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The Right Swipe

(Modern Love #1)

Alisha Rai (Goodreads Author)

3.72 · Rating details · 5,439 ratings · 1,221 reviews

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 ...more

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Paperback, 387 pages

Published August 6th 2019 by Avon

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Aug 01, 2019 Alex ✰ Comets and Comments ✰ rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance, not-memorable, story-with-sports, contemporary-romance, standalone, second-chances, thin-line-between-love-and-hate, arc, enemies-to-lovers, new-adult

“Rhiannon Hunter worshipped at the altar of no man.”

description

The Right Swipe was my first time reading Alisha Rai; filled with promising tones of empowerment and feminism, it held so much potential. Unfortunately, this one was not for me and while I loved discovering more about online dating and the power that female emancipation can show through text; I failed to enjoy it for what it was primarily advertised as -romance.

description

_______________

Our Characters
I will always credit an author for creating a ...more

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Dec 18, 2018 Melanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, romance, dragons-and-tea, read-in-2019, own-voices, adult, arc

RTC <3

Content and Trigger Warnings:
Sexual harassment, cyber bullying and harassment, domestic verbal abuse
(From Saniya’s short but amazing review that I love!)

Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Youtube | Twitch

This was the August pick for the Dragons and Tea Book Club! ...more

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Aug 07, 2019 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it it was amazing

Don't you just love it when a book lives up to your expectations? THIS WAS SO GOOOOOOOD. If you're looking for a sexy and smart romance with a strong ass female lead, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. I loved it SO MUCH.

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Aug 29, 2019 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it it was ok

What’s the romance got to do, got to do with this book! What’s this heroin who hasn’t even second hand emotion! Who needs to read this book when it gives you only disappointment… TWO sulking, unsatisfied, B-list STARS are coming from red-haired lady!
( Special apologizes to legendary Tina Turner for the worst cover of her song)

This year I had terrible experiences with romance book, all my favorite writers shocked me with their haphazardly released non-creative stories with unlikable bunch of What’s the romance got to do, got to do with this book! What’s this heroin who hasn’t even second hand emotion! Who needs to read this book when it gives you only disappointment… TWO sulking, unsatisfied, B-list STARS are coming from red-haired lady!
( Special apologizes to legendary Tina Turner for the worst cover of her song)

This year I had terrible experiences with romance book, all my favorite writers shocked me with their haphazardly released non-creative stories with unlikable bunch of characters such as unwitty, doormat heroines, douchebag narcissistic heroes! So I put all my trust to the romcoms lately. I read really good examples such as Honeymooners, There’s something about Sweetie, Bride Test, Faker, Don’t you forget about me!

So as I took this book in my hands and I thought I could work with online dating, enemies to lovers, non-stop texting or sexting kind of elements. But lately I understood I couldn’t be so wrong.

FIRST ALARM BELL RANG:
Oh God! I HATE THIS BOOK’S CHARACTERS SOOO MUCH which gave me a real crazy idea!

I’m planning to be founder of “Worst Literary Characters Extermination Club” or “SLAP YOUR WORST CHARACTER CLUB” (you can pick alternative names like punch the heroine club or beat the shit out scumbag womanizer hero club.) to help the devoted readers not to waste their precious time to understand their motives, push themselves hard to connect with them and finally save them to get betrayed by the author’s lack of character developing abilities.

First rule of the club: Be free to talk about the club!
Second rule of the club: Be free to talk loudly about club! So all the authors will have second thoughts when they create their unlikable characters and they will hesitate to torture us! Hell yeah!

My services will start to pull the plug of the characters! I visualize to send hired killers to get rid of those unrealistic, obnoxious characters who pissed us off so badly so by getting rid of them by sending those to the literary hell to burn forever would be best favor I could do for the loyal, honest readers to save them from hurt feelings.
Rhiannon Hunter could be most detestable fictional character. In my opinion being ruthless shark, over competitive at the work side are not the definitions of feminism. This is definition of a woman who read “Atlas Shrugged” million times and turned herself into worst savage version of incarnated Ayn Rand. She acted like somebody stabbed a fork in her ass that she had no intention to take it off indeed she enjoyed her situation. She is so paranoid and accusing when it comes to form a relationship with a man.

Also the Samson is not a credible character. He is overly prefect, too good to be true! I didn’t want to buy the brain injury, concussion kind of baggage stories, too because lately it seemed like all the authors made a pact to use the same background traumatic story instead of finding another heart wrecking solution to help us empathize with the character.

