The author of The Right Swipe and Girl Gone Viral returns with a story about finding love in all the wrong inboxes…
Beauty expert and influencer Jia Ahmed has her eye on the prize: conquering the internet today, the entire makeup industry tomorrow, and finally, finally proving herself to her big opinionated family. She has little time for love, and even less time for the men in her private … even less time for the men in her private messages—until the day a certain international superstar slides into her DMs, and she falls hard and fast.
There’s just one wrinkle: he has no idea who she is.
The son of a powerful Bollywood family, soap opera star Dev Dixit is used to drama, but a strange woman who accuses him of wooing her online, well, that’s a new one. As much as he’d like to focus on his Hollywood fresh start, he can’t get Jia out of his head. Especially once he starts to suspect who might have used his famous name to catfish her…
When paparazzi blast their private business into the public eye, Dev is happy to engage in some friendly fake dating to calm the gossips and to dazzle her family. But as the whole world swoons over their relationship, Jia can’t help but wonder: Can an online romance-turned-offline-fauxmance ever become love in real life?
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The third in Alisha’s Rai’s Modern Love series (which can be read as a stand-alone and/or out of order) is a unique love story full of twists and turns worthy of a Bollywood soap. I can’t pretend to know whether it is culturally accurate, respectful, representative, or anything else other readers may be curious about. But I can tell you I immensely enjoyed the story.
We see the return of Jia, a Muslim beauty YouTuber who soon learns out the guy of the dreams she’s been talking to online… isn’t. She’s been catfished. But too ashamed to admit it to her family, a whacky scheme to save her dignity may turn into a true love match.
I always loved Jia in the first books and was super curious as to her character would be handled given Alisha Rai’s reputation for including at least some intimacy in her books. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think and hope all readers will be pleased with how this one turned out. Both the hero and heroine in this book were just supremely likable. They almost had that “too perfect” quality–the book didn’t center so much on their faults, but on the issues with their lives and the things surrounding them. This is a stellar third installment in the series and I can’t wait to read more from Rai!
I listened to this book on audio and I cannot recommend the audio. I wish so much that I would have read it, but I was offered an ARC from Libro.fm and just couldn’t wait until release day to get the story! The audiobook uses two narrators to reflect the dual POV, which is great, but sadly both of them were terrible narrators for different reasons. The woman was incredibly robotic with nearly zero inflection in her voice, especially when voicing Jia. The man was fine generally EXCEPT when he voiced female characters. He took on this weird soft yet high baby voice that almost sounded like he was making fun of the speaker that really took me out of the story. This is a book that’s a must-read, in more ways than one.
Thank you to Libro.fm for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!
5 stars – 9/10
First Comes Like by Alisha Rai is a great contemporary romance that is the third in the Modern Love romance series. I really enjoyed Girl Gone Viral, so I knew that I had to read this book. I am sure glad I did.
I really liked the dynamics between Jia and Dev. Opposites attracting and the narrative of two individuals falling in love…subconsciously or accidentally. The mutual realization of the blossoming of the romance is always wonderful to read. I liked both main characters and feel that they were realistic, likeable, and had great chemistry.
I also really enjoyed the inclusion of the respective family members and the family dynamics and relationships as well. It definitely added another layer of complexity and really added to describing why the MCs are developed as they are.
4/5 stars
Thank you Avon Books 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, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 2/16/21.
First Comes Like soon became my favorite of Rai’s Modern Love series. I loved the slow burn between Instagram influencer Jia Ahmed and Bollywood star Devanand Dixit. Jia is seemingly catfished by Dev in Instagram DMs and as they begin to uncover what happened and how they have to also pretend to be in a fake relationship to appease Jia’s family. Slowly but surely they come to know each other for real and I loved that neither one compromises their values or their dreams while helping the other achieve their goals.
Wonderful book!
First Comes Like is the next in Alisha Rai’s Modern Love series and features Jia…the third of the roommates.
Jia has been talking to Dev ever since he slid into her DMs a while back and she’s determined they are finally going to meet in person. Only issue…once they meet Dev has no idea who she is.
Can you spell C.A.T.F.I.S.H?
But what started as this conflict filled story turns into a sweet and adorable romance. Dev is instantly taken with Jia, feeding his obsession by watching all her social media videos (how adorable is it that he watches her makeup videos and orders the skincare items she recommends??). Jia doesn’t really want to have anything to do with him, despite her attraction, but they are caught by a paparazzo during an innocent night out and both of their families see the photo.
Thus, one of my favorite tropes emerges: fake relationship that turns real. Their relationship progresses really fast, but Jia is Muslim (and one of Dev’s parents was) so there is a cultural aspect to their story that is something I can’t totally relate to. It did make for a very interesting story, and I loved learning more about their traditions and culture.
First Comes Like was sweet and adorable and Dev is 100% my next book boyfriend.