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…

Review 

I had such high expectations about this book and while I enjoyed it, I'd say they were only partially met.

I appreciate the different take on sports romance - a retired football player and the whole CTE thing and how it affected his own family and his sports career. I'd love to see more of that side of professional sports reflected in romance.

The heroine runs an online dating app and the hero is temporarily working for her rival (the company she wants to buy). The insight we get into online dating was interesting but also a bit too US-centric for me. I understand the message behind the discussions of "ghosting" and "dick pics" but it came off as distant and preachy at times.

I liked the hero - patient, caring, respectful, never pushy. The heroine was pretty jaded, disappointed by men and unwilling to trust (again). While the story gives convincing reasons for her stance but then I couldn't see why she held on the her distrust of Samson for long. It all seemed excessive to me. Her refusal to hear him out, to believe even for a bit in his innocence, it didn't sit well with me. I am all for being independent and making your own decisions but she was unfair towards Samson one too many times in my opinion. I was annoyed by how stubborn and entrenched in her views the heroine was. She was meant to be strong, with a take-charge attitude and in control of her professional and personal life but she to me she read more like stuck in the past, refusing to deal with the trauma she suffered, acting judgmental towards Samson.

It an interesting read, with some interesting takes on sport and family relationships. smashing the stereotypes of women being weak and fragile and men, especially ones who are big, strong professional athletes, being leader types in life. Yet, I was not fully sold on the romance and didn't understand the heroine very well. 

CW: abuse in the past, head injuries/CTE, death of a close relative, blackmail, sexual abuse, workplace harassment