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melannrosenthal 's review for:
The Right Swipe
by Alisha Rai
I quite enjoyed the story here. The organic partnership between Rhi and Samson (once Samson redeems himself through apology and is no longer the #BeachBastard) is endearing as it is entertaining, and having the pair each be invested in different dating apps while flirting with a potential more-than-just-sex relationship was clever indeed. I didn't want to stop reading.
2 pet peeves I noticed about romance novels, both pertinent to The Right Swipe:
—miscommunication trope
—women thinking they can’t have a man and be successful
Communication is hard, don’t get me wrong, with people you work with, people you don’t know yet, and even with people you know well, but I am always let down by seeing this trope as the incident that splits up a couple at the height of action in a book. Internally they each, separately, ask the questions they need to be asking each other and it makes me wonder why this was the only thing that could have been thrown in to make the plot more “exciting”. It would be more refreshing to see open lines of communication, people being vulnerable with each other, despite the doubt and fear that goes alone with opening up. Reading so damn many books with this trope makes it seem like this is what we have to accept in romantic relationships especially and I am not okay with that, for myself or for the fictional characters I’m investing in.
As far as successful women go— especially for women at the top of their companies like Rhi is— again I wish books like this could lead by example. The only reason high-powered jobs prove detrimental to the families behind the people in those roles is because those people accept the status quo rather than pushing back against expectations in order to force their humanness upon their shitty reality. There’s nothing wrong with requiring time off to be with a sick family member, or being sick oneself, or otherwise going home early for any reason, or merely setting hard boundaries on work hours and it’s time we demand real work-life balance. That means that we all are deserving of pursuing love and making a family if we want to because work is just work and as many times as they might call themselves your “family” in the office, their loyalty doesn’t extend very far even if they expect it in return. So look out for yourself. Put at least as much energy into your life as you do into your work. If that means you don’t check your email after 6pm— GOOD. Don’t enable toxic work culture any longer. You CAN be successful and have a partner. They are not mutually exclusive.
Women like Rhi here can and should have it all, rather than bargaining with herself to accept that sacrificing romance for her company isn’t actually a sacrifice because she doesn’t want a man. If she didn’t, that’d be fine. But she doesn’t want any man. She wants Samson, and she deserves to be truly cared for and not just listed after, even, especially, with her ass in the CEO’s chair.
2 pet peeves I noticed about romance novels, both pertinent to The Right Swipe:
—miscommunication trope
—women thinking they can’t have a man and be successful
Communication is hard, don’t get me wrong, with people you work with, people you don’t know yet, and even with people you know well, but I am always let down by seeing this trope as the incident that splits up a couple at the height of action in a book. Internally they each, separately, ask the questions they need to be asking each other and it makes me wonder why this was the only thing that could have been thrown in to make the plot more “exciting”. It would be more refreshing to see open lines of communication, people being vulnerable with each other, despite the doubt and fear that goes alone with opening up. Reading so damn many books with this trope makes it seem like this is what we have to accept in romantic relationships especially and I am not okay with that, for myself or for the fictional characters I’m investing in.
As far as successful women go— especially for women at the top of their companies like Rhi is— again I wish books like this could lead by example. The only reason high-powered jobs prove detrimental to the families behind the people in those roles is because those people accept the status quo rather than pushing back against expectations in order to force their humanness upon their shitty reality. There’s nothing wrong with requiring time off to be with a sick family member, or being sick oneself, or otherwise going home early for any reason, or merely setting hard boundaries on work hours and it’s time we demand real work-life balance. That means that we all are deserving of pursuing love and making a family if we want to because work is just work and as many times as they might call themselves your “family” in the office, their loyalty doesn’t extend very far even if they expect it in return. So look out for yourself. Put at least as much energy into your life as you do into your work. If that means you don’t check your email after 6pm— GOOD. Don’t enable toxic work culture any longer. You CAN be successful and have a partner. They are not mutually exclusive.
Women like Rhi here can and should have it all, rather than bargaining with herself to accept that sacrificing romance for her company isn’t actually a sacrifice because she doesn’t want a man. If she didn’t, that’d be fine. But she doesn’t want any man. She wants Samson, and she deserves to be truly cared for and not just listed after, even, especially, with her ass in the CEO’s chair.