Modern Love, Book 3
Heat Factor: A little at the end, but nothing too spicy
Character Chemistry: They are pretty cute together
Plot: Catfishing leads to friendship leads to fake engagement
Overall: I enjoyed this one
Rai’s Modern Love trilogy sets up each of its stories as a reaction the characters have to an internet thing. In this case, the impetus for the story is catfishing. Specifically, Jia has started chatting with someone who she believes to be Indian soap opera star Dev Dixit – but when she shows up at a party he’s attending, he doesn’t have a clue who she is. Turns out, she’s been talking to someone else the whole time. How. Embarrassing.
However, this can’t be the end of things, because then there would be no story.
Instead, Dev tracks Jia down to figure out why she was so upset, and then stays in contact to give her updates on who was using his identity. But then! They are photographed together by the paparazzi, and things sort of spiral out of control until all of a sudden they’re fake dating and about to meet each others’ families. A modern take on the Compromised trope, if you will. As you might imagine, what’s fun about this book is how the stakes slowly get higher and higher as Jia and Dev are prodded from all sides into making more and more commitments to each other.
Don’t let this description of Dev and Jia getting sort of pushed into a relationship let you think that they are pushovers. Rather, Dev and Jia are great characters who are both looking for a relationship and are really attracted to each other and therefore let themselves be nudged into moving more quickly than they would have otherwise.
I will say that I didn’t love the fight at the end of the book. It seems that Rai included it to be able to make a point about love being work, not a magic panacea that makes relationships easy, but the miscommunication that actually happened seemed very out of character after the other communication hurdles they had already overcome.
This, however, is only a small quibble with what was, overall a very enjoyable book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.
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