First Comes Like starts off really cute and has all the workings of a quality rom-com. However, I never felt fully compelled to continue to read this book. The characters, while endearing, fell flat for me, and the story line simply wasn't unique enough to hold my interest. I think a lot of people will enjoy this fun story, but it just was not for me.

Jia lives with her friends Rhiannon and Katrina, after moving from New York. An Influencer with a twist, Jia is a product of a conservative Muslim family, wears a hijab, and hides many of her insecurities behind a truly giant heart, a positive outlook and tons of hard work. If she could, she’d make everyone ‘feel’ beautiful, and her short videos that promote products she believes in help women of all sizes and colors feel better about themselves. She’s ultimately hoping to start her own company, creating makeup that works on a broad range of complexions and doesn’t require a ton of extra work to find that ‘right shade’. She’d found herself enamored of a ‘text’ relationship with a famous Bollywood name: a television actor with a verified account who helped her to feel desired and valued.

But finally meeting her ‘crush’ face to face at an event turns her world upside down. He doesn’t know her – and she’s been catfished. Dev Dixit is from a line of Bollywood stars, but took his talents to the small screen, and is in Hollywood to film a new nighttime soap, hoping to broaden his career. Things never quite worked out as he expected after his brother’s death, and taking responsibility for his teen niece, and bringing an Uncle to live with him under his now limited means as he navigates a new work environment and expectations is wearing. But meeting Jia, whatever the circumstance, leaves him unable to forget her. He’s intrigued and uses that concern for her (and fear that he knows who ultimately set her up with ‘him’ via text) is something he should atone for.

But Jia has other pressing issues: with her parents’ discovery of a photo of the two snapped by paparazzi, and her inability to declaim the photo, she needs Dev to ‘pretend’ a relationship – just to get her through the upcoming visit. This was possibly one of the most intriguing and complex stories of the series, as Rai uses traditional values, the “Desi” way of things, and the innate reserve of both Jia and Dev to create a relationship that shows the two truly starting to develop a connection, even with multiple and frequent interferences from family, friends and the press. A lovely look at hope, desire and the power of love – all wrapped into a story that defies first impressions, prejudgments and long-standing beliefs in your place in the world, all to be rewritten.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aRb /”> <a> I am, Indeed </a>

While some other people may not have liked the various modern elements to the book, I liked that it was lightly touched enough it felt realistic without name dropping and trying to be current. Jia and Dev’s romance was sweet and with enough twists that it harkens back to the Indian serials that Dev used to star in. Worth a read if you feel in the mood for something feminist, modern, with cultural elements that make it unique... and a romance that doesn’t leave you overly hot and bothered but tugs on your heart.

Fake dating turns romance, but make it Bollywood meets Hollywood. First Comes Like is the latest of Alisha Rai’s YA novels. Jia is a Pakistani-American influencer living in Hollywood. Dev is a Bollywood actor seeking his own way in the world. Unusual circumstances bring them together, but the chemistry and the banter make sparks fly. My favorite dialogue?

“He was wearing jeans. And they looked good on him. Real good. Choke on a roti good.”

Thank you, NetGalley and @HarperCollins for this ARC.

Thank you, @alisharaiwrites, for sharing Jia and Dev with us. Thank you for showing us what representation looks like in this space!

One thing I enjoy about Alisha Rai is that every book is a unique reading experience. You can see the thought and care that goes into writing each heroine and hero. The heroine of this book, Jia Ahmed is a beauty blogger and influencer who falls for an actor who slips into her DMs. She falls hard and fast and eventually goes to seek him out, only to find that she has been catfished. The actor, Dev Dixit, is the scion of a famous Bollywood family and a genuinely nice, kind of nerdy guy, who finds himself falling for Jia. The only issue that I had related to Jia's naiveté regarding being obviously catfished, she comes off as a little younger than her age. And both her and Dev have communication issues that lead to a Big (but short lived) Misunderstanding. But the title of this book is perfect. It is about really nice people falling in like with each other. I tend towards more dramatic angsty reads but this was a genuinely sweet book that I would definitely recommend for a low drama afternoon.

