Casey was vying for a job that would be a better fit for her and give her more challenges. She was all ruffled because she got a text from her boss wanting to meet with her in 15 mins. She meets a handsome stranger in the elevator who makes her smile. And from there on continues this cute and a little smut (not much.) Great, great read! 👍🏻I was able to read in 2 days. You definitely will want to pick up a copy 🙂

4.5. This is a solid workplace romance with a slow burn yet palpable chemistry between Casey and Alex. Clare Gilmore fully explores both of these characters and their positive attributes, faults, and traumas in a layered way that made me feel like I knew them well. There's some questionable communication issues--mostly ones triggered by the relationship between Alex and his father--but otherwise the story feels sweet and genuine.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Casey Maitland is doing her best to find herself and crawl outside of her comfort zone and up the ladder at work. She is on her way when Alex Harrison shows up and snatches the job she thought she wanted from her. Is he more qualified? Yes. Who cares though, now he is the enemy. Alex Harrison is loved by everyone...except Casey and he just can't figure out why. It's now his mission to crack that nut and make her like him. Of course while working together they grow closer but Casey is keeping secrets that could ruin it all.

I loved this story! Casey and Alex are so cute and reading their story was fun. If you like workplace romance then add this to your list for its release tomorrow!

#LoveInterest #ClareGilmore
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #ARC
#ARCReview #ContemporaryRomance
#ChickLit #NewAdult #Romance
#WorkPlaceRomance

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This sparkling debut reads like a breath of fresh air!

It goes beyond your typical enemies-to-lovers, workplace romance and dives into important topics like legacy and family and the journey of self-discovery. It's beautifully balanced, alternating between moments of heartbreakingly raw vulnerability and levity. It's steamy and romantic but it's also about friendship and finding your own path.

I devoured all the little details that grounded this story in NYC. Casey's Subway Nemesis made me laugh out loud! Their tiny apartments, their crazy work schedules, it all resonated in a way only real things can.

I loved the diversity. It felt authentic and necessary, not shoehorned in. We saw bits and pieces of Alex's Korean heritage sprinkled throughout in a natural way. And I was so happy whenever Alex discussed his ADHD or Casey battled her anxiety! Things like that are a part of life and I'm so happy art is starting to reflect that.

I'll be talking about this book for a while!

This was such an enjoyable and adorable read! I loved the workplace romance, opposites attract, and he falls first tropes! All well done. Both Casey and Alex were likeable, relatable in different ways, and I was rooting for them the whole time. I appreciated how independent they both were but also had their vulnerabilities and insecurities in very real ways. I especially liked seeing Casey's development throughout the book and I feel like her journey made sense without having a fully developed conclusion. I felt like Gilmore was trying to say that it's ok to always be changing and growing and challenging yourself, no matter what phase of life you're in.
I gave this four stars instead of five because I did feel it got slow during a few points and I wish Alex had had a little bit more of a revelation sooner. I felt like it was hard to understand why he kept giving his father the benefit of the doubt all the way until the end.
Overall, I appreciated how their relationship formed and grew and that they were both open with their communication and feelings.
I look forward to what Gilmore writes next!

Casey and Alex make a great romantic pair! Their relationship is kind of a trope: complete opposites in an enemies to lovers style romance, but the book was fresh in a lot of ways. I enjoyed the tension and chemistry between the two main characters and the depth of their characters was refreshing. Yes there was spice, but there was also a lot emotional baggage that both characters helped each other through. The side characters were hilarious, and I loved the complete ensemble of cast of characters. Great quick romance read filled with passion and heart!

DNF at 35%

I just couldn't connect with this book. I wasn't picking up any chemistry between the leads and the pacing was too slow for me.

Casey is introverted and shy, trying to break out of the shadow of her creative parent's expectations and live her own life. When a job opening comes up in her magazine production company, she thinks maybe it wouldn't hurt to try for a job with more sparkle. When she's passed over for the position by none other than the chairman's son, she dislikes him on sight.
Alex is an extrovert with a compulsion to be liked. Everyone at the company loves him except the one woman he met on the elevator that first day and can't seem to forget. When they're forced to work on a project together, Casey realizes she misjudged him. And even though their personalities are totally opposite, they bring out the best in each other. But how can any kind of relationship work when she's transferring to London in the summer?
This is a story where the reader realizes that Alex fell first well before Casey did. He's such a cinnamon roll character and I love how they acted together. He could be his true self and relax around her and she came out of her shell. This is a cozy office romance with some spice.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was fun, steamy and kept me reading. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

This was a lot deeper than a romance, and I loved it. It made me laugh a lot, but I also felt so much for these characters.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Love Interest is the story of Casey & Alex, two seemingly opposites people who find they have a lot more in common than they expected.

After a bit of a disastrous meet-cute, they begin working together on a project and realize their connection is undeniable. What starts off as only a physical relationship quickly becomes so much more, as they support each other in ways no one else ever has.

I really enjoyed this book a lot. I loved how their relationship was so beautifully built over time - a slow burn to falling in love.

Casey was such a relatable character to me, in loving math/numbers, wanting to stay in more than going out, but also loving her people & letting loose with them.

