First of all, thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings: plot/characters that heavily revolve around PTSD and anxiety due to traumatic child abuse and manipulation, kidnapping, and war experiences; sexual situations, blackmail, invasions of privacy

Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this book to be released??? DO YOU KNOW?! Well let me tell you, I’ve been waiting since September. That was when I had the pleasure of reading the first book in the Modern Love series, The Right Swipe. I absolutely adored that book and when I heard that we were getting a follow-up that focused on the silent partner in Rhiannon’s company, I knew we were in for a good time. Thankfully, Alisha did not disappoint.

Katrina is a pretty mysterious character. She’s a reclusive investor who took the money her late husband left her and used it to build herself quite the investment empire. No one really knows who she is and that’s on purpose. Katrina used to live her life in the spotlight as a model at the insistence of her controlling father. Since leaving both that career and her father behind, she’s moved into the shadows, valuing her privacy and close friendships more than anything. So imagine her horror when that privacy is ripped away from her at one of the few places she feels safe.

After a therapy session in the back of her favorite cafe, Katrina sticks around to have a coffee and get some recreational reading in. Enter a mysterious stranger who asks to share her table due to the crowded nature of the coffee shop. Harmless right? That’s what Katrina thinks, especially since she’s trying to open herself to new things and working on getting through her PTSD, anxiety disorder and panic attacks. Unfortunately though, what was actually a simple interaction between strangers becomes the next viral sensation when a woman at the table next to her takes a picture of Katrina and the stranger and posts it on Twitter for the world to see. Suddenly the privacy that Katrina has worked so hard for is being threatened and her world seems to be spiraling. To top it all off, she’s wrestling with the less than professional feelings that she’s developed for her bodyguard Jas, who has been protecting her since she was married years ago. She’s certain he doesn’t return her affections, but suddenly she must rely on Jas once again to protect her and help her through all of this. Unknown to Katrina, Jas has his own things happening as well. As a war veteran whose military career ended in tragedy, Jas is not used to sharing his feelings. He certainly can’t share the feelings he has for his boss Katrina. No it’s best he just pushes those aside because it’s never going to happen right? His first instinct is to protect Katrina, but what happens when his professional and personal past both begin to come back to haunt him all while he’s trying protect the one person he can’t get close to?

Does that wet your whistle enough? I hope so, because that’s all you’re going to get from me! If you want to know what happens, you’ll have to pick up the book yourself. What I will tell you is that this book was so good. I experienced all the feelings okay. The slow burn/unrequited love in this book was so delicious like. GIVE ME MORE!!!

First of all, I love a bodyguard romance, especially when it’s not super creepy or misogynistic. Jas is all things sweet and protective and just a huge teddy bear that I want nothing more than to love and cuddle on. I really appreciated the fact that the focus wasn’t just on how invested he was in Katrina, but we also get to see his struggles and investment in his family and mental health as well. Jas may be a simple man, but he has a complex history and I loved getting a chance to explore that.

Katrina was such a sweetheart. Her optimism and trust in people is unmatched and uncanny. Honestly, I couldn’t believe she had such a golden heart, especially considering everything she’d been through. Throughout the entire book, she’s making breakthroughs and they aren’t isn’t, but they’re definitely real. Even up until the last moment, she’s still learning about herself and how her behaviors are connected to her past. Honestly, she and Jas are perfect for each other. They can’t fix one another’s problems, but they can work through them together.

One of the biggest things that I enjoyed about this book besides the characters, was how Alisha handled the topics of PTSD and anxiety. I can’t speak from personal experience, but I think it was handled very well. Neither of these things is one size fits all and both Katrina and Jas experience them in very real and very different ways. While they both stem from their personal experiences, they don’t manifest the same and they certainly don’t approach them the same. Katrina is in therapy, while Jas has a hard time expressing himself or even putting into words what he’s experiencing. They both grow and develop and there’s no magic fix in the end, just progress.

I just honestly hope ya’ll pick up this book and give it a try when it gets released on April 21st. I mean don’t you want to feel all the feelings???? Of course you do.

Katrina lives virtually undercover, staying out of the spotlight of her former life and keeping her bodyguard, Jas, around at all times. One day at her favorite cafe, a cute stranger asks to share her table and they have a pleasant conversation. When Katrina gets home later, she discovers that the woman at the next table livetweeted their conversation and Katrina has gone viral - the last thing she wants.

