Alisha Rai's YA debut is, obviously, a lot more wholesome than her adult romances though it is well-written as ever, featuring authentic character portrayals and dynamic language. It's a cute and fun nerd-romance, yes, but it's equally heartfelt, authentic and vulnerable as main character Sonia grapples with real issues.

Oh my goodness, this was a fun read! Sonia Patil would rather be at the bookstore's comic con, but she's stuck working a job she and her sister absolutely need to keep them afloat after their mother was deported back to India, and her father passed when she was young. On a whim she decides to wear her unused costume home after closing. What she doesn't expect is the boy she's had a crush on to fall unconscious into the water in front her, necessitating a heroic rescue on her part.

Desperate not to be involved in any kind of investigation with the police, Sonia escapes, masked, before emergency help arrives, but not before being captured on video. Now the internet is ablaze with questions about the masked hero, and all of it is putting her family in danger. To complicate matters she's met the rescued boy's brother and parents, and they are just the sort of wonderful, loving family she's craving.

Feeling at once like she's starting to live again after her mother's deportation, and that her life is spiraling out of control, Sonia desperately tries to figure out what to do as the truth is getting closer to finding her.

Alisha Rai's voice shines in her YA debut. This is the book I wish I'd had to read in high school when I was an anxious, self-conscious, overthinking geek girl who loved happy endings. The ending was perfect, not wrapping everything up in a perfect bow, but leaving you with a sense of hope no matter which direction things go after that last page is turned.

Sonia Patel is high school me - day dreamer, book nerd, a little uncomfortable in her own body. But a big difference from high school me, she finds herself in a love triangle with two brothers. A sweet love story, but an even sweeter story about family and friendships. I loved Sonai's internal monologue; I literally laughed out loud. Definitely recommend!!

Got this ARC via NetGalley.

I’m a fan of Alisha Rai and was really excited when I discovered she was putting out a YA novel.

Being an immigrant, I can really appreciate this book, the family dynamics, familial obligations, societal pressures, and so much more.

Young romance, fake dating trope, love triangle! All so entertaining!

I also love anything with cosplay!

4.25/5 stars! Gosh! What an important subject matter to cover. The concept of having to hide from law enforcement even when performing a heroic action for fear of deportation is heartbreaking. The idea that so many youth in this country have similar fears all while we expect them to attend school, form relationships, get jobs, etc is why this book is so significant and needs to be circulated to the masses. I loved Sonia's character and the correlation between While You Were Sleeping (a fan favorite) and this was spot on. I found myself wanting even more time with Sonia at the end and wouldn't mind more books with this family.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Interesting departure as a big fan of AR's adult romcoms. I thought this did a good job looking at the intricacies SUPPORT of relationships and power THE and the ways that national policy HARPERCOLLINS impacts intimate UNION connections.

Thank you to NetGalley and HC for the advanced reader copy.
I’ve read all of Alisha Rai’s books and when I saw she was releasing a YA I knew I had to read it. AR doesn’t disappoint, she covers hard topics while still giving us a very sweet story with a little bit of everything. If you like fake dating, love triangles, and figuring out sisterhood. You’ll love this book.

Oh my gosh this book was incredible. Alisha Rai wrote a stunning masterpiece and I am absolutely obsessed with it. There’s cosplay. There’s tiktok. There’s coffee shop drama. There’s the incredibly real issue of undocumented immigration. Alisha manages to blend it all in a way that is engaging and captivating to readers.

I absolutely adored this novel, the latest from one of my favorite authors, Alisha Rai. Rai dives into the concept of being undocumented, and the descriptions were so vivid. I loved how she portrayed so many emotions on the page to the point where the reader literally felt like they were in the world. I also enjoyed how she wrote the dual identity of the main character, and the complicated relationship between the main character and her sister. This was a phenomenal and timely book that I highly recommend to any and all YA contemporary fans!

This is inspired by the rom com While You Were Sleeping. I’m not a huge fan of Alisha’s, but I wanted to give this book a chance. I liked that friendships are included in this rom com, because they’re often overlooked.

I finished this right before the holiday so I didn't have a chance to review it until now--so thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this title!!

I thought this was really charming! I like that it remixed a classic 90s romcom (personally I would LOVE to see more of this!) and it felt like it did it in a great way. Sonia was a delightful protagonist to follow and the vast majority of the supporting characters were also really fun and well-rounded, I thought.

I really enjoyed getting to see Sonia open up to people like her coworker-turned-friend Hana and getting to see her come into herself. The author also seemed to make a point to make Sonia self-conscious, but not self-deprecating, if that makes sense? She's not fully comfortable in her skin or her body all the time, but she also doesn't put herself down, which I think is really important and a breath of fresh air! Sonia says multiple times that she looks good and feels that she's pretty, but struggles with putting that forward. That's realistic, and also not damaging to teen readers in the way that other tropes are. I appreciated reading that a lot!

The romance was cute and also very satisfying, but for me the star of this book was the family dynamic. Sonia's relationship with both Kareena and her mother were really touching to read and were more important and integral to the story than any of the romance plot was. I loved getting to know them.

My one big complaint isn't actually story related, but more just word choices? The author uses the "lizard person" descriptor for the villain/bully of the book more than once, and I just wish we could stop using anti-Semitic rhetoric, even if it wasn't intended that way!

