“The Right Swipe is everything you want in a Summer read: fun, clever, and so, so sexy.” — Popsugar
Alisha Rai returns with a sizzling new novel, 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 … 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…
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Alisha Rai delivers compelling emotion, fascinating characters and edgy romance in a razor-sharp, thoroughly modern voice that readers will adore. I sure did!
I loved everything about The Right Swipe, it’s one of those romances you want to stop everything and read but also don’t want to end, plus it’s an outwardly feminist romance that also explores issues around women in the workplace, sexual harassment, and empowerment/support, as well as the issue of football player safety and concussions. Those issues are woven seamlessly into the book and are part of the plot, and never overshadow the characters Rai made me care about from the very start.
The tension between Rhiannon and Samson is palpable throughout the book, and the sex scenes are totally hot, with plenty of focus on Rhi’s oral pleasure and Samson’s clear delight in it. But Alisha Rai also writes so movingly about sexual harassment and shows how even as tough and proud as Rhi wants to be, she’s been affected by her past relationship with her boss who then turned on her, and this in turns affects how she behaves toward Samson. There are also delightful side characters like Samson’s “aunt” Annabelle, one of the most charming eccentrics I’ve read, yet also a total smart cookie, and Rhi’s roommate Katrina, who is agoraphobic but is slowly branching out into public places, and if you’ve read her Forbidden Hearts series, some familiar ones (though you don’t have to have read them).
There’s so much to savor here, including lots of dating tips (Samson’s bumbling of his dates is hilarious to read about, but would not be if you were on one of those dates with him), Rhi’s delightful collection of hoodies that she wears pretty much everywhere, to one of my favorite things, the way she wants Samson to hold her, and how he listens closely to what she wants, about big things and small things, and honors them. I highly recommend this and even though I was already an Alisha Rai fan, The Right Swipe took my love of her books to a new level. Can’t wait for Girl Gone Viral, which is about Katrina and also sounds like it has a juicy plot.
I absolutely loved it… volcano-hot sex and cackle-worthy dialogue… I highly recommend this!
It took me a few chapters to sink into it (which could’ve been more my mood than the book) but by the end I loved this as much or more than the other two books in the series. Fell in love with both MC’s and most of the side characters along the way!
I absolutely loved this book. Rhiannon knows what she wants and she’s not afraid to go after it–or draw her line in the sand. She’s prickly and vulnerable by turns, and I loved her with all my heart. And Samson? I wanted to give him a big old hug through most of the book. Talk about a cinnamon roll hero!
Pick up this book if you want excellent lady friendships, real-world topics that are handled thoughtfully and sensitively, and a romance that has me giving the whole story big heart-eyes. Definitely will be rereading this one!
A wonderfully smart, deep, and fun romance with my favorite kind of hero—a very sexy beta. I always love Alisha Rai’s books, and this was no different. I can’t wait for the rest in the series!
The Right Swipe takes the well-worn trope of ‘second chance love’ and puts it into the very modern arena of dating apps. It’s a fantastic story that deftly deals with issues of misogyny and gender inequality, whilst also giving us a real man of a hero to swoon over.
Rhiannon works for ‘Swype’, an online dating app, as an executive but gets into a relationship with the abusive and controlling CEO. When she finishes their relationship he hounds her out and makes sure everyone knows not to hire her. Thanks to investment from a friend, she sets up ‘Crush’, a female-focused dating app and vows never to let herself be open to another man again. Feelings, trust and relationships are for other people. When she needs sex, she uses her own app for a hook-up with clear boundaries.
But when she meets and sleeps with ex-American football star Samson Lima, their connection is so intense she breaks her rule and agrees to meet him the next day. Only Samson doesn’t show. Months later she’s on the hunt to buy out ‘Matchmaker’, the oldest dating agency in the market, only to discover Samson’s their new representative and desperate to explain to her what happened all those months ago.
Samson’s got his own shit going on, with a chequered history involving the NFL, traumatic brain injuries and his family. He’s struggling to cope with life after football and the death of his beloved uncle and father. The one thing he’s certain of, however, is how he feels about Rhiannon. If only he could break down the walls she’s built around herself.
