Hot body guard hero whose primary form of communication is grunting. Yes, I’ll take that, thank you.

Seriously though this book is so well done. Alisha Rai is a very talented writer who takes serious issues seriously and writes about them authentically and responsibly. I love her.

Be aware though that there are some heavy subjects covered in this book. Panic disorder, Anxiety, PTSD… but it’s not dark. It’s hopeful and bright.

As for Katrina and Jazz…this was a pair after my own heart. Two perfectly imperfect people who just LOVED each other and do the work to get out of their own ways to FINALLY be together. This is a great book.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for the chance to read an advanced copy. I voluntarily read this book and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

In the second book in Alisha Rai's Modern Love story, Girl Gone Viral, Katrina King finds herself going viral after someone live-tweets her encounter with a cute guy at the coffee shop, making it seem like more happened than it actually did. Katrina is desperate to maintain her low-profile, so her bodyguard Jas (who also happens to be the man Katrina is actually interested in) offers her refuge in his family's home, secluded on a peach farm. Alone in close quarters, it seems like Jas may actually have the same feelings as Katrina, but can she trust herself to believe it's real?

I really enjoyed The Right Swipe when I read it last year, but this one was even better. I loved both main characters, as individuals and as a couple. Katrina and Jas both had such rich backstories that added a real depth to the story. There were so many sweet moments between the two building up the tension until they finally got together, and I was glad that this one had Katrina and Jas' POVs. I only knocked a half star off because I felt the end wrapped up a bit quickly. I definitely recommend checking this one out when it publishes!

Thank you to the publisher for the free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars

4.5 stars

I really enjoyed Right Swipe, but I think I liked Girl Gone Viral better. Jas and Katrina were just adorable. Jas might be my new favorite book boyfriend! It was refreshing to see a couple a little more shy and self-conscious with each other slowly open up. I loved the humorous banter/dialogue. There were some weighty issues in each character's backstory, but the author managed to keep the tone light and I appreciated that. I had to suspend some belief with the respect to the story that went viral, but it was a very cute novel. I hope there will be a third book in this series.

This hit so many of my favorite tropes.
Friends to lovers ✅
Forced Proximity ✅
Supportive squad ✅
Cute doggo ✅

Okay so technically the dog isn't a trope but hey its my review my, rules #teamdoodle. Things I loved about this book Jas and Kat both supported each other through their internal struggles and encouraged each other to grow. They also both received support from their respective friend groups! I also loved they way Rai talked about mental health in this book, she didnt shy away from it and handled it was tact and empathy.

TLDR: This was a fun sexy read with a shit ton of heart, and loads of 🍑.

My initial impressions are mixed. I like the diversity of the characters and the originality of the premise-- a wealthy woman who suffers from an anxiety disorder gets into a relationship with her longtime bodyguard/friend/crush when she is suddenly thrust into the spotlight because of social media and they retreat to his farmhouse to avoid the attention. In romance genre terms it's friends to lovers in a forced proximity situation. But the pacing killed the anticipation at first. This is truly the slowest of slow burns. I often like that, but in this case I found my mind wandering on multiple attempts to get through it.

But I did get there. In the end, Girl Gone Viral burned slowly, taking it's time to catch fire, but then, eventually, it glowed hot. Katrina is a wealthy investor with an anxiety disorder. Jas is her loyal, long suffering bodyguard and a war veteran.

The reason I had trouble at first is that they main characters spend alm9st the entirety of the first half of the book in silent, tortured yearning for each other, largely because of the difficulties they've had to endure in the past. Both main characters are still dealing with serious trauma. Once the romantic relationship starts about 55 percent in, the pacing gets better and the story, which by that stage is more focused on their movement towards each other, grows more compelling.

One thing to be aware of-- this is not a true romantic comedy no matter what the cover might imply. The cover art is a cartoon rendering of an Instagram photo inset against a bright green background. Inside the photo is a brown woman in a bright yellow t-shirt and baseball cap next to a brown man in causal business dress. This does not convey an accurate impression of the tone and contents of this book, which is rather serious despite the presence of some gentle humor. If you're ready for that, this is a sweet, medium heat romance with heart and a rich multicultural, multidimensional cast of secondary characters.

