The Emma Project (The Rajes #4) by Sonali Dev

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Emma gets a fresh Indian-American twist from award-winning author Sonali Dev in her heartwarmingly irresistible Jane Austen inspired rom com series.

No one can call Vansh Raje’s life anything but charmed. Handsome—Vogue has declared him California’s hottest single—and rich enough to spend all his time on missions to make the world a better place. Add to that a doting family and a contagiously sunny disposition and Vansh has made it halfway through his twenties without ever facing anything to throw him off his admittedly spectacular game.

A couple years from turning forty, Knightlina (Naina) Kohli has just gotten out of a ten-year-long fake relationship with Vansh’s brother and wants only one thing from her life…fine, two things. One, to have nothing to do with the unfairly blessed Raje family ever again. Two, to bring economic independence to millions of women in South Asia through her microfinance foundation and prove her father wrong about, well, everything.

Just when Naina’s dream is about to come to fruition, Vansh Raje shows up with his misguided Emma Project... And suddenly she’s fighting him for funding and wondering if a friends-with-benefits arrangement that’s as toe-curlingly hot as it is fun is worth risking her life’s work for.

Source: NetGalley; advance copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

I am declaring this fourth installment in The Rajes series as my favorite! Why? Because Vansh and Naina make excellent adversaries-turned-something-more in The Emma Project. 

Yes, Vansh has a magnetic personality that attracts people but he also makes them feel safe and heard. When you look past the Raje family legacy and the looks, there is an authentic soul in that body. He's someone who's strived to prove himself beyond the Raje name to find his life's purpose. Naina is not quite charismatic nor does she care to be. At the moment she's still dealing with the fallout from the revelation of her fake relationship with Yash. The press feels sorry for her, the Raje family are all but giving her the cold shoulder thinking that it was she who manipulated Yash all these years. None of those problems compare to what is currently her biggest problem which is working with a finicky benefactor who revels in power trips. Naina's had to deal with difficult men all her life, her father being the worst of all. She has a strained relationship with her parents, especially her father who's disappointed he never had a son, and who is only ever worried about his status in the community. He's essentially a bully to her and her mother, and her mother has never fought back. Now she's facing another man who wishes the pull the strings as far as her life's work is concerned. The last thing Naina wants to do is allow even an inch of space for Vansh to step in and take away her access to funding. But when it looks like there's no other option, she grudgingly agrees to work with Vansh to share the funding and hopefully out-maneuver their patron. 

Out of all the Rajes novels, I consider The Emma Project to be most like a rom-com and it's definitely due to Vansh's personality and Naina's often biting retorts to his attempts at charming his way through things. He's irresistible and is quick with the one-liners as well. I think I enjoyed this best of all because their chemistry ignites from the word "go", which made me realize that it's been a while since I've felt that kind of spark in the characters I've read recently. This is friends-to-lovers or better yet, frenemies-to-lovers with Naina obviously viewing Vansh as her competition in acquiring the financing she needs for her project.

Romance aside, there's also a good amount of time spent on how women are viewed and how Naina's had to overcome both her father's disappointment in not having a son, and his ambitious desire to have his daughter married off to a family that can elevate his standing, and specifically his ego. She has grown up in a household where women are torn down and stripped of their own desires. She saw the maltreatment her mother silently accepted. Naina has refused to be that kind of person. She wants to be a stronger woman who doesn't need a man at her side because a man would only demand she give up what she loves. But her father has also demonstrated how men behave and she's learned her lesson well, using that to work around her oftentimes misogynistic benefactor.

It was an absolute joy to read The Emma Project and I'm still smiling about it. Sonali Dev gives you heart and soul in her storytelling and it's been a privilege getting to know The Rajes. I'm glad this series is ending on such a high note!

~ Bel

Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3)

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The author of Recipe for Persuasion—“not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today” (Shelf Awareness)—adds an Indian American twist to Jane Austen's classic Sense and Sensibility in this delightful retelling that is a feast for the senses.

Yash Raje, California’s first serious Indian gubernatorial candidate, has always known exactly what he wants—and how to use his privileged background to get it. He attributes his success to a simple mantra: control your feelings and you can control the world.

But when a hate-fueled incident at a rally critically injures his friend, Yash’s easy life suddenly feels like a lie, his control an illusion. When he tries to get back on the campaign trail, he blacks out with panic.