Rhiannon is a fantastic character. She is clever, hard-working and hides her big, soft heart under a bolshy exterior. I was rooting for her to get over her own insecurities and learn to love and trust Samson, who’s every girl’s dream. Not only does their love prevail, but the other story threads are tied together satisfactorily to give a wonderful book great depth.
Audiobook Review
I have once again read a series out of order, reading this book after the other two. I love Rai’s writing, her characters are always onions, so many fascinating and intriguing layers.
Rhi is a smart, savvy, badass business women, just wanting to buy a rival company and flaunt her success to her massive ass of an Ex. But when she is pushed to work with the man who rocked her world and then accidentally ghosted her, things get complicated. Samson is still grieving the loss of his beloved uncle and is trying to do right by his aunt, when he sees Rhi again. He knows he fucked up and also that he wants to be with her. Now he just has to show her.
These two burn bright and hot, lots of fun destination sex scenes and plenty of steamy spice with this one. Rai writes a great sex scene and the ones in this book are no different.
I loved this book just as much as the other two! Can’t wait to see what Rai has for us next.
3.5 rounded up because I fell in love with Samson. Rhi and Samson had such chemistry and I am such a sucker for a guy who falls hard for a girl and cannot get her out of his brain. He knows she’s the one even if she is too hard headed and fights him. A man who goes after what he wants and holds her hand through all of her bad days as well as good? Swipe right!
What a cute book – loved the cover, the story, the characters, the setting and everything in between. It’s definitely worth checking out!
You can check out my booktube video review at https://youtu.be/mTm30gziRIs
or read my review on my blog at https://lisasiefert.com/book-review-the-right-swipe-by-alisha-rai/
Book 123 towards my goal of 290! 4/5 stars for this Adult Contemporary Romance read! Great for fans of Talia Hibbert! Loved the story and the characters! Can’t wait to see where book 2 takes us. Love the cover! I love dual narration, but the male narrator was a bit quieter than the female so kept having to adjust my volume. Highly recommend!
This was kind of a meh story for me. I didn’t really feel any connection to the characters in their main situations, it sounded like a bunch of rich people arguing about buying each other out and wheeling and dealing behind closed doors, and I didn’t really like that. The parts that saved this for me were the connection to family, the importance of safety and research within the NFL about concussions, and Rhi’s super feminist mentality with Samson supporting her. The steamy parts were really good also! I think I’ll continue this series, but it’s going to depend on where book 2 goes if I finish it out or not.
I really enjoyed this book. I thought Rhi was such a strong female character. I also loved the side characters and would definitely read more about them. The romance was steamy and sweet so it was just what I love.
I unknowingly read this series out of order however it did not change my reading experience. While I knew where the story might go, I did not know the events and the details. Rhiannon and Samson both have their own demons but how they support each other was heartwarming, even if they had a rocky start. I look forward to continuing to the series.
Loved the concept, the depiction of both characters and their voices, and the overall arc of the romance. I tend to be put off by the tough-girl type characters but Rai’s way of writing her heroine drew me in and kept me there! You’ll love this book if you like steamy contemporary books with real-world tech emphasis.
I liked Rhi. She’s intelligent, honest, aggressive going after what she wants, her way and style.
I loved Sampson. What a sweetheart! A tough former NFL football player with a heart of gold. He willing sacrificed his career for his beliefs and his time to love and care for family members.
I learned a lot about texting do’s and don’t while dating.
This book dealt with football brain injuries, job harassment, date harassment, texting harassment and dealing with people’s misconceptions.
It was informative without being preachy.
I loved the ending. I will read her next book Girl Gone Viral.
A thoroughly modern love story, between a female entrepreneur who has to work twice as hard to get what she wants and the one-night hook-up who ghosted her. I loved everything about Rhi–from her smarts and gumption to her once-burned, twice-shy approach to men. Samson was the perfect romantic cinnamon roll foil to her cynical prickly snark. This was also a very smart romance, tackling difficult subjects like workplace harassment, traumatic brain injuries, and even grief, with the depth and subtlety I expect from Alisha Rai. A stellar start to a new series!
A delightful story with even better characters!