There is no angst, no heartbreak, no edgy conversations, no deep sexual chemistry in this story. So I’m out for new romance-take out because I have craving but this book is LEFT ME HANGRY! ...more

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Jun 11, 2019 Heather K (dentist in my spare time) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-to-review-arc, romance, beta-heros-in-mf, sports, actor-celebrity, contemporary, poc-mc, m-f, hype-hype-hype, net-galley

I've been dying to read this book based on that cover and the blurb, which sounded so enticing, even to a contemporary romance-hater like me. However, though I really enjoyed some aspects of the book, other parts didn't quite work for me.

I love how Alisha Rai gives us diverse MCs and feminist, sex-positive main characters. That's really important to me, and Alisha Rai totally delivered on that front. I liked the plot and the trajectory of the story, even if I had some issues with the I've been dying to read this book based on that cover and the blurb, which sounded so enticing, even to a contemporary romance-hater like me. However, though I really enjoyed some aspects of the book, other parts didn't quite work for me.

I love how Alisha Rai gives us diverse MCs and feminist, sex-positive main characters. That's really important to me, and Alisha Rai totally delivered on that front. I liked the plot and the trajectory of the story, even if I had some issues with the personalities of the characters themselves.

I found a bit hard to relate to Rhiannon, who was tough as nails and felt really closed off, even to me as a reader. She was a bit of an overreactor, and though I really grew to understand her more the more I knew of her backstory, I found her to be exceedingly abrasive at times. In contrast, I felt like Samson was forced to be this overly perfect, forgiving character. I found him to be too perfect, without any flaws, and I didn't like that. I wanted some temper or some grit, and I felt like he had to be the way that he was to balance Rhiannon.

I also think this book wasn't very... well, romantic. I like my romance to give me that squishy feeling inside, and I certainly didn't feel that between the two MCs here.

I did love the plot, which was interesting because the characters weren't my favorite, but I liked the spotlight on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and how the football community tried to cover it up for many years. It was really eye-opening for me, as just a very casual sports watcher, and I liked Samson's involvement and that storyline with him and his former teammates.

I also enjoyed reading about the whole online dating scene and the ghosting and struggles of people wanting to hook up or find love in modern times. It was something I haven't really read about before in romance, and I liked it a lot.

I don't know, parts of the story worked for me and other parts didn't, but I left the story feeling minorly underwhelmed, which, to be fair, is common for me in contemporary romance. Not a total win, but not a total loss either.

goodreads|instagram|twitter|blog ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Whitney Atkinson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, smutty, made-me-cry, sent-from-pub, favorites, full-five-stars, favs-of-2019, healthy-romance, read-in-2019

I knew before I was even halfway into this book that it would be receiving five stars, and holy hell was I right. This book did not hold back any punches and it offered such a profound story about powerful women of color that also was so touching that I was weeping throughout the last 20% of this book.

My list of things I enjoyed about this book is vast compared to a nonexistent section of things I didn't enjoy. I'll try and write a brief (read: long) list of things I adored about this book.

The I knew before I was even halfway into this book that it would be receiving five stars, and holy hell was I right. This book did not hold back any punches and it offered such a profound story about powerful women of color that also was so touching that I was weeping throughout the last 20% of this book.

My list of things I enjoyed about this book is vast compared to a nonexistent section of things I didn't enjoy. I'll try and write a brief (read: long) list of things I adored about this book.

The representation. This book is primarily about people and women of color, so the main character is a dark-skinned black woman, her best friend and assistant is an Indian lesbian, her other best friend and roommate is a thai-american plus sized woman with agoraphobic anxiety (!!!!!! i need a book about her), the love interest is Samoan, the love interest's two best friends are black, one of whom is a stay-at-home father. That's not even mentioning other side characters. So yeah, this book rocked. The way women of color uplifted and supported each other in this book was also so touching and empowering.

This book dealt with such a diverse and unique array of subplots and handled them all spectacularly. Even the trope of the love interest being a sports player had valuable discussion about mental health and retirement. This book also tackles women of color being in positions of power and how others perceive that, as well as the trust issues Rhiannon experiences.

It's hard to get me to genuinely care about side characters, but even the side characters in this book had full character arcs and contributed meaningfully to the story in their own wholesome ways. I hope this book gets developed into a long, drawn-out spinoff series because I loved all the side characters.

