Sonali Dev Books in Order (Updated 2026-02-03)

Sonali Dev writes contemporary romance that often blends family expectations, big emotions, and modern love stories rooted in Indian and Indian-American life. Her books are easiest to navigate when you treat them as separate shelves: one fully connected family series, one earlier four-book romance series, and several later standalones.

If you want a worry-free experience, read each series straight through, then choose the standalones in any order.

---

A low-stress starting point

• Want a full series with the best character continuity? Start with Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors.
• Prefer her earlier, more classic romance setup? Start with A Bollywood Affair.
• Only want one book with no series commitment? Start with The Vibrant Years (standalone).

---

The Rajes series (read in order)

This is one ongoing family world. Later books assume you’ve met the family dynamics, and they can casually reveal earlier couples’ outcomes.

1. Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (2019): A brilliant surgeon and a guarded lawyer collide over pride, family loyalty, and a love neither wants to admit.
2. Recipe for Persuasion (2020): A celebrity chef and a determined soccer star find that the past doesn’t stay buried when cameras, and feelings, return.
3. Incense and Sensibility (2021): A woman trying to outrun her history is pulled back into it by a man who sees through every carefully built defense.
4. The Emma Project (2022): A matchmaking experiment turns messy when “helping someone else” exposes what the matchmakers themselves are missing.

---

The Bollywood series (read in order)

These four romances are connected through themes and relationships, and they read best as a steady progression.

1. A Bollywood Affair (2014): A lawyer travels to India to end a long-ago marriage and discovers the heart of the problem isn’t legal at all.
2. The Bollywood Bride (2015): Returning home for wedding festivities forces a woman to face family pressure, public attention, and the love she tried to leave behind.
3. A Change of Heart (2016): A doctor’s carefully constructed life fractures, and rebuilding it means confronting guilt, danger, and desire at once.
4. A Distant Heart (2017): Two people carrying old wounds find that romance is easier than trust, and both are required.

---

Standalone novels (read anytime)

These don’t depend on the series above. Pick based on mood.

• The Vibrant Years (2022): Three generations of women chase love and reinvention while family secrets refuse to stay quiet.
• Lies and Other Love Languages (2023): Three women navigate the line between protective silence and harmful deception as relationships strain under the truth.
• There’s Something About Mira (2025): A found ring sparks a partnership and a slow shift in how Mira understands love, purpose, and her own worth.

---

Upcoming novel

• How Simi Got Her Groom Back (2026): A fake-marriage scheme spirals into real consequences when two sisters discover love is the easiest part to misunderstand.

---

Short fiction and other appearances (optional)

These are best treated as extras rather than “required reading.”

• The Wedding Setup (short story, 2022): At a wedding full of expectations, a woman is forced to choose between obligation, grief, and the life she actually wants.
• Once Upon a Wedding (anthology contribution, 2019): A wedding-themed story that sits outside Dev’s main series worlds.
• Scribbling Women and the Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them (anthology contribution, 2014): A nonfiction-style contribution in a multi-author collection.

(Anthology contents can vary by edition; if you’re collecting everything, double-check the contributor list for the version you buy.)

---

A reading plan that keeps surprises intact

If you want one clear route:

1. Read The Rajes series (books 1–4)
2. Read the Bollywood series (books 1–4)
3. Read the standalones in any order
4. Add the short fiction/anthologies whenever you feel like an extra

---

FAQs

Do I have to read the series in order?
If you care about avoiding couple spoilers and getting the best family/side-character context, yes, read each series in sequence.

Can I start with a standalone and never touch the series?
Absolutely. The Vibrant Years and There’s Something About Mira are designed to stand on their own.

Is there one “correct” order for everything?
Not really. The clean approach is series-by-series, then standalones.

---

Conclusion

For the smoothest experience, start with The Rajes at Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, read through to The Emma Project, then decide whether you want the earlier Bollywood series or a standalone next. That keeps continuity clear while still giving you plenty of flexibility.