Modern Love Series

I've been in a rom com phase recently and I've had a hard time finding rom coms with substance but the Modern Love Series by Alisha Rai is the perfect solution. This series examines love through the lens of overcoming trauma and focuses on personal growth while wrapping it up in a rom com package. Another thing about the series that I enjoyed is that most of the characters are people of color which is very refreshing after reading book after book with Caucasian protagonists.

I'm going to review the books in the series in the order in which I read them, despite the fact that that's not the actual order of the series :)

Girl Gone Viral

This book is about a young woman named Katrina who experienced a traumatic childhood under the control of her overbearing father, and then encountered another traumatic experience later in life (don't want to say what so you can find out for yourselves) that left her craving complete anonymity and seclusion. However, when a photo of her goes viral on the internet, threatening her peaceful life, her bodyguard (who she happens to have an enormous crush on) takes her to spend a few weeks at his family's farm, away from the prying eyes of society. The only issue with this arrangement is that now they will be alone together for an indefinite amount of time, which is not an ideal situation with anybody, much less a guy you like.

I really liked this book because as I mentioned at the beginning, it features characters from various ethnicities: Thai, Punjabi, African American, etc. I also liked it because it focused on Katrina's personal growth and her struggle with anxiety, and how she was able to start overcoming that anxiety that once prevented her from leaving her house. It also examined Katrina's breakthroughs in how she viewed herself and her increased self-confidence by the end of the book.

Girl Gone Viral deals with PTSD, anxiety and panic attacks (though not super graphically) so if any of these topics are triggers for you, you may want to check out a different book. I, however, enjoyed seeing Rai deal with these issues that are so prevalent in society today.

The Right Swipe

This book is technically first in the series but it doesn't matter too much because the books are only loosely connected by character relationships.

The Right Swipe is about dating-app creator Rhiannon Hunter and her quest to buy a competitor called Matchmaker. The twist, Matchmaker's newest spokesman is Samson Lima, former star football player, and also the man that ghosted Rhiannon after an amazing night. As Rhi and Samson continue to interact, Rhi's anger at Samson ghosting her is slowly replaced by growing feelings that the cynical entrepreneur finds hard to ignore. Before their relationship can go anywhere though, Rhi must first decide if her feelings for Samson are worth the risk of getting hurt.

Again, I liked the diversity found in this novel. I also like the personal growth in the face of trauma that was examined, similar to Girl Gone Viral. Additionally, Rai examines issues such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease caused by multiple traumatic blows to the head that can be seen in many football players who receive numerous concussions. I thought that was really interesting because I hadn't heard of this issue before. Oh also, there was a really eccentric character named Annabelle. Loved Her! #StrongIndependentWomenWhoUseGlitterOnEverything

The Right Swipe deals with issues such as the trauma of sexual harassment, loss, and CTE (again not super graphically) so if these topics are uncomfortable for you, I suggest that you tread carefully.