Enemies to Lovers, Alisha Rai (Review by Skylar Wetzel)

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

If you’re looking for a quirky rom-com read with the kitchen sink of tropes thrown in, look no further than Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai. Sejal is trying to survive her on-the-run lifestyle and is living day by day as a card trick hustler, when she runs to Krish for help during an illusion gone wrong. Their instant chemistry sucks Sejal in, and she completely bypasses all the instincts she learned as a daughter of a major crime family. Krish tricks Sejal into believing he is an FBI agent by posing as his lost brother. He believes his brother is somehow tied up in Sejal’s crime family and wants to use her to find him and get answers on the cause of his disappearance. Together, Sejal and Krish go adventuring on a road trip with warring priorities while trying to escape enemy crime families trying to kill them. There’s a lot of mistrust and lies shared between them that end up causing a lot of funny scenes throughout the book.

This book also explores a lot of difficult family dynamics for both Sejal and Krish. Each has vastly different experiences with their parents, but a common understanding of being the “disappointment” child. They inadvertently bond over some of their shared trauma. Many members of their families were introduced in this book, and it helped slowly reveal some depth to each of their respective personalities. It also caused a lot of funny moments when they were each trying to cover their lies in front of family. The plot wove all of the family members up into the resolution of the book, and Rai was very creative with all the twists and turns along the way. 

If you are looking for a very light, quick action and surface level read, then this is the book for you!