I'm never disappointed by a book from Alisha Rai! This is a super fun suspense and romance all rolled into one! The chemistry between Mira and Naveen is instant and they make a great crime fighting team. It's poignant to read how they soften toward each other the more they reveal about their childhoods and the years since they first dated. A flirty and fast-paced page turner for sure!

This was a fun adult "whodunnit" contemporary mystery with a romcom aspect that I really enjoyed! It was such an enjoyable book to go blind into as it took me on an adventure that I didn't expect!

I have found that I really enjoy the second chance love trope and how characters grow between their first meeting and their reunion. Watching Mira grow into herself and recognize the reasons why she did what she did was a wonderful journey and I felt like her reasons were completely understandable. Her story brings in interesting family dynamics and secrets are revealed and she has to quickly adapt to constantly evolving information.

Naveen was such a delightful love interest and I adored how mature and well-spoken he was. He didn't have rash tendencies that a lot of love interests have that make them rude and unlikeable and was charming from the start. His love was pure and made my heart so happy.

I loved the literal take on "partners in crime" and how their actions and emotions were stretched within their respective characters. They did things they never expected to and caused a little chaos along the way. There were a lot of interesting side characters that really added to the story, even if some of their actions were a little convenient in a time crunch. The spice was good and thankfully timed at moments that felt realistic and not just placed wherever in the story.

With all the references to Naveen's family and the tension between his mother and grandfather, I did expect more backstory and explanation. It just felt like there were some unresolved things that left a lot of questions unanswered. I also can't believe that the story takes place over a 24-48 hour time frame due to the amount of action and adventure. I had hoped this would be a good thing as it did make it a fast read, but some of the next steps in the mystery seemed to be too easy and convenient to get to. A little more tension and panic would've really helped add some drama, especially since nobody even seemed to notice Mira and Naveen were gone until they called?

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book and I would easily recommend it to readers who love a little romance, but also an action-packed mystery as well!

3.5 out of 5 . Don't be deceived by the absolutely terrible cover (I'm sorry its a tad tacky) but the book is quite good. A thrilling romance is how I would describe it. This is an absolutely absurd book, but I devoured it in one sitting so the absurdity definitely got me going. Also the characters and their back stories are surprisingly well developed. This is my second book by Alisha Rai, and I'm definitely keeping her in my radar.

This was a cute "who dun it" meets second chance romance. Mira is the perfect "afraid to open up and let people in" person. She is searching for love through the use of an Indian Matchmaker but is she really looking for love or has she already found it earlier? Naveen is the strong "can't really move on from first love" person. The two are thrown together in a crazy mad dash around Las Vegas escaping kidnappers and trying to figure out what message was left for Mira by her Aunt.
I loved the thriller portion the story but could use a little more time on all the acquaintances of Mira's Dad. It seemed a lot of history could be explained more as things were very quick moving. But it was still a super adorable story with a great mix of suspense and romance.

This is Indian Matchmaker meets Ocean’s Eleven hijinks. The story is fast and furious with Mira’s deceased, estranged father’s shady dealings coming back to haunt her as multiple people are convinced she knows about the stolen necklace.

And nothing makes unresolved romantic feelings bubble to the surface, like trying to escape kidnapper-killers. So while they’re trying to figure out where the necklace is, Mira and Naveen revisit their past as they can’t ignore the heat between them.

The constant twists and turns in this adrenaline-fueled roller coaster ride is amped up with the intense heat between Mira and Naveen and just doesn’t let up. Excitement galore from start to finish!

You get:

Dual POV
Body positive
South Asian rep
So many family secrets
Estranged family
Mysterious bequests
Shady pasts
Unresolved pasts
Hidden poker talents and high-stakes games
Second chance romance
Forced proximity
Only one bed
Las Vegas hijinks
Desi matchmaking
Steam

Heads up - if you’re expecting a sweet and steamy romance like Alisha Rai’s previous books, this is a departure but it’s an intensely fun one!

