What an adorable read! Each character was quirky and so much fun. Casey Maitland applied for a new position in her company and when she finds out it went to the Chairman’s son, Alex, she automatically doesn’t like him. However, Casey and Alex must work together, and sparks begin to fly. I loved the banter between Casey and Alex. I wish there was more conflict and war feelings at the beginning between them, making stronger enemies. With that said, both Casey and Alex had personal growth as characters and really complemented each other well. They had good communication between themselves, which seems to be a rarity in the contemporary romance world. The ending wasn’t a surprise to me, but I’m glad it ended that way. Read this if you are looking for a quick, entertaining, office romance with semi-enemies to lovers romcom.

Casey as a main character is so relatable! I loved the chemistry between the characters and it wasn't too steamy but it wasn't closed door either. Can't believe this is a debut - I loved it!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

After missing out on a job that would put her a step closer to a London transfer, financial analyst Casey Maitland is upset to learn the successful applicant Alex Harrison is the CEO's son. Yet she can't help but be drawn to him as they're forced to work together.

Love Interest is so much more than a stereotypical enemies-to-lovers workplace romance. There's no childish antics or unprofessional behaviour by Casey or Alex. Instead you get a heartfelt, swoony and thoughtful multi-layered story about forging your own path, trusting your voice, and freeing yourself from other people's expectations.

I had to savour this book even though I wanted to devour it. There were so many beautiful moments and thoughtful conversations between Alex and Casey. Both of them have a shared grief losing their mums at a young age, with Alex shouldering the burden of being the product of an affair, his rich CEO father absent except financially.

Clare Gilmore carefully balances the growing connection between analytical Casey and free-wheeling Alex, while also adding authentic workplace intrigue which I found equally entertaining and important as the backdrop to their romance. She also provides strong characterisation and plot development.

I loved the quiet observations Casey learns about herself, including how to open herself up more. Both Alex and Casey fully see, encourage and support each other. Alex fully supports Casey's London plans (so refreshing to see male characters do this). I also loved her moments of revelations about Alex as tenderhearted man underneath his extroversion and large friendship groups.

Be still my heart, this was a wonderful debut by Clare Gilmore. I cannot wait to see how her writing career develops.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

3.5 to 4 star

This was a great debut book! It centers a lot around an NYC workplace setting. If you enjoy books set in NYC or that have a lot of office workplace detail, I would recommend picking this one up!

✨Book Review✨

Love interest
Clare Gilmore
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub date: October 10th 2023

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Thank you net galley and st martins press for the opportunity to read and review this new novel.

Read if you like:
✨Work place romance
✨Forced Proximity
✨One bed
✨NYC setting

While this book was a cute romance between coworkers it was also so much deeper than that. The MCs Casey and Alex both come from different backgrounds with pasts riddled with loss. It was beautiful how Clare was able to write her characters so perfectly in how they fulfilled each others needs.

Im not sure if I’ve read a recent book that had a more relatable main character. In this book Casey struggles with anxiety and not thinking she is enough in certain aspects of her life. She struggles with not knowing herself enough to make decisions that directly benefit herself instead of just pleasing others. I enjoyed watching her character grow throughout the story and start to make decisions for herself.

I will definitely be on the lookout for more novels by this author in the future!

This is hands down my favorite office romance I have read lately. I am what I call a trope mood reader. I will find a trope that speaks to me then read nothing but that trope for a while (sometimes weeks). Right now, that trope is office romance.

Office romances usually tend to be boss/employee. When I do find a coworker office romance, it just falls flat. Whenever I ask for recommendations, people always say The Hating Game, which didn’t do it for me despite everyone else seeming to love it. I had given up on finding a favorite in this trope.

Then I found this book. Yes, there is a bit of a hierarchy at work which impacts the story but there is so much more to their working relationship/competition and their personal one. Casey and Alex keep running into scenarios where they are pushed together. Their tension and chemistry were perfect.

My only complaint was that the ending felt rushed. The beginning had a really good build up and development then the end felt like too much of a rush to the finish line.

"Love Interest" is a stellar new adult romance about Casey and Alex, two numbers people who meet and fall for each other. They work in the financial district in NYC and have remarkable chemistry. It's one of those most excellent romances for how it realistically portrays actual roadblocks that would make a romance more difficult. This is a highly readable new adult romance and one I highly enjoyed. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

I went into this thinking Love Interest would be a flirty, fun, fling of a romance novel. I had no idea it would be one of those great epic romances that will hopefully be made into a movie I can go see with my girlfriends.