Katrina King was having a quiet cup of coffee in a crowded coffee shop, when a man asked if he could sit at her table. What was an innocent meeting became an internet sensation when the couple next to them posted their picture on a blog and proceeded to imagine a great romance that went viral. Katrina is a very private person who, with her bodyguard Jas Singh, seek privacy at Jas's childhood home. Sparks fly and what was employer, employee becomes much more. Fast paced and totally enjoyable.

Katrina King lives a necessary life of seclusion and she's lucky to have not only the best girlfriends in the world, but a very efficient (and sexy) bodyguard--Jasvinder Singh, a former soldier who has his reasons for keeping to himself (even from his own family). One day, Katrina is sitting at a cafe, sharing her table with a handsome guy (potential meet-cute?). And then the next day, she's literally gone "viral" for being that handsome guy's new bae (some readers may recall that awkward twitter thread about the couple who shipped two fitness gurus sitting in front of them on an airplane). To protect her identity, Jas takes Katrina to his family's farm where their feelings for one another are tested.

Keywords: Bodyguard romance

Another great, social-media inspired love story between two POC! Jas is Punjabi-American and has a Mexican grandparent somewhere in the family tree and Katrina is half-Thai American and half-white. As a result of his time in the military, Jas struggles with PTSD. Katrina also struggles with her own form of PTSD, after an incident in which she was kidnapped.

While reading "The Right Swipe," I was frustrated with Rhiannon's stubbornness, but respected her because of her character. When it comes to Katrina and Jas, I can't seem to come up with a reason for not really liking them. Katrina knows who she is--she is open about her panic disorder (to whoever needs to know) and is the perfect counterpart to Jas who knows who he is, but needs to learn how to open up.

Both characters are charming and endearing in their own ways. Katrina loves to cook, especially for Jas who will eat anything she feeds him (wait til you read about what his favorite breakfast food is).

This is just a sweet read altogether and I enjoyed both Jas' and Katrina's growth into better versions of themselves.

Katrina King has a chance encounter with a handsome man at her favorite coffee shop that seemed harmless enough until she finds out that the woman next to her filmed their whole conversation and spun it out on Twitter as a meet-cute. This is Katrina’s worst nightmare because she has spent much time and money hiding her identity and protecting herself from the world after a difficult childhood and traumatic event from several years before. The bogus story continues to escalate to the extent that Katrina leaves to go hide out on her bodyguard’s family farm.

Jas Singh has looked after Kartrina for several years working first for her wealthy husband who left Katrina a young widow. Jas has his own traumatic past after being wounded in the service in Iraq during a complicated friendly fire situation. He keeps his emotions locked down tight, but for quite awhile now, Katrina has come to mean more to him than a job.

Katrina and Jas both suffer from PTSD for varying reasons so their relationship development is quite tentative and complex. Going from friends to lovers with an employee is also a challenge for Katrina. As they spend time together cocooned from the world but with Jas’s family around though he has kept his emotional distance from them, Katrina and Jas are able to take wobbly steps towards a relationship. These two skittish people have much in common and a deep attraction if they can just overcome the emotional roadblocks both are living with and take a chance on love.

The very slow burn romance between Katrina and Jas seems at times not to match up with their ages. Jas is near forty and Katrina thirty but the dialogue has more of a young adult feel. All in all this story is a light and mostly entertaining read. Ms. Rai makes clever use of the at times out of control, over the top, tendency of viral stories on the internet that can steal a person’s privacy with “facts” that are inaccurate and unfair.

I enjoyed this book immensely. A sweet but not saccharine love story between two people that you can't help but root for. They both have baggage to overcome and it could have been a story that made me want to yell at the characters to "just talk to each other" but the author kept the story moving forward without getting bogged down in angst.

I like ALisa Rai's books and this one was great. I gives a different take on the romance genre. More complex character than one usually finds.

This is the second in a series called Modern Love by Alisha Rai. Having loved the first book, I was excited to read this second book, featuring some characters from the first book. Although it was a book that kept my interest and was a cute story, it definitely did not live up to the first book. The main female character's story was very dramatic - bordering on the point of being ridiculous - so it really was hard to empathize or connect with her at all. I feel like the falling for the main male character also happened really awkwardly and all of a sudden they were in love after one kiss. It just didn't feel realistic to me.

