Review: Swipe Right

Swipe Right by Tagan Shepard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finished on June 10, 2021

Favorite Scene/Quote: "Yearning hadn't worked out for me yet. Maybe ambivalence was the key to lasting love."

I saw this book a bit ago when I was checking out some of Bella Books upcoming releases. I really enjoy friends-to-lovers relationships, especially when one of them is a bit oblivious. I was intrigued and really wanted to read this book. I was lucky enough to be able to request and receive a copy from Netgalley. Thank you so much for allowing me to read this book!
    
Kieran is finally feeling like she can try for another relationship, and she decides to use apps. She enlists helps from her friend Pen to create a profile for her. She gets responses and goes on a date that goes badly, and she meets with Pen to commiserate with after. This keeps going on: bad date, then meet with Pen where Kieran is looking forward to the meetings with Pen more than the actual dates. She has to look at her friendship with Pen differently when one of her dates poses the idea that she might have feelings for her friend.

I really liked Kieran and Pen. The two of them had a great and solid friendship with each other. Kieran was a very nice character who had insecurities that were realistic and well-portrayed. She was written as a character that I genuinely cared about. I wanted her to go on a good first date and I was annoyed with her dates when they turned out to be less than ideal. Pen just sounds amazing. It’s clear that she cares about Kieran and her other friends. She’s honest and true and I really liked her as a character. It was also interesting to see a character with Ehler-Danlos Syndrome. I’ve never heard of that before, but it added an interesting dynamic with Pen.

I really enjoyed the bad dates that Kieran went on. They seemed, at times, almost comically bad but it was entertaining and kept me invested. I also liked wondering how the date was going to screw up. The bad dates made for good side characters as did the friends. I wouldn't mind learning more about Abby, Marlene, and Charlie. (Just to clarify, not necessarily as a threesome. I just want to know more about them in general.)

The biggest problem with this book is that it’s missing development points. Someone points out that Kieran has feelings for Pen and, in like ten minutes, she’s fully comfortable and behind that idea. There was a piece of their dynamic that we were told about in the epilogue that would have been much better if it had been included in the story. I just feel like if there had been more pages and chapters, that this book could have been amazing. It just feels like key development points in Kieran and Pen’s relationship was left out.

My other issue was kind of a minor one, but it seemed like at times Kieran just started thinking about her past with no actual lead up. It wasn’t horrible or anything, it just didn’t feel like there was a purpose and we were just being given backstory to have backstory.

This book is good, but it could have been better. I wish there had been more development, but there was enough given history with Pen and Kieran that I wasn’t feeling as though the relationship was unfounded. If you want a simple book with a happy ending, go for it.