Incense and Sensibility: A Novel (The Rajes Series Book 3)

FINAL DECISION: I was very conflicted by this book. I absolutely loved the romance between Yash and India. I loved Yash as a character. But I hated almost everything else about the book. There wasn't enough romance -- which didn't really have a satisfying ending -- and I didn't buy anything about the governor storyline. Ultimately, if the romance had a fantastic ending it might have overcome everything else, but because I wanted more from the romance, everything else about the story annoyed me by the end.THE STORY: Yash Raje, the family golden boy, is a candidate for governor of California when an attempt to shoot him results in his bodyguard being shot instead. Yash has difficulting dealing with the aftermath. His family encourages him to get help from India Dashwood, a family friend that they trust who helps with stress management. What his family doesn't know is that ten years ago, India and Yash had one night where they grew close before everything fell apart. Yash has spent years focusing on his political goals and hasn't been concerned about what makes him personally happy, but seeing India again puts his desires in conflict.OPINION: This book was ultimately a disappointment. The central relationship between Yash and India was amazing. Their history, their interactions, and the emotion between them were amazing. But everything else disappointed. First, Yash is a lousy candidate for governor of California. He apparently has no backbone and if I'm supposed to believe that he will somehow be a great governor and get his policies accomplished when he can't tell his family that his 10 years (??!) relationship with his "friend" (who is honestly a terrible person and I have no idea how Dev intends on making her the heroine of the next book) was fake. Also, as far as I can tell, this book rests on the premise that Yash's progressive political policies will succeed because Yash is "good" and "honest" which is belied by the fact that he is a liar and willing to live a lie about his entire life in order to be elected. Everything about his book shows me that he is immature and an idealist who really will be completely ineffectual. I think the book would have been a million times better if Yash lost the election or withdrew -- because honestly, the resolution would never happen.Now in a normal romance, I wouldn't care about this stuff because the relationship is key and the rest tends to be fantasy anyway. However, this book's romance is unsatisfying because everything is "resolved" in a magic turnaround in the end but readers are not given even an epilogue resolution of some of the serious impediments to Yash and India's relationship. As such, I finished this book being convinced that India and Yash love one another but not firmly convinced that things will work out between them.Yash's problems with sexual intimacy are made a significant part of the story and yet nothing is really resolved by the end. The "happy ending" is so truncated as to be insufficient to counter the level of trauma. That didn't work for me as a plotting device. If the author is making this an important issue, the resolution needed to be more prominent. The book needs to make clear that India and Yash are able to overcome this issue and have a loving relationship not tag it on in the last couple of paragraphs.So while I absolutely adored Yash and India's story, I can't give this book a higher rating because the end of the story was completely unsatisfying to me. That just made me mad, because until the last page, I wanted to absolutely love this book.WORTH MENTIONING: Like the first book in this series, there is some discussion about rape and its emotional aftermath, but the rape is discussed rather than depicted.CONNECTED BOOKS: INCENSE AND SENSIBILITY is the third book in the Rajas series. The story here is self-contained so it is not necessary to read the others in the series. However, this is a continuing family drama so the other books introduce and develop the family members and their relationships to one another.STAR RATING: I reluctantly give this book 3 stars -- although the romance itself would have been 5 stars with a better resolution.

I think the title of my review says it all. Yes this book kind of felt like a smut book in the forms of it being a romance and it's in a loose sense named after a Jane Austen book so of course we're expecting a little bit of scandal, a lot of push and pull entangled love and just a lime slice of juicy smutty delight that would make the modern day reader just want to pick this story up.And incense and sensibility accomplished its goals and I think a bit more by having a story that's based off of character and morals which is a very Jane austeny kind of thing to do and to have those things as a pseudo foregrounding plot point was very impressive.So why no five stars? .... That is a great question and I think it's because the beginning of the book was very hard to smudge through. I mean really hard I think I even DNF this book for a few months because it was boring at the beginning. Now with all of that being said by the time I got to the end of the book yes I realized how important the beginning of the book was for setting the playing field for how important politics plays in our main character Yesh life. But by God sheh, it was the reason why I missed out on this book for months, (yeah my opinion it was that boring). And I'm a politically-minded person and I can't I found the beginning of the story very boring. And that's how we lost the one star.Trust me just get past the first one or two chapters and get invested in India and Yesh. And the book ends in a very satisfying Jane Austen way where you're like yes yes and then you never know if these two characters ever really REALLY eventually make it but everything on a high note so you're hopeful.