The romance in this..... OOF!!!!! And I'm talking both the angst, the pacing of it, the consent, the steamy scenes..... everything was spectacular. this is SOOO healthy but is never boring or robotic because of it. the characters are still sexy as hell and have genuine and cute and funny interactions alongside maintaining healthy boundaries and communication. LOVED rhi and samson together!

The only complaint that I had during the first half of this book--that Rhiannon's bitter and rock hard side seemed a lot more developed than her soft side--definitely went away by the last half of the book. It was so touching to see women championing other women and to see Rhi's growth in learning to trust and speak out against injustice.

This is NOT a book to miss and I cannot smash the preorder button on Amazon hard enough. ...more

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Sep 07, 2019 Warda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed this so much!
A female character who’s closed off, broken but runs a fuckin’ empire.
A soft, male character who just gets it, and is too damn caring.
I loved the story line and seeing how the characters developed.

My favourite Alisha Rai book so far.

———————

Here’s to hoping this books provides me favs and I something entertaining and swoon-worthy. ...more

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Sep 30, 2019 Yun rated it it was ok

It's never good when my predominant feeling while reading a book is boredom. The Right Swipe should have been a fun, breezy modern-day romance, but instead it felt like slogging through 400 pages of molasses.

Almost from the first page, that spark of interest and excitement I should feel while reading a new book was missing. I thought if I kept going, it would eventually show up, but it never did. I think a large reason is that I just couldn't relate to the main female character, Rhiannon. She's ...more

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May 28, 2019 destiny ♡⚔♡ [howling libraries] rated it really liked it

Shelves: diverse-reads, 2019-reads, romance, adult, owned-digital

Rhiannon Hunter worshipped at the altar of no man.

Sometimes, ratings and reviews are hard, and this is one of those times, because this is probably one of the most “meh” 4-star reviews I’ve ever given a book. I can’t find any good reason to lower it to 3 stars because it objectively has so much good stuff going for it, but when I think back on it — having finished reading it several weeks ago now — it feels like the sort of book I’ll forget about pretty quickly.

Rhiannon’s a likeable heroine ...more

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Jul 29, 2019 preoccupiedbybooks rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019

Many thanks to Edelweiss and Avon for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I didn't hate this, but I didn't love it either...In fact I would probably have to swipe left

2.5 stars

This is a tricky one for me to review! I was so excited to read it, that I requested an ARC (and got my first ever one from Edelwiess!). The cover was so pretty, and the synopsis sounded so much fun! But I don't think the book really delivered what the synopsis said it would?

I loved the diversity in this book! ...more

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Aug 30, 2019 Katrina added it

I'm not going to bother rating this one. It doesn't matter. This is a perfectly fine romantic arc. The male main character is lovely: big and gentle. That's the kind of male character I love and Samson is absolutely wonderful. His entire arc and the world around him was great. He's the real reason I finished this story.

The problem though, is with Rhiannon, or more specifically the author's representation of Black women in this book. There is absolutely no reason why an African American woman I'm not going to bother rating this one. It doesn't matter. This is a perfectly fine romantic arc. The male main character is lovely: big and gentle. That's the kind of male character I love and Samson is absolutely wonderful. His entire arc and the world around him was great. He's the real reason I finished this story.

The problem though, is with Rhiannon, or more specifically the author's representation of Black women in this book. There is absolutely no reason why an African American woman should go through an entire book and have NOT ONE Black female friend. That's quite possibly the most unrealistic thing here. It's even more incomprehensible to have a Black woman in an industry where she is a minority and that is part of her storyline to not have a single Black woman in her orbit. Black women seek one another out when they are isolated. They mentor one another. They befriend one another. They try and protect one another. Rhiannon has none of that. Everyone surrounding her is either white or Asian. Every. Single. Person. For no reason. Samson has more Black people in his life than Rhiannon.

This then makes her relationship with her mother all the more frustrating. She spends the entire novel avoiding her mother. As someone said to me, this is a great device to make sure that she doesn't speak to the only other Black female character in the book. It is entirely possible for Black women to have fraught relationships with her mothers, but the dismissive tone that she uses when even thinking about her mother is completely disrespectful since her mother's greatest sin is that she was a single Black mother trying to raise her Black child to survive in a world that wanted to diminish her, and a mixed, white passing adopted son to feel loved in a world where he felt thrown away. That is her sin. And in return her daughter throws money at her but can't commit to calling her once a week and uses her assistant to avoid her. That's gross.

