4.5 Jane Austins Emma Retelling we all needed. Sonali Dev has hit it out of the park with this one.

- The fourth book in The Rajes Series
- Retelling of Jane Austins Emma
- Friends to lovers
- Age Gap
- Should read other books before reading - the series is worth it.
- Will make you hungry. You have been warned.

The Family saga continues in this fourth and last installment in The Rajes series. Sonali Dev has brought the chaos and mess back with some steamy scenes in this one, bringing new light to a different take on Emma. This story follows Vansh Rajes this time around. Heading back to San Francisco to tackle a new project to help with homelessness he is forced to partner up with his older brothers, ex-fake girlfriend, Naina. The slowish burn of friends to lovers when Naina can no longer ignore her feelings was the sweetest and most vulnerable writing Sonali Dev has done to date. I loved every single second of this and can't wait to share my spoiler reviews and thoughts when this book comes out in May.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon & Harper Voyager for the Advance Readers Copy of The Emma Project in exchange for my honest review.

A Full Review with spoilers will be posted on my blog on May 17th.

Sonali Dev's retellings of Jane Austen are a balm to my soul, and I love that we finally get to see the tale of Vansh, Naina (and there's even a bonus love story that I'll leave it to you to discover). The dynamic between Naina, the Rajes, and her own family bring an additional realism to the entire series, as we see the context beyond the main family. This was such a great way to wrap up the series, though I wouldn't mind seeing more books which include Rajes as side-characters. If you love Jane Austen, you'll probably love these retellings, and if you enjoyed the rest of the series, you don't want to miss this one!

As per usual, Sonali Dev takes a Jane Austin classic and puts an incredible modern and Indian-American spin on it. Her ability to take these well-known favorites and place them in a novel context while retaining the original character is remarkable. After reading this series, I feel like I know the whole Raje family so well and I love how she weaved all of the characters stories together so beautifully. The Emma Project follows Vansh (or the Raje prince as he is jokingly called) as he moves back home for the first time in over a decade. After spending years working on different charity projects Vansh is ready to move back and get started on a new project to tackle homelessness in San Francisco. A funding snafu has him partnering up with his older brother’s ex-fake-girlfriend, Naina. Can these two work together? Or will all of their hard work be in vain? And what happens when late nights turn into real feelings Naina can no longer ignore? Read The Emma Project to find out when it releases on May 17th! Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

📖 Q: what’s your fave Austen story? I’ve only read P&P 🙃.

Book Review 🍃

(Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.)

I jumped into Sonali Dev’s The Rajes series with the final book, The Emma Project, a retelling of—you’ve prob guessed it—Jane Austen’s Emma.

Brimming with passion & vitality & with characters who feel layered, this is an interesting read that I’m still trying to pin down.

I could definitely tell that this was the final book. It has the air of things boiling up & coming to fruition over a period of time & unfortunately I do think I would have appreciated some of the pacing & structural elements more had I read earlier books.

But with that being said I found lots to appreciate about The Emma Project, newby to the series that I was.

Starting with the complex characters—even the secondary characters assert themselves & contribute to the story, whether the leads want entirely want them to or not 😉.

The family dynamics are sometimes loving, sometimes frustrating, & it’s really cool how past main characters aren’t perfect in this book just because of their once-vaunted MC status.

The Emma Project features childhood friends to lovers, 12 year age gap (she’s older), once fake-engaged to your brother, workplace romance. The sex scenes are mostly fade to black but there’s a lot of emotional intimacy here; it’s really sweet seeing how much Vansh knows Naina & vice versa—their understanding goes bone deep.

There are a lot of challenging family undercurrents in this read, including an abusive father (see my CWs) & I would have liked possibly some more time just on the development of Vansh & Naina as a couple, outside of their families. Those loom pretty large.

But this is a rich story told in a lovely, happy, & haunting voice & I would imagine a great conclusion to the series.

4 ⭐️. Release date: 05/17


[CWs: father was physically abusive to her mother & possibly to Naina as well; he’s emotionally abusive & manipulative with Naina. Naina’s mother wants her to lose weight & bemoans her lack of marriage to someone else. Vansh’s father called him stupid once in a convo with Vansh’s mother bc he’s dyslexic. In one scene, a drunk Naina has an orgasm against Vansh’s thigh & I didn’t feel totally okay about consent in that scene.]

