It was interesting to see how the author tied her story to another Austen novel, and also even more interesting how she brought Naina and Vansh together. At times, I wasn’t certain the story was working for me (were the Raje sisters always such mean girls?), but Sonali Dev has such a gift of weaving her stories together. Also, Esha’s story? YES!!!!!

The Emma Project is the fourth book in The Rajes series.

These Jane Austen retellings have been fun. I loved that this was a gender swap of Emma. I enjoyed watching Vansh and Naina come together and the way that they fought to make it work. The family drama and the way some of the family behaved made my eye twitch.

I recommend checking this out if you're looking for forbidden love and age-gap romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2022/05/19/%f0%9f%8e%a7-the-emma-project-by-sonali-dev/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

All the stories in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/254242-the-rajes" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><strong>Rajes</strong> </em></a>series, are smart and emotional.  I can't speak to the Jane Austen aspects as it has been too long since I read those books.  There is a twining of personal growth and evolving relationships, along with the daily aspects of life and careers.

There is only one unattached Raje brother remaining, Vansh.  He has been a world traveler for causes, working for the Peace Corps and other organizations.  We learn why he is such a passionate defender of those who are innocent or marginalized.  He's the youngest and his family is supportive and protective of him.

Naina is feeling anxious and a bit displaced. She is no longer the fiance of the future governor of California, which stabilized her world and relationships for a decade.  She finds her lifelong friendship with the Raje family clouded and her financing in jeopardy.  Her own family is just another fight for her.

As lifelong friends, Vansh and Naina have strikingly similar agendas with helping others in need. But the friends turn into sort of enemies when Vansh's project threatens the funding Naina has worked for years to obtain.  Surprisingly, their skills sets are very compatible in building non-profit projects though.  And they are compatible in other ways as well.

We see some of the family but especially Esha who has lived with her grandma and the rest of the Raje family since her parents died when she was 8.  She has had visions and a strong empathy ability to feel all the emotions of those around her. She would often blackout if anyone touched her, even her loving family, from the emotional intensity.  She meets someone and we get to see her learn how to "read" people and interact without feeling their emotions. Her growth, opening up and learning to be with people, is a compatible layer along with Naina's constant struggle to block all her feelings so she can't be hurt anymore.

I enjoyed the personal growth of all these characters and peeks at the people from other books. The relationship development was not just those of a romantic nature. There was growth in understanding with family and friends as well.

Another Austen work of art from Sonali Dev. She's the whole package from her storytelling genius concepts, to her branding and how she presents herself as an author. She's always an auto-buy for me for sure. She writes the most delightful rom-com's that always leave me satisfied. Fantastic!

Watch my Amazon Live interview with Sonali here: https://amazon.com/live/broadcast/c8a831a9-6a6a-4699-8940-43e037e391d7?tag=erinmbransco-20&linkCode=ilv&ref_=social

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for the digital review copy! I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunatley it is not for me. The opening scene, a rotating wall of characters coming in to make out with each other, felt a bit too silly and confusing to follow. It was a weird way to bring the characters from previous books all into the same space, seemingly just to remind us they exist, and made it hard for me to get a grasp on the story from the start.

Even as we settled in with our main characters, I found some aspects of the writing difficult to connect with. Comments about every woman in the room melting and putting a hand on their womb when a guy speaks kindly about his mother, for instance, did not work for me as a reader.

I'm sure readers who enjoy a dual POV romance and Jane Austen-inspired stories would enjoy this book. It just isn't a good fit for me.

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!

Have you met the Rajes yet??

I have so enjoyed this Jane Austen inspired series that follows a large Indian American family and the love lives of the four grown children. In this story we get to know more about the youngest Raje, Vansh, as he comes back to California after working overseas for years and finds himself falling for his brother's much older than him former fake girlfriend, Naina.

Naina wants nothing to do with the Rajes after her ten year relationship with Yash came to an close, unfortunately she ends up competing with Vansh for money from her father for her charitable organization. Sparks fly as these former friends become enemies and then more when they give in to the sizzling chemistry and try to pull off a secret friends with benefits situation.

