Welcome to Litsy!

Confession: I run a romance book club for work, but I‘m not into romances. So I didn‘t expect to like this month‘s book club pick (and it‘s also my #bookspin). BUT I TOTALLY DID. Relatable and diverse characters, plenty of humor, dialogue that sounds like actual human speech. Yes, the characters are a little too perfect, and I still eye-roll during sex scenes (that‘s a me thing). Rate a romance ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ though? I just did.

Adorable! Mutual pining. Bodyguard. The internet is actually the worst.

5⭐ it was sooo cute and I loved it. I loved how cute Katrina and Jas were together. They were soo cute I swear I can't even talk about it 😂♥️
@TheAromaofBooks this was my October #doublespin

This wonderful book is for #ChallengingDamsels Backlist No More and #ReadTheStates California. Love me some Alisha Rai!

#romance #romancenovel #romantic #alisharai

A sweet story, with both some laughs and some more serious moments. I thought that Rai did a good job of incorporating authentic anxiety and PTSD experiences without them changing the tone of the novel too much. I‘m not sure I bought the premise entirely, but these days it‘s true that real privacy is a disappearing commodity.

Went for light hearted again, and...almost made it? There‘s an undercurrent of seriousness in this tale of a meet-cute gone wrong, with an exploration of PTSD and anxiety and how it can change the ways people deal with the world...

I really appreciated this modern romance‘s sweet story and it‘s take on love with PTSD, as someone with that myself. I found it very true to form. Thankful to the author for telling this type of love story! #romantsy

“Sometimes we think a person doesn‘t need to hear something because it‘s obvious, because they know what‘s in our hearts. But that‘s not how the world works. We have to say the things.”

Cute and almost as enjoyable as the first.

I read this back in July (yes I'm very behind posting on Litsy!) and it reaffirmed how much I love Alisha Rai. Even when the situations aren't ones we'd really encounter in real life, romance for me is about escapism and her characters are always so well done. This is the second book in her Modern Love series that looks at dating in a time of apps, online dating, and loss of privacy from social media.

(Kindle screenshot)

🌟🌟🌟

Things I liked: both characters were smart, self-aware and very likeable. Their love journey felt like something almost organic.

Thing I was meh about : the whole plot. Maybe I'm blasée about the whole lying, Youtube, Instagram fame thing. Twitter fights, Insta-drama, etc. are real but not something I connect with.
#romansty

I put aside the ARC and went with a lighter read. Alisha Rai went through her own viral moment too.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast/402-girl-indeed-gone-viral-with-alis...

#goodthing

Finished another book for #ProgressItNovember! This one was cute, and I liked it much better than the first in the series.

10.25/50hours #NovelNovember @Andrew65

I'm up to page 99 of Girl Gone Viral and enjoying it, but my really big news is that I'm a quarter finished the VERY LAST ROUND of my Arcadia blanket! This is a gift for a friend.

Looks like I'm still in that #romantsy mood. On to Girl Gone Viral.

I really liked this romance novel. A woman deals with issues of privacy and anxiety.

I don‘t read a lot of romance, but I wanted to give the social media dating variety a chance!

Super cute romance. I immediately put the author‘s first book on hold after reading this one.

Looking forward to seeing her on the romance panel (selected by Jasmine Guillory) at the Decatur Book Festival later this month!

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ajc-dbf-2020-falling-in-love-with-love/register?utm_s...

Me yesterday: I won't start any other books til I finish some on the go!
Me today: *Alisha Rai hold comes in* *immediately starts reading*

Oops. #sorrynotsorry

A lighthearted romantic comedy style story that deals with some deep issues. The main character suffers from trauma and anxiety. The bodyguard/love interest is former military and clearly has some form of PTSD. I wanted to root for this unrequited romance between Katrina and Jas because they are so clearly meant to be together. They are thrown together unexpectedly after Katrina becomes part of a viral,fake cafe romance.

Episode 3 is up!

https://anchor.fm/readingsquad/episodes/Reading-Squad-Episode-2-Racism-In-Romanc...

Was looking forward to this book, but didn't quite meet expectations. Maybe because I'm not a fan of the bodyguard trope. Otherwise, enjoyable.

I don't read a lot of romance, but some, and so it was strange to have two in a row where the central story line had to do with a romance "gone viral" although the situations are not the same (the other being Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert.)

Girl Gone Viral is the second book in the Modern Love series ...⤵️

Finally home and ready for some reading fuel 💪🏽

This was a fun and interesting romance. While not typically my genre, I found the premise of this book fascinating. A young model who suffers from severe anxiety goes viral after someone butts their nose into the main characters business.

Not sure I like romance books on Audiobook, this had two different narrators and that was fine.

So I had fun responding to LitsyLove mail! And I got my new stamp just in time!

Talking about Litsy and LitsyLove in my Facebook Reading Groups :) #LitsyAmbassador

Tomorrow‘s my birthday! I figured that was a good excuse to finally make the salted maple pie from SISTER PIE. It‘s gotta cool for about six hours, but then it‘s MINE.

