Tag: Alisha Rai

BONUS REVIEW: Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

BONUS REVIEW: Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Avon Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Katrina King values her privacy and anonymity. Privacy protects her from people who would use her for their own gains. Like the guy who kidnapped her a few years ago for a big ransom from her rich husband when he had been alive. Or like her father who manipulated her as a teen so he could make money off her in her modeling career.

Katrina thought the conversation with the guy at the café was fun. Harmless flirting. Then she found out someone at the café had taken pictures of their interaction. They were shared online along with a fabricated story of new love. And it went viral. Now Katrina is terrified that someone will recognize her and her carefully constructed life will crumble.

Jasvinder, Katrina’s bodyguard, was with her at the café. He questioned the wisdom of chatting with a stranger. He couldn’t have predicted what happened, though. But now that it has, he can offer Katrina an escape. Jas takes her to his family’s farm where no one will see her or recognize her. Sure, it means he will have to face some family issues that have been building lately. But at the same time, Jas has some issues from his own past chasing him down. Katrina isn’t the only one who could use an escape.

But the close quarters on the farm threaten to expose the feelings they’ve each been reigning in tightly. She’s his boss. He’s her bodyguard. There’s no space for romance between them.

Review

This was so good! This is a sequel to the delightful The Right Swipe, and part of the Modern Love series.

I loved the characters in this! Katrina has been living quiet and small, drawn protectively in on herself. But that couldn’t protect her from a random stranger in a café with a cell phone and an imagination. The situation pushes her to decide how she wants to live her life. Does she want to continue to live small and sheltered?

Jas is suffering from events in his past, too. He gets by, but doesn’t really live. He stuffs his feelings down deep which protects him for awhile from the pain. But it also cuts him off from relationships that could bring him a lot of joy.

I loved the inner work each of them does in the course of the story. I was frustrated early on, feeling like I was missing vital backstory. It’s been awhile since I read book one, and I thought I might have forgotten some things. But I think the backstory was just doled out slowly. It felt like it was too slowly in the beginning for me, but it all becomes clear over time.

The viral photo/story felt like a plot device moreso than a major part of the story, at least to me. It moved Katrina and Jas to the farm which pushes them to deal with their individual issues while also addressing the feelings between them. And I was completely okay with that plot device. The character development was the star of the book for me. Fans of the first book should not miss this one. If you missed book one, somehow, be sure to pick that up, too. (Language, sex, LGBTQ+, TW: Anxiety/panic attacks)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai

REVIEW: The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Avon in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Rhiannon has worked her tail off building her dating app, Crush, into one of the top apps in the country. As a woman, she had a long list of bad dating experiences she wanted to screen out for herself and other women looking for someone with her app. And people responded. Now she has a chance to buy out the older style Matchmaker. It would give her a huge market share and help her serve folks who wanted to go with the personality profile style of dating AND the app-swiping folks who used Crush.

Samson Lima was a football player for awhile. And when that fell apart, he took care of his sick uncle for many years. Now, his aunt needs him. She’s the sole owner of Matchmaker now that her sister has passed away. The company needs an infusion of something fresh – and that’s Samson. He’s agreed to be a spokesperson for Matchmaker and also let them find him a match publicly to get some good publicity and show people what the process looks like.

Samson and Rhiannon are at an industry event when they run into each other. Again. Awhile ago, they matched up on Crush and spent a steamy evening together. Rhiannon broke her own rules for hook ups and agreed to a second date. When Samson didn’t show, she deleted the profile she had on the app. He was dead to her. She didn’t know his uncle’s health took a turn. When Samson got his feet under him again and remembered the broken date, he couldn’t find “Claire” on Crush anymore and had no way of apologizing for ghosting her. But judging from the daggers she glares at him, forgiveness is not going to come from Rhiannon any time soon.

Review

This was delightful! Samson and Rhi are fantastic characters. She has a history that keeps her wary and always on the offensive. He has been burned by people he thought of as family. They are both terrified to be vulnerable and trust others, which makes trying to build a relationship tricky.

Which is fine because Rhi doesn’t want a “relationship.” A physical connection is all she wants from Samson – and she tells herself she doesn’t even want that. But the chemistry between them is unavoidable. Their trust issues keep cropping up, though, and put a wedge between them again and again.

This is another football-adjacent story that addresses concussion issues. I enjoyed how the author worked the issue in without using active players. It felt different and worked in some additional dynamics that I enjoyed.  It never felt like it was tacked on to be timely or “relevant.”

The secondary characters were as delightful as Rhi and Samson. I would love for this to be a series like the Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole or the Bluff Point series by Jenn McKinlay. In those series, a secondary character in one story becomes the protagonist in another. There are several secondary characters in this I would love to see star in their own book! *

I have been on a romantic comedy (rom-com) kick lately, and I’m loving it. This is a terrific entry in that genre. Don’t miss this one! (Language, sex)

*[I discovered this IS going to be a series!! This is book one in the Modern Love series. Book 2 – currently titled Girl Gone Viral – is scheduled to release in Spring 2020]

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½