Of course things don't stay secret for long and soon all of Vansh's siblings are weighing in on his and Naina's relationship. Can these two overcome the seeming obstacles stacked against them?? You definitely want to find out. Bonus, there's also an extra love story between two side characters that I REALLY enjoyed.

This was a great dual perspective, open door love story perfect for fans of Farah Heron, Sara Desai or Sajni Patel. Add this to your tbr if you enjoy family drama, secret office romances, grumpy/sunshine pairings or reverse age gap relationships. Much thanks to NetGalley and the Avon for my advance review copy.

CW: toxic parental relationship, dyslexia-related self-confidence issues

The Emma Project was a heartwarming read that left me with a smile on my face. I loved revisiting the Raje family in this fourth installment of Sonali Dev’s fabulous modern Austen retellings set in a traditional Indian family in California. This one adapts Emma - whose role is taken on by the seemingly flighty youngest son Vansh. It was absolutely wonderful to see how this fourth and last installment could provide development and closure to quite a few of the side characters from the other books - but even if you are not interested in reading the whole series but just want to see Emma adapted into the world of big ticket philanthropy this is still a great read - I loved how the Harriet Smith (Hari) storyline was picked up and transformed - as you can tell I just loved this book !
Isn’t the cover just beautiful - and I found just the flowering bush to go with it, yet another rhododendron … I have all sorts of shades from white to purple in the yard !

The Rajes series is one of my favorite contemporary romance series. Each of the four books is a retelling of a Jane Austen work:
Pride, Prejudice, & Other Flavors
Recipe for Persuasion
Incense & Sensibility
The Emma Project

I love this family and how much they love and care for each other through all their highs and lows. Not only do we get to hang out with the Rajes, we also get to see all kinds of families with their own issues and ways of showing love for each other. Watching Naina try to navigate her feelings after keeping them hidden for so long to keep peace in her family was so real and honest. I also like that we see Vansh showing different sides of himself to his family who all think of him as more of a free spirit. What I also loved was the side story with Esha, who’s been an interesting side character in every story and I was so happy to learn more about her!

This is an age gap romance, older heroine/younger hero. So if that’s something that interests you, this book has it!

There is only one thing I didn’t like about the book, and it’s a specific thing I don’t like in general. All I’ll say is there is a scene at a table with a bunch of family and it was very much not for me. The rest of the book was really emotional and fun,even if it was mentioned mention she saw him in diapers a little too much. Their age difference is only 12 years.

The Emma Project was such a bittersweet conclusion because I loved it so much but I’m so sad there aren’t anymore books in the series.

*Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for review*

Vansh Raje—handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition—has lived twenty-six years in the world with very little to vex him. Naina Kohli, a sensible woman of eight-and-thirty, is an intimate friend of the family—so intimate, in fact, that she pretended a ten-year romantic relationship with Vansh's older brother.

Now, Vansh and Naina find their professional lives entangled as they work on a charitable project together. An attraction develops between them, and they agree to indulge it in secret until Vansh leaves town on his next adventure. When Vansh catches feelings, Naina is having none of it. Falling in love is not in her life plan. Can Vansh convince her to take a chance on him?

I love the gender reversal in this Desi twist on Jane Austen's EMMA. Vansh is upbeat and optimistic. He doesn't let the challenges of his dyslexia stand in his way. He believes others can overcome obstacles just as he has, as long as they've got support and believe in themselves. Naina is more realistic. She's seen the darker side of life. Her mother has stayed in an abusive marriage for forty years. Some problems don't have simple solutions.

It's satisfying to see how Vansh's unconditional love fills the empty places in Naina's heart—how he helps her connect with her feelings. This is an emotional, sometimes heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting story. The audiobook was well done and added to the enjoyment of the novel.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Sonali Dev is my auto buy author and I have traveled with her through all her Raje series and loved it tremendously!

The Emma Project is the last masterpiece stroke of Dev’s Jane Austen inspired Raje series! I enjoyed each of her books in this series along with the main characters and this last one is my absolute favorite!