[ID: pink shoes are in front of a wood table where the ebook rests on an open hardback copy of Emma. Next to the book is a yellow & pink orchid.]

I am sad that THE EMMA PROJECT is the last in <i>The Rajes</i> series by Sonali Dev. Number four in the series, these books follow the glamorous and successful members of the Raje family in all their messy glory. These books are billed as retellings of Austen stories, and of course, THE EMMA PROJECT is ostensibly based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma. Really, though, there are only some limited references by the heroine to the book Emma, and the hero is sort of like the character Emma in that he is well-intentioned but self-absorbed and convinced that his way is always right even when its clearly not. There is a gender reversal of Dev’s characters as loosely compared to Austen’s characters, which is always fun to me. But truly, this book is simply an angsty yet charming rom com tale about several interconnected Indian families, continuing to follow the Desi children as they bumble through early adulthood. Readers should not expect a strong Austen connection.



I adore Dev’s books, and THE EMMA PROJECT is no exception. <i>The Rajes</i> books always make me hungry- there are so many glorious Indian dishes mentioned in every chapter that I end up drooling my way through the books. I’m a sucker for a good angsty love story too, and Dev provides angst in spades. I really like that the heroine is significantly older than the hero in THE EMMA PROJECT. Dev’s books usually contain some convention-bending set-ups that I always enjoy.



Naina is a very driven woman, spurred by her intense hatred of her awful father and all that he espouses. She is pursuing celebrity donor funding in order to set up woman’s clinics and help women through microfinance in South Asia. However, Naina finds to her fury that the jerkwad who has promised her millions of dollars is now backing out and giving much of that money to Vansh, the little brother of her fake ex-fiance. And Vansh doesn’t even have a project in mind when the jerkwad offers to bankroll him! Playboy Vansh has his own demons that he’s been trying to outrun, and to watch his efforts to be his best despite his disabilities is both heartwarming and poignant. Both Naina and Vansh manage to set each other off constantly as they struggle to work together to both maintain the promised funding and accomplish their philanthropic goals, and the flying sparks are HOT.



THE EMMA PROJECT is a delightful rom com with plenty of drama and tears. Naina and Vansch move from spunky competitors to smokin’ friends-with-benefits to a delightful true love. Dev skillfully drew all sorts of emotions from me as I devoured this book. The Raje family and their inconncted families feel like an elaborate soap opera with plenty of laughs and crazy anxiety-provoking situations. I finished Dev’s THE EMMA PROJECT in one fell swoop because I couldn’t put it down.

Sonali Dev is brilliant! Her books are some of the best-selling by far at our particular bookstore, where romance books are the main seller. I have yet to be disappointed in her writing - I always find myself laughing out loud and reading the books in just a session or two.

I thought I might be a little lost not having read the other books in the series, but that definitely didn't happen and it may have worked out for the best? If I had met Naina in previous books I have a feeling it would have taken me longer to warm up to her character in this one. She's like a sour patch kid, can be sour at first (especially if you're trying to f*ck over the amazing charity work she's doing) but then incredibly sweet and vulnerable as you get to know her. It makes her connection with Vansh wonderfully balanced.

This started out slowly, and quickly introduced so many characters that it was difficult to keep everyone straight. However, after that overwhelming intro, things settled down and we were able to enjoy a great slow-building, and sometimes steamy, romance blossom.

Let me start by saying I have not read the other books in this series. I had planned to after finishing this, but wanted to begin with the retelling of Emma, as it’s my favorite of Austen’s novels. So, perhaps my opinion would be different had I gone in order of Dev’s publishing. The Emma Project is very well written, and the story is compelling and thoughtful. However, it is NOT an Emma retelling. It’s really a stretch in that capacity. If it was titled something else, I would never make the connection. I feel like I’m grasping to justify the comparisons. I do enjoy a roll reversal, in that our heroine is actually a hero, Vansh, and our “Knightly” is heroine, Naina. But the nuances that make Emma so charming and beloved are absent. I hate that abuse was inserted into the storyline. And the general mean spirit of the families involved. The quirky flippancy of the family dynamics is one of the best undercurrents in Emma. It was squashed here. I struggled to push through and kept telling myself that more connections would be made, but sadly no. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if I wasn’t hoping to draw connections to my favorite Jane Austen story, and I do appreciate the importance of what Sonali Dev was expressing through her characters. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

The Raje family saga continues ....
With a modern-day & cultural spin on another beloved Jane Austen classic, perhaps the author would re-consider making this the final installment in the series ...
Craftily-plotted & heart-warming, the story keeps the reader engaged & cheering.
With thanks to NetGalley & Harper Avon for this ARC!

