Jia and Dev have given me a glimpse of Indian cultural traditions and what their lifestyle are like.
Jia is online influencer for skin care and makeup. While Dev is a very popular Bollywood Star who comes to America to be featured on a Hollywood TV show. It is wonderful to see a couple who takes their relationship one step a time and not jump into bed right away. The up and downs are the best, but seeing the interfering relatives and miscommunication along the long reminded that everyone has gone through theses situations at one time another. I couldn’t help but root for these two. 📚📚🎉🎉

I thought this was a sweet story, and I really liked Dev and Jia, but wow it was crazy! As soon as I got used to one idea another crazy thing happened, and some of the actions of the characters really surprised me. Also, it was really long, but I feel like it didn't really have an ending.

A cute and sweet if not terribly memorable low key romcom about how Jia, a beauty influencer, met Dev, a soap opera star. The two get off to a rocky start when a member of the star's family catfishes her and she approaches Dev at a party thinking they've been communicating for a while. This is the third book in Rai's modern love series and it's less steamy and more slow burn than usual. Just a little tepid overall, not a lot of tension here.

I have been waiting for Jia's story since Alisha Rai's Forbidden Heart's series.
Jia Ahmed has a plan. She is a succesfully beauty blogger and influencer that has spent years building her brand. After almost of year of talking to Dev Dixit, the soap opera star, online, she decides to finally meet him. However, when she shows up to a cast party that he's at, he doesn't recognize her. After Jia, runs away from him, Dev can't get her out of his head.
This was really sweet and I loved the chemistry between these characters. We get to meet all of Jia and Dev's family which was a great addition to the story. The only thing I would have like more of is Jia's relationship with his neice, Luna.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I just couldn't connect with the catfishing, how slow at times it felt. I think this whole series was a miss for me. I am disappointed because I love Hate to Want You.

I’m a big fan of Alisha Rai’s writing and have been eager for Jia’s story since meeting her in Hate to Want You. I picked up First Comes Like with every expectation of enjoying it, and while the story is softer and sweeter than I expected, there's definitely a lot to like.

As with the prior two books in the Modern Love series, the plot spins off a social media mishap. Beauty influencer Jia Ahmed believes she’s been messaging with Bollywood royalty and longtime soap opera star Dev Dixit for months, but when he relocates to Los Angeles and she decides to surprise him at a party, she learns she’s been catfished; the real Dev has no idea who she is. Eager to make up for the hurt done to Jia in his name and happy for an excuse to spend more time with her, Dev agrees to a fake relationship after a misleading paparazzi photo puts her in a bind with her conservative, Muslim family.

Dev and Jia are genuine, likeable characters with a ready compatibility that’s easy to root for. Jia is confident, creative and charming, but it isn't effortless. With a career that’s frequently dismissed as frivolous, the intelligence, hard work and discipline underpinning her success go as easily overlooked as the hurt and insecurity she hides behind her very big heart. After years at odds with her family’s expectations, she’s developed strategies to drown out critical voices. Especially endearing is her habit of recording affirmations to play for herself when she feels overwhelmed. Though she doesn’t let naysayers derail her professional goals and takes responsibility for working through her “I’m too much” refrain, it’s nonetheless gratifying when Dev comes into the picture taking her work seriously and wholeheartedly appreciating her, exclamation points and all.

Dev, too, is pretty wonderful, but unlike Jia he’s reserved, cautious, and a little shy despite his decades in the public eye. As with Jia, his family is important to him, but it’s a complicated relationship with the spectre of past abandonment, conflicting values, and a confusing cocktail of grief, guilt and anger in the aftermath of his brother’s death. Despite the ambiguity of his feelings toward his family at large, he’s devoted to parenting his newly orphaned teen niece, Luna, with the help of his maternal uncle Adil. The loving interactions amongst them and the earnestness with which Dev approaches parenting make up some of my favorite moments in the book and show Dev at his very best. There’s a great deal of charm in his constant willingness to put others first, but his tendency to subordinate so much of himself to his overactive sense of responsibility is also a barrier to intimacy and self-knowledge. It’s a relief, then, that he feels safe enough with Jia to let his guard down, indulge his silly side, and begin to explore deeper truths about where his personal and professional fulfillment lie.

For the majority of the book, Dev and Jia are pretty restrained in their physical interactions, but their mutual attraction is made obvious in admiring thoughts from both POVs. Jia, especially, has a thirsty inner monologue when it comes to Dev. There’s rare nuance in the way her explicit desire is written alongside her identity as a demisexual and a practicing Muslim American of Pakistani descent. Her work to honor her own desire, her family culture, and her faith based intention to abstain from premarital sex is illuminated with care and sensitivity. When Jia and Dev do eventually develop a physical relationship that’s in alignment with their values, their combination of forthright enthusiasm and self-conscious inexperience feels completely in character. However, arising as it does in the last 10% of the book, the juxtaposition of explicit communication with hesitancy and withholding during their most intimate moments creates a tension I would have liked given more time to resolve.