Vansh, the most handsome and youngest of Raje siblings is paired with Naina whom he knew his entire life as she has just gotten out of a 10 year long relationship with his older brother, Yash

This was a super fast, gripping, fun and emotional red! I really loved each and every book in Raje series and can’t wait to see what Sonali next project!

Thank you Avon books, NetGalley and Sonali Dev for the gifted galley that is available for grabs starting this week!

I love Sonali Dev’s Jane Austen retellings, and I usually reread them! This Emma is one of the best modern retellings of the Jane Austen novel! The story was very funny and is faithful to the original material! I really love her characters and the Rajes feel like a real family! I did not want this novel to end! This novel is a must read for any Jane Austen fan!

While a lot of romances can be read out of order without too much issue, this one leaned back on the previous three books substantially in the first 25 percent of the book (so much so that even some of the character development seemed light leaning back in previous books, or so I assume). I think this is a book I could love AFTER reading the earlier books first. While I'm bummed it didn't stand alone so well, I'm excited to go pick up the earlier books.

5 stars!!!

I am deeply enamored with Sonali Dev’s courageous and beautiful writing and I loved this book so much! (This book stands alone, although I highly recommend reading this entire series!)

This is not your typical romance novel in the best and unexpected of ways. The grumpy/sunshine trope is familiar, the portrayal of the diverse Indian American experience is thoughtful and outstanding and there’s a sex deal! Then there’s the reverse age gap (Naina is 38 and Vansh is 26), Naina might be perceived as unlikeable, especially since she was not a sympathetic character in the series’ third book, Incense and Sensibility, there are some heavy themes (domestic abuse, homelessness, anxiety, learning disability) and the surprise gift is the secondary love story of a very beloved character which reads more like a parallel love story. This book is also the steamiest in the series!

If you previously didn’t like Naina and can’t see how you might change your opinion, Dev addresses this shortly after the beginning by conveying Naina’s internal awkwardness, and giving us a taste of her background to gain the reader’s compassion and empathy. Instead of finding Naina unlikeable, I fell in love with her and saw in her the struggle that millions of women face, navigating the landmines of being your true self versus how you are perceived in the world. She’s so brilliant, successful and caring, but has been the one to shoulder the blame for her fake engagement with Yash, even though they were equal partners in their deception. He ends up smelling like roses, she loses the affection of the Raje family, and is burdened with her parent’s disappointment for losing such a catch and being single. The issue of double standards is a recurring theme in this book, and you gain more understanding of Naina’s choices when you see her relationship with her parents, especially with her mother. One of my favorite lines is: ”No! She would not blame Mummy for her father’s faults. The world already did too much of that, blaming women for men’s failings.”

Vansh is charismatic, sexy, and shines so brightly in his comfortable place in the world. He has his own dark cloud but he is a wonderful hero. His younger age is an asset to this romantic relationship. His career as an international do-gooder leads him to helping a secondary character, Hari, to recover and rebuild after being homeless.

You’ll have to read the book for details on the secondary romance, but trust that you want it!

Dev’s writing is so beautiful as usual, and the way she reveals and develops characters is as satisfying as being served a tasting menu from a three star Michelin restaurant. Everything is cohesive, it’s creative, it makes perfect sense and it’s deliciously satisfying!

At 90% I was dreading the book ending, and because I am so attached to The Rajes, I wish the epilogue was longer.. I think this series deserves to be as beloved and enduring as LIsa Kleypas’ Wallflowers series. I will miss The Rajes so much and hope that Dev will gift us with a holiday novella about the entire family someday!

Thank you to Sonali Dev and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝔼𝕄𝕄𝔸 ℙℝ𝕆𝕁𝔼ℂ𝕋 𝕓𝕪 𝕊𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚 𝔻𝕖𝕧

The Emma Project is the fourth installment of The Rajes series and is another hit from this trusted author!

Told in dual perspective from the super handsome younger Raje brother, Vansh and Naina Kohli, the uptight ex of older Raje brother, Yash this romance is a fun, hilarious and heartwarming story.