I love Alisha Rai’s writing (and have recommended her books before), but I especially love how the heroine in this story is so strong yet vulnerable at the same time. That’s so realistic to women I know and yet so hard to portray well in stories. Add in great storytelling and an absolute cinnamon roll of a hero, and this is a fantastic story that I wanted to wrap up in a big bear hug (or hoodie hug…it’s all good. 😉 )
Rhiannon, the AfAm creator of a dating app reconnects w/ a one-night hookup who she thinks ghosted her (actually, his uncle was dying and he forgot to message her to cancel their date). She previously was gaslit and emotionally abused in a relationship with the CEO of her first company, for whom she was instrumental in developing a previous dating app. When she tried to break it off, he hounded her out of the company, refused to acknowledge her contributions to the app, and spread vicious rumors about her, so her rep in the tech world is trash but nonetheless, her female empowerment dating app has become extremely popular. Samson, her Samoan ex-football player hookup turns out to be the nephew of the owner of a more traditional matchmaking company that Rhi wants to buy. He’s definitely a beta – adorable, sweet, respectful and completely remorseful about what happened but once he remembered their date, she’d already blocked him so he was never able to explain. Anyway, this was a lovely romance between the two. My only issue was that although I get why Rhi has trust issues, I disliked when she repeatedly mistrusted him and pushed him away. She tended to take her rage over past events out on him and that wasn’t fair to him.
I’ve been in a reading funk for the last two weeks, and I’m not sure why. I needed to get back to reading and picked up The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai for the #Romanceopoly2020 Challenge. It didn’t take me long to read the book, and it fulfilled the Drive-In Movie square. I originally had another book that I scheduled to read for that particular square, but The Right Swipe’s synopsis caught my attention.
Female Protagonist: Rhiannon Hunter is the successful CEO of the Dating App – Crush. Rhiannon is what I would call a very stubborn but determined person. She is proven to everyone in the dating field that she knows how to revolutionize dating through her application. She has a silent partner that believed in her and helped her with her new company, especially after her old job. She may know all about dating, but she only does hook-ups every once in a while. She doesn’t do relationships because of what her ex put her through. Her ex is a douche, and he gets what comes to him in this book. I loved Rhi and determination but didn’t like how she handled certain things with Samson Lima. (I’ll get into that more in the storyline.) Her past ends up almost ruining her future with a fantastic guy.
Male Protagonist: Samson Lima is a Former Pro Football Player who walked away from football after the league tried to play one of his friends after getting a concussion. He was a successful football player, especially after his father and his uncle also played pro-football. Samson is now helping his Aunt at her company Matchmaker after her partner (his uncle) and her sister (his mother) passed away. Samson is what I consider a caring individual because he takes care of everyone. I loved his character, and he’s the reason why I continued reading the story.
Storyline: Rhiannon’s dating app is crushing the competition, and now she’s determined to buy out another App called Matchmaker. She is determined to have a meeting with one of its creators, but the creator keeps disappearing on her. She ends up going to a conference to have a meeting with the creator but ends up meeting the person that ghosted her a while ago. He promised he would see her again, but never got back with her. Now, Rhi is avoiding him, but she can’t for long because he helps his Aunt at Matchmaker. They end up working together, but Rhi wants him to help her with his Aunt, and Samson wants to prove he never meant to ghost her. Readers will find out the truth of what happened between Samson, and if you are like me, you may end up wanting to knock some sense into Rhi. Her past comes to light towards the end of the story on why she has trust issues, and I could understand her character better. Be prepared to meet her ex-boyfriend in the story. He is someone you are going to hate immediately. I loved the storyline of The Right Swipe and loved how everything came together in the end. Some small issues made me give the story only 4-stars. It was due to miscommunication and secrets. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable book.
I look forward to the next book in the series.
Steaminess: Some Steam.
Standalone or Series: It’s part of the Modern Love series, but each follows new main characters. Each can be read as a standalone.
Cliffhanger: No
Trope: Brief Romantic Tryst.
HEA: Yes.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you are a fan of Alisha Rai’s previous books or you are a fan of Contemporary Romance stories. Some readers felt this was more of a Women’s Fiction story, instead of contemporary, which I could see why in certain aspects. There were some steamy moments between the characters, but it was not heavily steamy like other books I’ve read.
Forewarning, there is some sexual harassment triggers and other triggers that could be sensitive to some readers. There are some powerful and supportive characters in this story that help each other through everything. I will say this, Rhi is one kick-butt character.