While there are well intentioned missteps and misunderstandings to untangle, the book is firmly low angst, dodging predictable blow ups and resolving conflicts before they get too uncomfortable. Dev and Jia’s shared values around kinship and domesticity, ability to take a long view of the relationship, and obvious commitment to growth make for a promising partnership. Though I would have loved to read a bit more about their joined lives in the larger context so important to both of them, Dev and Jia’s romance makes for heartwarming reading that’s easy to enjoy.

I finished First Comes Like at 8am in Termina 7 of JFK after an hour of trying to get through TSA, and it was a BALM TO MY SOUL💙😭 Alisha Rai ur a goddess

This book was exactly what I needed, and I think there’s two big reasons it worked so well for me🙌🏼 Firstly, I just loved the couple!! I ~really~ related to Jia’s feelings of “too much, never enough” and the way people didn’t take her seriously bc they thought her work as a beauty influencer meant she was shallow felt REALLY familiar— the minute I tell people I work in fashion I can just feel the mental eyerolls. But despite all of that, Jia worked hard to be authentic & didn’t let the opinions of others change her🤍 also i LOVED that she recorded affirmations for herself, and now I’m definitely gonna have to try that

And Dev😍 He was such a sweetheart!! I love a hero who’s just ~gone~ for the heroine from day one, and this lil dumdum had it so bad that he watched EVERY SINGLE VIDEO Jia posted literally the night after meeting her🙌🏼 he was thoughtful, respectful, and at every moment (even when he was being dumb lol) was always putting Jia first! Which made for a really lovely courtship🥰 Jia & Dev were just two good people accidentally falling in love & it was utterly delightful

The other reason this really worked for me was in the plotting. Firstly, this bad boi is ~chock full~ of some really fantastic tropes! We get a lil Cinderella moment at the beginning, a fake relationship, “only one bed,” meddling family members— there’s a few more but I’m not tryna spoil people😏 imo, this kept things really light & playful, and it also kept the plot interesting bc here’s the kicker: this book doesn’t have like a big “misunderstanding” or major relational problem between Jia & Dev. It’s literally these two goons slowly falling in love as their circumstances get more & more bonkers. It was pretty low angst, which was PERFECT for me👌🏼

Lol I’m running out of room so I’ll leave y’all with this— if you’re looking for a low angst, high swoon read about two dummies accidentally falling in love, you need this book🤍 thanks to Netgalley & Avon for my review copy!

First Comes Like 💄

Thank you to @avonbooks for the finished copy of First Comes Like!
This is actually the first book I have read by this author and I absolutely adored it!
This very modern day romance based around technology and online dating was both whitty and absolutely endearing. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes and this one did not disappoint! I was a little nervous at the start of the book when the “catfish” element was introduced because I hateee that plot but I’m glad it fizzled its way out of the story line and we moved onto a much better fake romance dynamic.
I also love reading romances with characters that have different backgrounds and upbringings than my own because I feel like I am able to learn about the world thru someone else’s eyes! Their family dynamics along with their individual personal struggles led for a really interesting story line.
My only request is that the author gives us more!!!! I feel like the ending was a bit of a dud and we didn’t get to see the ending for these two characters. Thanks again @avonbooks!!

This book was so entertaining. I was drawn into the story from the beginning and was involved until the end. The characters were complex and interesting. I found the story to be well paced and engrossing throughout the whole book. I was invested in the couple throughout the book and felt all the emotions through both the highs and lows of the story.The side characters were such an integral part of this story as well. This is the love story i needed to read at this time. If you want an entertaining and well written book this is it for you

At first, I didn’t like this book very much. I especially didn’t like Jia. I thought she was vain and spoiled … privileged. But I slowly came to see her differently, as a caring and compassionate person. However, I liked Dev right away. He comes across as a kind and caring, if awkward, person. Both of them turn out to have interesting and realistic families.

I enjoyed watching Jia and Dev get to know each other and go from “enemies” to lovers. However, when Jia and Dev make a big decision and follow through with it. They did this without talking about the consequences or effect this decision will make for their futures. They went in blind, suffering misunderstandings almost from the start. It seemed out of character for two such conservative and intelligent people. It made me wonder if they’ll face further big problems in their future. This appears to be a series. Will there be future books about Jia and Dev? That would be nice. I’d like to see if they are able to make things work.

This was a fun love story, easy to read, and enjoyable if not completely believable.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank them for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

The overall storyline was nice, the only thing I'd say would be that the relationship seemed to move wayyy too quickly to be realistic. Like, they went from fake dating to suddenly getting married and I wasn't quite convinced that the feelings each character had were real. There were some nice elements of the plot though, such as integrating the theme of family inside.
I still enjoyed the book, just wished it could have been a little more convincing.

I'm a huge fan of Alisha Rai and this series, and I enjoyed this book! It was probably my least favorite of the series so far, but it was a super fun, quick, happy read.

