Love Beyond Reasonable Doubt: A Novel

by Swati Hegde

In this second-chance workplace romance, two lawyers find themselves working in the same office after a steamy vacation fling a year and a half ago, from the author of Can't Help Faking in Love

Naina Shetty is a proud workaholic, and she is gunning for a promotion at her law firm. No distractions will get in her way this time, not even the bad breakup that happened over a year ago. She brushed off her pain with a long vacation and a no-strings-attached fling with a handsome stranger, but now Naina is back to business.

Unlucky-in-love Tejas Rajput hasn’t stopped thinking about the brown-eyed beauty he met on the beaches of Goa two summers ago. He’d been looking for a rebound to get over his ex—which is why he’d agreed to keep things strictly casual, use fake last names, and respond to all personal questions with “wrong answers only.” But he didn’t think he’d fall for her, hard, only for her to get on a plane and leave.

When they cross paths again—this time working at the same office—Naina is adamant that her no-relationships policy won’t change, especially not for Tejas, whose disarming smile and easygoing charm could spell trouble. Her career will always come first.

But as they team up for a case that could make or break their firm’s reputation, they discover that there’s something more than just sparks between them—and it might turn out to be true love.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Adult

304 pages, Paperback

Expected publication May 12, 2026

About the author

Swati Hegde is the author of Can’t Help Faking in Love and Match Me If You Can. She is also a freelance editor, mindset coach, and self-proclaimed coffee shop enthusiast who lives in Bangalore, India, and can often be found at the nearest café with a hot mug of tea or singing her favorite songs off-key at karaoke night. She looks forward to a long career bringing Indian stories and voices to light.

Swati is represented by Rachel Beck at Liza Dawson Associates. Her romance novels Match Me If You Can and Can't Help Faking in Love are out now from Penguin Random House, with forthcoming books As Long As You Loathe Me releasing on March 31 and Love Beyond Reasonable Doubt slated for May 12.

Find her on Instagram @SwatiHegdeAuthor.

Reviews

[Mai H.]

Valentine's Day TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Dell

[charisse ♡]

preread: hehe i got the arc!!

[Anahita Karthik]

Yall Swati is so cool

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Naina is a junior associate at a law firm. She is shocked when her fling from last summer, Tejas, is hired at her firm. When they are paired up together on a tough case, old sparks flare back to life.

Things I liked: I liked having both POVs in both timelines, and I thought the “wrong answers only” thing was cute and original! I really enjoyed following along as they worked through their tough case. I kept trying to predict what had happened the night of the crime, and (as usual) I was way off! If there’s one thing I’m going to do, it’s completely miss all of the clues for a “whodunnit.”

Things I wasn’t so keen on: To me, the beginning of the book felt a little rushed. Instead of spending time introducing us to Naina and Tejas separately and building their characters as individuals, the book begins immediately with them crossing paths again. I would have felt more invested if I had already read a few chapters about both characters on their own (or even just one) and started to get a feel for them. It didn’t feel like there was enough of a buildup for their unexpected meeting to be meaningful to me. Also, I struggled a bit with the writing style. At times it felt like the characters were growing and developing, and then out of nowhere they would think things or say things to each other that seemed very immature.

Overall, I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. I think having the case included in the plot held my interest, and without it I would have struggled to get through the book on the dynamic between Naina and Tejas alone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC!

[inmyreadingera321 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like there was something missing from this book, though I don't know that I can quite put my finger on it. I think, to the best of my knowledge, that *thing* that felt lost was that, with the time jump between the "past" timeline and the "present" timeline, both characters underwent huge personality changes that never really felt addressed. This was particularly apparent to me with Naina's character -- I couldn't quite tell why she went from so wild and hopeful in Goa to hardened back in the present day. Her broken engagement didn't really feel like it was the cause of the change, and even though her time with Tejas was part of it, it didn't really explain it all that well. Similar with Tejas. I also think that there wasn't really enough "will they/won't they" in the present day, mostly because we knew that they both liked each other -- and they did too.

