Following Alisha Rai on social media, I presumed that this would be a very sex-positive story with a woman having a strong sense of her own agency. And it is. Rhiannon is smart and independent, courageous enough to leave her old start up and create her own company. What I didn't expect was an exploration of the NFL's not so dirty little secret - the consequence traumatic brain injuries - through the hero, Samson. Ironically, I thought that was the better part of the story.

This story has been promoted as a romcom, and there are certainly those elements, but it lacks the light-heartedness I would expect from a romantic comedy. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great contemporary romance that incorporates the struggles of modern romance, but more serious than I expected.

This book was so quirky and fun.

If you're in the mood for a quick, romcom read? This book is totally the book for you.

Set in modern day times, Rhiannon is a CEO of a dating app company. She meets Samson who is a former NFL linebacker. He is now the face of another dating app company that Rhiannon has interest in purchasing. They each have a complicated past. Rhiannon's ex boyfriend harassed her out of her previous employment and Samson's poor family had to deal with the effects of CTE post playing football.

Struggling to deal with their own outside issues of the past, the two develop a fun, silly, understanding friendship with its benefits that eventually develops into true love with a near perfect match!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to read this lovely quick read in exchange for honest review.

Rhi Hunter is CEO of the popular dating app Crush. She’s got her sights set on another dating business, Bumble. Rhi is shocked when the current face of Bumble is the man who ghosted her, former football player Samson Lima. It was all one big misunderstanding and Samson is more than ready to clear things up.

Samson apologizes and wants a second chance. Rhi has been hurt before, and she is still carrying the baggage from her previous relationships, so she’s hesitant, and questions whether she can trust him. However, they grow closer as Rhi makes her pitch to acquire Bumble, from the woman who happens to his aunt.

I wish I like this book than I did. This is a book I should have enjoyed. Rhi was a strong female lead, and Samson was a vulnerable likeable male lead. It was a modern romance, it included current events such as CTE, Met Too, women in tech, and women of color in tech, but still, I didn’t enjoy it when it was all over.

Thank you to the publisher for sending this to me in exchange for my honest review!

This was surprisingly my first book from Alisha Rai and it definitely won’t be my last! I completely ADORED this story!! It was fast paced, addictive and such a fun enemies to lovers romance! It was sexy and smart with a HEADSTRONG female lead!

First, the representation is so important!! I loved it!! Especially in this day and age, this type of romance is important to read! I loved how even though it was a romantic comedy, it stayed realistic in a way! It was perfect for this story and had a great balance. Not only does it tackle real issues, it’s also a bit of a sports romance with the main hero being a FOOTBALL PLAYER! I can’t even being to tell you how many times he made me swoon. He was so SWEET and had my heart melting!

The ANGST in this book had me aching for these two to be together and let me tell you, these two EARNED their happily ever after! Rhi was a badass and I loved how she didn’t make it easy, although I will say towards the end I was getting a bit frustrated with her. I loved her so much but I just wanted them to be happy! These two had to work towards the ending they deserve and it was a rollercoaster!! Even though there was a lot of that “push-pull” this book is filled with so much heart and sweet moments as well. It’s witty and fun and everything you would expect from the synopsis and cover!

I’m very excited for more from this series and to circle back and read more of Alisha Rais books!

Well, friends and readers, it’s been a month of nonstop work and no play, which, for this feral spinster, means barely romance reading since mid-August other than a slog through Alisha Rai’s The Right Swipe (not to say that the novel was sluggish). It wasn’t a shining star of the romance universe, but the romance-reading torpidity was all me. I can safely say to you, my readers, that The Right Swipe was better in concept than execution. It certainly hit a lot of the cool-romance-gestalt buttons: the heroine, Rhiannon Hunter, CEO of a date-matching app, Crush, out to buy the tried-and-tested-and-first-now-dated app, Matchmaker; the hero, Samson Lima, a mild, muscular beta, former football star, nephew to Matchmaker’s owner, Annabelle Kostas. Honestly, I started the novel such a long time ago, I barely remember the beginning, other than to say Samson and Rhi are thrown together at a tech con, Samson having taken on a promotional role in his aunt’s company. Ah, but dear readers, there be a past history there. Thanks to said apps, Samson and Rhi spent one night together months ago. Though Samson asked to see Rhi again at the end of the night, he never contacted her. As she thinks in the first chapter, he “ghosted” her … cool-romance-element, check two.