Desperate to keep Yash’s condition from leaking to the media, his family turns to the one person they trust—his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, California’s foremost stress management coach. Raised by a family of yoga teachers, India has helped San Francisco’s high strung overachievers for a decade without so much as altering her breath. But this man—with his boundless ambition, simmering intensity, and absolute faith in his political beliefs—is like no other. Yash has spent a lifetime repressing everything to succeed.

Including their one magical night ten years ago—a too brief, too bright passion that if rekindled threatens the life he’s crafted for himself. Exposing the secrets might be the only way to save him but it’s also guaranteed to destroy the dream he’s willingly shouldered for his family and community . . . until now.

Source: NetGalley; ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

I wish it could be enough to say that I love Sonali Dev's writing, I wish I had a gift for words and that they flowed from me as easily as they do from her, but really, you should read her latest novel because it is wonderful! 

The next installation in The Rajes, sees us finally getting to know Yash, the much-loved and admired brother who's running for governor of California. The action is instant in the first chapter when an attempted assassination takes place. Yash is spared any physical harm thanks to his quick-thinking and fast-acting bodyguard. Yash is grateful to be alive until he learns that his bodyguard is now is a deep coma. The survivor's guilt and the shock from the shooting resurface old trauma that now seems to paralyze him. He can't face a crowd or make a speech. His mind is all over the place. They're all valid reactions after going through something horrific. He's aghast when someone suggests he might want to seek help. However, the help they're suggesting isn't the usual go to see a therapist kind of thing. It involves meeting with a family friend, India, a talented yoga instructor who also does yoga therapy with her clients. It's not the first time these two are meeting. There was that incident years ago at Yash's sister's wedding when they had that incredible moment together that's stayed with them ever since. Yash isn't sure that this is the best solution for him, but since he'd rather not have his issues leaked out to the public, he goes with it. India, just has to maintain an emotional distance and not let on that she's hurt by Yash's actions from that the past. 

This was a slowburn romance. A good deal of healing takes place in between Yash and India meeting and them finally coming together. I thought Yash's emotional journey was handled sensitively and I was fascinated and empathetic of the traumahe had to sift through. This being the third book in the series, I was already familiar with the Raje family history and the weight of the legacy that's bestowed on all the children, in particular Yash. Unfortunately, multiple tragedies have been visited upon the Rajes but they're not mined for extreme emotional reaction as much in Incense and Sensibility, which I'll be honest was a relief to me. The previous book was exceptionally heavy on the tragedy and it was difficult to take in all in. Yash and India's connection, while unsteady at first is magical. India understands him and sees through to his core the way no one else can. Even his best friend and fake girlfriend of the last however many years doesn't know Yash this intimately.  It's an unnerving sensation but exactly what he needs to remember his original purpose.  India is such a fresh breath of air, so secure in herself and steadfast in her love of family. 

Speaking of ... family is once again important but it does feel like their presence overwhelms the story at sometimes. I did not like the storyline involving India's sister, China and her love interest, a popular Korean actress who's firmly planted in the closet. It's mainly because China is an extreme character where everything about her is overdramatic. She's more distraction that addition to the story for me. Other than that, I enjoyed the close familial bond that India shares with her mother and sister which contrasts to the strained relationship Yash haswith his ambitious and emotionally-distanced father. 

Incense and Sensibility does touch on some controversial issues with Yash's run for governor such as racism, immigration, and voters' general perception of what a trustworthy candidate should look like - someone in a committed relationship. It's this fake relationship that's a sore sticking point and could land Yash in hot water if the truth comes spilling out. It's a problem that gradually grows way too big. Yash's fake girlfriend morphing into the role of villain is done so subtly but effectively that you don't even realize it until it's happened. 

I have yet to actually read a Jane Austen novel. I know, it's ridiculous and I should remedy this before the year ends. Anyway, I have no way to tell how Dev's retelling compares to the original on which it's based, but maybe that's a good thing? My main takeaway from Incense and Sensibility is that it's important and okay to question why we do things. Why we put so much effort into achieving something, and how much our initial intention changes over time. Yash and India are a power couple on their own terms, fulfilling their dreams, and that's what I love about this story.

~ Bel