GIRL GONE VIRAL is not only a really adorable romance - she's in love with her hot bodyguard! He's secretly loved her for years! - but also a good look at the ways PTSD can manifest in everyday life. Katrina and Jas both deal with the condition, but for different reasons, and it affects each of their lives differently. But it's not the whole of their personalities, and they don't love each other "despite" it. It's part of them and they work through it together.

This book is an extremely slow burn for a romance novel. Like, half a steam on the steam meter. Still, if you’re up for more of an emotional story than a fall into bed story, try this one out.

Since I haven't read THE RIGHT SWIPE, the first book in this series, I can definitively say you don't need to read that one to read and enjoy GIRL GONE VIRAL.

This is hands-down one of the most adorable romance stories I've read in awhile. Well, devoured, is more like it because I finished it in a matter of three days. I just couldn't put it down, it was that intriguing and fun, and um, squeal-worthy. Within 37 pages, I was already hooked and dying to know what happened after Kat's viral brush with Internet fame. And without Jas and Kat even professing their feelings yet, I was already hardcore shipping them together. OMG, I'm hooked and I love. I'd totally buy an epilogue or sequel starring these two lovebirds. Seriously, Kat has all the zings and so do I reading. Very enjoyable, and I don't think a smile left my face once while reading.

Another fun novel from Alisha Rai, featuring another of the trio (quartet? quintet?) of friends featured in last year's The Right Swipe. This book features the reclusive former model, current investor Katrina King and the swarthy bodyguard who has protected her since her first chaste marriage, Jas Singh.
Rai writes intersectional feminist romance with strong female protagonists. I appreciated the nuance to Jas and Katrina, and the rich histories and family lives built up around each of them. As a book about retreating to self-isolate far away from anyone or anything you know, it manages to be accidentally timely . . . but it'll make you wish YOUR isolation came with your crush and (spoiler alert!) an adorable, adoring dog.
I enjoyed Rai's interrogation of privacy in the digital age, and thought it was interwoven with the central romance more smoothly than the CTE issue in The Right Swipe. Overall a fun, fast read. Pick this up if you dig the friends-to-lovers trope, and everyone getting the therapy they need!

So cute! Definitely better than the first book. My only real complaint is that I found it hard to picture Jas' character. The description of him just didn't really work for me.

Ever since the death of her husband, former model Katrina has been keeping to herself, secretly investing in up-and-coming companies that need help. So, when an innocent moment shared with a stranger at a coffee shop is live-tweeted and goes viral with the hashtag #CafeBae, low-profile lover and prone-to-panic-attacks Katrina wants to run for the hills. Enter Jasvinder Singh, bodyguard, friend, secret crush, and the guy with the most impeccable eyebrows out there, who just happens to have a place close to his family’s peach farm where the both of them can hide out until the story dies down. Cooped up in a remote spot together, the mutual pining intensifies as the stakes heighten and Katrina has to ask herself if, after all these years of secret pining, she’s ready to let someone in again.

Katrina King loved love. Even when it didn’t love her.

Hoo, boy. I’m still here, fanning myself after that wild ride of a book. Alisha Rai certainly knows how to write mutual pining so that the reader actually aches for two stubborn people in love to finally get together. She also excels at writing characters that feel like you’ve known them forever.

Jas and Katrina have a lot of baggage to deal with on their own – Jas is having issues returning to his family home after his stint in the military and deployment in Iraq and Katrina, after years of psychological abuse from her father to be the best model she could be and the eventual saving grace of her late husband who took her in, is still dealing with the aftermath of a kidnapping that changed her view on the secret motives of people forever.

Rai does a splendid job of showing the realities of PTSD and panic disorders. Both Katrina and Jas have different methods of coping with their issue (Katrina has been steadily going to therapy and learning how to manage her anxiety and panic attacks whereas Jas has been trying his best to push his feelings down) and while they both are on the mend and working towards a healthier mindset, it was especially refreshing to see that even when you find a partner to talk these things through, panic attacks and nightmares can still occur. True, you have someone to confide in and that’s certainly great but I love how that didn’t just make their issues disappear but rather made them help realise that they should speak about what’s bothering them instead of keeping it in just to put up a happy front.

On that note, whoever said the friends-to-lovers trope was boring certainly hasn’t read a story like this yet. Jas and Katrina are friends, yes, but even as they enter a romantic relationship, they are considerate and open about their own desires and fears. Rai showcases that steaminess and sexual tension are not mutually exclusive with being open and honest about your likes and dislikes – in the bedroom and elsewhere. I loved Jas and Katrina individually and their conversations were entertaining and reaffirming the fact that needing support isn’t something to be ashamed of.