I think the most interesting part of the book, for me, was honestly the case that they were working on. While not the neatest-put-together mystery I've ever read, I was more intrigued to see what was happening on that front than between the two characters. There was a lot about this book that almost hit the mark, but overall for me it just wasn't quite there.

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Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

[Monica Beard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I both love the trope of awkwardly running into a hook-up AND I am a big legal thrillers girl, so this book was perfect. It's the story of Naina and Tejas, who meet on a "leave your worries behind" trip to Goa, exchange very little personal information and then end up as associates at a law firm in Goa, defending a woman for murder.

I happened to love the details of the Indian legal system (fun fact: India and Ireland both have non justiciable statement of rights in their Constitutions, so I read a good few Indian cases at university), so I enjoyed the feminist subplot of Naina and Tejas defending a woman who had suffered from a #MeToo backlash. I also loved how LGBT friendly the book was. Tejas is bisexual with a previous serious relationship with a man, which I appreciated in a book set in India, and there are a lot of great specific things about living in Bangalore - I love a book with cultural specificity.

This is for girls who love romance and Law and Order. Thanks to Ballantine for the early copy.

[twoey (rachel q.) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guys wake up! Swati Hegde has another Desi romance out! Except now she's an even stronger writer, breaking from form and giving us not just a cute, swoony second-chance romance, but also a gripping legal drama to go with it. She weaves these two genres seamlessly, and gives the reader a full course meal in their reading experience.

I'm not the biggest romance reader in the world, but I always pick up Swati's books because they are well-rounded novels. They come with the standard fare for romance- trope-focused, with characters you root for- but every now and then drop a profound observation about the human condition. This is a very classy romance novel, and kept me hooked. As long as Hegde puts out books, I will read them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Naina, a junior associate at a law firm, is stunned when her summer fling, Tejas, ends up working alongside her, and their tough case together brings old feelings back to the surface. I really enjoyed getting both of their POVs across the timelines and found the case itself the most interesting part—even if the mystery wasn’t perfectly put together. But overall, I struggled with the writing, the timeline jumps, and the large cast of characters. I also felt the story lacked character depth, especially with how dramatically Naina and Tejas seemed to change between the past and present without much explanation. With how things ended in Goa, I expected more slow-burn tension when they reunited, but the emotional build-up just wasn’t there for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC!

This was a nice read, I love a lawyer-focused book but by the end I found I just wanted it to be over. I do think the characters were good, but maybe I am just not a fan of an FMC who is so anti-love (in a romance book nonetheless!)

I did love the flashbacks every other chapter though! It was a fun!

[Shouty · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY FAVORITE PART WAS WHEN TEJAS WAS LIKE, ACTUALLY, YOU QUESTION THIS WITNESS, YOU'RE MORE INTIMIDATING THAN I AM -- HELL YEAH SHE IS!

[Kalie Holford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swati Hegde is one of my favourite authors, and I will read anything she writes! She never fails to deliver swoony, real, heartfelt love stories, and I am forever here for it. 💖

[Swati Hegde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi! I'm Swati, and I'm so excited to share Love Beyond Reasonable Doubt with the world! The idea for this book came to me very randomly on a trip to Goa a few years ago. My creative writer brain ran with it, wondering, “What’s the craziest thing that could happen to two heartbroken horny strangers who have a ‘wrong answers only’ summer fling?” And voila! Second-chance workplace romance, baby! It’s my first time writing this trope, and although I was a second-chance romance nonbeliever until very recently, I’m so grateful I gave it a shot, in more ways than one.

Honestly, I’ve never been the biggest fan of real-life second chance romances, although I love the trope in books. But in March 2025, someone I fell out of touch with years ago (due to certain romance novel-esque reasons) taught me that in the end, all you need for a second-chance relationship to work is timing, chemistry . . . and trust. Trust—not just in your partner, but also in yourself—to give all of yourself to the same person twice.

So, dear reader, I hope this book brings you joy and laughter and all the giddy feels, but more importantly, I hope it reminds you that taking a chance on yourself (and on your heart, even if it was once broken) is always the right decision. Trust me on that 💛

Love hard & dream big,
Swati