lunarreads's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Dev and Jia are adorable in this book! It did feel to me they barely were together before they got married. I understand it's probably cause they wanted to wait till marriage and hence why, it went so fast to be able to get those sex scenes in. But, as a Bollywood lover this story is so cute!
pn_hinton's review against another edition
4.0
Jia and Dev's first actual meet up is, in a word, less than auspicious. They quickly figure out what happened and both meet up to figure out the best way to go from there.as both have their reasons for wanting to not let the specifics of the relationship come to light, as Jia doesn't wish to have her parents know she got cat-fished and Dev doesn't want it let known who did the cat fishing. However, after they get caught in a somewhat compromising position by the paparazzi and get questioned by their respective families, then they both decide to enter into a fake-dating agreement. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, this ends up being a fake-engagement and the rest of the chips fall as they will from that.
This one was a huge change from the other Alisa Rai's that I have read in the past. It was a sweet romance with minimal steam. Which isn't say it was bad because it wasn't. It was just a change from what I have come to expect from the author. This was more about the friendship between the two before the romance was thrown in. There was obviously an attraction between the two but that wasn't the main focus of the story. I liked the slow build here although I know that it is not well liked by others. It worked for this story and for the types of people that Jia and Dev were.
I also liked how good of an uncle Dev was to Luna and how Jia made it a priority to make her feel welcomed. I feel that there could have been more development in the blossoming relationship that Dev was cultivating with Luna and even with his grandmother, but the focus was Jia and Dev. And because of how their relationship went, we don't get to see too much of the after the marriage so I hope that we revisit them later, since I genuinely enjoyed their story. I think a lot of Rai's fans may be surprised by the lack of steamy scenes but if they focus on the sweetness of the romance, this one will make its way to a favorite on their shelf, because it did for me.
This one was a huge change from the other Alisa Rai's that I have read in the past. It was a sweet romance with minimal steam. Which isn't say it was bad because it wasn't. It was just a change from what I have come to expect from the author. This was more about the friendship between the two before the romance was thrown in. There was obviously an attraction between the two but that wasn't the main focus of the story. I liked the slow build here although I know that it is not well liked by others. It worked for this story and for the types of people that Jia and Dev were.
I also liked how good of an uncle Dev was to Luna and how Jia made it a priority to make her feel welcomed. I feel that there could have been more development in the blossoming relationship that Dev was cultivating with Luna and even with his grandmother, but the focus was Jia and Dev. And because of how their relationship went, we don't get to see too much of the after the marriage so I hope that we revisit them later, since I genuinely enjoyed their story. I think a lot of Rai's fans may be surprised by the lack of steamy scenes but if they focus on the sweetness of the romance, this one will make its way to a favorite on their shelf, because it did for me.
libraryghost's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Death
readingwithhippos's review
4.0
Jia is a YouTuber who does makeup tutorials, and she’s been texting for months with Bollywood star Dev. When she meets him in person and he has no idea who she is, she realizes she’s been catfished and retreats in humiliation. But Dev is super sweet and wants to make it up to her, and it turns out they might just be perfect for each other. Both Dev and Jia’s families figure prominently in the story, and I fell a little bit in love with all of them. Turns out Alisha Rai can do low steam romance too, who knew?
sri_savita's review against another edition
5.0
Today was a tough day with work and this was a jolt of positive energy. I was wary of the awkward meet-cute, and Jia being very anxious, but you know what, I appreciated the realistic mental health rep for both of these characters as they manage careers in the public eye, especially as underrepresented South Asians in American media, and Dev's grief.
I also feel like Jia's need for a strong emotional bond before sexual intimacy made sense to me and spoke to a need for more gray-ace/demisexual representation in romance novels. We love to see it, especially when done well.
I loved the extended family, and all of Jia's sisters and their different personalities - it reminded me of my relationship with my sister, and just when I was getting sad about it, it was sweet to see how Dev was excited not only to marry Jia but get a new family and relationship with Jia's sisters too, and that was really touching.
All of these characters felt very real, and as an Indian reader, I felt like the layers of representation were done so well and there was a lot of nuance that brought this story depth, even with its Bollywood movie antics. And I, for one, love a good Bollywood movie, anyway.
Can't wait to listen/read the rest of this trilogy and will definitely be buying my own physical copy of First Comes Like for my shelf. Thanks to Libro.fm for my ALC copy of this audiobook! I am happy to own this own-voices story.
An added bonus is that this book made me want to actually wear makeup again for the first time since the pandemic started and I thought it was SO CUTE that Dev was familiar with Jia's videos.
I also feel like Jia's need for a strong emotional bond before sexual intimacy made sense to me and spoke to a need for more gray-ace/demisexual representation in romance novels. We love to see it, especially when done well.
I loved the extended family, and all of Jia's sisters and their different personalities - it reminded me of my relationship with my sister, and just when I was getting sad about it, it was sweet to see how Dev was excited not only to marry Jia but get a new family and relationship with Jia's sisters too, and that was really touching.
All of these characters felt very real, and as an Indian reader, I felt like the layers of representation were done so well and there was a lot of nuance that brought this story depth, even with its Bollywood movie antics. And I, for one, love a good Bollywood movie, anyway.
Can't wait to listen/read the rest of this trilogy and will definitely be buying my own physical copy of First Comes Like for my shelf. Thanks to Libro.fm for my ALC copy of this audiobook! I am happy to own this own-voices story.
An added bonus is that this book made me want to actually wear makeup again for the first time since the pandemic started and I thought it was SO CUTE that Dev was familiar with Jia's videos.
saucyknits's review
2.0
2.5 It was ok. The writing was fairly stilted in places. I was really looking forward to the storyline and so it was disappointing to read this and have it be so meh. To be fair, the female narrator was pretty awful - she read with a certain lack of emotion/very flat, so that definitely minimized my enjoyment. The male narrator at least showed emotion.
meagan_mizukage's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
ktxx22's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book super cute. I have a serious love of all things Indian/Bollywood/etc. and this just fueled that further. I also am not a big fan of gratuitous romance novels so I enjoyed that I had to wait for the steam to happen. It was very satisfying and I felt like it wasn’t being rammed down my throat how sexy either main character is.... which is a nice change from the usual.
aquastar41's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
tcarg's review
3.0
cute cute cute! a refreshingly modest book for the genre. strong female lead too, which I can’t say for every protagonist in romance novels.