Alisha Rai (author)

Alisha Rai is an American author of contemporary, erotic, and paranormal romance novels. She advocates for greater diversity in the romance genre.[1]

Not to be confused with the Nepalese entertainer Alisha Rai.
Alisha Rai
BornAlisha Rai
OccupationNovelist
NationalityAmerican
Genreerotic
paranormal
Website
www.alisharai.com

Career

Prior to becoming a romance author, Rai worked as a lawyer.[1][2] She began publishing her work in 2009, focusing on e-publishing. She shopped her books to traditional publishers, but she was repeatedly told that romances with non-white characters would not sell.[3][4] Over her career, she expanded into different publishing methods.[5][6] Her Forbidden Hearts series and her novel The Right Swipe are published through Avon Romance.[7] Rai's book Serving Pleasure, was the first self-published book to appear on The Washington Post's annual list of best books of the year.[6]

Rai includes protagonists from a variety of ethnicities.[5][8][2] Her writing also explores the spectrum of sexual identity.[1]

Rai is a vocal participant in the discussion of misrepresentation and under representation of minorities in traditionally published romance.[1] During a racially charged dispute involving Romance Writers of America (RWA), Rai's comments on Twitter were widely quoted as a demonstration of the romance community's dissatisfaction with the organization.[9] She was among a group of best-selling romance authors that demanded the resignation of Damon Suede, the RWA president-elect during the controversy.[10]

Rai has been on the receiving end of online harassment.[11]

Themes

Rai's book The Right Swipe explores aspects of modern dating, specifically online dating and dating apps, along with the contentious research into the affect of concussions on athletes.[12] The book includes feminist and intersectional elements, with the heroine being a woman of color who is a CEO of a Silicon Valley company that employs a work force made up largely of women.[13][12]

Personal life

Rai is of South Asian descent.[1][14][15]

Rai began creating stories at the age of 13.[2]

Bibliography
Title Series Publication Year ISBN/ASIN
Glutton for Pleasure Pleasure Series #1 2009 B002GEDF2I
Cabin Fever 2009 9781605047539
Veiled Desire Veiled #1 2010 9781605048918
Veiled Seduction Veiled #2 2010 9781609280475
Never Have I Ever Reynolds Pack #1 2010 9781609283056
Hot as Hades 2011 9781609286286
Night Whispers ShadowLands #1 2012 9781609285449
Play With Me Bedroom Games #1 2013 9781301991358
Risk & Reward Bedroom Games #2 2013 9781301449187
Bet on Me Bedroom Games #3 2014 9781311537669
A Gentleman in the Street The Campbell Siblings #1 2014 9781514616956
Serving Pleasure Pleasure Series #2 2015 9781518710100
Falling for Him The Karimi Siblings #1 2015 B00WTWI44G
Falling for Her The Karimi Siblings #2 2015 B012X78XSS
Be My Fantasy The Fantasy Series #1 2016 9781548839314
Stay My Fantasy The Fantasy Series #2 2016 B01H2PFGYK
Hate to Want You Forbidden Hearts #1 2017 9780062566737
Wrong to Need You Forbidden Hearts #2 2017 9780062566751
Hurts to Love You Forbidden Hearts #3 2018 9780062566775
The Right Swipe Modern Love #1 2019 9780062878090
Girl Gone Viral Modern Love #2 2020 9780062877888

Awards
  • 2015 - Serving Pleasure - Washington Post Best Romance Novels of 2015[16]
  • 2017 - Hate to Want You - Entertainment Weekly's 10 best romance novels of 2017[17]
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References
  1. Beckett, Lois (April 4, 2019). "Fifty Shades of White: the long fight against racism in romance novels". The Guardian. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  2. Luther, Jessica (Nov 6, 2017). "Getting Steamy with Author Alisha Rai". Shondaland. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  3. Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (April 8, 2018). "The Billion-Dollar Romance Fiction Industry has a Diversity Problem". NPR. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  4. Ho, Solarina (January 16, 2020). "Romance book industry in turmoil over racism controversy". CTV News. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  5. Faircloth, Kelly (November 22, 2017). "Author Alisha Rai Discusses Writing Romance Novels in a Very Rough Year". Jezebel. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  6. Charles, Ron (November 26, 2015). "Romance finally breaks The Post's 'No Self-Published Books' rule". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  7. "Alisha Rai". Avon Romance. 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  8. Alter, Alexandra (July 7, 2018). "The Changing Face of Romance". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  9. Sarner, Lauren (December 26, 2019). "Romance writer Courtney Milan suspended over 'racist mess' claims". New York Post. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  10. Lenker, Maureen Lee (January 6, 2020). "Romance Writers of America cancels annual RITA awards contest amid racism controversy". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  11. Carpenter, Julia (June 25, 2019). "Romance Novelists Write About Sex and Pleasure. On the Internet That Makes Them Targets for Abuse". Glamour. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  12. Diehl, Amanda (August 5, 2019). "Burned Out By Dating Apps? 'The Right Swipe' Will Relight Your Fire". NPR. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  13. Green, Jaime (May 28, 2019). "Four Delicious New Romance Novels". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  14. Bhalerao, Anandita (November 7, 2019). "Verve Weekend Guide". Verve. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  15. Washington, Roxanne (December 20, 2019). "Belonging Books seeks to diversify the romance novel genre, as do other publishers and authors". Cleveland.com. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  16. MacLean, Sarah (November 18, 2015). "Best romance novels of 2015". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  17. Lenker, Maureen Lee (December 18, 2017). "The 10 best romance novels of 2017". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
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