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Sonia was so sweet and kind and had such a great story of growth. I thought this was going to be a cute retelling of "While You Were Sleeping" and it was better. I loved the way she handled her bullies and gained confidence. Alisha Rai, you have my gratitude as a high school teacher for portraying students more authentically and without the dependence on tropes.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I'll blame myself for this one: I was expecting it to be about the main character being a friendly neighborhood supergirl, but it turned out to be... a YA contemporary romance. Again, I should have been more literate but c'mon, the cover is beautiful! I was distracted! Still, I liked a some of it, so,
PROS:
-there's a very wholesome friendship plot
-the MC has a passion for sewing and upcycling clothing! love love love
-anxiety representation was accurate
-turned the "perfect boy is with evil spiteful girl" trope on its head in a way that was satisfying
-one recurring setting is a cafe and another is a restaurant, I don't know, I liked it
-the MC's mother is deported but the outcome feels realistic without being depressing
-MC learns to be comfortable in her body
-there were (text) excerpts from the graphic novel the MC reads which was cool
CONS:
-the whole dressing-up-as-a-superhero-and-saving-lives happened ONCE and I was underwhelmed
-I really wanted it to be a bigger part, (｡•́︿•̀｡)
-MC supposedly grows to be more assertive, but she still forgives people very easily, even when they've wronged her
-a couple times she's manipulated or just kept in the dark, but she gets over it relatively easy and it feels... toxic
-overall, I think I just loved the MC not really much else about the other character or plot.

YA is not my normal genre, but I have read some others by Alisha Rai so I thought I would give it a try. I had a little bit of trouble in the beginning getting into it, but once I did it was enjoyable.
Sonia is a bit of a neurotic mess, but probably mostly understandable under the circumstances.
Loved the creative aspect of Sonia's clothes making,would have loved that to be a bigger part of the story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

There's a lot to be unpacked in this book, and I appreciate Rai's faith in the intelligence of young adults to process everything that's going on here. Sonia and Kareena have had a rough time of it once their mother gets deported. They are trying to hide that fact as well as the fact that Kareena is Sonia's only guardian, and also could get deported at any minute. I appreciate the way that Rai shows a story of immigration and deportation that isn't often told in the United States; that's it's about more than just Mexican people, and that immigrants of all ethnicities have had issues ever since there were immigrants.

In the midst of all of this, Sonia is just trying to make it through high school. She's a creative soul who loves to design and make clothes, is into cosplay, has body image issues, and has a crush on a boy named James. When she saves James one night during an accident, and it's caught on tape, she worries her family's secret will be revealed. I like that Rai allows us to see Sonia develop, gain more confidence in herself, and realize who she really cares about might not be the boy she just had a surface-level crush on.

This is a sweet and thought-provoking book about a young woman's discovery of who she is, and how strong she is.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

The relationship between the two sisters was the thing that I loved the most. Some people long for relationships with siblings as such so reading about it warmed my heart. The topics that were touched with deportation, citizenship and immigration were some very strong issues but they were a great mesh and the message was clear. I’m hoping that this isn’t the only YA book that this author does as this was a ready great read and I would love to see more stories. I would definitely recommend and once this is out I would love to get this for my young adults around the house.

Thank you for the ARC. Again I can’t wait to read more YA from this author.

Tentative Release 3.2023

Such a good YA book! I'm a fan of Alisha Rai's and this did not disappoint. Very well written characters and story development. I looked forward to picking up the book and reading more about Sonia and her story.

Thank you NetGalley and Alisha Rai!

I am a fan of Alisha Rai’s previous books and really enjoyed having the opportunity to read her new YA book, While You Were Dreaming. While clearly inspired by the classic rom-com While You Were Sleeping, Rai brings fresh, appealing characters and situations to the storyline. Her main character Sonia is credible and three-dimensional, and the main love interesting is appealing and thoughtful. The main character’s other relationships are also complex and well-articulated, including with her sister, mother and several friends. The writing is excellent, there are moments of humor and tenderness, and all the emotions feel earned,
Overall, strongly recommend this book as well as Rai’s other work!
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher Harper Collins for the Advanced Reader Copy!

Thank you so much to HarperCollins, The Author, and Netgalley for a copy of this E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

What a wild ride! For someone who was obsessed with the Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman 90s movie "While You Were Sleeping", this book was everything. I also deeply enjoyed the south Asian vibes to the reader. Finding a book with a strong and well-written POC lead is refreshing.

I loved pretty much every character in this book, and I could relate to some of the struggles presented. I also liked the dramatic parts of the book, the deportations issues, and immigration concerns. Having a little drama with the romcom is a good balance that the author knew how to maintain well.

This wasn't your typical adolescent romance or "coming of age" story, but it did a fantastic job of combining all of the elements in a lovely environment. I was pleased that the storyline of this piece continued to surprise me. While remaining true to the core notion of a YA rom-com, it incorporates seriousness where necessary and even takes a few unexpected detours. Given that this is a young adult novel, I was blown away by the author's ability to depict the fervor and purity of first love while keeping the characters engaged with appropriate internal dialogue and answers to really difficult themes.

This story is about compassion for oneself and others. Sonia and I have quite diverse life experiences, with the exception of anxiety, yet we get along well. Hana, her new friend, is a gem. She could be the type of friend that everyone wants. Actually, I wish Hana were my closest friend and that I were Hana. Anyhow, I'm addressing all socially awkward nerds and hopeless romantics!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5086643106