But, but, but, dear readers, Samson does come with the bestest of reasons for the “ghosting”: he’d been caring for his uncle, also a former football star, as was Samson’s dad, who died of Alzheimer’s and ALS. Samson was devastated. (This made me think Rai is paying a little homage to my three favourite films, Before Sunrise, Sunset, and Midnight … when Celine doesn’t show up for her reunion with Jesse because her beloved grandmother died. Really, if you haven’t seen them, do, they’re great.) When Samson explains why he didn’t contact Rhi, she does sort of forgive him. But, Rai definitely set out to create a difficult, closed-off, and prickly heroine, so Rhi agrees to sleep with Samson (the intimacy is great and was), but no emotions, strictly come-hither-babe and we’re done once this con is over. Samson, on the other hand, is an emotional dude; moreover, he’s a one-women-kind-of-guy and anything but a player, as we learn: “He’d been single and entirely celibate for almost five years before That Night. A modern Lothario, he was not.”

Business throws and keeps Samson and Rhi together, with the whole app-world laid out in the novel, which this old fogey found boring. Other than the fairy-app-godmother role played by Samson’s aunt, Annabelle, which was delightful and fun. She was wonderful. While Samson and Rhi enjoy a hands-on relationship, things truck along the check-list of cool-romance-requirements: vulnerabilities are revealed. Samson has trust issues; Rhi, on the other hand, has trust-blocks, with good reasons, like gaslighting and mental abuse from someone she thought she could trust, someone she loved. Things come home to roost by the end of the novel, there is a Big Mis between Samson and Rhi, so the hand of romance’s Achilles’ heel rears its ugly “head”? (Let’s face it, heels aren’t the most attractive of bits.) But there is a mild HEA, with requisite cool-not-PIV-sex and cutesy avowals of lurve.

This is definitely a romance that many romance readers will enjoy and applaud. I found the Samson-Rhi romance lacklustre and sporadic. It felt like there were so many other things important to Rai, the “ghosting,” the CTE issues in football, which become central to Samson’s story, Rhi’s asshole former BF and what he did to her ability to love and trust (which also has roots in her schooling). While I admit to some liking for Samson, I found Rhi difficult, not because she was prickly and weird and had a penchant for wearing hoodies (which I admit I have an unreasonable dislike of), but because Rai took so long to let us know what made her tick. I did sympathize with Rhi … by the end, but the revelations came so late that I’d already invested in a long novel (it felt long to me) without much reader-payback. I don’t regret reading Swipe, but I won’t be following the series. With Miss Austen, we say Rai’s The Right Swipe is “almost pretty,” Northanger Abbey.

Alisha Rai’s The Right Swipe is published by Avon Books. It was released August 2nd and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-ARC of The Right Swipe from Avon Books, via Netgalley.

Super cute romance! I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read but was culturally relevant. Definitely will be reading Alisha Rai's next book!

I loved this book so much from the very beginning! I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a profoundly interesting and steamy romance. 5/5 stars!

Ah! Sorry I’m a day late with Romance Monday this week! I finished moving over the weekend and it took away nearly all of my reading time. But don’t worry, I’m here with the latest romance that I’ve been reading, and it is just delightful.

By way of introduction, I read the first two books in Alisha Rai’s Forbidden Hearts trilogy and LOVED them. (For some reason I got busy and never finished the trilogy, so that’s going to be added to my list, for sure.) So I went into this book knowing I’d love the writing and the story ahead of time, because she’s so great at creating fictional worlds inside the real world. And I was NOT disappointed.