Tropes + Topics:
💜 Forced proximity
💜 Workplace
💜 Enemies(ish) to lovers
💜 Only one bed
💜 Opposites attract
💜 Friends with benefits to more
💜 LGBTQ+ rep
💜 Self discovery
💜 Relationships with parents
💜 Loss of a parent (in the past)
💜 Single POV/first person

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

The first few chapters, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this. Time jumped without warning or context and that really bothered me. However, the way that Clare developed the characters of Love Interest and really showed us their lives, struggles and love develop, I absolutely fell in love with this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

Casey Maitland finds comfort in the predictability of numbers. As a finance expert, she's all about the numbers until she considers that she could change her career path with a new and exciting position. She interviews for an open project management position within her company, Little Cooper. Still, her dream of a different career starts crashing down when the position is given to Alex Harrison. When Casey and Alex first meet in the elevator, she thinks he must be a model for one of the magazines at LC because of how handsome he is. Little does she know he was just given the position that she was hoping for. Casey is immediately suspicious since Alex is the board chairman's son and decides he is her number one enemy. When they are tasked to work together on the project, things start to change when Casey starts getting to know Alex better.

I loved this enemies-to-lovers workplace romance! I really enjoyed how much of the story took place in a work setting and I immediately loved both Casey and Alex from the start. I found myself cheering them on throughout the book. The development of their relationship was so well written and I loved their chemistry. This was such a cute read and I am excited to read more from this author in the future!

if ella maise and christina lauren books would have a child, it would be this one

I really enjoyed reading this romcom! It is a fun, cute, funny, steamy while still telling a story about finding yourself. The character’s banter was SO GOOD guys, I was obsessed with the mcs. I also adored the setting of the compagny in New York: it gave me the vibes of the sports magazine in the movie Set it Up!! While I had a great time reading this, I felt like there something missing but I can’t say what

(4.5 Stars) To put it simply, reading this book made me happy. It was cute. It was funny. It was cheesy in all the best ways. It even made me tear up a bit because I am going through a similar life experience to Casey at the moment.
I loved the dynamic between Casey and Alex. The tension was great. The progression was wonderful. I didn't even mind the minor miscommunications between them because I adored them so much. I also loved all the friendships that existed between the characters. The relationships felt so natural and realistic, which really made this book special.
Yes, there were some moments where the pacing was weird and the plot was slightly hard to follow (there is A LOT of work talk and A LOT of characters), but that didn't take away from how much of a feel-good romance this is.
This was my first workplace romance, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that trope before reading Love Interest. If they're all like this, I am definitely a fan.

This was a warm hug and I could not put it down. Clare really did a wonderful job capturing the vulnerability of the characters and I loved every word.

I really enjoyed this refreshing, no stupid sh*t, workplace romance. Alex is the perfect dreamy book boyfriend and I love him for it. Casey is so relatable, satisfied with herself but also still wanting more career wise. This was a great debut and I can’t wait to read more from this author! Happy pub day!!

I was so surprised and impressed by this debut—the writing was spectacular, the NYC setting so viscerally drawn, and the romance so deeply swoony. I loved loved it and can’t wait to see what GILMORE does next.

This was a workplace romance with the emphasis on work. Casey and Alex go from enemies to lovers in this debut by Gilmore. I love a book that revolves around the workplace dynamics, but not so much about the tedium of the work. I learned more than I wanted to about the innerworkings of a corporate buyout with this book.

I did love how competent Casey was in her finance role and how everyone depended on her, even if she didn’t fully realize her worth. I liked how supportive Alex was, even about her copious allergies, and always gave her credit at work. Even as Casey was mad about being passed over for Alex’s job, she could see how amazing he was at it.

Casey and Alex had terrific chemistry and I really enjoyed their romance. And while this is only single POV, there was never any doubt that Alex was the first to fall. This is an open door book, but had fade to black tendencies, so not super steamy.

Do you work in an office? If so, how do you feel about workplace romances?

Let me tell you, as someone who works in an office and has for many years, workplace romances are not my thing. Way too many complications and just ickiness!! But, that being said, Love Interest was just so cute. It is an enemies to lovers workplace romcom with all the feels. The characters were very likable and relatable, I loved a female in finance and I loved that it was full of witty banter and and the dork in me loved the corporate takeover drama. And there is a reference to my favorite One Direction song so that was a major plus.

I think this book is objectively good, and others will love it and should read it…but I couldn’t get into it. Perhaps it's right book wrong time, or right book wrong reader. I like that it is easily digestible and I learned a few new words. However, I feel like there were pacing issues throughout the book, but especially at the beginning. This is workplace enemies to lovers romance, where I adored Alex and Casey’s meet-cute, but was disappointed in the lack of animosity between Casey and Alex before they start to grow on each other.

Further, there was a lot of emphasis on the dozens of side characters and their love interests, which contributed to the overall superficial relationship between the protagonists. For example, I felt like I knew more about Casey’s parents relationship than the relationship between Casey and Alex. So this became a low-stakes romance, and I couldn’t root for them to succeed because their relationship lacked the depth I was looking for.

Overall, this is a solid debut and I look forward to reading another book by Clare in the future. Thank you Clare Gilmore, Netgalley, and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.