The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai Series: Modern Love #1
Series Rating:
Published by Avon on August 6, 2019
Pages: 387
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
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Alisha Rai returns with the first book in her sizzling new Modern Love series, in which two rival dating app creators find themselves at odds in the boardroom but in sync in the bedroom.
Rhiannon Hunter may have revolutionized romance in the digital world, but in real life she only swipes right on her career—and the occasional hookup. The cynical dating app creator controls her love life with a few key rules:
- Nude pics are by invitation only
- If someone stands you up, block them with extreme prejudice
- Protect your heart
Only there aren't any rules to govern her attraction to her newest match, former pro-football player Samson Lima. The sexy and seemingly sweet hunk woos her one magical night... and disappears.
Rhi thought she'd buried her hurt over Samson ghosting her, until he suddenly surfaces months later, still big, still beautiful—and in league with a business rival. He says he won't fumble their second chance, but she's wary. A temporary physical partnership is one thing, but a merger of hearts? Surely that’s too high a risk…
Alisha Rai continues her streak of writing books that I love and devour in no more than 2 sittings.
Rhiannon is the founder/CEO of a dating app called Crush (basically Bumble). She used to be in the marketing department at a similar app called Swype (Tinder), but a toxic relationship, combined with a bitter ex and a whisper campaign about her meant that she was forced out. She would have been completely shut out of the entire industry if not for her silent investor, Katrina, who gave her the means to start Crush.
There’s a 3rd app called Matchmaker, which is a more old-fashioned app. I think it’s more like our match.com rather than Tinder or Bumble. Matchmaker has been around for decades, and it started as a website with a 100-point questionnaire to match their members, but has recently added an app. Rhiannon wants to buy Matchmaker. Imagine her surprise when her one-time lover, Samson Lima, shows up as part of the Matchmaker team. He was going to be a two-time lover, but he ghosted her, and Rhiannon has a one-and-done philosophy when it comes to dating.
Samson has never forgotten the night he spent with Rhiannon. He did ghost her, but he has his reasons, and he never got the chance to explain it to her. He’s thrilled when she shows up at the Matchmaker event, and to finally have the chance to talk to her about all of it.
I loved this. I really liked Rhiannon – she refused to take any shit from anyone, she had her own way of doing things, and didn’t need to explain or apologize to anyone for any of it. Ghosting is an automatic no-go for her; she’s not interested in hearing Samson’s reasons for it.
I loved this book! The representation of app-based dating was spot on, and as usual with Alisha Rai, the messaging was full-on and not subtle. She took on not only gender equality in the corporate world, but also the current issue of CTE in the sports world with equal gusto. I really liked that piece of it. As a lifelong American football fan, I’ve really struggled over the last several years with the knowledge of just how much damage is being done to these men, and the lengths the NFL has gone to in order to deny it and actively work against any research or compensation for their players. (I also have a lot of issues with the social issues with the NFL, but that would be a review of a different book).
Rhiannon was so driven, and professional – I have such a crush on her. I really liked her a lot more than I liked Samson. He was a little too perfect. Rihannon had a lot of trust issues stemming from the toxic ex, who she worked with a Swype, and she has such a huge wall built up around herself because of it. Samson not only understood that, but was perfectly understanding, perfectly tolerant of her issues, and never had a single cross thought about any of it. His perfection was a little much. Everyone has flaws, but I legitimately can’t think of single one of Samson’s. Even his reason for ghosting Rhiannon after their first night together showed how perfect of a person he was.
Get this book. It’s so good. It’s getting colder – curl up for a weekend with this one and just get lost in the story.
About Alisha Rai
Alisha Rai has been enthralled with romance novels since she smuggled her first tattered Harlequin home from the library at the age of thirteen. A mild-mannered professional problem-solver by day, she pens sexy, emotional contemporaries and paranormals by night.
When she’s not reading or working, Alisha loves to hang out with her close-knit family. She happily lives in a chaotic house filled with clutter, laughter, good food, boisterous kids, and very loud relatives.