In The Right Swipe, Rhiannon Hunter is the founder and CEO of a dating app called Crush – I would say it’s comparable to Bumble in the real world. She’s pithy and sassy and what I always hope for in a romance heroine (in case you haven’t already picked up on that theme), and on top of that – did i mention she’s the CEO? That she developed the app? That she… also uses the app? *wink* And now she’s out to purchase Matchmaker to add to her dating app empire.

Three months earlier, she met up with a man named Samson who matched with her on her own app, a man who made her big promises about not being just a one night stand… only to stand her up when they were going to meet again. Rhiannon was hurt and angry about it, but she moved on, because what else is she supposed to do? She’s got a business to run. Until she’s at a conference, seeking out Matchmaker’s elusive CEO, and she realizes that they have a new spokesman who is trying to bring Matchmaker into the modern era of dating apps. Who is this new spokesman? None other than former professional football player Samson Lima.

Yes. The same Samson who stood her up three months earlier. And he wants her back, even though he’s working for one of her rivals.

the right swipe

3 Things I Loved
Rhiannon. Obviously! She’s smart and fun and a heroine I can get behind. I also just really love how Alisha Rai writes her heroines – even if I don’t like them in previous books in the series, I’ve always liked them in their own stories. But I liked Rhiannon from page one, when she lies her way into a party hosted by Matchmaker that she 100% isn’t supposed to be at. Bam! I was on board.
Samson. I don’t want to give away too much here, but Samson has some struggles in his life and they come out as the story goes on and we learn both of their backstories. And it made me love him more and more as the story progressed, and I always like that when I’m ready a tropey book.
The fictional dating app scene. You guys, the fictional (but clearly based on real life) dating app scene is so fun. What a cool world to set some romance novels in! I can’t wait for the next one!
Dislikes/Problematic Content
This book was super diverse, and I really loved that. Alisha Rai is pretty great about it general, but this one was especially fun – Rhiannon is black and Samson is Samoan, and a lot of the side characters are also people of color, but also just people. Normal people you’d see everyday. That’s what I love about it the most.

One trigger warning for you – there’s some talk of sexual assault in a #MeToo sense, so if that might be triggering for you, take care of yourself. The book is fun, but always take care of yourself.

Rating
A reminder of the rating scale:

Red = DNF, I hated everything
Orange = Ugh, no thank you
Yellow = I mean, I’ve read worse, but there were problems
Green = This was good!
Blue = Oh my gosh, I loved this book!
Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart and EVERYONE should be reading it!
I’ve read some reviews of this book that were very not good, and I’m genuinely confused. I enjoyed every page, and I honestly wished I could read faster so that I could devour the book more thoroughly. So I’m going to go with my gut on this one – it was a great book, but I did love her Forbidden Hearts series more. With that, I’m going to give The Right Swipe a GREENISH-BLUE rating. So good!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please keep them coming, because I’m loving them!

Happy reading!

I have loved Alisha Rai's books to date and this was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer. I was SO excited to get a copy through NetGalley. Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. A lot of things I like about Rai's previous books weren't present here: snappy chemistry between characters, forbidden romance, etc. I felt more like I was being told by the characters that there was chemistry than observing it in dialogue and actions. Maybe that was in part because I felt like Rhiannon held on to her anger (at being ghosted by Samson) longer than was logical for someone we're told is so logical and strong. I wanted to love the book -- especially because it seamlessly integrated a lot of current issues like CTE, Me Too, and diversity and women in technology (and romance!) -- but, honestly, I had to force myself to finish. A Rai first for me.

I was given a free copy of this book by #Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Competing dating services all vie for a chance to merge with the oldest dating service on the market. Rhiannon thinks she has a good shot at completing the business deal merging her company with the other, but she gets a surprise when she sees a guy who ghosted her is the spokesman for the competitor. Can Rhi get over her anger to complete the deal? And is that the only deal she'll complete? Fun read.

This book was on my most anticipated of 2019 list because it ticks the boxes of what I look for in the Romance section - a modern day plot with a cast of diverse characters. We've been seeing a lot more of it which is what brought me around to a genre I didn't pay much attention to as I thought it couldn't offer what I was looking for.