The book is attempting to present a Black female character who understands that the world will see her one way and that she must protect herself by closing herself off. This is common for Black women in any industry. The problem is Rhiannon doesn't have an interior self to differentiate from her outward self. She *is* closed off and harsh and at times emotionless. So the attempt to subvert the Angry Black Woman stereotype doesn't work, because that's how the author presents her. Whatever emotional vulnerabilty the author attempts to give Rhiannon doesn't work primarily because she doesn't allow herself to be emotionally vulnerable for 95% of the book.

The book spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince the reader that her employees and colleagues are her family. The found family trope is all well and good, but these are people she pays or to whom she is tied by money. Those can be real bonds, but who is going to push her to really think about her actions? In this book, nearly no one. And I'm consistently wary of non-Black authors writing the found family trope for Black characters because they ignore that Black people have cousins, play cousins, friends who are like sisters etc. (who are usually other Black people) to put them in a context where they are THE ONLY Black person. Why? Why does Rhiannon have to be the token Black person in her life? Why would she want to, if she went to schools where she was one of the only Black people around?

In fact, Samson's world is full of people, some who look like him, some who don't. There's a wonderful and careful discussion of grief and CTE. His characterization puts in relief how Rhiannon did not receive the same attention.

There's also another scene near the end that, for me, ruined the book. The way the book treats Sonya, Rhiannon's mother, is annoying but tolerable right up until the end. In a vulnerable moment where Rhiannon is telling her mother how a throw away piece of advice had harmed her, Sonya takes that in and is sad. And then her white passing son tells her "this isn't about you." How. Fucking. Cruel. Because it *is* about her. She raised these children into relatively healthy and successful adults and they spend the entire novel calling her annoying and saying she's guilt-tripping them. It's disgusting. She does't have to be a saint and they don't have to revere her, but they can show her compassion. And none of that is evident in this novel.

I really wanted to like this book, but I didn't. No matter how much I loved Samson, the shadow of the way Rhiannon and Sonya were written left a bad taste in my mouth. If authors want to write Black characters they would do well to write them with a critical eye to their work and having critical beta readers to help them do so. There's no evidence that that happened here. ...more

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May 28, 2019 Hollis rated it it was ok

Shelves: disappointing, family-focused, grief-or-loss, contemporary, not-a-bunch-of-twenty-somethings, finished-in-may-2019, hello-diversity, sexytimes, nope, 2019-reads

So I didn’t love this, which is obvious, and there’s a bunch of reasons for that but it’s mostly because I didn’t like the characters. Specifically, Rhiannon.

The plot opens up with our heroine fixated on the fact that she wants to buy up this eHarmony-esque dating site, one of the OG sites of its type, to expand her own app-based dating service. We see her drive, we see her reminisce about the one that got away, and who happens to be the new face of her competition’s marketing campaign? The one So I didn’t love this, which is obvious, and there’s a bunch of reasons for that but it’s mostly because I didn’t like the characters. Specifically, Rhiannon.

The plot opens up with our heroine fixated on the fact that she wants to buy up this eHarmony-esque dating site, one of the OG sites of its type, to expand her own app-based dating service. We see her drive, we see her reminisce about the one that got away, and who happens to be the new face of her competition’s marketing campaign? The one who got away. The one she almost threw her rules out the window for. And boy does she have a lot of rules.

The girl is.. rigid. Uncompromising. Unforgiving. Hard to forking love and, as a reader, hard to endure. I don’t want to be dismissive of the heroine’s very real trauma and trust issues but holy forking shit did she also make this a brutal read. She’s something of a shark when it comes to business, she’s successful, all that, all of which are positive things that loads of women get flak for, so it’s unfortunate I found this kind of character so frustrating, but she’s also problematic. She skirts very very close (and sometimes crosses the line) into outright manipulation of the hero — as well as relying on an emotional debt she feels she’s owed (and maybe sorta is but not in this particular context) — and it felt gross. She constantly doubted him, (falsely) accused him of this that or the other thing, was totally hypocritical.. and it was just hard. I am exhausted from it.

She’s not the only drawback THE RIGHT SWIPE, though. The hero, for all his goodness, didn’t do much for me. There’s a whole secondary plot line surrounding brain injuries and concussions (which makes for the second or third time I’m reading of this particular issue in sports-ish romances — not a complaint, just an observation) and a whole lot of baggage that Samson is carrying around but, back to my point, it didn’t do much for me. Which is rather how I feel about the story itself.

