"This one is a bit of a head scratcher for me. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to read it as a romantic-suspense, or a fantasy or some combination of both. This is not the first time Christina Dodd has thrown a bit of the fantasy/mysticism in her writing, and it does make for an intriguing plot. My advice: suspend reality and fall into the blood feuds, vendettas, and ancient family secrets. My one burning question is: If Maarja Daire was in mortal danger from the Arundel Family why didn't she change her name and move across the country from them? Answer: Then there wouldn't be a book.

Maarja Daire is the last of a Romani family that the Arundel Family has sworn from ancient times to eradicate from the earth. This tale has been passed through the generations and Maarja was part of a Daire plot for revenge when she as just four that didn't go well. Now she is twenty-seven and works as a fine arts mover. She had done her best to stay under the radar, but some things are meant to be and her current job to move the treasures of the Arundel Family has her back in the scene of the crime. She is almost done when an explosion rips through the building and Maarja attempts to save the injured matriarch, Raine Arundel, which earns her the gratitude and a lot more from the family scion, Dante Arundel.

Dante Arundel is trying his best to move the family into legal business ventures. His efforts have met with resistance and not he fears they may have caused the death of his mother. The blast was intentional and now Dante has to figure out who is responsible. The blast also brought him face to face with Maarja Daire. A centuries old blood vendetta and the means to end it are about to play out, if he can keep them both alive.

My thanks to the Publisher and the Author for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way."

"Sometimes you find a book that is so good it's really quite difficult to put down. Swipe by R. G. Belensky and Bonnie Traymore is one of those books .

To my pleasure while looking for another ARC from Netgalley I saw this book and knew it was exactly what I was looking for. The title drew me and the summery of the book sounded fun.

I was right. I literally completed the book in 2 and a half days and it only took me that long because I did have to sleep at least some hours at night.

It all started with a dating app
The story written thru the viewpoint of 2 different protagonists immediately drew me in from the first page. It was a murder mystery/ psychological thriller

One of the narrators Sonya ,who takes it too far, going after a date who she discovers immediately is cheating on his wife and she decides to teach him a lesson . One that goes horribly wrong and leads to his death.

The other narrator is a reporter Jake, who is assigned a clickbate article by his boss supposedly to report about the people who use dating apps and in the process finds much more to the story.

Seriously this is a great book for anyone looking for a fast but fun read. Swipe right for yes and enjoy.

I give the book five stars.

Thank you to #netgalley and #BooksGoSocial for such a good book. Sometimes you really do find the best things in small packages."

"Sonya Romano has had her fill of bad online dates—enough to teach a lesson to the men she meets under false pretenses. When one such confrontation turns deadly, Sonya scrambles to hide her involvement. Meanwhile, disgraced journalist Jake Parker goes undercover to write a clickbait piece on dating apps. As more married men on the app turn up dead, Jake suspects a serial killer is targeting cheaters. Their paths eventually collide, but neither anticipates a lurking danger that might claim another victim.

From the description, I expected a nail-biting thriller, but Swipe turned out to be less of an edge-of-your-seat experience and more of a quick, entertaining read. The pacing is brisk, making it easy to get through, yet by about two-thirds into the story, the final outcome felt predictable. Some plot points stretched believability (particularly how the police were portrayed), although it didn’t stop me from enjoying the overall reading experience. In the end, I’d give this a 3.5-star rating for its speedy, lightweight style and intriguing premise.

Fans of fast-paced crime dramas with a touch of romance may still find Swipe appealing, especially if you don’t mind a somewhat foreseeable ending. Keep in mind there are depictions of murder and some violence, so sensitive readers should proceed with caution. Thank you to R.G. Belsky, Bonnie Traymore, and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own."

"‘And for now. We leave all the other stuff behind�

I really liked the premise of this book, cheating men on dating apps getting murdered is super interesting. Unfortunately for me this fell really flat.

This book was described as ‘twisty� but I guessed the big plot twist almost immediately (the epilogue twist was also predictable).

The main characters were boring shells of people with little to no development, and who didn’t speak or think like actual humans. The narration style didn’t read well and often felt stilted, there was mostly telling with a sprinkle of showing every now and then. I had hoped in the first 25% the overdone exposition and info dumping was just to get it out of the way but it never ended.

Chapters I believe 25 and 26 are tell the exact same scene from both characters perspective. Something that could be super interesting and I love in theory, ended up being frustrating as between chapters there were differences in dialogue and action that made it confusing to follow. I am unsure if it was meant to show them both as unreliable narrators, but seeing as the rest of the book did not do that I was just lost.

Special shout outs to instead of describing the characters or making them memorable, having them ask which celebrities they look like. Also the Jake Parker smile, and the fact that Jake even in the most inappropriate situations will be thinking about how hot a woman is.

The ending just sort of� happened. A brief moment of suspense and then the major conflict was over in a chapter or less. The aftermath fell flat, but perhaps may have had more impact if any part of this story had me caring about the characters.

I was personally not a fan of this book which is unfortunate because I truly did think it sounded interesting.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial for a digital advanced reader copy via NetGalley of Swipe"