As a heartfelt Austenite, I confess that I fall easily to any re-tellings of Jane Austen stories but a lot of them tend to disappoint. But, Sonali Dev has never disappointed me!! I have read and adored all of the books in this series and have found them all truly wonderful!! She stays true to the essence of the original stories from Jane Austen while also adding a modern and diverse twist. She also always writes with strong female protagonists who rely on their own self-worth for success.

FYI—this book can be read as a stand alone; Dev gives enough backstory about the Raje family to not feel totally lost BUT…..my recommendation is to read the whole series in order because it makes the follow up and closed loops in this last book so much more better and enjoyable!!

Heat Factor: They have a lot of sex, but it’s almost entirely fade to black.

Character Chemistry: They critique each other out of love.

Plot: They’re working together to make the world a better place, but their families would have a conniption if they dated.

Overall: A nice finish to a solid series.

Let me start by saying that Emma is my favorite Austen. So I was curious and apprehensive to see what Dev would do with this retelling, the final book in her four-part series about the Raje family, an Indian-American family of extreme overachievers. (Dev is opting not to retell Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey, which is probably a wise decision.)

Here’s what Dev nails: the dynamic between Vansh (our Emma stand in) and Naina (Knightley) is perfect. Take this description of how Naina makes Vansh feel when they interact:

"She had known Vansh his whole life and had the only voice on earth that had this particular impact on him. A potent combination of reprimand and amusement that made Vansh want to wipe his face like a toddler caught eating dirt, while also making him feel like no one else ate dirt quite as impressively as he did."

I am dying. This is the writing of someone who understood the assignment.

The other part that Dev nails is Vansh’s project. He decides that he’s going to “solve homelessness” in San Francisco. The mix of privilege and desire to do good and cluelessness is spot on.

But here’s the thing. The real reason I love Emma the best (besides our unlikeable heroine) is because it’s friggin hilarious and so so fun to read. And Dev does not do comedies. While there are certainly funny moments, this book is an angst-fest. So, depending on what you’re looking for in an Emma retelling, this may or may not hit the spot.

The bigger question: how does it work as a romance?

Naina is a great character, who gets her much-deserved redemption arc after some…not great actions in Incense and Sensibility. She may come across as cold and self-serving, but really she is too busy making the world a better place to have time for emotions. She also, like Ashna in Recipe for Persuasion, has a terrible father and a fraught relationship with her mother; the shifts in that relationship are integral to Naina’s growth as a character. Also like Ashna, she is carrying a lot of trauma, though she manages it by closing herself off to everything except her work. Naina is messy, but I loved her.

Vansh is perhaps less developed, but he’s still a perfect foil for Naina. I am tempted to call him a true himbo hero, but he carries a lot of hurt precisely because his family thinks of him as a himbo—they value him for his kindness, and gently mock him for his extreme dedication to grooming, but they don’t appreciate his work ethic or his ideas or his brains. (After all, he’s not a neurosurgeon like his sister or a charismatic politician like his brother.)

So in terms of the romance, the dynamic between Vansh and Naina was lovely. There’s a great mix of gentle (and not so gentle) ribbing and each one genuinely seeing the other for the strengths that no one else appreciates. Vansh sees Naina’s emotional vulnerability, when everyone else sees a cold bitch; Naina sees Vansh’s smarts and dedication to bettering the world, when everyone else sees a flighty young man.

The pacing, however, felt a little off. There’s a lot of detail about the solving homelessness app they develop together and the funding for Naina’s work building clinics in Nepal. Some is necessary set-up to get the two of them in a forced-proximity work situation, but we could have spent way less time with Jiggy to get to the same point. Part of this is the nature of the retelling, and hitting certain “beats” of the story to make it recognizably Emma—Vansh’s protégé being humiliated is a big one here—sometimes meant that development of the plot took a backseat.