This book was slow going for me because there were *so* many characters and they all had similar names so I really couldn't keep track for awhile of who was who. It was especially interesting to me since I live within 15 min or where it was suppose to take place, and I always enjoy local stories. It was an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma which I generally like. Once I had some idea of who everyone was (sort of) it was an enjoyable read. I especially liked Esha and Sid, I think I'd prefer not knowing that the book was supposed to be an Austen adaptation though (and Dev makes it hugely prominent in her books of course) since that takes my attention away from the story itself, trying to compare it to the original, but overall I think this the best of her Austen adaptations.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, but I also didn't love it. Other reviewers have disliked that it wasn't a direct enough Emma retelling - I actually liked that, especially because Naina references Emma throughout this book. I think a more direct retelling would've felt a little too meta for me. Vansh was a great "Emma" character - well-intentioned but a little self-absorbed and intent on doing things his way. Hari was a good "Harriet" too. My main complaint is just that this book tried to do a lot and I think spread itself a little thin. Between the romance aspect (which I think was done pretty well) and Naina's family issues, and the side story with Sid and Esha, villainous billionaire, there was just a lot going on and I don't think it was super clear what the main conflict was. The Raje family dynamic didn't seem as strong in this one either, and I think if I tried to read this as a standalone it would've been hard to understand not only what the heck was going on with them and Naina, but with Vansh as well.

Fans of the Raje family will be surprised and curious to see how Naina Kohli, a secondary character from Incense and Sensibility, makes for a sympathetic heroine. Due to her dealings with India and Nash in the previous book, some readers might have been left with a negative impression. However, I am delighted to share that this was a terrific turn of events. And we are given many reasons to see Naina in a different and more sympathetic light.

The Emma Project is a fun finale to The Rajes series. It is not only fast paced but also delightfully entertaining as we have come to expect from Sonali Dev's writings.

A fun tidbit about the book is that Sonali employs gender swapping for her two leads. Vansh Raje, the youngest of the Raje children, is given the Emma role and Naina Kohli is put in the role typically thought of as Mr. Knightley's.

While I enjoyed the fast pace of the story, I do find it necessary to explain that the story is but only loosely based on Jane Austen's book. There are many storylines and subplots in both stories that do not cross over. And the climax many readers will likely be looking for ends up happening off the page which is somewhat disappointing to say the least.

But no spoilers. I will leave it there in hopes you will enjoy taking a week to read The Emma Project for yourself when it is released on May 17, 2022.

Many thanks to Sonali Dev and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Vansh Raje, youngest and very favored son of the dynastic Raje family, lives the life of a golden boy with his handsome good looks and sunny personality guaranteed to win over women and men alike. Vansh spends his time globetrotting from one worthy cause to another in desperate places who greatly benefit from a man with resources and exceptional personal charm. For the first time in several years, the twenty-six-year-old family favorite has been home helping his older brother, Yash, win California’s gubernatorial race.

Knightlina(Naina) Kohli has been involved with the Raje’s since childhood which culminated with her fake relationship as fiancée to Yash crashing and burning spectacularly in the public arena. Her work with underprivileged women in Nepal is Naina’s lifeline and raison d’etre. She does not need a man to complete her and has no room for romance especially with Vansh as he is from the now enemy camp. Naina learned early in life at the hands of her brutal and monstrous father and beaten down mother that way lay dragons. When Vansh waltzes into Naina’s life threatening not only her funding for her life’s work, but her sanity, Naina is forced to work with Mr. Lucky Charm with no other options.

Vansh seems to be someone who blithely goes along getting his way; however, because of some childhood difficulties he has learned to shield himself from and have a deep well of compassion for those who suffer from society’s woes. While back in the San Francisco area, Vansh realizes that very little is being done to address homelessness especially for those who are educated and have skills but cannot afford the crazytown high price of San Francisco living.

