I picked this one up as someone who's read the Forbidden Hearts series, but not the Right Swipe. But overall, I'd consider myself an Alisha Rai fan.

There's a lot Rai does so well, and she continued to do that here. Think:
- Portrayal of mental health concerns (here, PTSD and panic disorder) - especially destigmatizing therapy
- Diverse but not cookie-cutter characters
- Showing women to have agency

Yet, I just didn't love this book. The couple has been pining for each other for years, so we don't really see their relationship develop. He's 39 years old, but their interactions sometimes made it feel like they're in their early 20s (nothing wrong with that, but new adult romance really isn't my thing). The romance felt secondary to what was going on in their personal lives. On one level, I appreciate that, as it's probably true to life, but it was one more reason why I didn't quite buy their connection. I think ultimately that's what stopped me from truly being able to love this book - it's hard to spend hours rooting for a couple when you have no idea what makes them good together, or why they should be together.

Perhaps my expectations were too high: This is Alisha Rai, after all - which might have been unfair to the book. I'd like to reiterate that there was a lot done well in Girl Gone Viral. I'm hopeful it'll be more of a hit with other readers.

Content warnings: PTSD, panic disorder, recollection of emotional abuse, invasion of privacy, blackmailing description and attempt, assault

I was generously provided an ARC by the publisher for an honest review.

Alisha Rai is one of the authors on my ‘always buy’ list. Her novels always put forth a unique story with equally memorable characters. Rai’s earlier books are also smoking hot. Like, do not read in public hot. However, Girl Gone Viral moves away from Rai’s comfortability with NC-17. In this novel, Rai constructs a hot but also deeply emotional tale of lovers living and ultimately thriving with mental illness.

In 2016, I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, an anxiety disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of repeated sexual victimization. On my worst days, I believe that I am unlovable. On my best days, I believe that maybe there is someone for me. Someone who will love me inspite of my symptoms and chronic mental illness. I read romance novels because I love love and because I want to feel like it’s possible for me to also find love. In a weird way, I feel like Girl Gone Viral was written for people like me— people who are afraid that their mental illness makes them unloveable.

Girl Gone Viral pairs a heroine with a several panic disorder with her body guard whose PTSD prevents him from returning home to his family. What is interesting about this novel is that the conflict at the story has nothing to do with either characters’ mental illness. Although mental illness affects the ways in which these characters respond to conflict or change, mental illness is not portrayed as something that must be conquered or vanquished for the lovers to come together. I wish I had better words to convey how deeply grateful I am for this respectful and considerate handling of mental illness. In so many spaces, mental illness is portrayed as a hindrance or a weakness. Rai shows us that mental illness is simply a fact of someone’s life. And that someone who loves you will not only accept the symptoms of your mental illness, but will work with them in order to provide the best support possible.

Alisha Rai utilizes her characters’ dialogue to actually demonstrate for her readers how to support a loved one with mental illness. For example, Rai’s hero Jas always operates from the assumption that Katrina knows what is best for herself and her mental illness.

“After the incident that had scarred her, Katrina had made it plan she wanted nothing more than to disappear. Jas had done his best to give her what she needed. If she wanted to stay in her house forever, he’d facilitate that. If she wanted to venture out, he’d have her back there too. She was a grown, smart woman. She knew what was best for her.”

There is also another beautifully written scene where a supporting character helps Katrina manage an anxiety attack by walking her through a grounding exercise. In addition to showing readers what support looks like in real time, Rai literally provides the tool for her readers. One can read this scene and then immediately implement the tool in their own life.

I enjoyed Alisha Rai’s newest novel, Girl Gone Viral, and I feel confident that most readers will also appreciate Rai’s wit and respect for mental illness.

Final Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Recommendation: Once you’ve finished the novel, take a look at your health insurance and see if you can find a therapist! If you can’t find one in-network, see if your community offers low cost or free mental health services. RAINN is an excellent resource to identify these options.