What didn’t frustrate or exhaust me just.. did nothing.

There were a few side characters that lightened some of the load of the plodding, and that helped a bit, but not enough. Infact, a certain eccentric aunt did the opposite of what I think she was supposed to do — which was charm the reader. Even she annoyed me. Or, maybe more to the point, I didn’t care and so, again, I was unmoved.

The writing made for an easy read but the plot, the people, the point? Nope. I have yet to determine if I’ll read on in this series. I think it hugely depends on which side character will get the spotlight and I’ll definitely have to pay closer attention to the plot. It’ll have to really draw me in for me to push on in this spinoff. I’ve loved Rai’s books in the past, in particular her Forbidden Hearts series had so much greatness, but this one just totally missed the mark for me.

1.5 stars

** I received an ARC from the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **

---

This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities. ...more

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Jul 19, 2019 Amy Risner rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-books, 2019-audiobooks, dragons-and-tea-2019

Book provided by Avon in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by Alisha Rai and wooooo boy, can she write romance! Don’t let this cute illustrated cover fool you. This book is packed full of racy and steamy scenes.

This book stars Rhiannon, a black woman who came from a poor family and has had to always work twice as hard to prove herself working in a male-dominated field (tech industry.) She is very career driven and smart. She also started her own dating app. While at a ...more

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Aug 24, 2019 Aoife - Bookish_Babbling rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2019

Edited to round this down to a 3* as after sleeping on my review I just didn't quite connect to these characters nor their romance in the way I did with KQ and RW&RB which I keep thinking about even now and still dip in to reread often...this book just didn't grab me like those did so my rating drops from 3.5*
However my love for the side characters & the themes tackled in the subplots 10/10 will continue the series and hopefully connect better with the next couples.

On with my OG review

...more

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Jul 31, 2019 megs_bookrack marked it as to-read

Shelves: modern-lit-to-read, 2019-releases

Will my library audiobook hold on this book come through in time to participate in the Dragons & Tea Book Club readalong in August??

It's a gamble but I'm rolling the dice!!!!

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Nov 05, 2018 WhiskeyintheJar/Kyraryker rated it really liked it

Shelves: sports, contemporary, series

3.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Rhiannon has been burned badly in the world of tech business, she decides her best revenge is to succeed. With the help of a friend, she starts her own dating app company, Crush, and wants to buy Matchmaker, one of the original online dating companies.

Samson ended his professional football career early in protest over how head injuries were being taken ...more

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May 23, 2019 Ⓐlleskelle - teamSøren♗ ⊲I like big b00ks⊳ rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemp, 2019, enemies-to-lovers, 02-coming-soon

In theory, the blurb for The Right Swipe was a treasure of romance book.
It had all the things I’m usually craving in my romance:
-Online dating
-One night stand
-Enemies to lovers
-Texting / emailing

Furthermore it’s delivered by an author I’ve had such a pleasure discovering through her previous series.
This book should have been a winner. Except it wasn’t. AT. ALL.

I was craving human emotions, angst, and all I got was a thesaurus for online dating terms.
I felt nothing for the characters.
Ok let me ...more

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Sep 07, 2019 ✨ A ✨ rated it really liked it

Shelves: four-stars, read-in-2019, buddy-read, contemporary, 2019-release, new-adult, adult

I really enjoyed this which is surprising since I usually dislike books related to sports and such. Thought the male mc was sweet and wholesome and we need more Samson's in NA.

____
Buddy read with a bestie!!!

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Aug 03, 2019 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: needs-review, office-romance

Alisha Rai has become quite the popular name in romance lately, so I have been dying to pick up a book of hers. There are so many romances out now about dating apps and websites, but I loved how this one was about someone who actually owned a dating app company. I couldn't wait to read it!

Ever since Rhiannon left her old job on bad terms, she is determined to succeed by starting her own dating app with her best friend. Now, Rhiannon's app is very successful and she's looking to buy a competing ...more

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Aug 14, 2019 Tatiana marked it as dnf · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, romancelandia

I've been trying and trying with these romcoms, but the problem is, these books are just not funny or fun. You've seen the best romantic comedies. Dialog is everything. You don't have snappy, fun, interesting dialog, you don't have a story.

This is the issue with The Right Swipe. This narrative is BORING! People are dull. They talk about dull, boring things. No amount of sex can make me continue reading something so charisma-less.