Despite Naina and Vansh’s age difference with her being 12 years older and very resistant to any kind of relationship, the time they spend together working on both of their projects in forced proximity throws them into an intense connection; however, it is one with a time limit and end date. Naina and Vansh keep their relationship secret for a number of reasons including Naina’s treatment by the Raje family as pariah, her difficult relationship with her own parents plus their shared project. Another couple also appears in this story which may surprise, but will ultimately please readers of the series.

This book is the fourth and final of The Rajes where Ms. Dev has treated us to her homages for Jane Austen in a way that delights, entertains, and adds some consciousness raising for the modern times. This book in particular has quite an emotional journey especially since the Raje family’s offspring and relations with their significant others provides a complex and rich tapestry to the story that will leave readers satisfied and a little bereft to see it come to an end.

Sonali Dev is a new favorite of mine and I am thrilled that I got an ARC of this book! Such a lovely, emotional, and heartwarming book. I love Sonali!

Two rivals, competing projects, and romance. This was pitched as a modern day Emma... but it unfortunately missed the mark, it was very very loose on the Emma aspect. I usually adore Jane Austen adaptations and inspired stories but this one missed for me. The story follows Vansh Raje ( Emma ) a rich, handsome, well meaning guy who upon discovering a friend’s secret decides he is going to help him and also help the homeless population. Knightlin or rather Naina (Knightly) has just gotten out of a ten year lobg fake relationship witih Vansh’s brother and has finally stuck it to her abusive father and is so excited to work on her passion project... only to have Vansh steal the funding from her and now she has to fight him for it. Throw in a weirdly magical romance story about two other people (literal magic), the romance between Vansh’s older brother and his gf, the tragic abusive relationship between Naina’s mother and abusve father, and this story is jam packed. For a story inspired by Emma I was expecting a bit more Emma influence.

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I DNF'd an earlier book in the series, but this one worked for me! More than the romance, what will stick with me from The Emma Project is the narrative of harm and repair between parents and children. Given the abuse between her father and mother, and her father and herself, Naina has a lot of healing to do in order for her to have the capacity to be in a romantic partnership. Vansh doesn't have as much healing to do, but he still has a moment of being beautifully seen by his father, which was a balm to me as a reader. Naina's mother is the one who articulates the appeal of Vansh as a romantic hero: as unlike her abusive husband as it's possible to be, Vansh is remarkably open to feedback and holds himself accountable. And yeah, I find that sexy as hell — way more than the descriptions of his pecs and biceps and cuts upon cuts in the muscles of his torso or whatever. The other romantic plot in the novel, between Esha and Sid, is very tonally different, and I liked the tonal shifts somehow — like moving between a psychologically realistic novel and a fairy tale in the same book.

Much of the appeal of Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors was the clever and insightful interweaving of the characters, themes, and plotlines of the Jane Austen classic with Sonali Dev’s own take on the novel. Between this one and the original Emma the integration is spotty at best. There are major plot lines and characters in both novels that find no parallels in the other. I won’t go into a long list here, but Esha’s strange supernatural malady and her miraculous recovery and romance are one. There was enough material and backstory there for it to be its own book. It was just shoehorned into this one and it was a distraction. It had no place in a homage to Emma and didn’t make the most of Esha’s story either. But the one that really hurt my enjoyment was how the Raj family are so ugly to Naina, the Knightly character. Especially Nisha, the sister of the Emma character, Vange, and Vange’s mother. I didn’t read the middle two in the quartet, so there may be justification, but since we see everything from Naina’s eyes and with our knowledge of her struggles, it was very bothersome.

Naina has been damaged by the lifelong cruelty of her abusive father. This has affected her ability to be open and vulnerable to love. She has dedicated the last 10 years of her life to rescuing the poverty-stricken women of Nepal and she has finally secured funding from zillionaire Jiggy Mehta. Enter Vansh Raj, whose chance run-in with a person he knows that he learns is surprisingly homeless spurs him to save not only his acquaintance but all of San Francisco’s indigent. While coming from a good place, this quixotic notion has jeopardized Naina’s funding. Instead of getting his own money, he latches on to Naina’s source. Because there is more in it for him to be associated with a real Raj instead of an ex-Raj, Jiggy Mehta cools towards Naina’s project. It’s really terrible. I was enraged over this.

