Girl Gone Viral: A Novel

Readers first met the character Katrina, an ex-model and angel investor, in Alisha Rai’s The Right Swipe. In Girl Gone Viral, the romance is all hers. Katrina is a fierce lover of privacy; her bodyguard and friend, Jas Singh, is there to protect her at any cost. When a chance encounter at a beach café results in viral social media scrutiny, Katrina needs to get away. So Jas Singh takes her to a place where no one can find them: his family’s farm in Northern California.

While tucked away from the world, Katrina and Jas learn more about each other’s backgrounds and why each of them is so guarded. The Right Swipe also explored how betrayal and manipulation can make it very difficult for people to have loving and trusting relationships. But Katrina and Jas both want that with each other despite the rocky road to get there.

As usual, I appreciate that the male protagonist has as rich of an emotional inner life as the female protagonist, and equal attention is given to their backgrounds and families. While Katrina is “rescued” by protective figures a couple times throughout the story, she is able speak out and break free of the forces that once controlled her. Her independence is as exciting as her developing romance. I really enjoyed the agricultural setting for this story and learning about immigrants from India becoming fruit farmers.