Incense and Sensibility: A Novel

by Sonali Dev

Overview

"Incense and Sensibility is a tender, well-crafted novel, as much about finding purpose as it is about falling in love. Dev writes with such rare empathy and humor that I often found myself holding my breath on one page only to be giggling by the next. This is the kind of book you finish with a whole-body, happy sigh and a warm ache in your chest where the characters will live on. Yash and India’s story will stick with me for a long time.”— Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read

Yash Raje, California’s first Indian-American gubernatorial candidate, has always known exactly what he wants—and how to use his privileged background to get it. He attributes his success to a simple mantra: control your feelings and you can control the world. But when a hate crime at a rally critically injures his friend, Yash’s easy life suddenly feels like a lie, his control an illusion. When he tries to get back on the campaign trail, he blacks out with panic.

Desperate to keep Yash’s condition from leaking to the media, his family turns to the one person they trust—his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, California’s foremost stress management coach. Raised by a family of yoga teachers, India has helped San Francisco’s high strung overachievers for a decade without so much as altering her breath. But this man—with his boundless ambition, simmering intensity, and absolute faith in his political beliefs—is like no other.

Yash has spent a lifetime repressing everything to succeed, including their one magical night ten years ago—a too brief, too bright passion that if rekindled threatens to destroy the dream he’s willingly shouldered for his family and community . . . until now.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063051805
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/06/2021
Series:	Rajes Series , #3
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	127,463
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 5.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

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.

Editorial Reviews

04/19/2021

Dev’s emotionally charged third Rajes romance (after Recipe for Persuasion) centers on Yash Raje, a California gubernatorial candidate whose meteoric rise is disrupted by an assassination attempt. Public sympathy pushes Yash to the top of the polls following the failed shooting, but trauma and anxiety attacks jeopardize his campaign. Enter India Dashwood, a yoga therapist and stress management coach—and the woman Yash let get away 10 years ago. With the election only months away, India’s coaching is Yash’s best hope at getting back on the campaign trail—and she’s also the only person who makes him feel anything at all. The story of trauma and recovery in the face of racist gun violence is timely, but that may also make it difficult for some readers to get through, despite the narrative’s deeply romantic heart. Dev’s cast runs the gamut from kindhearted to ruthless, though not all characters are equally believable: Dev excels at portraying the fond interconnectedness of the large Raje family, but is less successful in conjuring the Dashwoods’ dynamic, and the disparate tones between scenes featuring each family can be disorienting. Still, series fans will be happy to revisit the Rajes and be pleased by the sweet love story. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners (July)

Publishers Weekly

“This book holds a galaxy of depth in its pages; it is powerful and loving, sensual and layered. Sonali Dev’s writing is glorious.” 
— Christina Lauren, New York Times Bestselling author of In A Holidaze  

"Incense and Sensibility is a tender, well-crafted novel, as much about finding purpose as it is about falling in love. Dev writes with such rare empathy and humor that I often found myself holding my breath on one page only to be giggling by the next. This is the kind of book you finish with a whole-body, happy sigh and a warm ache in your chest where the characters will live on. Yash and India’s story will stick with me for a long time.” — Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read

From the Publisher

This book holds a galaxy of depth in its pages; it is powerful and loving, sensual and layered. Sonali Dev’s writing is glorious.” 

Christina Lauren

"Incense and Sensibility is a tender, well-crafted novel, as much about finding purpose as it is about falling in love. Dev writes with such rare empathy and humor that I often found myself holding my breath on one page only to be giggling by the next. This is the kind of book you finish with a whole-body, happy sigh and a warm ache in your chest where the characters will live on. Yash and India’s story will stick with me for a long time.

Emily Henry

2021-05-19
An ambitious politician is forced to examine his past when trauma sends him to a scrupulously honest yoga instructor for help.

Indian American gubernatorial candidate Yash Raje is in the throes of a closely contested campaign in California when a rally is derailed by bigotry and violence. Yash escapes relatively unscathed, but when he learns that Abdul, his bodyguard and friend, continues to battle for his life in the hospital, he is too numb and shaken to resume work. Since he clearly needs help, his family recommends yoga therapist and stress management coach India Dashwood. But meeting each other is bound to be painful for India and Yash: After a night of deeply personal and intense exchanges a decade ago, their fledgling relationship ended abruptly. Although India has a lot on her plate, her natural generosity and Yash's obvious plight mean that she cannot turn him away. As India gently prods him into reconciling with a traumatic past, Yash begins to see his present with sharp clarity. But he must make some hard decisions before he can create the future he has envisioned. The third installment in Dev's series of modern-day Jane Austen adaptations revolving around the Rajes, an aristocratic Indian family, is a riff on Sense and Sensibility. Yash and India are consistently endearing in their commitment to creating an egalitarian and empathetic world: India is steadily compassionate but refuses to be a pushover while Yash's burning ambition has not charred his emotional core. Dev demonstrates a sharp understanding of privilege as she tackles the issues of racism and social justice. But this acuity renders her erasure of caste politics, especially as she references Hindu mythology, especially stark.

Warmth and humor leaven an emotionally intense romance.

Kirkus Reviews