Vansh Raj has a passing resemblance to Emma in that he is a do-gooder who wants to make things better for those who are less fortunate than him. Both Emma and Vansh are misguided, but in very different ways. Emma almost ruins the life of Harriet with her interference. Vansh, causes Hari, the homeless computer whiz he targets, an isolated episode of pain and suffering by not listening to the good advice of Naina (Knightly). But his interference ultimately saves Hari puts him on a path to health and prosperity. Sonali Dev’s parallels between Harriet and Hari are well done. (as well done as some of the connections in the first of the Raj series) but really, that’s about it as far as The Emma Project being a modern take on Emma. Perhaps there is a parallel between Naina’s mother and Emma’s father? But it’s is a stretch. A huge stretch. Naina is 12 years older than Vansh and has been a supportive presence in his life since he was a baby. So that hearkens back to Emma, I guess.

Dev makes Vansh the kind of guy who spends hours a day on his grooming and body sculpting because he likes to look good. Even though he is already too handsome to be true. We are treated a couple of times to a description of his long tangled eyelashes. And more than a couple to his cut and flexing muscles, which he likes to show off by wearing clothes two sizes too small. I mean yuck. It’s different if a great body is the by-product of manual labor or sports. But his vanity turned me off.

Another disappointment was the lack of satisfactory resolution to two important plot threads. The author meticulously details throughout the book Dr. Kohli, Naina’s father’s, evilness and cruelty, and Jiggy Meyta’s self-serving maliciousness. Not to mention their toxic sexism. I couldn’t wait for them to get the justice they deserved. Alas. It all happens off stage. We find out that Naina’s mom found the strength to leave her husband of 40 years in the epilogue. And the final straw after years of abuse was nonsensical. And Naina told Jiggy to take his money and shove it. We are just told that she did, but we are not there for the kill. Yes, I wanted retribution to rain down upon them and I wanted a front-row seat, but nope. And I guess Jimmy, the guy who cheated and wronged Hari never did get his just deserts at all. And speaking of retribution, Naina deserved a groveling apology from the Raj family. Instead, we get “I was a Bitch” and a “Yeah you were.” But Naina is not even in the room.

At times the sentence structure and word choice were awkward and confusing. I won’t quote specifically (although I can) because to be fair it is an uncorrected proof. But I noticed the same thing with her first book as well. And that was not an uncorrected proof. Ms Dev is a wonderful writer but needs a more vigilant editor.

Despite my problems, the book kept my interest. The romance was good even though it bore no resemblance to the romance of the real Knightly and Emma. And I gotta say there was a very hot sex scene that managed to be funny at the same time. I didn’t want it to end, and that is saying something for me. Thank you for that. The exploration and growth of the characters were well done. Vansh really grew on me, despite the things I didn't like about him. I loved the way he and Naina learned to work together and became a united front against Jiggy. I was happy Naina’s project was saved. I liked the narrative voice. But there were too many promises unfulfilled and too many disappointments.

4,25✨
i didn't think i would love it as much as i did but damnnn it was so good! I don't regret requesting this book!
at first i was a bit meh but after a bit i fell in love with this story and these characters! the representation is something i really enjoyed!

💞Spoiler-free review💞

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

A retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, this book continues to follow the Rajes family (an American-Indian family in California) as they find love! Vansh Raje is one of those people who always seem to have things work out for them. Naina Kohli has had to work hard her whole life to set up a nonprofit organization to help foster economic independence for women in South Asia. When Vansh unwittingly jeopardizes the funding for Naina’s non-profit, they are forced to work together. As you can imagine, SPARKS FLY! But, are these sparks leading to something meaningful, or will they burn everything to the ground?

I read this book as a stand-alone, and I’m now eager to read the rest of Dev’s Rajes Austen retelling novels. But even with no other context for this family, I fell in love! There are really two love stories going on in this novel. And there is color and beauty and smells and food, in addition to characters that have fantastic chemistry. The scene setting is really beautiful and detailed, and the plot moves forward quickly. The family relationships are really pulled into the entire book, and there is a lot of context given for why the main characters are who they are. One of my favorite things in shows or books - the love interests say sorry to each other when they have hurt the other person! I love that, and honestly it can be a little rare to find in person or in books. It was a great read, and I can’t wait to read the rest.

It is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!!


Thank you, @netgalley for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review!