The Emma Project by Sonali Dev

The Emma Project The Emma Project by Sonali Dev
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews


The last of the Rajes books (#4) and….I loved this book.

Here again we have a Jane Austen retelling, this time of Emma, and rather than an enemies to lovers story, we have a friends to friends-with-benefits to....maybe-we-are-something-more. This book ticked all the boxes for me. Once again, Dev brings back characters from other books but seen through the eyes of the featured characters, and not always in the most flattering light. 

In an overarching way, putting all the books characters together, it is interesting to see the real-life difference between how I may see and experience the world around me from my own perspective compared to how others may see and perceive me.

Going back to this particular story, I will not say it is the truest to the original Austen retelling, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It went from slow burn to extra spicy about midway. The theme of difficult fathers is revisited as in some of the other books, and this is where I most connected with the story. For me, this was the real heart of this tale: how to reclaim yourself and thrive and not merely survive childhood trauma.  Once again, I am cheering for our lead character that she may find peace as much as love. And for both of the lead characters, there was a theme of not being good enough or feeling written off in different ways that I found resonated with me.

Ch. 29 was a multiple Kleenex experience to be sure. The line, "Sometimes all Naina wanted was to be like the women in romantic comedies. She wanted to cry into her wine. She wanted to eat ice cream straight out of a tub in her pajamas while friends told her it was going to be okay. Instead, she felt parched, desert sand where her feelings needed to be..." it broke me. 

⏰ I read this book in about  7 days but was also reading multiple other things simultaneously.


🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Very spicy for the main love story. There is another that is more vanilla, but that is a side plot.

⚠️Trigger warnings: micro aggressions in the workplace, bullying in the workplace, bullying fathers, children who felt unloved, domestic abuse

🏷️ 

#romance

#contemporaryromance

#spicy

#steamy

#austenretells

#recoveringfrombullying

#charactersthatneedtherapybut…

.

.

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#iamanUnapologeticNerd

#adhdfriendlybookreviews

#bookloverandreviewer

#ADHDismysuperpower



I thoroughly enjoyed this book and very much recommend.



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