The importance the author puts on supportive friends and family was so reassuring. Both Katrina’s chosen family, a.k.a her best friends, and Jas’s family were supportive and understanding. The conflicts they had to deal with didn’t take away from the fact that these people love and support their loved ones. The secondary characters in this were also incredibly fleshed out. From Katrina’s roommates to Jas’s brother and grandfather, everyone had a strong personality that made them instantly recognisable when they entered the pages.

Also, and I cannot stress the importance of this enough, there is a dog in this book. A dog. That Katrina calls Doodles. And decides to keep. And Jas may or may not bribe the lacklustre owners at some point so Katrina can keep Doodles. Can you spell heartwarming? Because Jasvinder Singh sure can.

What else can I say? Alisha Rai knocked it out of the park with Girl Gone Viral, a vulnerable and empowering story about two people who have been through hell finding their home in each other’s hearts. A bodyguard romance that brings with it memorable characters, honest discussions about the internet giving you whiplash with its tendency to invade people’s privacy and a wholesome vibe to it all, this one is close to perfect in my books. Girl Gone Viral proves that you don’t need miscommunication to keep that angsty tension and mutual pining going and that healthy adult relationships are just as exciting as the rather dramatic portrayals that sometimes do more harm than good. A fantastic romance.

Side Note: This is the second instalment in Rai’s Modern Love series, however, you do not have to read the first book The Right Swipe in order to read this one. Yes, you might recognise some characters if you do read these books chronologically but it doesn’t take away any of the enjoyment if you decide to jump right into this one (as I did…and then promptly ordered the first one online).

Alisha Rai’s second novel in this series proves that she understands dating in the modern world better than most authors. She touched on so many different angle of it so well that you just know she knows what she’s talking about but also it makes the reading experience that much more enjoyable. Katrina and Jas are two PTSD ridden people who have both developed inconvenient crushes.... on each other. And on top of the romance (mutual pining!!!!!!!!) there’s so much heart and depth to the story and the character. Honestly I’m considering recommending this to my therapist just so she can see the representation of trauma and trauma recovery. It’s that good.

I wanted a bit more resolution with the #CafeBae storyline, Katrina may be nice but I’m not, I want to see Ross’ downfall. I’m not displeased by how it ended, just want some more.

I feel like the relationship between Katrina and Jas was established really well and their anxieties about the other person’s feelings were so relatable. I appreciated that the multiple layers of Jas’ storyline didn’t get lost in the romance.

I’m excited for the next book in this series and to see Rai tackle another modern romance with tact and precision.

3.5 stars for this one! I did enjoy this book a lot. I really liked the character development, and I appreciated how Katrina interacted with each character throughout the book. I thought the book felt really long -- a lot of it moved kind of slowly and I found myself struggling to get through it. I will say, the plotline with her Dad towards the end picked it right back up, and I found myself incredibly interested in how the characters around Katrina were going to deal with the situation at hand. Rai did a GREAT job with some steamy scenes!

I felt like the plotline could have utilized social media a tad bit more, as it felt outdated. Overall, a quick, easy, steamy romance!

Thanks to @netgalley and @avonbooks for a copy of this book to read and review. This is the follow up book to The Right Swipe that came out last year. This was pretty much your typical cute romance read. 🙂 This is the story of Katrina King who is an ex model with a past of abuse and panic attacks and her body guard Jas who struggles with PTSD. It is not as dark as that introduction gives it. Katrina has build a low profile life but that is threatened when she is seen going to the bathroom at the same time as a guy she has been chatting with. Social media explodes with delusions of wedding bells. Katrina and Jas escape to his family farm to hide out until it blows over. Neither knows though that the other is secretly in love with them.

I didn't read the first book in this series, but I didn't feel like I missed anything and I might go back to read that later. This was actually my first book I've read from this author. I'm used to reading a lot of books with dual perspective first person but this one was in third person and kind of went back and forth between the two's thought in that way. I feel like people really like this way of writing, but honestly I prefer first person. Just a preference!

I'm kind of conflicted about this book because it was too slow of a burn for me. Again, I think that was a personal thing, and not anything bad about the book. I was just frustrated when I was 40% in and barely anything had happened between the two romantic leads. I don't think I like slow burns anymore, but going into this book I didn't really know it was going to be one.

I did really relate to Jas a lot. His awkwardness and his uncomfortable manner of not being able to keep friendships made me feel called out! I am like him in a lot of ways. I did relate to Katrina in ways with her anxiety. She had a lot of stuff in her past that made it this way.