Three other sidenotes that might be of interest to readers:

- There’s some magic stuff going on with Esha (the eldest Raje of this generation). Maybe. Regardless, I’m glad she got her own happy ending.
- I do not recommend reading this as a standalone romance. At the very least, read Incense and Sensibility for some background on why Vansh’s family is being so stinking mean to Naina all the time. (But really, I recommend the whole series. As long as you like angst.)
- This book has ALL THE TROPES. Want forbidden romance? We’ve got that. Friends to lovers? That too. Workplace forced proximity? Check. Older woman? Double check. I swear this is just sex and will never be a real relationship? Oh yeah. Grumpy sunshine, with a true sunshine male lead? Check, check, check!

While I struggled a little with things dragging in the middle, the relationship between Vansh and Naina made up for it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

Sonali Dev writing an Austen adaptation. So good ! I love the writing the characters. Definitely one of my top reads this year. Thank you for this ARC

Such an interesting and fun take on Emma by Jane Austen. Vansh is the baby son of a large Indian family who moved to the US when he was young. He's beautiful and adored, like the book's namesake Emma. He's spent much of his adult life helping on one international humanitarian project after another. He comes home for his brother Yash's inauguration into CA government and notices Naina, his brother's prior "fake" fiance. Vansh and Naina are pulled together even though they knew each other as children and despite Naina's reservations on their difference in ages (she is older). Vansh was a really fun character and I loved his large extended family. I didn't realize that there had been other books about his family before so I had a little of an adjustment period at the beginning trying to get to know all of these unusual names. That being said, this book can be read as a standalone.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review.

The Emma Project is the much-awaited last book in the four-book series by Sonali Dev about the Indian American Raje family. Each book in the series is an adaptation of one of Jane Austen’s Classics. However, you don’t have to be a Jane Austen fan, or have even read any of the originals to enjoy and appreciate this series. Every book in this series could also be read as a stand-alone book and you would still be just as enthralled by the light hearted romance that is spiced with greater existential dilemmas faced in everyday life.
Sonali Dev is a compelling storyteller and knows how to keep her readers hitched. From the moment you open the first page you are drawn into the world of the Rajes. It’s like opening the door to a house full of intense, witty, and intriguing people that you want to know more about. Just like Jane Austen, Sonali Dev’s characters are well etched out and distinctive.
Although I am a big Jane Austen fan, Emma happens to be my least favourite book of hers. However, Sonali Dev’s modern-day adaptation of this book is marvelous. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading each one of the books in this series and this one is just as impressive as all the others. It’s tough for me to pick a favourite, as each book in the series makes you fall in love with the characters, while they are trying to fall in love with each other.
The socio-cultural setting of this series is not only interesting but also particularly appealing to me. This is because a part of me is rejoicing at the attainment of one of my long-standing childhood wishes. I have grown up on a steady diet of books written by Authors like Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, Jeffery Archer, and many more. I have absolutely loved and admired these authors and their books however, ever since I was a child, I have always yearned to read books that are of similar literary quality but have names, characters and settings that are Indian. That appetite has finally been satiated by some brilliant contemporary authors like Sonali Dev.
The Emma Project is essentially the story of the unconventional romance between the two central characters, Naina and Vansh. While the main plot is obviously predictable, as it’s a retelling, it has its surprises and builds an endearing camaraderie between the two. Through the course of the book, the interactions
and relationships that Naina and Vansh have with their respective families also leads to interesting sub plots and revelations. The family drama that surrounds and entails the romance makes the perfect setting for a Bollywood blockbuster.
I am not a big fan of book reviews that provide a detailed analysis of the story and give out too many spoilers. I believe that it deprives the readers of the fun and surprise that would otherwise be experienced if totally unaware of the twists in the plot. Hence, I shall refrain from going into any details and simply urge everyone reading this review to go read the book and have just as delightful an experience as I did.

An age gap romance between an older woman and younger man who are going to save the women of the world AND fix homelessness in San Francisco? Who knew philanthropy could be so sexy. Certainly not me. In my experience it’s more paperwork and process improvement, less dancing and dry humping.

Thank you NetGalley, SoNALI dev and Avon for this e-ARC! The Emma Project comes out tomorrow. Now I’m off to catch up on the rest of the Rajes’ stories.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶🌶/5