Review: First Comes Like

First Comes Like by Alisha Rai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jia is a 29 year old beauty social media influencer. She lives with Katrina and Rhiannon. Dev is a Bollywood star who comes to the US for a fresh start after his brother dies and he becomes his niece's guardian. Unbeknownst to Dev, his brother (before he died) and cousin (after the brother's death) had been using his social media accounts to talk to Jia. So when Jia goes to a cast party to meet Dev, Dev has no idea who she is. But, he is taken with her and is curious about her. Later a photo comes out of them together, they decide to fake a relationship to appease Jia's family.
I enjoy the fake relationship trope. I liked that Jia was Muslim and there were many examples of that in this book (she prays in the AM, certain phrases). Dev's character is also fairly conservative. As a result, this book is much cleaner than previous AR books. The romance is a bit of a slower burn and they are more careful when they are together (minimal kissing, hugs, touching in general). I enjoyed Jia's closeness with both her biological and chosen families.
I did appreciate that this was written during Covid and both Jia and one of her sisters both got sick with the sister dealing with long Covid. Time will tell, but that may really date the book.
For Romanceopoly: "The Bar: Read a book where one of the main characters has a strong group of friends."
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