Overall I liked this book enough, but I have to admit that I was bored for the first 40% of it. So I just didn't LOVE it.

*I received a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Publisher’s description: OMG! Wouldn’t it be adorable if he’s her soulmate???

I don’t see any wedding rings

Breaking: #CafeBae and #CuteCafeGirl went to the bathroom AT THE SAME TIME!!!

One minute, Katrina King’s enjoying an innocent conversation with a random guy at a coffee shop; the next, a stranger has live-tweeted the entire encounter with a romantic meet-cute spin and #CafeBae has the world swooning. Going viral isn't easy for anyone, but Katrina has painstakingly built a private world for herself, far from her traumatic past. Besides, everyone has it all wrong...that #CafeBae bro? He isn't the man she's hungry for.

He's got a to die for.

With the internet on the hunt for the identity of #CuteCafeGirl, Jas Singh, bodyguard and possessor of the most beautiful eyebrows Katrina's ever seen, offers his family's farm as a refuge. Alone with her unrequited crush feels like a recipe for hopeless longing, but Katrina craves the escape. She's resigned to being just friends with Jas--until they share a single electrifying kiss. Now she can't help but wonder if her crush may not be so unrequited after all...

************
I am clearly in the minority opinion as it relates to Alisha Rai’s “Girl Gone Viral.” Katrina is a model turned angel investor who is prone to panic attacks and craves her privacy. Jas is her swoon-worthy bodyguard.

This story seems to be modeled after the real-life story of the strangers on a plane who were videotaped by someone behind them who posted the potential budding love story. The guy in the video was totally into it. The girl felt like her privacy was invaded. The only difference between that and this is that the main character Katrina innocently shares a table with a stranger in a crowded cafe.

When the story goes viral, Katrina needs an escape. Coinciding with that is Jas’s desire to escape his own reality of a case from his time in the military. Jas just happens to own a house on his family farm several hours away to which they escape and, as expected since this is a romance, their love blooms.

I have read plenty of love stories that I give 3 or 4 stars. They all have a similar formula, so I’m really rating the execution, and I found that lacking here. I thought the interactions between Katrina and Jas were really awkward, and a lot of the dialog just seemed unrealistic. The back stories, outlined in the spoilers below, are way over the top.

****MILD SPOILERS BELOW****

Katrina and Jas both have significant back stories that brought them together, but it is too much in my opinion. Katrina’s divorced mother dies, she is then raised by an abusive and controlling father who acts as her manager for a modeling career, she is rescued by a wealthy jeweler who marries her to save her from her father, she’s kidnapped, her husband dies, and she suffers from panic attacks. But hey, she’s worth millions.

Jas is the heir to a peach farm but chooses to go into the military, he testified against a fellow soldier who is court martialed and jailed, he goes to work for Katrina’s husband as security, he’s secretly in love with Katrina, he suffers from PTSD, and the guy he testified against is about to be pardoned.

I like a good back story as much as the next person, but come on!

I just can’t recommend this one unless you are already a fan of this author. 2 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. This title will be available on April 21, 2020.

One of my favorite Alisha Rai books to date!. Full thoughts and review posted on bookbub at https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nisha-sharma

Girl Gone Viral was both a sweet and light story while dealing with some deep and thought-provoking issues.

Katrina is a beautiful soul. She’s a sappy and friendly romantic who works every day to manage her anxiety and panic disorder. When an innocent exchange in a coffee shop turns into a viral twitter feed, Katrina’s bodyguard whisks her away to his family’s farm so she can keep her identity hidden.

Katrina and Jas’s story is sweet and lovely. Both characters are very selfless and caring, which means their romance is a slow-burn as they both begin to admit what they want. The topic of mental health was handled well, and I enjoyed seeing characters so openly discussing it.

Honestly Girl Gone Viral was a really interesting story that focuses on the subjects of privacy in this modern world of social media. GGV gives the reader some food for thought; how much privacy are we entitled to? What kind of boundaries should there be regarding social media?

Girl Gone Viral was a sweet and cute read and I’m looking forward to more from Alisha Rai.