To be honest, this book fell into the sophomore slump for me. I enjoyed it, but I thought that the first one the right swipe was amazing and it could have been my fault that the sequel didn't live up because I had to high of expectations.

Girl Gone Viral is the second in a series by Alisha Rai, but you don't need to have read the first one to appreciate this story. Katrina deeply values her privacy, so when she is surreptitiously captured flirting in a coffee shop and the interaction goes viral, it sends her into a bit of a tailspin even though her identity hasn't been revealed. Her long-time security guard, Jas, whisks her off to his family farm to escape for a bit, and lo and behold they've both been pining for each other for years.

Katrina's past was hinted at in The Right Swipe, and is fully developed in this book. I cheered her on as she realized she identified ways of managing her anxiety and especially her "I can take up space" epiphany toward the end! I wish Jas's family history and trauma had been given more attention. The whole trial/pardon issue felt like it was built up and then not brought to completion and then all the discussion about the parade/ceremony and we don't even know if he made it?

Overall, I wanted more from this book. I would have liked to see quicker resolution of the viral encounter and more time spent on developing the relationship and exploring the history of the characters more. Since Katrina and Jas have a long history, we just take it for granted that they love each other - we don't get to see that love develop or build much at all.

Thanks to HarperCollins/Avon Books for the advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback!

Link to GoodReads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3050332290?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

She does it again. I am such a fan of Alisha Rai after reading The Right Swipe and was so happy to see Katrina overcome her anxieties and find love of her own. A must read and I can’t wait to recommend it.

#netgalley #girlgoneviral

⭐⭐⭐⭐😍

Alisha Rai's follow up to The Right Swipe. I was approved for a bunch of books on Netgalley at the same time, but I was most excited about reading this one. I really enjoyed the first book, and I think Girl Gone Viral is just as good!

Alisha Rai develops 3D characters, both primary and secondary. Her "world" includes people of different backgrounds and sexual orientation... It's weird that this is so unusual, but it is with most fiction (esp rom). For this reader, it is a delight to read books from a non-white POV.

The story is (Law&Order 🎵dun-dun🎵) ripped from the headlines... Remember when that wildly insensitive woman on Twitter documented an interaction between 2 strangers on her plane... Like with pictures and implied the start of a relationship... Well, that's the plot of this book.

It takes the concept and draws it out to portray how an invasion of privacy like that effects people. Katrina is agoraphobic and fiercely protective of her identity. She retreats with her adorable bodyguard, Jas (vinder! So.Asain romantic hero? Yes!!) to his secluded family farm. There, the romantic storyline plays out.

I love the portrayal for friendships in this novel, both male and female. I appreciate how careful the author is to describe problematic tropes (damsel in distress) and allow her characters to follow or subvert them in their own way. There is so much attention paid the these characters emotional lives, so that while everyone is ridiculously rich, they still feel like people.

Enjoy reading it!

I loved this book even more than the first in the series, which I wasn't sure was possible! Alisha Rai is truly one of the best in the romance game right now and does humor, heart, and heat so incredibly well. Katrina and Jas were both such sweet characters and I was immediately invested in their happiness. I love the way Rai deftly explores heavy issues like PTSD and childhood trauma without feeling forced or trite at any point. Her characters have such rich backstories and fully-formed personalities that make the reader fall in love with them as individuals as much as as a couple. I am so eager to read whatever Rai writes next!

Thoroughly enjoyable, slow burn contemporary romance with diverse characters. I would recommend this for people looking for a fairly tame, sweet romance that focuses on character over plot.

This book was fantastic and an excellent follow up to The Right Swipe. Rai writes families and family dynamics so well in addition to the wonderful romance. Highly recommended!

When Katrina King’s visit to a cafe results in a narrative spinning out of control thanks to a fame-hungry stranger, her sudden viral fame threatens her ordered, routined life and pushes her friend/bodyguard of many years to hide her away at his family peach farm. It takes, predictably, the intervention of animals and friends and family for the status quo to change between them, but it’s still a slow, slow burn of a romance, with a lot of thoughts about ‘why this shouldn’t happen’ up until the last third of the book.