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Aug 12, 2019 Brooke — brooklynnnnereads rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: edelweiss

I feel like I'm having difficulty putting words to how I felt about this book because it wasn't a bad read but it also wasn't great. It felt like a generic read that may have been 'okay' at the time of reading but did not leave me with any lasting impression. It was a book that will be forgotten in the midst of similar stories being told within the same genre.

First and most importantly (to me), the romance felt a little bland, a little plain. Yes, there were romantic scenes that some would I feel like I'm having difficulty putting words to how I felt about this book because it wasn't a bad read but it also wasn't great. It felt like a generic read that may have been 'okay' at the time of reading but did not leave me with any lasting impression. It was a book that will be forgotten in the midst of similar stories being told within the same genre.

First and most importantly (to me), the romance felt a little bland, a little plain. Yes, there were romantic scenes that some would enjoy, but the chemistry between the couple felt mostly physical without more than that. Again, some readers enjoy purely physical chemistry in their romance novels, however; I believe this story was attempting to create an emotional connection between the two characters but failed.

Also contributing to my overall feelings of mediocrity towards this novel, was that I didn't really enjoy either of the main characters, especially the main character of Rhi. I understand part of her personality was her inability to be vulnerable, but I also felt for Samson. There were moments that I thought, 'Man, get out of there. She is not worth this trouble'.

More than the above factors, there was a scene towards the end of the novel that left me feeling quite uncomfortable. I'm actually interested to read/hear if others felt this way as well. Without spoiling the story too much, there was a scene nearing the end of the novel where a much needed conversation needed to take place--in fact Samson even mentioned that they needed to talk (briefly but he still mentioned it). This conversation was halted by Rhi and delayed because she "needed" a different interaction more. For some reason, this scene made me cringe and caused the head to tilt. I typically like stories where the couples "kiss and make up" but this felt different to me, especially when there is a character stating that they need to talk but he then puts aside his own (healthier) need for Rhi's. Again, I'm interested to hear if others had a similar reaction, let me know.

Overall, it was an okay read but nothing beyond what one could expect. In fact, the aspects I appreciated/enjoyed the most in the story was not the main romance. I really appreciated the involvement of CTE in the story because it's such an important thing. Even though there have been changes with the knowledge of CTE, there is still a lot of movement to be made. Also, I really enjoyed Katrina's character and am hoping that there will be a novel from her perspective.

I will read more from this author in the future but in regards to this specific novel, it was more of a dud than a success for me.

***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*** ...more

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Sep 24, 2019 may ❀ rated it it was ok

Shelves: 300-pgs, asian-authors, bye, meh, standalones, contemporary, marshmallow-fluff, yawn

book #3 completed! for the contemporary-a-thon under the challenge of: "read a diverse contemporary"

this book was so strange, i seriously loved how it started off, give me the cold hearted, closed-off successful business woman and the soft, sweet, successful football player and put them in a relationship yesssss

but as the book progressed (im talking like,,,,,,,by chapter 4) it felt like they were both losing their personality and just becoming shadows of themselves. rhiannon is really focused ...more

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Feb 07, 2019 Christie«SHBBblogger» rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: august2019, advanced-copy, not-a-fan-of-her, snarky-heroine, part-of-a-series

Title: The Right Swipe
Series: Modern Love #1
Author: Alisha Rai
Release date: August 6, 2019
Cliffhanger: No
Genre: romance

I wanted to love this book. No one can say that I didn't give it every opportunity to swing me away from apathy or frustration. I probably should have just accepted defeat, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt until the very end. Probably the biggest red mark against The Right Swipe for me is the heroine. She isn't the easiest to warm up to in the beginning, but I can't say I ...more

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May 16, 2019 Kate ☀️ Olson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance-only, advanced-reader-copies, aoc

(free review copy) I had such high hopes for this one and they were MET Steamy and modern and including many relevant current topics, Rai pivoted from her latest series, Forbidden Hearts, and created a whole new fabulous world. I don't want to say too much because this is such an early review, but here are a few things to know:

1) Tech + CTE in pro football
2) STEAMY but not at all erotica
3) so much diversity in characters
4) consent, consent consent + #MeToo
5) some long-time Rai fans have ...more

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Aug 24, 2019 Rachel Reads Ravenously added it

Shelves: new-to-me-author-in-2019, paperback, did-not-finish, library-checkout, romance

DNF 190 pages in

Nothing specific, I was just bored and didn't care what would happen.