I loved this book #3 in the Raje family series, influenced by Jane Austen's books. As the books need not be read in order, and this one was available to me to listen to I haven't read/listened to #2 or #4 yet. As with book #1 I was completely struck with the emotions that Dev was able to evoke with these characters and situations. If the story is informed or driven by the Austen book you can pick out who is the Elinor character, Maryanne, Edward, Mr. Willoughby. Other character comparisons are not really necessary as the Raje family structure has been set up from the beginning of the series and their interactions with, and support of each other is a very prominent character in the books. I love that. The two main characters, our hero and heroine; Yash Raje and India Dashwood are completely devoted to their families, the expectations which keeps them from reaching for each wants for themselves. When the heroes' lives keep getting more complicated with familial and outside forces you just want to smack them and say 'don't lose each other over this.' But, then their honor would be tarnished somehow. Sonali Dev brings us a highly satisfying solution.

The Rajes series by Sonali Dev is twists on Jane Austen classic tales, with modern day Indian characters and their families. And - they are absolutely incredible! I only just discovered Sonali Dev this year, and she is one of my new favourite authors. She is a fantastic storyteller and using the Jane Austen framework to tell her tales is brilliant - I love this series!This particular book builds on a character we know from the first two - brother Yash Raje. The first books are about his siblings. Yash met a girl 10 years earlier (India Dashwood, who is Thai... not Indian), just one time, but he had an instant connection. They next day, due to circumstances, he had to create a fake relationship with a childhood friend to help cover up an incident, and help out both of their careers. This book takes place when he and that girl from the instant connection meet again due to new circumstances when he requires her professional services... and she is the only one that can help him with his problem. Throwing them together again of course leads to the resurfacing of that initial instant attraction, and throws a wrench into the 10 year plan that he's been relying on to help his political career flourish.This book and the series (3 so far, with The Emma Project coming Spring 2022) are excellent, but can be read as standalone. The previous characters do appear, but the instances where they do won't affect the reading order and won't really give anything away. She does a great job of making sure of that! I absolutely recommend this series, as well as her Bollywood Affair/Bollywood Bride series, which was my first read of hers - the writing is just too good to miss!

With the first two books not disappointing me, I expected a lot from Book 3, whose primary protagonist is Yash, a broody character introduced in the first book. And the book lived to my expectations. My only grouse with it was that it was shorter compared to the other two. Well, that means kudos to Sonali Dev for crafting Bollywood style romances that would put even the Bolly masalas to shame. Really good story about India Dashwood and Yash Raje. Again, love the crossovers... This series is worth reading for all the drama and the romance. Can read it again and again. No doubts about that.

I truly enjoyed this entry in the Raje Series, and it was another wonderful and charming adaptation of a Jane Austen classic. As always, the author dealt with some very serious topics with compassion and directness, but always with enough hope to make it bearable. One drawback, if one can call it that, was that there was a lot of back and forth at the beginning, as in the H kept coming to see the h, then leaving, then coming back, then leaving. It made sense in the context but seemed to go on a little longer than it maybe needed to. Overall, a great book and I'd highly recommend the whole series.

Love this book for the simplicity in perspective of both the lead characters though they have been painfully etched with deeper layers of character building and unfolding.The writing is magical where you realise you meet India Dashwood and you instantly feel her calmness soak into you and the calmness really stays throughout the story and that is a winner for me. Meet Yash Raje and the existential crisis is as real as yours or mine. His legacy though may not be your or my reality, cheers to him for that! Beautiful characters that bring a sense of peace, calm & the will to set things right no matter the cost. Simple yet strong characters that find clarity in the process and help us find clarity along the lines as well. The most well written and lovable story of all Raje's! This one steals your heart and reinforces your faith in believing in yourself.

I found this entry in the Raje story difficult to like. I want to because the writing sparkles but this one focuses more on the brother and not the sisters. The Raje girls are irristible. Yash the brother comes across as over privileged and expecting success at every turn and facet of life. It's harder to feel any goodness towards him. Still a good read though.