Both Jasvinder Singh and Katrina are cautious in their own ways thanks to their own personal histories, but the jigsaw puzzle of both Jas’s and Katrina’s lives are revealed in fragments, which proved frustrating at times as I tried to piece together it all without the whole picture coming into play. Yet these seemed fairly inconsequential even as the story wore on, as Rai chooses to take the smoother and calmer path to a HEA that simply creeps up on you.

Alisha Rai’s ‘Girl Gone Viral’ is a different animal from its predecessor and it’s a change that I don’t exactly know how to deal with—not a bad one, since it sort of hovers between contemporary romance and a slight threat to privacy that requires nothing more than staying low and some familial, domestic upheaval. The angst level is low—not the sort that pulls the emotions out of your chest and has it aching—with an equally-strange low level of steam that’s unusual for Rai’s writing. Still, the last few bits of the book were the parts that I truly found enjoyable, much more than the first, slower-paced sections where things just trundled along, despite the softer and sweeter protagonists who actually do deserve each other and their HEA.

I loved Girl Gone Viral! The description and colorful cover grabbed my attention. Thank you for the chance to review this book. This is my first Alisha Rai book, but will not be my last. As with any great romance there were a lot of moving parts. Katrina King ex-model, recluse falls in love with the head of security was a very refreshing story! It was different, but worked so well. I really liked that Jas Singh was complex and felt like a very real person. My husband was in the military as well, and PTSD is real. It was heart wrenching to read about both of their family drama, but once again it is something that we all deal with in every day life. Families come with complications. Their love isn't a fast fall, it was believable and refreshing. Great read overall!

I'm at the point wherein if Alisha Rai has a new book coming out the following will happen:

1) I will instantly purchase said book.
2) I will instantly fall in love with said book.
3) I will be recommending it to friends and library patrons, shoving said book into their hands with glee
and 4) I will be reminded that love stories don't always have to be smooth sailing. The best love stories are where two characters work at that love and are rewarded for their efforts.

Alisha is an incredibly talented author and I'm happy that I get to read her stories.

I love this author and have read most of her books, but this one just did not do it for me. There were many things about the book that I loved: the characters were complex and fully formed, there were some really funny scenes and striking emotional moments. Everything you would expect from a great Alisha Rai book.

From my perspective, the romance took a back seat in this story. The main characters were weighed down by too much baggage and backstory. Very close to the end of the book, the heroine still had valid concerns about the hero's ability to communicate with her in an emotional way. The issues and challenges discussed in the book are as real and honest as you would expect from this author, but for me, that overshadowed the romance too much.

I still love this author and will read anything she puts out, but this one was a rare miss.

Thank you to #HarperCollins and #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review
#AlishaRai #GirlGoneViral

Girl Gone Viral is the second installment of Modern Love series and the fifth book I’ve read from Alisha Rai. I have to say this may be my all-time favorite Alisha Rai novel to date! I adored the main characters. I love that Alisha continues to use a diverse set of characters in her contemporary romance novels. Beyond that, she brings deeply complex characters with different backgrounds and brings them together seamlessly. It’s also a delight to see characters from her previous books appear as well. I devoured this book in about two days! I really liked that Alisha shed light on the importance of mental health, PTSD, and when to ask for help. I can’t wait for her third book in the series to come out and I’m hoping it will be about Jia’s story! If you liked The Right Swipe or contemporary romance in general, I highly recommend picking up this novel!

I’ll be leaving a review on my blog closer to the pub date.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Katrina, unlike the rest of her generation, lives almost entirely off the map. She has worked hard to protect her privacy after a traumatic past has left her scarred. Her anonymity is threatened when someone photographed an encounter she had at a coffeeshop and it has gone viral. Katrina must turn to her friends and bodyguard for help. She may just find romance along the way.

This was a really cute story that included some deeper background and character development. I appreciated the vast amount of representation in this book and it's exploration into trauma and mental health while still remaining a contemporary romance. This story was steamy and a perfect romance for a weekend read!