A STUNNING piece of work. Alisha Rai has been one of my favourite authors for a while and this book keeps her at the top. The incredible heist plot was so gripping that I could not stop reading. The romantic tentino between Naveen and Mira is incredible. I loved the softness the have for each other despite their history and I loved even more how their tenderness for each other grew after learning their tense histories. The whole book was flawless!

3.5/5 💎

I love Alisha Rai (if you don’t already follow her on TikTok, please do and thank me later for the adorable videos of her explaining internet drama to her sweet fiancé). I was super excited for her next book and was a bit mixed in my feelings for it, unfortunately. It just doesn’t have the sizzling chemistry that her previous books had. Once you give up on a steamy romance you do get flung in for some fun, fast paced, caper hijinks. Mira gets flung together with her hot ex Naveen as they try to find a missing diamond necklace in Vegas with a friend syndicate after them. It felt very Oceans Eleven mixed with The Lost City. It was a little bit tender, a little bit silly, and a lot bit fun. So don’t walk in expecting the same sort of steamy crackle of chemistry and come in for some heist fun and you’ll be fine.

*Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Lemme preface by saying I've been a fan of Alisha Rai's other books so I was really anticipating this (and its also a second chance romance which is my kryptonite).

Off the bat this was superrrr different from her other books, which were all interconnected standalones about social media. In this case, Mira is a thirty-five year old looking for more stability in her personal and romantic life after her wild early years. She decides to use a match making app and find a normal, "boring" Indian American man to settle down with, who is none other than Naveen Desai, your regular Joe and ex flame (props for diversity, love to see it).

Things get progressively more insane from there because of course Mira can't find exactly what she was looking for, it wouldn't be a action packed rom-com if she did. But maybe the best love connection was one she didn't expect, or something else cheesy heh.

First a big thank you to Alisha Rai, Avon and Harper publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of Partners in Crime which comes out October 18, 2022.

This is my first Alisha Rai books I have read and I did really enjoy the premise of the story. Exs Mira and Naveen are thrown together after getting kidnapped by men looking for a outrageously expensive necklace that Mira's late father stole. In the race to find the necklace while evading their kidnappers both start to question if the feelings that were developing in their first try are actually really dead.

Honestly my favorite part of this books was Mira and Naveen. After being continuously let down by the people in her life, Mira has built the walls high and thick around her heart. It was amazing to see Mira slowly opening up and becoming vulnerable without taking away from how much of a badass she is. Naveen is sweet, nerdy and appreciates Mira for the unusual skills she developed in her childhood.

The reason this book was a 3 star review for me is because everything is a little too fast paced, most of the action takes place over a single day. Even with their past history it still felt like they connected too quickly and with very little angsts. I would have loved for it to be little more drawn out. But over all Partners in Crime is a funny, sweet, action-packed and twisty read.

3.5
this was a fun action romantic comedy. the main romance was nice, i love a good second chance romance, but i needed more drama form the side plots personally. i was hoping for a better wrap up between the sisters, like that’s it?, and felt that the family dynamics had really good potential that was a bit wasted. some elements could have been more used or just been little more, i guess, in general.

*Thank you NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for providing a copy of the book*

THIS WAS SO FUN!!!! While not as steamy as Rai's previous works, this was such a fun and fast read that I wasn't missing it.

Thank you to the author and publisher for this advanced copy.

This was one of those books that just was weirdly amusing like part of me wanted to skip to the ending but the wild adventure was also amusing. Wasn’t happy with the ending though didn’t feel right for the book.

Alisha Rai’s rom com “Girl Gone Viral” is one of my favorite romances so I was super excited for her newest book. Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy the focus on a fast-paced adventure instead of on our two main characters. That being said, I liked both Mira and Naveen, their interactions, and their backgrounds. I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if it fit only in the romance genre.

My favorite Alisha Rai yet! Love the fast paced, twisty, action packed nature of this tile. It was a romance novel with some major thriller undertones, ad I enjoyed the mashup.