I loved the resolution of this story and the HEA, but whew. There is a lot going on. I think every trope in romance was used to make this book. It was good, but had so much going on that it was hard to fall into the story and really enjoy the characters and the romance.

First Comes Like is a cute, lighthearted book about Jia and Dev. Jia is a beauty guru and Dev is part of a famous Bollywood family. While she thinks they've been talking for a while, she comes to find out that he doesn't know who she is.

Once they are photographed together, she lets her family believe they are together to keep them happy. Jia and Dev form an agreement and pretend to date. That, of course, develops into more.

I know pretending to date and then falling in love is a common trope, but it's one of my favorites.

I do wish that the couple communicated a little better when problems arose, but I'm sure that is something that they would work out eventually.

I received an ARC of the eBook through NetGalley and am leaving an honest voluntary review.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO FIRST COMES LIKE BY ALISHA RAI?
I had previously listened to the first book in the Modern Love series, The Right Swipe and really enjoyed it. Thus, First Comes Like by Alisha Rai was an absolute priority to listen to AND! Libro.FM had it as part of their review copy program. So, it felt like serendipity and a great time to delve into the third book of the Modern Love series. Now, I just need to listen to the second book – Girl Gone Viral. FYI, you can read these books out of order and be totally fine with your comprehension of the story. There’s so much you can pick up on with context.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Jia Ahmed is a beauty expert and influencer living in LA. She is extremely good at her job — even though she does feel like she’s aging out of the field sometimes. Still, she is confident and goes for what she wants. Jia has been exchanging direct messages with Bollywood star Dev Dixit. She falls for him pretty quickly. When he is in LA to be part of a cast of an American TV show, Jia is really excited to finally meet the man of her dreams. That is, until she shows up at party where he is at and it turns out he has no idea who she is. That’s right, someone was catfishing her using Dev’s profile.

Dev and Jia then embark on one of my most favorite tropes – fake dating. That’s because they somehow end up in the public eye. If they fake date, they’ll get various people off their backs and be able to just live their lives. Only, it turns out, like all the most wonderful books with this trope, they like each other for real and are both falling pretty hard and quick.

WHAT DID I THINK OF FIRST COMES LIKE?
I thoroughly enjoyed First Comes Like. Jia is such a sweet character. I felt like she had a good heart and was so genuine. I suppose you could say that I stan Jia. Also? Her love interest, the other narrator, Dev is wonderful too. He’s very kind and thoughtful. Dev currently has custody of his niece and wants to be a wonderful parent to her and not pressure her into going into the family business- show business. I also loved both extended families as well. There’s something special to be said for the supportiveness of family – even when you are going against what they think best.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
Audiobook was a good choice to experience Alisha Rai’s First Comes Like. And well, I will definitely be back to listen to the one book I haven’t listened to from this series Girl Gone Viral. The two narrators Saira Ayers and Neil Shah do an excellent job bringing the story to life from the perspectives of Jia and Dev, respectively. The audiobook is 11 hours and 11 minutes long. I did listen to it a little bit sped up, but nothing is lost in speeding it up a tiny bit. The story and narration kept my attention and ultimately put me in a wonderful mood. I would highly recommend this for your listening pleasure.

Overall, this was an incredibly sweet book about two people trying to conquer their family's expectations.

I loved the family dynamics, especially Jia's sisters and mother and Dev's niece Luna and Uncle Adil. I really enjoyed seeing the other characters from the other two books in the Modern Love series. And I loved the warmth of Rai's writing, feels like a hug from start to stop.

My main issues with this book have to do with the chemistry between Dev and Jia and their dynamic in general. It felt like Jia was so realistic and Dev was SO perfect - that whenever Jia got upset at Dev, it felt like a huge over-reaction because he was so perfect and well-intended all the time.

But in general, this was fun and sweet and really good-hearted.

I have been waiting for Jia's story since meeting her The Right Swipe and I was not disappointed by her character or her love interest!

