The Rajes Series - Jane Austen Retellings by Sonali Dev

4.5 Kissing Couples for Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors!

Sonali Dev's The Rajes romance series starts off strong with this own-voices, modern day, reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In a myriad of ways, Dev subverts the expectations you may have of yet-another P&P reimagining. Set in modern day San Francisco, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors has a smart, slightly misunderstood, female protagonist (Trisha) in a large, sometimes silly, family. The male protagonist (Darcy) is reserved, thoughtful, and has a little sister he adores. That having been said, Trisha doesn't fully fit the Elizabeth role, in fact, at some key moments she is much more of the Darcy while Darcy often fits the traditional Elizabeth role. This allows the storyline to be familiar but at the same time incredibly fresh.

I loved the characters of Dr. Trisha Raje and Darcy "DJ" Caine. Their initial meet-cute is in the kitchen of a party that Trisha's family was hosting. DJ, a chef friend of Trisha's cousin, had gotten the exciting opportunity to cater for the wealthy and influential Raje family and he knew that if things went well his business could really start picking up. Then he found a girl (Trisha Raje) messing with his food and was, understandably, upset. Dr. Raje hadn't had time to eat with her busy day working a surgeon and had snuck into the kitchen to find something to quell her hunger only to find herself scared and yelled at by the caterer. To both of their dismay, this wouldn't be their only encounter: DJ's little sister, an artist who was rapidly going blind, was Trisha's newest patient.

Just like Austen's classic, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors is full of misunderstandings and had me frustratedly muttering, "JUST SAY WHAT YOU ARE THINKING/FEELING." It also had incredibly sweet and supportive siblings, high drama, family expectations and frustrations, and a lot of learning that the characters had to do.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it for literally anyone who enjoys Austen and her adaptations.

5 Kissing Couples for Sonali Dev's Recipe for Persuasion!

Book two of Sonali Dev's "The Rajes" series is my favorite. Ashna Raje was first introduced in Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors as Trisha's cousin who was basically her sister and Darcy's dear friend who played a crucial role in the two meeting. Like Darcy, Ashna is a talented chef, but while his career is thriving, her restaurant is failing. Ashna inherited her restaurant from her father after his suicide and, despite her staff's wishes, her anxiety won't let her change the menu he had set. Then her best friend, TV producer China Dashwood, convinces her to be a chef on her new cooking show: a competition show that partners chefs with celebrities. To Ashna's dismay, the celebrity she gets partnered with is soccer star Rico Silva: her ex-boyfriend.

Just like in Jane Austen's Persuasion, Ashna and and Rico's romance from years before was mostly a secret and its ending had been terribly painful for both of them. Rico believed their breakup happened because Ashna's wealthy and influential family would never approve of a poor kid like him, but he doesn't know the whole story, and he doesn't know what she gave up in an attempt to be with him all those years ago.

As though potentially losing her beloved restaurant and having to deal with her ex-boyfriend's re-entry into her life wasn't enough: Ashna's estranged mother, who always flitted in and out of her life, has returned and wants to build a relationship with her.

I absolutely loved Recipe for Persuasion. The characters were frustrating and endearing. Their growth was substantial and meaningful. The book had funny moments, heartbreaking moments, and was ultimately a very sweet love story.

4 Kissing Couples for Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev!

Sonali Dev's fantastic third installment of The Rajes series reimagines Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with a little yogi twist. Yash Raje, the golden boy, one of California's top gubernatorial candidates, has his world shaken when an assassination attempt lands his dear friend and bodyguard in the hospital with a coma. Yash is met with sudden, black-out panic, that could prevent him from realizing his ambitions. So, his team sends him to India Dashwood's yoga studio to help him manage his stress and anxiety.

India Dashwood's little sister, China, is making some bad decisions that, India worries, will inevitably lead to heartbreak. Meanwhile, their mother has a bad diagnosis and their at risk for losing their home/yoga studio in order to make ends meet. Helping Yash Raje is an added stressor for her because ten years ago, she shared a magical night with Yash, and later discovered he was in a serious and committed relationship with his now-fiancé, Naina Kohli. What India doesn't know is Yash's own secret: he and Naina have been faking their relationship for the past ten years.

Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorite Austen novels, and this adaptation was an honest delight, although I found it incredibly stressful. Like Austen's Elinor Dashwood, India carries a lot of burdens for her family and the people she cares for. Dev does a fantastic job of making the reader feel those burdens as well. I loved getting the opportunity to see a little bit more of Yash's story, although at this point all of the Raje family secrets are making me wonder how close and supportive this family really is.

3.5 Kissing Couples for Sonali Dev's The Emma Project!

I want to start by saying: The Emma Project was still, ultimately, a very solid romance, it just, unfortunately, was my least favorite of the series. This was an extra bummer because Jane Austen's Emma is one of my favorites of Austen's works. Similar to Dev's first book in the series, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, The Emma Project subverts your expectations of the retelling in a lot of ways. Vansh Raje, the youngest brother of the Raje family, is the Emma character: wealthy, adored, charming, and determined to do good but with the naïve assumption that he knows what is best for people whose shoes he has never lived in. Vansh finds himself falling for an old family friend, his almost sister-in-law, Naina Kohli.

Naina is having a tough time. For the first time in ten years, she is back in San Francisco, drawn to the place where she has access to funding for her charitable mission. This means, unfortunately, she is back in the proximity of her abusive father, and forced to see her beloved mother cower and plead for her to behave in accordance with her father's wishes. Her best friend, Yash Raje, has ended their decade long fake relationship and the Raje family has, for the first time in her life, started treating her like a villainess. That is, of course, with the exception of Vansh Raje who, infuriatingly, has been offered some of the funding for her project to start up a project of his own.

As with Dev's other expertly crafted Austen adaptations, The Emma Project is full of secrets and emotions boiling over. The characters are lovable and the plot manages to be simultaneously familiar and fresh. The Emma Project let me down, though, by everyone's treatment of Vansh as somewhat of a do-gooder playboy who neither thinks nor needs to. While this is rectified in several of his relationships, he did a lot of "oh well move on" when Naina repeatedly said things that were cruel and dismissive. What was frustrating was that I really liked Naina's character and understood her motivations: I just really could not get past the fact that she was continuously so callus towards Vansh and unapologetic about her own wrong doings. What's strange is that throughout the book Naina apologizes for everything her mother feels and accepts a lot of mistreatment from the Raje family, she just also happens to be dismissive and cruel to the only person who shows her kindness and respect, and she never really seems to get to a place where she stands up for herself when people are treating her poorly and takes responsibility for the ways that she has treated others poorly.

My other major problem with this installment is that, after three books of every single Raje making mistakes and assumptions and keeping secrets and hurting and mending relationships and forgiving others...the only Rajes who manage to give Naina any grace are Vansh, who gives everyone grace, and Yash, who also did the thing that everyone is mad at Naina about.

My last note is: each of these series had side romances that we only saw snippets of, and this one had my favorite. I don't want to give any spoilers but I will say there is another Raje who finally get someone to kiss in this book.

Oh wait! My actual last note is: the first three books of this series were pretty light on sex scenes...if you are someone who prefers romance novels with sex and scandal, this one just might be your favorite of the series.