Casey & Alex are my new favorite book couple. Their story of strangers to partial-enemies (she hated him because he got the job she wanted but he was friendly to her) to lovers had me laughing, smiling, lusting, crying, and then crying happy tears.

I love when you have two characters who act like adults, talk to each other like adults, pick each other up and root for each other, and have spectacular growth & development over the course of the book. They each had their own internal struggles but you could also tell that they genuinely wanted the other person to be happy.

This debut novel from Clare Gilmore has moved her to my immediate “will read everything this author writes” list. I finished the book and immediately DMed her on Instagram how much I loved it and how I can’t wait to read her next book.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants a book that a full of emotion & beautiful characters that you absolutely fall in love with (and hate the characters that you are meant to hate)

Huge thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a really cute story that even manages to make a career in finance sound interesting. Both of the main characters are really good, kind, caring, and thoughtful people who don't try to overthink things like characters in novels usually do. This is not to say that they are perfect or don't have their flaws. However, it is refreshing that the author doesn't use the same boring plot devices to try to create tension in their relationship. In fact, they are together for most of the story, and when they are not there is a good reason for it. That is refreshing. It makes the story more original and exciting to read. Not knowing exactly what's going to happen keeps you interested but the feeling that it is all going to work out okay in the end keeps you invested in this charming book.

Love Interest by Clare Gilmore was so much fun!!

Casey Maitland is a financial expert for LC Publications in Manhattan, and even though it's probably a good thing she didn't get the project manager position, it still chafes that she was passed over in favor of the board chairman's son. Alex Harrison is handsome, smart, and actually REALLY good at his new job. And he keeps trying to be nice to her. How irritating. They end up filming a vlog together as part of an ongoing "Day in the Life" series, and Casey realizes maybe Alex isn't all bad after all. And maybe it wasn't nepotism that got him the job. They fall into friendship and then into more, and the whole time Casey is plagued with the knowledge that their company is headed toward some enormous changes, unless they can uncover a way to save it.

This felt like curling up with my favorite rom-coms from the late nineties, only updated for today's twenty-somethings. It has banter. It has drama. It has houseplants and so much kissing. (Ane more.) It gave me the same warm fuzzies as Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in You've Got Mail or Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in Runaway Bride. It's the perfect office enemies to lovers romance, and I loved every page of it.

Highly recommend. It's absolutely delightful.

Thank you to the Net Galley team for sharing this ARC with me! Such a heartfelt + meaningful story told through the lens of banter, humor and heart. Can’t wait to see what Gilmore has next in store!

Such a fun read! This is a workplace, short lived enemies turned forced proximity romcom. When Alex appears at Casey's company, stepping into the job she was hoping for and actively pursuing, they get thrown together on a lifestyle project. Some initial enemies banter quickly turns into heart to hearts, late nights, amazing meals (seriously the food aspect in this book while not a distraction in any means, felt like another character and thus spent most of the book hungry because everything sound SO good! 🤣)

Casey has sights on a possible career move to London (which okay is the absolute dream!!), hinging on the success of her project with Alex. They commit to each other, for now, but of course....feelings. 🥰🫠🥰 their relationship was both heartfelt and realistic and one heck of a found family support system.

There was a taaad too much business jargon for my taste but it made sense and didn't detract from the story at all.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this one, hopeful for a follow up with Miriam's story!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review!

This book is a super cute workplace romance and I loved it! The main character Casey finds out she was passed over for a job opportunity because of the chairman's son Alex. I think I would have liked it more if it was dual pov but it was still a great book and I enjoyed reading it. Enemies to loves is one of my favorite tropes and with the added forced proximity it made for a great debut novel.

Gah! Clare Gilmore blew me away with her debut novel Love Interest!! Her writing is engaging, hilarious, emotional and heartfelt. As an aspiring writer, her style is one to emulate. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one nail complexity and ease so smoothly! Her characters were entirely lovable and complex, including the side characters. I found myself equally invested in the friends and family of the protagonist.

Love interest is threaded with tender emotion and hope. I held my breath in anticipation for the shoe to drop and some form of frustrating miscommunication that would force the lovers apart. While there were moments of frustration and miscommunication, they continued to come back to each other in respect and care. It is a gorgeous example of two broken people coming together in the healthiest way possible. Inspirational!

I think the biggest stand out for me in this book is the ease with which I was pulled in and through Alex’s story. So often, a story is hard to get into, lulls somewhere in the middle or drags on at the end. The pacing of Love Interest was impeccable and an absolute joy from start to finish. I feel like I could offer a standing ovation to the pacing alone!

