I’m happy to say I have The Emma Project by Sonali Dev on the blog today. Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Harper360 for my copy of the book to take part.
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.
This is the fourth book in The Rajes series. I haven’t read any of the others and didn’t have an issue reading this as a standalone. This is an Emma retelling and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I also now have a new author to appreciate!
Vansh and Naina’s story was thoroughly enjoyable. Vansh is the youngest son of the Raje family and Naina, was previously engaged to Yash, Vansh’s elder brother. Vansh spends his time working with various charities. He has been friends with Naina for a long time. She is working on her own project to try to provide micro financing for women in Nepal.
Things come to a head when they have to share funding from an eccentric billionaire for their own organisations. It makes it worse when she discovers Vansh is naming his particular project ‘Emma’, after her favourite book. She eventually realises that they are both able to get what they want by working in tandem, instead of against each other. This means these two end up spending time together which brings them closer.
I was gutted to find that this was the last book in this series. I enjoyed the time I spent getting to know the Raje family and Indian culture also. I did like the gender flipping of the original Emma, it was such a refreshing read. It was a romance I wasn’t sure of in the beginning. The age gap for one and the fact that Naina was his brothers fake girlfriend too. It was a bit awkward but lovely to watch everything unfold as the story unfolds.
I found it a book that is written in a way that I got attached to the characters easily. Sonali Dev has brought them to life so easily. A story about much more serious issues that are dealt with in such a sensitive way, not just love and family.
It’s not just about Vansh and Naina, there is another story thread that is just as beautifully written and adds even more to the story. I was through this in no time, I was so interested in what would be next that I didn’t stop turning the pages until I had to sleep.
Such a great ending to the series and one I must say, I am so glad I can go back to the beginning and not have to leave then so soon! A highly surprising recommended read.
Author Bio
USA Today Bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love stories that explore issues faced by women around the world. Sonali’s novels have been on Library Journal, NPR, Washington Post, and Kirkus’s Best Books of the year lists. She has won the American Library Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewer Choice Award for best contemporary romance, multiple RT Seals of Excellence, is a RITA® finalist, and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “Not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.”
She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog.
Find more at sonalidev.com.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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