Jia Ahmed doesn't usually respond to the men in her DMs but when internationally famous actor Dev Dixit of THE Dixit family slides into her DMs with sweet words she can't resist. When they're finally in the same state she thinks it's high time they meet so she goes to a party for his new show. Imagine her surprise when they're finally face-to-face and he doesn't even recognize her.

Dev's not sure who Jia is, but he can't get her out of her head so he's determined to figure out what happened. What starts as revealing a complicated catfish scheme turns into fake dating to protect Jia's reputation as well as satisfy her parents' questions. But as they learn more about each other feelings get involved and things get even more complicated.

Technically, this book can be read as a standalone, but I highly recommend reading The Right Swipe and Girl Gone Viral for more context into the other characters and their friend dynamics, but I think this book is still fully enjoyable and the friends are easy to connect with even without that added context.

Jia is a firecracker and I desperately want to be her friend. She is fun and smart and so talented and her color-coordinated outfits are always on point and soothe my brain in the same way it soothes Dev. Dev is an angsty ball of man-pain who just wants to do right by his niece and make a name for himself outside of his family while also still somewhat seeking his family's approval. It's beautiful to see how much the two of them do for each other with Dev showing Jia unwavering support which makes her realize just how much her family has undercut her success and Jia showing Dev what it's like to relax and actually work through feelings.

They are both so respectful of each other and so eager to make the other happy that this is what tends to lead to miscommunication and tension which is simultaneously frustrating as a reader but also kind of cute.

All in all, it was great and I can't wait to see what Alisha Rai does next!

Thank you to Avon (and NetGalley) for sharing this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Check out my blog (justalittlelitnerd.wordpress.com) for my full review!

I want to preface this by saying I love Alisha Rai’s romance and erotic romance novels. Serving Pleasure is one of my favorite erotic novels and the Forbidden Hearts series is a wonderful romance series with incredible characters and angsty plots. The modern love series, however, has been a bit of a mixed bag for me and I just haven’t been able to connect like I have to her other works. These novels are more women’s lit than straight romance and I think that’s the problem that continues with First Comes Like. Slow burn romances are a tough sell for me and this was a super slow romance. If nothing significant happens between the couple by at least 60% then it’s going to be a struggle for me to care for the romance. I love Rai’s writing but this direction of stories is really not for me.

Jia is often described as a lot of things by her family, teachers and sometimes even friends. She is too loud, too much, a little bit extra, and even too impulsive. But her gut has never steered her wrong, even when she dropped out of Med School to become a full time beauty influencer. But after talking with Dev for more than a year, and finally meeting him in person, this might be the first time her gut has led her wrong ... and discovers she was catfished.

As if being catfished wasn’t enough, throw in a family of famous Bollywood Stars, 4 overbearing sisters, and 2 best friends and Jia competing against influencers much younger than her and you have First Comes Like.

“People come in and out of our lives, and we have to enjoy the parts in the middle.”

I was glad to have First Comes Like from Netgalley so I could continue right into Jia’s story after finishing Girl Gone Viral. I love this group of friends. I loved all the traditions throughout this third book, especially around marriage.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for the eARC copy to read and provide an honest review.

This third novel of the Modern Love series was charming and lighthearted. I enjoyed how Alisha Rai incorporates pop culture and social media into her books. There is a combination of modern career paths with family cultural traditions and addressed heavier topics of grief, loss, and abandonment. Jia is a strong and independent beauty influencer, and I really wished her account was real. Dev is a Bollywood actor trying to balance his acting career in America and being a single uncle caring for his niece. Together Jia and Dev are forced into this fake relationship because of a catfish instance. My one critique is this book did not have much tension, and the love story element felt a little too "easy" or "expected".

Thank you, Avon and Netgalley, for this ARC and LibroFM and Harper Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I really, really enjoyed this read. It was cute, fast paced, and I was here for all of it!!

This is the third book in the Modern Love series, and in it we get Jia's story. She's an influencer, he's a Bollywood movie star...could it be anymore obvious?! Except he has no idea they've been talking for the last year and are in love.