I listened to a goodly chunk of GIRL GONE VIRAL while I made it—and y‘all, I‘m all about this book. I‘m really feeling the mental health stuff, the family dynamics, and the AWESOME DOG.

Everything‘s better with a dog. #audiobaking

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫This was a cute love story & I really liked both main characters. Katrina‘s life is a little hard to relate to, but I was the most intrigued by Jas and his Punjabi Sikh Northern California farming family. And then reading the author‘s note at the end, you find out Yuba City is a real place with many Punjabi-Mexican farming families. I find this so fascinating & have definitely added it to places I want to go!

Really enjoyed this one! Alisha Rai‘s Modern Love series is wonderful look at love, technology, and mental health. In fact, you could have removed the love story and still had a fantastic book about a woman dealing with anxiety and PTSD. Would recommend the whole series

Alisha Rai is so good. I was excited to read Kat‘s book and learn more about her.

Kat is a former model that married her husband to escape a very abusive situation. She has had other things that happened to her and is trying to get past her panic attacks and fear of going to new places. She wants to try dating again, but needs to get past her feelings for her bodyguard, Jas.

I wanted to like this more - I enjoyed listening to Alisha Rai talking about the book on the Smart Bitches podcast - but as it turns out, it was a bit too angsty for me. Rai can veer that way for me, so it may just been a case of wrong book for me at this moment in time because I can see I‘m an outlier here.

Latest contemporary romance read.

My Libby hold came in this morning after seeing the author online last night.

Amazing and #romantsy I have been looking forward to Kat‘s story for months. Two Cinnamon Rolls find love after years of pining. 🥰

Alisha Rai's Girl Gone Viral, the second book in her Modern Love series (after The Right Swipe) was absolutely the perfect read for the moment. It is sweet, swoony, and just steamy enough!⠀
⠀
Girl Gone Viral centers on Katrina King (Rhiannon's best friend from book 1) and Jasvinder Singh, her bodyguard. Katrina is an incredibly wealthy widow who is committed to extreme privacy after mental and emotional abuse by her controlling father ⬇️

Great characters that felt very true to life and some pretty steamy loves scenes too!! Really good contemporary romance!!

Just finished reading this, goes back and forth between the two main characters POV. Alisha Rai also does this in The Right Swipe, and I really enjoy this technique.
#bookhunt #isolationgames

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Once again, Alisha Rai hits it out of the park. Another book full of diversity, invisible illness, non toxic masculinity and romance. This type of niche book has quickly become my favorite. It‘s just the escape I need these days.
#read2020
23/36

Sitting at my at home work station and listening to one of the authors who‘s work has become like a warm blanket for me.

I took a break from the stack of ARCs to read these delightful romances. GGV features two lovely characters who are gentle with each other‘s vulnerable spots. Katrina & Jas‘s backstories unfolded at a good pace. GGV also features an emotionally important sourdough starter, for those of you who are Discovering Baking in These Strange Times.
She has anxiety; he has PTSD. Together, they ... fall in love and establish lines of open communication

“She‘d been beautiful then. She was beautiful now. And she‘d be beautiful sixty years from now.”

This book has it all!
Friends to lovers ✅
Forced Proximity ✅
Supportive squad ✅
Cute dog ✅

This sequel to The Right Swipe breathes new life into bodyguard romances! It is a fun sexy read with a ton of heart and loads of peaches. Rai also does a great job talking about mental health in this book, and handles it with tact and empathy.
-Erika
Find it ( and the prequel) on Libby

This was a cute little contemporary romance. I‘m a big fan of these, especially in audiobook form. I didn‘t have any trouble thinking of things I could be doing while listening to an audiobook so I could enjoy this one. And. I mean. I finished it in a day haha

It wasn‘t my absolute favorite but I appreciated the characters and their slightly strange backgrounds. I enjoyed these two together. And hey. What‘s not to love about a bodyguard romance?

This came out today and it made me really happy. One of the characters deals with a panic disorder, one with arguably PTSD though not formally diagnosed in book, so if your anxiety has been a little much to deal with lately maybe wait. But definitely keep it on your list.

I enjoyed the romance but there were so many other subplots that it would be chapters of other nonsense before we would get back to Katrina and Jas. The back stories of the 2 MCs seemed overly complicated and I never sensed the urgency as to why she had to flee the city immediately. I could see the plot points. BUT the “zings” between them were full of chemistry. The romance, Scooby gang, and stray dog 🐶 kept me invested. 3 ⭐️ Thanks #netgalley!

Didn‘t blow me away like the first one, but still enjoyable. Katrina and Jas are a cute couple and I liked how the side plot worked well with their blossoming romance.

📚 Navigate Your Stare - Jessamyn Ward
Girl Gone Viral - Alisha Rai
Starbreaker - Amanda Bouchet
📚 I fly by the seat of my pants. I almost never preplan