I am sad that THE EMMA PROJECT is the last in The Rajes series by Sonali Dev.  Fourth 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.  The Rajes 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 Vansh 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 interconnected 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.