Publisher: Avon

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

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…

The Right Swipe was easily one of my most anticipated romances of the year and yet general existential issues meant I didn’t get around to it before it was released or even immediately after. Alisha Rai became an auto-read author for me after I fell head-over-heels for the Forbidden Hearts series. The Right Swipe is definitely a departure from the general vibe of those books and if you come into this expecting angst and drama and lots of emotions, you won’t get it. What this book is is a light-hearted, incredibly thoughtful rom com. It may seem like a 180 from what I am used to from Alisha Rai but it also seems very quintessentially her. 

Rhiannon Hunter is at the top of her game. She revolutionized the dating world and yet still doesn’t feel like she has truly succeeded. She is always looking for new ways to further her success and become more grounded in this field. What she doesn’t expect is to have to face the man that stood her up after they connected, at a professional conference, while he is working for her rival. 

Samson has had a rough year. More like a rough couple of years. After his uncle passes away, he doesn’t really have much direction. When his aunt presents him with the opportunity to be the face of her company and help with a campaign, he is all on board. He doesn’t expect to run into the girl he unintentionally stood up several months ago, and she is the head of his aunt’s rival company.

While the romance in The Right Swipe is a very slow simmer, the MCs become friendly pretty quickly and it’s so great watching them learn to get to know each other better. There is a lot of external conflict in this book but not so much conflict within their relationship, even if it did get off to a shaky start. Even with Rhi’s truckload of trust issues, Samson manages to find his way into her inner circle and figure out how to be a good friend/partner to her.

Rhi may be a little rough around the edges but I genuinely just clicked with her. Sometimes her issues became frustrating but the way Rai unpacked and handled them made me really feel for Rhi. EVEN WHEN SHE WAS HER own worst enemy. 

Samson, and I don’t say this lightly, was perfect. And sometimes perfection might be too much for other readers but he was perfect. He is kind, understanding, thoughtful and aware that even though Rhi was imperfect and it occasionally interfered with their relationship, she couldn’t always help her reactions given her history. This all makes Samson sound very one-dimensional but Rai still managed to make him a nuanced character. Rhi didn’t completely overshadow him in the character development department.

The Right Swipe, while marketed as a romance, is not necessarily as romance driven as I expected but the character development *chef’s kiss* made it absolutely worth the read for me. I cannot wait to read Katrina’s story and anything else Rai will write.

4 Hot Espressos