The Right Swipe, by Alisha Rai

The Right Swipe is a spin-off from Alisha Rai's Forbidden Hearts series. It features a totally different style of cover art (one that I suspect is meant to evoke Jasmine Guillory and Helen Hoang's novels, which makes sense, as all three authors are at the top of the “smart, hot, diverse” romance market), but it has a lot in common with her earlier books, including a multi-ethnic cast, family drama, and interesting career dilemmas.

Rai's heroine is Rhiannon Hunter, a brilliant tech developer who created one of the biggest dating apps on the market. Rhiannon has no interest in anything other than mutually agreeable hookups... until she runs into Samson Lima, the gorgeous former pro football player who ghosted her after their one night together. Rhiannon keeps reminding herself that she doesn't believe in second chances, but when an unexpected business opportunity brings Samson back into her life, it's impossible to ignore their attraction.

There is so much to admire about The Right Swipe, although it occasionally gets bogged down by its own ambition. I was genuinely interested in what Rai had to say about everything from agoraphobia to traumatic brain injuries, but I wish some of her plot threads and background characters had been given more space to breathe. However, complaining about having too much plot (and smart, topical, well-written plot, at that!) feels like a ridiculously minor nit to pick, so I'm still enthusiastically recommending this to anyone in the market for an intelligent and sexy contemporary romance.