This had all my favorite tropes - a slow burn, fake dating, we have to share a bedroom but there's only one bed - but none of it felt repetitive. I loved how Rai weaved in internet culture into the story. She's able to touch on the influencer lifestyle and catfishing, which I think are two big parts of our generation's internet culture. But you want to root for Jia and Dev. Another part I loved was the relationship between Dev and his niece Luna. While I think Luna might have been a bit too accepting of things at first, I loved the open and honest communication they had. I wish there had been more of it in the book.

I also hoped for more family angst, but I don't think it's detrimental to the overall story - I so often read fake dating stories where the family needs to be impressed and while that is part of it, it's not all of it, which ultimately makes this take on fake dating different.

All in all, there wasn't a ton I disliked and definitely recommend!

I love Alisha Rai’s rom coms and this one was no exception. Book 2 is definitely still my favorite, as it took me a bit to buy into the chemistry between these characters and I found the pacing a bit too quick for my personal tastes in rom coms, but oh man these two were so sweet. Jia is also an absolutely fantastic heroine.

Beauty influencer, Jia, thinks that she’s been DMing with Indian soap opera star, Dev, for months. When they finally have an opportunity to meet - he has no idea who she is....

Rai’s writing is ALWAYS super relatable, modern and culturally relevant. While I’m sad to see this series come to an end, I will continue to read anything she puts on paper! And guys. Follow her on social media, she’s so hilarious!

What I loved:
💄This book is just sweet. I can’t think of a better adjective than this. These two are kind people and the book is surprisingly low drama!
💄Jia. An independent woman going against the norm of her family and finding success doing what she loves.
💄Dev. What a guy. He’s who you dream of your friends/family finding because he would never intentionally hurt a fly. He’s raising his niece and his relationship with her was so touching.
💄Side characters! I love catching up with Rhiannon and Katrina. And Dev’s uncle was just a sweetheart!
💄 Also! I think I just read my first book with a covert reference to covid!

I just found myself not super excited to get back to this one. I was missing those deep romantic feelings between them. It was a slow burn and then things escalated verrrrryyyy quickly. It is lower steam than her other two books, which worked with the characters personalities. And don’t let the catfishing theme deter you here - it wasn’t Dev’s fault!!

It's no secret that I love Alisha Rai. I've loved her self-published works that I've read, A Gentleman in the Street is one of my favorites, and Hate to Want You is in my top three romances of all time. Her Modern Love series has been different than the work she's done in the past and I think that was especially true in this installment. Specifically, this book is both lighter in tone, more plot heavy, and had fewer sexy times than most of the books she's written in the past. Fortunately, it still worked for me really well, mostly because of how much I loved Jia. I do think I would have liked more time spent developing some of these plot points because there were a lot of changes throughout this book, but there's not a ton of time spent in any particular place. And yet, this book made me really happy and that's something I need so desperately right now that I have a hard time saying I would make changes.

Jia has been DM'ing and then texting with a famous Indian actor who is now in the States and hasn't been willing to commit to meeting up. Tired of his weirdness, Jia attends an event where Dev is also in attendance, but when she goes up to him, he has no idea who she is. When Dev and Jia are photographed by paparazzi, they wind up fake dating. There's actually a lot of external forces sort of conspiring to get the two of them together throughout this book. It reminds me a little of the song "Bright" from Echosmith.

I think, for me, what really made this book work is that I felt like both of the characters made sense to me. I understood what was important to them. Dev has taken custody of his teenage niece after his brother died, for example, and prioritizes her care and happiness over and over again. He also has his uncle living with them and despite the fact that he likely could easily find a woman to marry quickly so he could get his inheritance from his grandfather, he's not really overly invested in actually pursuing that option. Jia desperately wants to have the approval of her parents, but as the baby of the family and as the one who dropped out of med school to move across the country and pursue her career as an influencer, that's a steep road to climb. I really felt like their motivations made sense. Jia is also a fairly devout Muslim, who is maybe demi-sexual even though the words didn't appear on the page. There's a line in here about how until Jia met Dev, she never really considered that waiting for marriage before having sex was difficult. Although I'm not Muslim, I really appreciated some of the lines related to her religion because they rang true for me.

