I feel so lucky that I was chosen to read Girl Gone Viral! I absolutely loved The Right Swipe, even though I wasn’t sure if the plot would fit my particular reading preference…dating apps?? Not for me (I picked it up only because it was Target Book Club!). But Alisha Rai really got me with her sweet writing style and lovable characters. So I was HONORED to read Girl Gone Viral this week. 🙂

Rich investor and ex-model Katrina has a panic disorder. And because of this panic disorder, she’s been sheltering herself in her Santa Barbara home since the death of her husband. She spends years carefully working herself out of the house, afraid of having a panic attack, with the help of her amazing friends, therapist, and of course – her bodyguard. And now she’s ready to start dating again! She thinks. But she’s only interested in one guy, Jasvinder – her bodyguard, of course.

After a chance encounter in her favorite cafe goes awry, Katrina ends up viral. Her face and a made up story about her are plastered over the internet, for weeks. To avoid being discovered by her past, Jas and Katrina escape to Jas’ family farm in NorCal, where family drama and romantic encounters await them.

What I really loved about this book was how complex these characters were! Too often you read romance, and it’s delightful, but you get no sense of who these people are or why they fit together. Both Katrina and Jas had very complex back stories and backgrounds that helped you comprehend how they helped one another and supported each other through their problems. The entire book can really be classified as family drama, in addition to contemporary romance, for all the great plot lines tied to Jas in particular. His life is just as well-formed as Katrina’s, and the book is better for it.

I really do enjoy Alisha Rai’s way of bringing the larger world into her book. Similar to The Right Swipe, this novel takes on some larger American and even global issues that we should be thinking about, giving you characters you care about experiencing the exact reasons we should care. They’re living it, and you feel it. It’s wonderful and adds something really magical to Rai’s work that sets it apart. This book in particular took on the internet and going viral, as well as panic disorders and PTSD, as a result of both trauma at home and trauma halfway around the world due to military experience. It digs in deep to the effects of these things, and ties strongly to the plot line and caring for the characters. I really commend this, and for this reason alone would absolutely recommend Girl Gone Viral.

I suggest you go and grab a copy of Rai’s newest on April 21!! I read it in about a day, even being at school and work…just couldn’t put it down. 🙂 A copy of Girl Gone Viral was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.