Series Name: The Rajes, #4Â
The Emma Project by Sonali Dev is a dazzling and fun rom-com.Â
“Well, don’t you look all pleased with yourself, Baby Prince,” Naina Kohli said. 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.Â
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.
The Rajes series has been on my TBR radar for a while now. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about this series, so I was incredibly excited when we were given a copy of The Emma Project to review for our blog. Before diving into this one, I didn’t get a chance to read the previous books, but I am happy to report that it can be read as a stand-alone. I never felt lost in the plot, and to be honest, reading this book made me want to read the previous books in the series even more.
Sonali did a fantastic job putting her own spin on Jane Austen’s Emma. The story was different and unique enough to keep me interested without being too predictable, but it still had that classic Emma charm to it. This rom-com is one of those books that offers readers more than just a love story. There are so many complex and thoughtful layers put into this story. Sonali addresses some more serious issues, like emotional/physical abuse, PTSD, complicated family issues, and so much more.
I really adore Vansh and Naina. They were fun and endearing characters that you can’t help but root for. Naina was an interesting main character. I loved that her job was centred around helping women. My heart also went out to her when it came to the strained and controlling family life she had as a child (and even as an adult). It was wonderful watching as she started to open her heart up to Vansh and found her own happiness. Fans of the series will love that their favourite couples and characters from previous books have cameos in this book. The character that stood out the most to me was Esha. I just loved her story and really loved looking forward to the chapters that were told from her POV.
The relationship between Naina and Vansh was fun and spicy. There is a bit of an age difference between these two characters. Naina is twelve years older than Vansh. This age gap and the complex history Naina has with the Raje family created a lot of obstacles for this couple. I loved the banter between these two; it was fun, witty, and totally on point.
The Emma Project is fun, sweet, and the perfect book to finish an amazing rom-com series.
Thank you, Harper Collins Canada for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