Also, I just have to mention that because Jia is Sadia's youngest sister, we got to check in with her and the elation I felt!!! Anyway, all of this to say, I really enjoyed this book, which isn't really a surprise, and I hope you will too.

Heartwarming, sweet and interesting. I found Jia and Dev so relatable despite me knowing very little about the worlds of social media influencers and Bollywood. I enjoyed this book so much!

Truthfully, I loved the drama. The story starts off super strong with Jia getting into a swank Hollywood party to meet this guy she's been chatting to online; a famous Bollywood star that came from a famous Bollywood family. The only sad part is that he had no clue who she was when they finally meet. It's only until later that we realize who was doing the catfishing, but I loved that their meet cute wasn't anywhere near cute.

And I'm glad it worked out for them. I loved both Jia and Dev as a couple and as individuals. Jia was this average human who made a living being an influencer on YouTube. I related a lot with her internal struggles to figure out what it is she wanted to do as she "aged" out of the social media game. I sometimes feel like one of the influencer elders not because I've been doing this for a long time, but because I'm older than average. She seemed super kindhearted and willing to help someone out without hesitation; someone that you want as an influence in your life.

Dev is similar. I loved that he came from a famous family who struggled through all the lights and glam of Bollywood. It was interesting to see his family dynamic especially since Dev doesn't seem at all similar to the rest of his family. While his brother and cousin are doing all the "bad boy" activities, Dev seems to be the one that's professional and has his head on. For me, that's my trope. I like a man who can take care of things. But what I also loved is that we got to know his brother and cousin a little bit more. While they may seem like bad boys, they did open their hearts to Dev's niece, Luna.

There was also a lot of discussion on grief. It wasn't too bad and it doesn't keep you away from experiencing the light-heartedness of the story, but the way that it affected Dev's life was interesting especially when he's taking care of his niece.

I think my only issue was the ending. I felt like a lot happened that could have spread across the novel than be truncated to the last 50 pages. That's not to say the book was paced funny and felt slow, it's just that many of the events within the final pages felt like they could have been explored more if given the space.

I also thought there were too many tropes. First, it was the catfishing. Then it moved onto a fake relationship. Then the relationship turned real. And then we're getting married. And then there's Dev having his grandfather's will that stipulates he needs to get married before he inherits his money. It truly felt like I was reading a drama where one issue would resolve and then surprise! There would be another issue ready to go. If the book was longer then maybe there would be a more natural progression of these tropes throughout the story so that it didn't feel like we were jumping all over the place.

Overall, this was such a cute book and something that I really enjoyed reading. I loved getting to know the characters and reading the adventures they had together.

Rating: 3.5/5
Laughing Score: 2/5
Crying Score: 0/5

Plot: Beauty influencer Jia Ahmed works hard to maintain her social media following and move up in the makeup industry. She is the ‘black sheep’ in the family in the sense that she didn't become a doctor and moved away from her family to pursue her dreams. With her focus on her career, she doesn’t have much time for love but makes time when the son of a famous Bollywood family slides into her DMs. After months of talking, not talking, and talking again, Jia knows that Dev will be in LA shooting. When she plans to surprise him at a party, things don’t quite go as expected, when Dev doesn’t recognize Jia, or know who she is.

My thoughts: I thought this book started out really strong. I loved reading about Jia after being introduced to her in The Right Swipe & Girl Gone Viral, and I thought her character would be fun to explore. I felt like she had a strong identity throughout the story until it came down to the end. Some of her behavior threw me for a loop, which is what took my rating of this story from a 4 to a 3.5. I think part of it could be that I didn’t understand her perspective from a cultural standpoint, but I also didn’t think she was very traditional in that sense until the end. Dev from beginning to end seemed more old-fashioned so some of his choices were a lot easier to comprehend.

Either way - this story and storyline were enjoyable, and I really loved all that is explored. It had great representation as it had a couple from different socioeconomic status, different religions, and different histories. It covers a lot of modern-day problems with social media, self-esteem issues, and finding meaningful work. I thought the couple had really good chemistry and as individuals sounded like good people.

Thank you @netgalley and @avonbooks for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.