I'm looking forward to more from Alisha Rai and hoping she'll get back to the greatness that was book 1.

This is my first Alisha Rai book, even though this is technically the second in this series (the first being the story of two other characters, friends of the ones in this book, you know how that goes) and I was curious to see if it could be read as a standalone, because I felt such a draw to the synopsis of Girl Gone Viral. And I think it, mostly, can be read separately. There were a few fumbles near the beginning where it felt like I may have missed something but it wasn’t a deal breaker.

I love the general idea of this book and how the author expands on it and gives some real depth to the situation. It’s not just a cutesy throwaway chick-lit. It explores some real and valid issues in today’s society of constant social exposure.

I mean, I love reading twitter threads of interesting overheard stranger conversations or first dates, etc... but I definitely draw a line at taking a picture of said strangers or exposing their actual identities in any way. That is such a ridiculous violation. I once had a cashier in Target that looked hilariously just like Creed in The Office’s episode when he dyes his hair black with toner. I took a pic to show family and I was dying to share on social... but I couldn’t do it. I felt there was such an ethical wrongness to it, especially since I have over 35k followers on IG.

Longwinded point being, I appreciated that storyline of Girl Gone Viral so much. Along with the characters! I loved their individual backstories.

Okay, so on to what I didn’t like... I wish it were longer. The author gave the story and characters such rich material to work with and I thought it was rushed. Years and years of not talking about issues between all the different relationships and I thought the heart to hearts were too easy.

I also thought the conversational segues were a bit clunky. There were moments throughout that just didn’t sound like realistic discourse.

So overall, there was a lot to love but I wasn’t completely charmed.

*I received a free early e-ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Girl Gone Viral is the second title in Alisha Rai’s Modern Love series. I liked it more than the first book in the series, probably because the dynamics and characters in this story are very different from The Right Swipe. Katrina and Jas have a sweet friends/ colleagues-to-lovers story, and it was a refreshing change of pace from the glut of enemies-to-lovers novels being published lately. Also refreshing was watching two adults without a lot of sexual experience fumble around–not everyone is a porn star their first time–although they caught on remarkably quickly, apparently. Perhaps that comes from being two people so attuned to each other and so eager to please the other.

One of the most frustrating plot devices in romance novels is often the one where everything could have been solved if only the characters had communicated and/or been honest with each other. But Girl Gone Viral actually uses that device believably and effectively. How do you communicate your long-held tender feelings with…your employer? With your loyal and indispensable employee? Katrina is very much aware of the potential power imbalance in their relationship, and Jas is very much aware of his duty, and as a result we get a gentle slow burn of a relationship between two kind and devoted people.

People with a lot of baggage, though. Wow. Katrina suffers from severe anxiety, complete with debilitating anxiety attacks. Jas is a veteran with his own traumatic past, who appears to suffer from serious PTSD (although it is never named as such). I love that this book is so brutally honest in showing the reality of living with these conditions. At the same time, reading about these conditions could feel exhausting sometimes. I think Rai communicated skillfully how frustrating it must be for people who must constantly deal with struggles like this. But reading about it wasn’t always enjoyable. I did like that both characters were eventually willing to seek any necessary help for their conditions and to communicate their struggles honestly with their loved ones.

Jas is a smoking hot hero. I kept picturing him as Deep Singh (without the turban) from the comic Super Sikh (which I absolutely loved) complete with those rippling muscles, his beard and the metal bracelet. I have never read about a romance starring an Indian Sikh hero before, but it was everything I hoped it’d be. Katrina is pretty easy to picture too, as she’s described as a half-Thai, half-white former model who married into wealth and is now an investor who loves to cook and be a homebody. Sound familiar? Yes, I kept picturing Chrissy Teigen the whole time too. She is a sweet character, kinder than some around her deserve, and it’s easy to root for both her and Jas.

I love the strong sense of family in this story as well, both Katrina’s found family with Rhiannon and Jia, and with Jas’ birth family. Jas’ farming background, with his family of wealthy farmers, was also interesting. I don’t tend to associate farming with wealth, having grown up around small family farms in Pennsylvania, so that took some mental adjustment. I loved the idea of a large Sikh farming community though, especially with the welcome inclusion of other cultures.