Alisha Rai has written a lot of novels that fall into this category however this is the first time I have read one of her books. While the plot was cute and the characters were very diverse, it was just missing something for me. I didn't dislike the book however there didn't seem to be that special something that pulled me along through the book. Unfortunately the read just ended up being average for me.

Because Ms. Rai has written so many books in the genre, I'm not sure if I just started with the wrong one of all her novels. I imagine there are so many people who would disagree with me on my feelings about this book.

This was my first Alisha Rai book (I know, I know, I'm so far behind!!!!) but will definitely not be my last. I love how the author weaves such a modern and contemporary spin to the dating game, which let's face it, is not always so fun!

Rhiannon is my kind of woman....strong, driven, takes no prisoners. And to see her heart softened by big ol' Samson made me smile. I love .a second chances romance and paired with a "it's JUST sex" angle that turns to, of course, a love connection, made me squeal with delight.

Loved it!

Really enjoyed this modern romance story with wit and humor. I especially liked how it brought up and handled relevant issues of CTE and the #metoo movement. This story made me laugh and really root for the characters

Thank you NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. It was such a great read and finished it in one sitting. The characters chemistry was perfect. I would recommend this book.

Before beginning I want to give a trigger warning for representation of an abusive relationship in here, which is mentioned throughout the novel multiple times.

I love Alisha Rai, and I love her most recent release. This book hooked me from the start, with what is probably one of the best first lines in a book (not telling you what it is, that way you can pick up the book and find out on your own). I didn't know too much about this book going in besides the fact that it was about a dating app creator (who made a cameo in the Forbidden Hearts series). I loved getting to know Rhiannon more, and see what it was like for her to be a female in a male dominated field.

"Working for other employers, she'd always had to be on guard against displaying her femininity for fear they would think she wasn't tough."

Like the rest of Rai's books, once I started The Right Swipe, I couldn't put it down until I was done. After a few chapters I was totally engrossed and obsessed with the story and the characters. Not only was Rhiannon a tough executive and creator and so great to read about, but Samson was so sweet and the perfect love interest. Both characters have a lot going on in their lives, but being with each other brings out the best in them, and gives them a safe space to be themselves and be vulnerable.

"He didn't want to go on another date with another woman from Matchmaker. He wanted to see Rhi. In bed, in her car, on a rooftop. She was his Green Eggs and Ham, he'd take her anywhere."

Not only was the romance fun (which I wish there was more of), I love that there was so much discussion on CTE and the #metoo movement. Samson is an ex pro football player who quit because of the dangers of CTE and because of family members who died from the disease. Throughout the book Samson struggles with the deaths of family members, and wanting to bring more attention to the disease. Rhiannon experienced being blacklisted in the technology community because of a former male employer. Throughout the novel she struggles with being vulnerable because of what happened to her in the past. We are also able to see what Rhiannon struggles with being around people who've heard rumors about her and judge her.

Overall Alisha Rai's newest release is an easy to read novel with so much meaning throughout. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series! There was so much in this book, and I highly recommend it.

If you've read The Right Swipe, what did you think of it?

ARC courtesy of Netgalley

Rai shifts from erotic romance to straight-out contemporary with this story of an app developer with a chip on her shoulder and the man who hopes for a second chance to make a better second impression. Thirty-seven-year-old Rhiannon Hunter, an African-American entrepreneur, is looking to expand her dating app company by negotiating the purchase of a competitor. But her business plan becomes more complicated when the new spokesman for her target company turns out to be the hunky guy with whom she last hooked-up—and who later ghosted her.

The feminist underpinnings of Rai's romance are clear:

"The funny thing was, Rhiannon could be sweet and kind, and she was loyal to the death, if she loved a person. But no one would have ever described her as sweet, kind, and loyal. Because the world had decided long ago what a sweet, kind, and loyal woman looked like, and it wasn't her.... When she'd found herself heartbroken and alone four years ago, she'd made a promise to create an alternate universe for herself. One in which she didn't spend hours and days and weeks and months losing time mourning people who who treated her poorly. In the other universe, with her time reclaimed, she owned the world."