I’m still fully swooning for Alex, Casey and everyone in their little world! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for what Clare Gilmore brings to the table next. Instant fan over here!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

In her debut novel, "Love Interest," Clare Gilmore skillfully intertwines romance and workplace drama.

The enemies-to-lovers trope is well-executed, allowing the characters' dynamics to evolve in a way that feels authentic and genuine. Gilmore adeptly portrays the complexities of their relationship, making it effortless for readers to invest in their budding romance. The initial tension between them, stemming from their professional competition, evolves into a compelling layer of the story as they find themselves working closely together. The corporate backdrop adds depth to the narrative, with secrets and corporate intrigue adding an element of suspense. The exploration of workplace politics and ambition contributes a strong sense of realism to the overall plot.

All in all, "Love Interest" stands out as a promising debut that offers an entertaining fusion of romance and workplace drama. This book is a must-read for those who appreciate well-crafted romance narratives set in the professional world.

First I love the timeline in this book, how not everything seems rushed and you can tell it takes place of weeks and months instead of what seem like days. I also liked how Casey started to like Alex through actual moments with each other and it was out of spite/hate that their relationship grew. While I love a good spicy scene I also appreciate that these ones weren’t total spice. You got the spice but it wasn’t intense which is nice sometimes. All in all I loved the support that was there through big and little changes and how they genuinely cared about each other even when they were mad at each other.

A really cute workplace romance. The pacing and writing were great, and had me engaged until the very end. I really liked our MCs, Casey and Alex, and the journey they went on together as characters. Overall, a really great romance that I would definitely recommend!

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Casey Maitland didn’t get the promotion she was after. Instead, it went to a new hire named Alex, who is charismatic, Ivy League educated, and very attractive. What begins as a one-sided workplace rivalry fueled by Casey’s disappointment turns into a great working relationship with ever increasing tension between our two main characters.

Some books really hit the mark on humor, and this is one of those stories! I loved the banter and witty descriptions the author so eloquently wrote into each chapter. Love Interest is a single POV story about two new professionals who each have something to prove, and goals that don’t always align. I didn’t always feel the chemistry between Alex and Casey, but the relationships between the friend groups was excellent. All in all, the hilarity of the story made the romcom a success!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This book is exactly what I needed to read right now! Love Interest is the perfect workplace rom-com, and I cannot believe this is the author’s FIRST published novel! It has all the romantic elements I love: enemies to lovers (very briefly thank goodness), forced proximity, male falls first, witty banter. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was some of the interactions with the female protagonist, Casey, and her friends. Alex, the male protagonist, will soon be everybody’s book boyfriend. He is expertly written, handsome, strong, mature, unafraid of expressing his emotions, and is supportive of strong and intelligent women. Their romance together is just spicy enough without being too much. It’s the perfect book to read when you feel swoony and want a book to bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the chance to read this advanced copy in exchange of my honest review. I cannot wait to read more from this author!

Casey Maitland has a head for facts and figures, not one for leaving things up to fate and fancy. So working as a finance expert in New York has been the perfect fit. Still, she can’t help but to have her sights on a dream promotion at her company.

But the odds aren’t in her favor- and Casey is passed over for the job. Even worse, the coveted position goes to chairman’s swoon-worthy son Alex, a guy she passively flirted with on the elevator before she knew who he was.

Given all this, Alex Harrison should be the man you love to hate- but inexplicably Casey doesn’t find him to be that bad of a guy. Then some information comes out that forces Cassy to see Alex in a completely new light. Suddenly, things aren’t adding up as expected. Can Casey and Alex both get what they want without losing themselves in the process?

Love Interest is a debut romance from author, Clare Gilmore. While classified as a romance and containing some of its typical trappings, I didn’t feel a strong pull towards Casey and Alex as a couple. I felt there wasn’t enough time devoted to their sparring to really warrant a romantic buy in. This, coupled with an abundance of behind the scenes corporate drama, left me feeling sadly uninterested in Love Interest.

This book gave me Hating Game vibes. Enemies to lovers, workplace romance with chemistry and banter. A quick, entertaining read.

4.25/5
2/5 stars

Workplace romances with a bit of rivalry in the beginning are always fun, and this one has great chemistry between the two MCs, Alex & Casey.

