I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Partners In Crime by Alisha Rai Published by Avon on October 18, 2022
Genres: Contemporary RS
Pages: 400
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
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Indian Matchmaking meets Date Night in this fun, romantic adventure in which a match-made couple about to be engaged gets caught up in a caper that puts their future—and lives—in danger.
At thirty-five, with a stable job as an accountant, Mira Chaudhary wants nothing more than to find a boring man to spend the rest of her life with. Having had enough excitement in her younger days and desperately trying to escape her dysfunctional past, she turns to a matching app specializing in Indian American singles to help her find someone to settle down with.
Enter Naveen Desai. An English professor with an uneventful, normal, and—dare she say it, boring—life, Naveen is perfect.
But just when things are going well, Mira receives news that her aunt has died. Suddenly a trip to Las Vegas to settle her aunt’s affairs turns into a mad dash to escape kidnappers, evade art thieves, and consorting with hackers who can decipher just what it was Mira’s aunt was involved with. Mira just hopes that Naveen isn’t chased away by the very same life of “excitement” that she’s been trying to get away from. But maybe, over the course of one wild night, Mira and Naveen will find the love connection that neither expected.
Don’t let this book cover fool you; this book is a Romantic Suspense.
Mira Patel has just been fired by her matchmaker, and dumped on a lunch date, and then walked into an attorney’s office for her aunt’s will reading only to see her last relationship who she ghosted is standing there. He’s the attorney. Quite the day for Mira.
Naveen was in love with Mira who he met through their matchmaker, but after taking her to meet his family, she bailed and ghosted him. She is going by a slightly different name now, so he didn’t recognize her name on his schedule. But the feelings came back with a vengeance. And as she left his office, he follows her down, not wanting to end like this, when he walks into a kidnapping. And they drag him along with her.
Mira is hiding. She’s hiding from herself and everyone else in her life. Her father was a crook. And he had no qualms about using his daughters in his scams. Mira was very good at what she did, and while she knew it was wrong, it was kind of thrilling, and her father gave her praise and positive attention so to a little girl, it was fine. Until it wasn’t.
Naveen didn’t know any of this. So when some of it comes out during the kidnapping, he’s blindsided by his attraction to Mira and realizing he never really knew her.
Mira for her part, left him because she was falling for him and didn’t want to drag her life into his happy family. She was realizing that she couldn’t lie about her past forever, and she didn’t want him to know. And once they were sitting in a crappy shack in the middle of the desert outside of Las Vegas, she wanted to talk her way out and try to save Naveen. But his sense of chivalry kept getting in the way. Next thing they know, they’re knocking out an on the take FBI agent, shooting a bad guy, and stealing their car. They know what the kidnappers are after, and the best plan they have is to go find it first. If they can find the necklace her father stole, they can get it to the kidnappers and save themselves…and their families. Mira’s sister has been kidnapped, and there’s someone watching Naveen’s family as well, so neither one of them will be safe until the necklace is found.
What follows next is a combination of a Rom Com and a Romantic Suspense. I wish I could explain it better, but Alisha Rai has mastered the fun and funny Romantic Suspense. I won’t spoil what happens, but imagine if Ocean’s Eleven met True Lies and created a magical baby. That would be Partners In Crime. I hope she writes more like this one, because while I’ve always known she was a great writer, I love this new Funny Romantic Suspense genre she’s writing.
***ARC courtesy of Avon via Netgalley
