost similar to the Indian culture, some of the recipes that Maya was making made me feel hungry and pictured Maya making reindeer curry in the Indian style. I do like Maya’s developing relationships with Adam, Mikkel and Rita and how she initially hated living in Arctic and soon began to like living in this snowy place. The writing was great, though in the end, I opted for Maya and Jobin, her childhood friend to get back together. The author also did a good job drawing the reader into the story, making the reader feel like they are part of the story.

Characters:- Initially, I didn’t very much like Maya–I thought she was a whiny character. But gradually I grew into her, I was amazed at her courage and how she overgrew and started opening up her own restaurant in the Arctic. Mikkel, Adam and Rita are favorable characters as well.

Overall–overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. If you feel like you want to visit Arctic and have Indian food, this book is the one for you!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.