I loved reading about an African-American woman who had made it in the computer app world, especially one who had overcome sexism in her past work life. I did wish, though, that Rai had showed us, rather than just told us, about Rhiannon's kind and sweet side. She's so tough and closed off, even to the reader, it make it difficult to feel strongly for her or to relate.

I wasn't as charmed as some reviewers were with the story's depictions of app-dating life (having not experienced it personally myself), although young readers with whom I've talked about the book say that those depictions are hilariously dead-on accurate. Rai depicts the impact of the NFL's attitude towards CTE on one former football player and his family with skill and care, too.

The big disappointment here: the love story fell surprisingly flat. Rai's previous books have been emotional roller coaster rides, with strong chemistry between all protagonists and lots of feels for the reader. Not so much in this one. Rhi's continued bad feelings towards Samson, even after she discovers the very excusable reason for his ghosting her, made it difficult for me as a reader to like or relate to her, or to buy into the idea that her feelings for Samson are changing. Samson's repeated observation that Rhi is "tough and blunt" but also "super adorable" was a bit more convincing, but still, not as emotionally moving as I'm used to from Rai's previous books.

I'm a huge fan of Alisha Rai. But while I did enjoy The Right Swipe, it's easily my least favorite title to date and there were some things about it that bothered me. Some of these things I picked up on while reading, and later saw a fellow reader talk about (JenReadsRomance on Goodreads). Other things were like a niggle in the back of my mind but I didn't really grasp why until I read a review from an author I follow (Katrina Jackson, also on Goodreads). I would seriously point to both of those reviews to both sum up my feelings on the book (Jen's review) and the problematic things that I didn't fully understand while reading (Katrina's review).


Those things aside though, the sex scenes were hot, there were some cute moments between the couple, and Samson is a great cinnamon roll type hero. The Right Swipe is still a good read, IMO, but it's not what I would give to a Rai virgin, you know?

This was a great book with a strong female heroine, I think it might make a great rom-com movie. It covered a lot of issues (online dating, ghosting, CTE in pro football,) without preaching about them.

Rhiannon Hunter runs a company and created an online dating app and wants to buy a rival company. She had a rare online dating fiasco and finds that the representative for the company she wants to buy is none other than the guy who ghosted her after an amazing weekend together.

I really like the book a lot even though sometimes Rhiannon's character frustrated me with her lack of compromise.

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rhiannon is a powerful woman in the tech industry running a successful dating app. She has a plan to buy a competitor dating site but is thrown off balance when she finds out the company’s new spokesperson and a minority shareholder is the hot hook-up she had a few months earlier and then never saw again, Samson Lima. Rhiannon and Samson are powerfully attracted to each and soon find that they also like each other but both have their “issues” from prior heartbreaks, betrayals and losses.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE BOOK: it was well-written and had likeable well-developed characters, both primary and secondary. The plot was quirky and fun.
WHAT I DIDN’t LIKE ABOUT THE BOOK: it felt a lot like this was a book with a mission. It read like an ideological instruction manual on how to have a “modern” romance giving detailed accounts of asking for consent to hold hands and when it’s appropriate to send a nude selfie to a lover. Moreover, the plot used the trope that the way best way for these heartbroken people to avoid future heartbreak was to have a sex-only relationship. This completely ignores the fact that anytime we let someone touch our bodies we expose our hearts to them as well.
I believe the author meant to tell a story that gave good advice on how to have a healthy relationship but unfortunately part of her advice just felt wrong. Plus, when a romance novel becomes preachy instead of dreamy it just isn’t much fun to read.

This was a cute book - about an app developer who hooks up with a guy who then ghosts her. Of course their paths cross again and they're stuck working together, both working for rival matchmaking apps. The woman - Rhi - wants to buy the other app, which is owned by a close family friend of the guy. Should she trust Samson again or just use him to close the deal? There were some interesting parts and cute parts of the book. Some of the backstory may be a little heavy for some and for me there wasn't enough romance but overall a good story. It held my interest and I enjoyed it, and I'm glad to see some minorities represented in romance!