Tropes:
Work place romance
Rivals to lovers
Financial analyst FMC
Introvert/Extrovert
Secrets & Corporate scandals
Single POV

I really loved Casey's character and overall personality. Although she was a financial whiz and a huge introvert, she wasn't boring. She still had fun and great rapport with all her close friends... and I could totally relate to that. Alex was your typical people loving, social butterfly, extrovert with ambition and hard work. But it was so nice to see him unwind with Casey and show that he isn't always Mr. Sunshine. Both of them had their vulnerable moments, and their budding romance was inevitable.

I did feel that the plot dragged a bit too long, but in the end, it wrapped up nicely. It is an open door romance but it focuses more on the emotional aspect instead of being overly detailed.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered voluntarily.

Trigger/Content warnings:
Death of a parent (off page), mild sexual content, misogyny

It just may be that I have bombarded myself with too many rom-coms recently, but this one kind of missed the mark. It does involve a workplace romance at a magazine publisher. If you enjoyed The Hating Game, then you would probably enjoy this book. However, with this book feeling a lot like The Hating Game, made it only a mediocre read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

For a debut novel, I wasn’t sure how good the book would be. Well, Claire knocked it out of the park with this sweet workplace romcom, that was enjoyable and laugh out funny. The group of friends surrounding the main characters, were all so much fun, and I think I’d love to have a night out singing karaoke with them!

Casey works in finance after following her dreams to move to NYC after college. She’s surrounded by a great group of friends, but decides she wants more when she applies for a Promotion within her company. Sadly, she doesn’t get it, but the hottie who she saw in the elevator did get the job. Enter Alex, Harvard grad, nepotism baby, whose father used to be the CEO of the company.

They immediately clash because he stole her job, and because they are just polar opposites. But as they spend more time together, they develop a friendship, that doesn’t take long to turn into more. But as their relationship takes off, things at work go crazy, and Casey is offered a job in London. Do they even stand a chance of making it through all this?

Their relationship felt very natural and real, and I so appreciated that as a reader. I got major ‘The Hating Game’ vibes from this book, and highly recommend if you are looking for a fun office romance, with a setting in NYC!

I would like to add that I have absolutely zero knowledge in the finance and corporate world, so I would get a bit confused reading about their company’s developments in so much detail. This can get a little confusing, and I would have to reread pages at some points, but I did still enjoy!

I read a lot of romance novels that are cute and fun but overall just fine. I was expecting Love Interest to be one of those, but I ended up absolutely adoring it. The premise of Love Interest isn't totally new or novel, but I ended up loving Casey and Alex so much that I didn't need the plot to be something I completely hadn't seen before.

One of my favorite things about the book was how Alex and Casey's relationships with their families paralleled and also contrasted each other and became an important and well interwoven part of the plot. I loved all of their friends and family we meet throughout the book and honestly wish we got to see more of them (future book maybe??)

My only critiques are very very minor. I'm normally not someone who cares about pop culture references in books, but I thought it was used a little too extensively in Love Interest. To the point where there were sometimes extended pop culture references used to explain something and I didn't understand what they were trying to convey because I didn't get the reference. Additionally, given that the premise of the book was that Alex and Casey wanted the same job and Casey got passed over for Alex (the board chairman's son), I expected this to play a bigger role later in the book than it did.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Casey has always preferred the reliability of numbers to people. Now at 24 she is a finance expert working in Manhattan and aiming for a project manager position. When she’s turned down, she is okay, until she finds out that the position was given to the board chairman’s son.

Alex is hardworking, Harvard educated, and a go-getter. Everyone loves him, except maybe Casey. When the two are put on a project together, sparks fly, and they’re not sure if they’re romantic, or catastrophic.

I’m going to start with what I loved about this book. The female main character. I am a finance nerd, and this book had some hilarious finance jokes. I loved that I was able to relate and laugh. It’s accrual world, am I right! HAHA. I also enjoyed the male main character. He was determined and headstrong, and while annoying at times, extremely likeable. Okay, what didn’t work for me. The enemies to lovers. This was more like a mild annoyance to lovers. I would have much preferred this been described as a workplace romance, between two co-workers who had a disagreement but still got along. Despite this annoyance, the book worked when I got into the right mindset. If you are the type to go into books blind, you will probably love this one, because it is a really cute romcom.

If you are looking for a delightful workplace romcom then I hope you check this one out.

Thank you so much to the publisher St Martin’s Press, @stmartinspress, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded to 4 stars for the finance jokes.

A witty and tender debut I couldn’t put down. This story follows Casey and Alex as they start off on the wrong foot but ultimately are drawn together, sharing many heartwarming moments even though they’re adamant their time with each other has an expiration date. It’s a little bit angsty but mostly just a fun read that explores creating the life you want.