This book had an uneven tone. It was too light-hearted for romantic suspense but too serious for romantic comedy. I fell like we didn't get to know either character that well. And the whole reason the heroine left him the first time was because of her family and then they get back together after going through a frankly traumatic showing of her family. I

points for diversity and a pretty unique plot!
no points for how much unnecessary titty mentions there were! like seriously! we get it!
points for covering more serious topics like grief!
no points for the aggressive amount of head hopping so much so to the point where i had to reread chapters because i was so confused whose pov we were in!
no points for the ending! wtf!

This book was super fun--Alisha Rai is a must-read author for me, and PARTNERS IN CRIME does not disappoint. It's an action-packed slow-burn exes-to-lovers romance that is clever, current, and engaging, but where Rai struck me with not just the fun of her writing but with her technical skill as well was in the first few chapters.

In the first three chapters, she sets up both Mira and Naveen's personal stakes--her long quest to find a suitable match, paired with her anxiety about not coming from a 'good family' as well as Naveen's past burnout, struggles with addiction, and love for his family--and their past, really cementing why we should care about their tensions as exes. On top of that, the crime/abduction element of the plot is set up and threaded in--we understand why Naveen would defend Mira, are starting to understand why Mira's romantic past is troubled, and can already begin to see why the things that separated them the first time may not apply anymore (always a challenge in an exes romance--making readers believe that the same issues that caused the couple to break up before won't come separate them again, which is essential for a believable HEA).

There have been so many contemporary romances in recent years that have had this kind of plot front-loading become incredibly clunky, or where the dumping of plot devices or tropes outweigh character development, leading to leads who are strangers to the reader, thereby rendering the romance un-engaging. But Rai deftly intertwines the setup (and it IS a lot of backstory!) without ever feeling like the exposition drags, or feeling like the characters are being sacrificed to plot. Also, Mira and Naveen's chemistry is executed so well. It's just good writing! PARTNERS IN CRIME is not to be missed.

I love Alisha Rai and I love a good caper. This was ao fun to read. I hope she continues this as a series.

Romantic suspense is really not my favorite subgenre, but I love Alisha Rai, so here I am!

The second chance romance trope is pretty hit or miss for me, but in this case it worked. It wasn’t some ridiculous misunderstanding that kept these two apart, it was her very real insecurities that she needed to work through. He was mad for a bit bit ultimately understood that she’d had a rough childhood that she hadn’t wanted to discuss. I believed that these characters could have reconnected and quickly rekindled their romance.

Some things I didn’t love about this book:
It felt like way more time had passed during some of these scenes, but a large chunk of this book happened in like one day. I understand that this genre tends to be fast paced but I just felt like there was way too much going on in too short a time frame.

Also, some of the big family reveals just fell flat for me. I don’t know why exactly, and maybe it’ll work for other readers.

Mira has been using a matchmaker for years, but I’m not sure that I actually understand why? Why is she so set on finding someone to commit to? I’m not sure that was explored quite enough.

This was a quick read, and I liked it but didn’t love it, I love a lot of other Alisha Rai books but this one will probably appeal more to other readers.

I loved this book. In fact, days later I am still thinking about it and wanting to go back and see Mira and Naveen again.

Naveen and Mira were set up by a matchmaker a while back. They dated pretty seriously and were considering getting engaged right up until the moment Mira snuck out in the middle of the night and dumped Naveen by text. Since that time - a lot has changed for Naveen, but Mira is still looking for the right match. When Mira's aunt dies - it turns out Naveen's new law firm is handling her estate. This brings them back into contact - but what brings them back together is a mad-dash across Vegas filled with twists and turns. It turns out Mira has been WAY less than truthful about her background and the past has caught up to her - and Naveen in a major way.

Even though this book takes place over a very short period of time - you can see that Mira and Naveen were very much right for each other before. But both of them needed to grow and change before a relationship could work. A lot of Mira's change comes during the story - but Naveen grows a lot as a person as well.

I recommend this one so highly. The whole book reads so vividly that is almost jumps off the page. I'd REALLY like this to be made into a movie. Overall,. everything Alisha Rai writes is worth reading - but this book is definitely a star. Five of them to be exact.

I received this via NetGalley as an ARC, but these opinions are all my own.