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Jun 29, 2019 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewcopy, read2019, netgalley, romance, ebooks

This isn't out until August so I kind of jumped the gun but I needed a quick romance read in my life! And a new series from Alisha Rai, no less. Like all Rai's works this has diverse characters that show how romance can deal with consent and trauma and still be steamy. It asks if there is space for a second chance in a swipe left culture, and also tackles #metoo plus CTE in professional football players. Very enjoyable!

And for the fans, these are tangentially connected to the characters in the ...more

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Jul 31, 2019 Lisa (Remarkablylisa) rated it it was ok

Shelves: top-30-romances-2019, july-2019

After this book, I have decided to forgo any future books based on dating apps because I have been on too many and lived that life without needing to read books about it. It's not something I need and it's an idea I do not find interesting nor cute.

I have many thoughts (also no thoughts) on my poor rating for this book besides the fact that this book did not connect with me. AT. ALL. From the idea of the book to the main character being strong and overwhelming and frustrating and stubborn. But ...more

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Aug 30, 2019 Geri Reads rated it it was ok

This is one of my most disappointing reads this year. And I had such high hopes since I had enjoyed Alisha Rai's books in the past.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed aspects of it. One, Samson is a fantastic hero. He's well developed and definitely one of the bright spots in this book for me.

I also like to point out that the way CTE was written and discussed was great. So why only 2 stars?

Well, the biggest reason for that was Rhiannon and the way her character was written. And I feel bad for writing ...more

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Jul 30, 2019 Lacey (Booklovers For Life) rated it really liked it

Shelves: review-copy, contemporary-romance, adult, sports-related, tbr-2019, arc, rich-heroine

Alisha Rai is a wonderful contemporary romance author. I love her love stories and her diverse characters. Her Forbidden Hearts series is FANTASTIC. So I had high hopes going into The Right Swipe and I wasn't disappointed! I enjoyed this one SO much. It's very steamy and the dating-app rivalry aspect was fun. It has its fluffy moments, but there are also so many good meaningful, emotional moments that made this book a well-rounded read.

The series is called Modern Love, which I think fits Alisha Rai is a wonderful contemporary romance author. I love her love stories and her diverse characters. Her Forbidden Hearts series is FANTASTIC. So I had high hopes going into The Right Swipe and I wasn't disappointed! I enjoyed this one SO much. It's very steamy and the dating-app rivalry aspect was fun. It has its fluffy moments, but there are also so many good meaningful, emotional moments that made this book a well-rounded read.

The series is called Modern Love, which I think fits perfectly. The Right Swipe is all about feminism, technology, dating apps, and the whole culture and lingo that comes along with it. Rhiannon is the CEO and founder of one of the most popular dating apps, though she herself is cynical in love. The last time she used her app Crush, there was a possibility of something more, except he ghosted her after their first meeting. That is, until he shows up all big and gorgeous as the new spokesperson for her rival company's new campaign, a company she wants to buy.

I adored Samson, who is the sweetest, most respectful hero ever. He had a good reason for ghosting but he's determined this second time around to win back Rhiannon's trust and work his way into her heart. Rhiannon is a ball-buster CEO, but she's also flawed and quick to make snap judgments. She's not the easiest heroine to love in the beginning, but the more I read her, the more I understood and felt for her. She's an empowering heroine I admired so much.

There are some great discussions about assault in the workplace as well as CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) with Samson's family history of football. These topics as well as Rhiannon's goal of buying her rival company almost overshadows the romance, but I didn't even care, because they're so well-written and relevant in real life. Alisha Rai did an amazing job at writing such a complex, multilayered story.

I'm SO ready for the next Modern Love book, which is about Rhiannon's best friend. I'm highly invested in all of these characters and I can't wait to see how they'll turn out! Oh, and if you loved Forbidden Hearts, you get to see some lovely cameos at the end of The Right Swipe! ...more

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Jun 05, 2019 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019

*ARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

Repeat after me: Alisha Rai writes excellent new-adult romance and deserves all the love and hype.

I'm not kidding! This was a fabulous introduction to a new series and consider me officially hooked. Not only are we getting an ensemble of new, intriguing characters, there are also mentions of some old favourites from "Forbidden Hearts" series (heroine, Rhiannon, is sister to Gabe from "Hurts to Love You" and has ties to the ...more

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