I was also intrigued at the romance Rai seemed to be setting up for Jia in the next novel. I wouldn’t have expected it, but I’m here for it. Representation matters. Jia is already a terrific character, helping to break stereotypes, but I enjoyed getting to know her more in this book and look forward to hearing from her and her possible love interest more in the next (unannounced) book in the series.

So, if you enjoy contemporary romances with truly diverse representation, and characters grappling with real issues, all while getting down and dirty with someone sweet, please do check out Girl Gone Viral. I think you’ll enjoy it too.

Thank you to #Netgalley and Harper Collins for this advanced copy of #GirlGoneViral . This is my honest opinion.

So cute! Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai hits all of the right tropes! I’m such a sucker for a bodyguard romance and this was no exception!

Alisha Rai is a constant and consistently good storyteller. This slow burn, friends to lovers, forbidden love story kept me locked in and rooting for the hero and heroine. Fresh and relevant, feisty and feminist, and so deeply romantic.

Alisha Rai writes modern books that really capture the state of the world we live in. Girl Gone Viral explores themes of privacy and exposure in a world where anyone could be exposed on social media at anytime, and what it's like when that happens to someone who is intensely private and suffers from a panic disorder, The characters are funny and sexy but also fully-formed -- they have family issues, hobbies, distractions, and interests. Katrina's voice and perspective seemed fully authentic for someone dealing with the sort of backstory she has -- model-turned-heiress isn't exactly something the average reader can relate to, and yet somehow Katrina is likable and sympathetic. I love the multicultural aspects of these books and giving the role of romantic hero to an ethnically Indian man is so great to see as Asian men are not typically cast in that way in the U.S. Supporting characters are also diverse, both ethnically and in sexual orientation/identification, but without the tokenization we so often find in pop culture. It's refreshing and encouraging. Rai manages to cast a critical eye on the toxicity that exists within internet culture and the harm people can unwittingly do, while still keeping a light tone and providing lots of romantic comedy.

A sweet follow-up to Rai's The Right Swipe. Katrina and Jas were both well fleshed out characters, and their love story was perfectly paced. This did, perhaps, have one too many subplots for a book of its length, but the way they navigated their secret crushes on each other made up for the busyness. I would have been interested to see a deeper dive into viral love stories, rather than just having it be the inciting incident. Thoughtful portrayals of both characters' PTSD and anxiety. A great pick for fans of Rai's previous Modern Love book, Jasmine Guillory, and Helen Hoang.

I LOVED THIS ONE! I was a bit hesitant since I didn't love The Right Swipe, but I loved this one so much! I fell into Katrina & Jas's world so quickly and loved all their interactions. I loved when she met his family and how they learned to open up to each other. Rai did an excellent job balancing the seriousness of their pasts with more light hearted moments together and with friends.

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai is the second book in her Modern Love Series, however this is the first book that I have read from this author. The reader definitely does not need to read the first book to follow and enjoy this one, but I am seeking out The Right Swipe now as I truly enjoyed this second book.

This is a special modern-day romance that I think is unique because while the dialogue and plot flow easily, some of the undercurrent of messages concerning anxiety, depression, acceptance, and PTSD which are quite heavy and serious, are also added. The author’s ability to interweave both concepts is impressive, and the reader is left with a great book that is enjoyable and heartwarming, yet is solid and has substance.

I liked Katrina and Jas. I enjoyed their backstories and their complicated pasts added a layer of complexity that made them realistic and honest to me. As a reader, it is important for me to find a connection and feel invested in characters that I feel are like able and believable. These two definitely fit the bill. I also enjoyed that by finding each other, and helping one another work through their own problems and pasts, they were able to help foster the healing process for one another as well. I truly liked the element and base of friendship that was present before the romantic feelings evolved. It just felt more real to me.

I thought the characters had chemistry and were well compatible, and I really liked the collection of secondary characters as well. It definitely sets up the author to have several great options for further installments.

Overall, this is a great read that incorporates romance with serious subject matter to create a realistic and honest portrayal of real-life hang-ups and relationships that anyone should be able to identify with and truly enjoy.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Avon/HarperCollins for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

Unfortunately this book is not as great as The Right Swipe. The characters were believeable, but it was difficult to read about Katrina's PTSD and anxiety since I struggle with anxiety and OCD myself. The plot did not keep me interested, so I put it down before the halfway point.