Meh. First Comes Like was just an okay read for me. And as a romance, it was definitely underwhelming, especially compared to the books Rai used to put out.

This one had a very slow start, and the catfishing thing took up both too much time and yet not enough to properly affect the plot? It was annoying and kinda pointless. This was less of a romance and more romantic elements. Had its cute moments though. I didn't hate it by any means. I just didn't love it, either.

This was a lighthearted love story. I would recommend me as a good beach, summer read. I have not read the other books by this author, but if I was in the mood for some light reading, I would pick one up.

First Comes Like is a delightful romance set in a world -- the conservative Muslim world -- which I'm largely unfamiliar with. Alisha Rai's writing is always delightful, but I particularly enjoyed this novel because of Jia and Dev's slowly paced courtship, and my favorite romance trope ("only one bed!").

First Comes Like was a cute read with a lot of heart. Admittedly I haven’t read the other books in the series, so I definitely felt like I was missing a few things, but not enough to make it less enjoyable.

I really enjoyed Jai and Dev. Their maturity and mutual respect for one another was refreshing to read. I also love the female friendships portrayed in First Comes Like. Jai is so sweet and good and I liked getting to know her. Dev is so responsible and I liked how Jai brought out the fun in him a little and helped him let go.

There certainly were cultural aspects of this book that I wasn’t familiar with, and I enjoyed learning about those. Especially when those also included family members. Those parts were some of the most entertaining parts of the book. They were also some of the most heartwarming parts. I particularly loved Luna and Adil.

This was a light adorable read, and while I did enjoy it, it wasn’t my favorite rom-com.

This book falls flat for me. You'd think that a premise of fake dating would be great no matter what? Well, this proves me wrong. There's a lot of potential for Jia and Dev, especially in the beginning. Jia thinks she's been talking to Indian superstar Dev for a number of months only to find out she's been catfished instead. There's a hell of a lot of miscommunication and misunderstandings. They seem to be better as friends than as romantic partners because the chemistry isn't really there for me. Some of it felt paint by numbers to me so the heart was missing from it as well. It lacks charm and there wasn't a whole lot of fun banter between the two main characters. Their conversations about fake dating and marriage are like..."I guess we'll do this? I kind of like you and people think we're dating so sure? Whatever you want to do." It feels in the same vein as trying to decide what kind of takeout you want for dinner. There's also a really stupid misunderstanding near the end of the book that had me rolling my eyes because no clarifying questions were asked. The love scenes were just fine. Nothing stellar or particularly sexy. I was just disappointed with this one.

Received an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series and so was very interested in seeing how this 3rd book would play out.

Catfishing to true love? SIGN ME UP!

The fact that this book was lower in heat was a bit of a turn off for me but understandable considering the religious backgrounds of the MCs.

Dev & Jia's story is a slow burn (which is also not my thing) but it was an enjoyable read.

Watching them navigate complex emotions to end up together was great but I also felt like there was too much going on externally for me to really dive in.

All in all, it was a solid book.

The third (and final?) book in the Modern Love series did not disappoint! Alisha Rai consistently crafts realistically complex yet likable characters, which makes it easy to buy into the romance from the jump. In First Comes Like, I did feel that things moved just a tick too quickly—this makes sense in the context of the plot (the characters are under a great deal of pressure and have to act fast), but did make it a bit more challenging to fully understand why and how these two people have fallen so madly in love after spending just a few days together and having basically no physical contact with each other. Slight suspension of disbelief aside, Jia and Dev are both kind, compelling characters, and it was lovely to get some sweet life updates on Rhiannon and Katrina's relationships as they support Jia. (Now I definitely need to pick up Wrong to Need You, which follows Jia's sister Sadia.)

Book 3 in the Modern Love series by Alisha Rai. Each book in this series presents a relationship between a modern BIPOC couple. Each story has its share of references to social media or online dating. Side characters from previous book take the spotlight in each new book. In this book, Jia Ahmed takes center stage. She is friends & roomies with Katrina and Rhiannon from the previous two books. Jia is a Pakistani-American who has built a career as a beauty blogger, posting makeup tutorials and more on Instagram and other platforms. She has been having online exchanges with Bollywood Soap Opera star Dev Dixit for a while and is excited when it is announced he is moving to California to act in a new American TV show. But, when she approaches him at an industry party he has no idea who she is. It turns out that she has been CATFISHED. Dev is intrigued by her and has his assistant track her down after the party and the two agree to meet. A paparazzi gets photos of them at their meeting and the media assumes they are in a hot new relationship. So.... (of course) the two decide to pretend to date to get their respective families off their backs.

So, yes, this is another book in the fake dating trope. This one has a bit of a twist in that the female lead is a modest Muslim American woman who has no intentions to get hot & steamy outside of marriage. I actually ended up liking this book more than the previous two books in the series. It was a fun, light read that was easy to get through in a day.