Katrina King grew up with an abusive father who pushed her into the spotlight. She married a much older man to get away. When the man died, Katrina was left a fortune that she quickly developed. She also struggled with agoraphobia but has largely conquered it. She enjoys her life and her routines. That's what makes her new notoriety so heartbreaking. She shared a table with a guy in a coffee shop, shared several sentences with him, all of which were captured by an enterprising blogger, and now the world wants to know who she is and whether their meeting has led to an epic romance. Katrina wants none of it. So she escapes with her bodyguard to his family's fruit farm.
Jas just wants to keep Katrina safe. Yes, he's been her bodyguard for almost a decade. Yes, he's developed some feelings for her that go deeper than what a bodyguard usually feels but that doesn't mean he's going to act on it. He's just going to do his job and keep her safe.
But this is a romance novel. So that means that means forced proximity might force some of those feelings to make themselves known....
I really liked the first book in this series and that may have placed my expectations a bit too high for this book. This is a fine story and I liked Katrina but the bodyguard trope (which, to be fair, Rai doesn't <i>exactly</i> follow) is not a fave. There was also a lot of concentration on Jas's back story and it felt a little more weighted to his backstory than hers.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out April 21st
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

*4.5 stars*

I loved this so much. With as much as I adored THE RIGHT SWIPE, GIRL GONE VIRAL had big shoes to fill, and it absolutely delivered. Alisha Rai excels at writing characters who feel real and human and complex and interesting, and who you can’t help but root for. She also includes some social commentary in this book that I think is particularly smart and nuanced. I always really appreciate when an author tackles difficult subjects with care, and I can tell how much care Rai put into this story. I wanted the whole entire world for Katrina and Jas and all of their loved ones. The romance itself was super sweet and felt so natural. Loved getting to see the characters we know and love from the first book in this series, too! Plus, a large part of this book is set on a peach farm, y’all. A PEACH FARM. Like, how much cuter can it get?!

I was honestly a little let down by this book. I enjoyed the first book, The Right Swipe, and was excited to read about a heroine who didn’t exactly fit the normal standard. An ex model who was if not plus sized, definitely not skinny because she finally had control over her body, and who suffered with anxiety and a panic order on top of that. I also loved that she was Thai, and he was half Punjabi half Mexican, cause there’s definitely not enough rep out there. And this book delivered on the racial and mental health diversity rep 100%. I did have one problem though, with the LGBTQ rep. I think it’s amazing to see that kind of rep and diversity books, but in this book almost every single couple that wasn’t the main couple was gay, and it felt pretty forced. Not every couple the you see in a random café is going to be gay, plus the therapist, and the brother. It just felt like it was trying too hard.

But there were also messages in the book that I thought were incredible: it’s ok and in fact healthy to ask for what you need, training yourself out of unhealthy mental habits, loving the body you’re in, it’s ok to need help and you’re not weak for needing it. I also loved the pairing of the couple, though to me it was awkward or felt unfinished at some parts. The steam wasn’t really where I wanted to be, and the pacing felt a little off. Overall it was an ok read for me, but wasn’t as good as I had been hoping.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It kept my interest and entertained me. Then there is this unnecessary that brought me out of it and derailed the book. I still finished it. It’s a cute book. It almost does it for me.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

3.5 ⭐️

After what had happened with her dad, ex-model Katrina has lived a very quiet life. She even has a bodyguard, Jas, who she finds attractive, but doesn’t want to fully admit to herself. One day, she’s gone viral on Twitter after an unsolicited photo was taken of her and a cute guy at a local cafe, trending as some romantic couple. Seriously? Just what she needs. Jas takes her to a safe house, an old farm house he used to live in as a child, and while on this escape, do feelings get the best of her?

This had a lot more serious topics (abuse and PTSD) than I anticipated. I’d also classify this as a women’s fiction more than a full-on romcom. There were some funny moments that made me laugh out loud, and I always love characters of color; this one in particular was a fusion, and definitely made me want to try roti quesadillas. There was a lot of backstory about Jas, too, and I’d say half the novel centered around him. If there’s one thing I didn’t like in particular, it’s Katrina finding eyebrows sexy, LOL. I’m not joking. She talked about it a lot.

An incredibly sweet story that is a lovely combination of friends to lovers/boss and employee/bodyguard and client. I love how the story progressed and how everything was handled throughout because it felt so real and true to real life while still having the romantic elements that we all crave when looking for a romance. Katrina and Jas are both cinnamon rolls in their own ways and I love them dearly. This is the perfect story to pick up right now as it will warm your heart. TW/CW for (discussion of) child abuse and mental health (anxiety and PTSD).

I loved Katrina’s story so much. She was just such a light, to go through all she had been through and still remain hopeful, it was so inspiring and you just wanted to root for her from the beginning. Jas, although harder to read seemed like the perfect match for her from the beginning. I really loved the slow burn of their romance, it was so uplifting in these times. Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for the ARC.