Review: Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai

Alisha Rai is one of the best writers I have discovered in 2017. Her first book, Hate to Want You, is one of my favorite reads of the year. I am very happy to say that Wrong to Need You lives up to the pressure (in my mind!) of the first book. Sadia and Jackson are just… fire cracker worthy.

Sadia Ahmed is loath to admit it, but she needs help. The cafe she runs is failing. Without her husband’s presence, it is a shell of its former life, no matter how much of herself Sadia pours into it. And to top it all off, now she needs a cook. It’s hard enough bringing in customers but add in a cook (Sadia) who can’t exactly cook, well it’s a recipe for disaster.

Enter Jackson Kane, Sadia’s former best friend and oh yeah, former brother-in-law. After Jackson was accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he left his hometown behind, and that included Sadia, despite their years of friendship. Sadia emailed him consistently but Jackson never replied. When he didn’t show up for her husband’s funeral, well, that was it for Sadia. She is done with Jackson.

Except, she’s not. She is not thrilled to have him back in town but she cannot deny that she needs his help. He is a wonderful cook and is an asset to her cafe. He is also slowly but surely peeling back all the layers of himself that Sadia longed to forget. An affair with Jackson is unthinkable. But neither can deny that between themselves, they have enough chemistry to last forever.

I love dark and angsty romances. Sometimes they just hit the spot in a way that a more lighthearted story doesn’t (it’s all about moods!). Wrong to Need You is simply put, a powerful love story. Jackson and Sadia just click into place naturally. They may not want to admit it, but they work if they can work through the issues of the past.

I love Alisha Rai’s female characters. Sadia and her sisters were so… perfect isn’t right because no sisterly relationship is perfect but it was just the right amount of love and light snark. They are totally there for each other. Alisha Rai really shines as a writer of women characters. Her women are just people I admire and relate to.

Jackson is a tough nut to crack as the saying goes but he is well worth sticking with. He yearns to be back with his family but he also truly doesn’t believe he deserves it. I was so glad to see him slowly become part of Sadia’s world again, and to get to know his nephew, Kareem, who is a charmer.

I’m always eager to try new romance writers and for me, Alisha Rai is a total thumbs-up. 2017 has not been an easy year on any of us I think but I found comfort in the complex relationships she creates in her books. Pain, maybe, but also a deep familial love. I am eager to read Eve and Gabriel’s story!

Wrong to Need You is available now. If you can’t purchase it immediately, be sure to set aside some holiday gift cards to make this book your own.

He wasn’t supposed to fall in love with his brother’s widow…

Accused of a crime he didn’t commit, Jackson Kane fled his home, his name, and his family. Ten years later, he’s come back to town: older, wiser, richer, tougher—and still helpless to turn away the one woman he could never stop loving, even after she married his brother.

Sadia Ahmed can’t deal with the feelings her mysterious former brother-in-law stirs, but she also can’t turn down his offer of help with the cafe she’s inherited. While he heats up her kitchen, she slowly discovers that the boy she adored has grown into a man she’s simply unable to resist.

An affair is unthinkable, but their desire is undeniable. As secrets and lies are stripped away, Sadia and Jackson must decide if they’re strong enough to face the past…and step into a future together.

About the Book

Wrong To Need You
by Alisha Rai

Series
Forbidden Hearts #2

Genre
Adult
Contemporary Romance

Publisher
Avon Books

Publication Date
November 28, 2017

About Alisha Rai

Alisha Rai pens award-winning sexy contemporary romances and is the first author to have an indie-published book appear on The Washington Post’s annual Best Books list. She spends most of her time dreaming up sexy heroes and heroines, traveling, and tweeting. To find out more about her books or to sign up for her newsletter, visit http://www.alisharai.com

Author Links

    

 

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Review: Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai

I have found one of my top books of 2017. Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai is top-notch, amazing romance from start to finish. It was breathtaking. Full of sexual and emotional tension, I was on tenterhooks to see how Livvy and Nicholas would handle their past and current relationship.

Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler usually hook up once a year. They have a wild night of sex and then each goes on their way again. These two cannot be together, at least in a public, because of a deep family betrayal. They were once happily in love, but when Nicholas’s father swindled the Kane family business out of their hands, everything changed for the worst. Now Livvy and Nicholas can only see each other on the sly, and even that is taking a chance.

Nicholas simply lusts after Livvy. When she shows up in their home town, he doesn’t know what to think. All he knows is that Livvy makes him come alive again, from head to toe. He feels everything for her but knows it will not lead anywhere.

Livvy is back in town to take care of her mother. She is working at a local tattoo shop for awhile and it is there where she reconnects with Nicholas. But nothing for this couple is easy and putting the past behind them once and for all may be nearly impossible. The tension is excruciating!

Hate to Want You captured my attention from the first page. Alisha Rai is a powerful

Forbidden Hearts #1

and dynamic writer and those qualities take center stage as she begins to create Livvy and Nicholas. I hate to resort to the onion cliche, but honestly, it felt like every page, I learned a bit more about these two and more of their vulnerabilities and their pasts were exposed. Both of these characters have a fragile air about them, though they would be swift to kick me in the pants for even thinking that.

The past is a major part of this story but I never felt like it intruded either. It was a necessary back story for these two, so readers can understand the heartache and anger that remains between the Kane and Chandler families.

Also, the sex? SUPER DUPER AMAZING HOT. Just wow. Their is such strong passion between these two! It really resonates off the page. Nicholas is clearly deeply in love with Livvy.

I also really appreciated how Alisha Rai handled another aspect of Livvy’s character. She has dealt with deep depression and it was not easy for her. As someone who has depression and knows what it feels like, I think Alisha Rai handled this really well. Obviously it is not going to be an exactly true portrayal for everyone but the heart of depression, the deep pain and loneliness it causes in one’s life, that part felt so real for me. I really think many readers are going to connect with Livvy.

And as an aside, I just loved the Kane family and I am super interested to see what book two brings in the Forbidden Hearts series.

Hate to Want You is exemplary romance. This book stands heads and shoulders above the crowd compared to a lot of what I’ve read this year. This is a book you need to get your hands on. It will leave you wanting more, wanting an instant re-read, and basically wanting to get your hands on everything Alisha Rai has written.

This book is available on July 25. Get your pre-order in now because damn. You need this book.

ARC provided by publisher for review.

Other reviews:

All About Romance

Hate to Want You
Forbidden Hearts #1
By: Alisha Rai
Releasing July 25, 2017
Avon

Alisha Rai, one of contemporary romance’s brightest stars, makes her Avon Books debut with the first novel in the sexy Forbidden Hearts series!
One night. No one will know.
That was the deal. Every year, Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler would share one perfect night of illicit pleasure. The forbidden hours let them forget the tragedy that haunted their pasts—and the last names that made them enemies.
Until the night she didn’t show up.
Now Nicholas has an empire to run. He doesn’t have time for distractions and Livvy’s sudden reappearance in town is a major distraction. She’s the one woman he shouldn’t want . . . so why can’t he forget how right she feels in his bed?
Livvy didn’t come home for Nicholas, but fate seems determined to remind her of his presence—and their past. Although the passion between them might have once run hot and deep, not even love can overcome the scandal that divided their families. Being together might be against all the rules . . . but being apart is impossible.

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Alisha Rai pens award-winning, sexy, contemporary romances and is the first author to have an indie-published book appear on The Washington Post’s annual Best Books list. She spends most of her time dreaming up sexy heroes and heroines, traveling, and tweeting. To find out more about her books or to sign up for her newsletter, visit her website.

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