This was a very enjoyable read. It is a SLOW build, but was very worth the wait. I loved how the romance between Jas and Katrina worked its' way into the relationship between Jas and his family as well. Rai's ability to interweave the storylines together is incredible!

What intrigued me the most about this book was how much it incorporates baggage that can complicate a relationship and technology from the present. Rai wove them both in seamlessly in a way that makes the plot deeper and the characters more interesting. I found myself rooting for both Jas and Katrina as their relationship progressed through the book as I learned more about each of their lives. Katrina doesn't keep in contact with her family, and I love how Rai incorporates her friends and has them become Katrina's "chosen" family of sorts.

I know that this book follows The Right Swipe, but it didn't seem like I had to have read it to understand Girl Gone Viral. So, don't let not having read The Right Swipe stop you from grabbing this book. If you have a trip coming up, it would be a fantastic read for the beach or the pool.

Katrina King just wants to live her life in anonymity, going about her day, her routines, and keep to herself. She has no interest in or need for social media despite being an investor in different apps. When an Instagrammer catches an exchange she has with a stranger in a small crowded cafe it quickly goes viral. Now not only is her picture everywhere without her consent, but the story is also being spun into something it's not. Jasvinder Singh has been Katrina's personal bodyguard for years after being discharged from the army for injury while serving in Iraq he couldn't go home to his grandfather's peach farm, instead taking a job for Katrina's then-husband. With Katrina hiding from her father and her current social media popularity, and Jas feeling overwhelmed by his PTSD they decide a trip out of town is in order. The safest place he knows to take her is his childhood home, when his family starts to show up one by one, everyone is forced to face feelings that they've been pushing down for a while. Including possible love between Katrina and Jas.

I enjoyed this book, it was a bit of a slow burn, with both characters having plenty of tragic baggage that they're dealing with. Katrina's abusive and controlling father didn't make much of an appearance in the story, but the effects of his actions and words from when she was young were certainly felt. I admired her strength in the face of so much anxiety and being determined to overcome it and live her life, to take up space. Jas felt very typical of someone who has PTSD from having been at war, never talking about it but needing serious help to deal with the aftermath. At the same time, he was so loving and careful with Katrina always wanting to make sure her needs were met first. The main premise of the book is Katrina being hiding from her dad but her "meet cute" going viral threating to expose her location so that he can find her was interesting (and very fitting for current times where it seems like nothing is sacred), it felt like that had little to do with the meat of the story, other than being the catalyst that sent them out of town. While it was a part of the plot, it wasn't a huge part, it did, however, make a fantastic point about privacy. Overall, I enjoyed this book, it has great characters that are well developed, it's sweet, slow, and funny.

I liked but didn’t love this one. It’s the second in Alisha Rai’s Modern Love series, and while I loved some of the characters and that this book brings up serious topics like anxiety and privacy in a digital era, I felt like it was pretty light on actual plot happenings. Threads went untied, the romance burned a little too slow, and I ultimately felt like something was missing when it ended.

I really wanted to like this book. I had high hopes for another rom-com to add to the collection. It was a slow burn, which I enjoy, but I needed an attention-getter at the beginning to keep me reading. I also worry about this book and others that uses contemporary technology trope standing the test of time. I fear that it won't appeal to all of my romance readers.

Another fantastic addition to Alisha's newest series. I am loving Katerina! Once again Alisha writes a wonderful romance novel that talks about privacy and modern love with an amazing multi-cultural backdrop of characters and family. Jas Singh's family honestly had my heart from page one and if you were a huge fan of family dynamics in Forbidden Hearts series, this will be right up your alley.

Rai does a wonderful job exploring Katerina's anxiety and panic attacks, while feeling real and honest. Jas is a sensitive and delightful hero that doesn't feel one dimensional on the page. The bodyguard trope in this book is not trite or overdone. It brought real substance to the plot. This is the kind of romance that you can sink into and devour. I need the next book in the modern love series now!