This was an absolutely perfect story. Casey is a classic gen Z finance chick; Alex is that guy who you see but often feel intimidated about approaching…handsome, smart, worldly, educated. Their meeting and friendship and then romance is a mix of enemies-to-lovers and one-shared-bed, with plenty of personal growth and growing as a couple/life lessons mixed in. Especially when family dynamics are concerned!

Overall, 5 stars and 3.5 chilis for spice.

5/5 I honestly loved this book!
An amazing feel good story, I loved the over all story and the main characters.
I could not put the book down!
The boom had me giggling and just over all happy through out the whole book. I cannot wait to read more from this author in the future!

I loved this book. The characters are immediately likeable and they dynamic is fun. It only took me this long to read it because I was holding off on reading on my Kindle for actual books. 5 stars all the way.

Love Interest is a cute workplace romance that is also fairly tedious at times. I liked these characters, but I felt like the story had too many supporting characters and too much plot I didn’t really care about, so it all dragged after a while. Still a cute story, but pretty medium experience overall.

Casey Maitland works in finance at a magazine conglomerate. With two creative parents, and a creative stepparent, she feels pulled toward finding something a little more creative to do. Casey decides to put herself up for a new, more creative job, and is passed over in favour of Alex Harrison, the chairman of the boards son. Everyone loves Alex, he is this Harvard educated, charismatic guy, but Casey is not falling for it. Work meetings pull Casey and Alex together more and more and they cannot escape their undeniable chemistry. When a potential acquisition of the company comes up both Casey and Alex they feel forced to chose sides and feelings may be hurt.

This was a great debut workplace romance by Clare Gilmore. I loved Casey and Alex and how the interacted. Though Casey feels she is justified in hating Alex, she can't even manage it because he is so enamored by her from the start. Alex just wants to get to know Casey and this makes it hard for her to say now. These two seem to work together so well, both matching wits and passion.

I did find some of the specific business parts of the book a bit mundane, but it wasn't so bad that it bogged the book down. I loved the side characters in this book, they were so well developed. Whether it was the friends or Casey's dad and stepdad, they added to the story and made the book feel relatable and real.

If you love a great enemies to lovers, workplace romance, this is the book for you! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

Read if you like: enemies to lovers, workplace romance, opposites attract

Actual rating 4.5/5.

I loved this, a fantastic debut office romance from Clare Gilmore. Casey Maitland, a lover of numbers, works in finance for the parent company of several magazines that is looking to break into digital/social media with a new project launch. With two parents with creative-type jobs, including her mother whose ghost haunts her, Casey decides to put herself up for a job with the new project but is beaten out by Alex Harrison: the (turns out, illegitimate and ignored) son of one of the company's board members. Off the bat, Casey is gutted, and butts heads with the social and affable Alex, presuming that the job was nepotism. But as the two grow closer while working together to get the new project to launch, Casey realizes she was wrong about Alex. But between a potential acquisition of the company, a new job opportunity for Casey overseas, and Alex's complicated relationship with his wealthy and distant father, their relationship might fail to launch.

This book is so dedicated to Casey and Alex. They feel real, fully-fleshed out. And despite their differences, both are looking for home, and share the loss of a mother early in their lives. I became soooo invested in their relationship because the author was so dedicated to developing THEM. There are side characters, and business deals, surrounding them, but not enough to make it feel like anything was being taken away from their development. The chemistry was amazing. And the third-act drama also didn't feel contrived the way it sometimes does in romance novels. I highly recommend!

I like the way the book started. I also really liked Alex’s and Casey’s characters and really happy with the way their story ended. There were some parts in the book where I found myself pushing through. I didn’t really like parts when Alex pretended he didn’t want Casey to stay with him instead of going to London. I can understand why Casey got mixed feelings from him about it. Yes, he was supportive towards her success but she was also supportive of him as well. Well, in the end it all worked out between them anyways.

Well, this was an adorable workplace romance!

It’s an enemies-to-lovers (kinda), one bed (kinda), romantic comedy. I loved Casey and Alex’s story from the moment they laid eyes on each other in the elevator. I loved the Nashville references. I loved how they both developed and found little parts of themselves along the way.

It was a little slow at times, but nothing that made me want uninterested in where it was going to go. So stinkin’ cute!

I had such a hard time putting this down once I started reading. There was just so much that I loved about it. I loved the workplace setting, and the banter between the characters was just excellent. I especially loved all the finance jokes and jargon as a finance girly. I just wish the enemies part of enemies-to-lovers trope lasted longer, as it felt like it only lasted briefly during the beginning. But I am happy that the enemies part was resolved in a mature manner between Alex and Casey, as this is not often the case in romance. I'm also happy the miscommunication trope was not implemented, as I absolutely hate it. Overall, this is a very solid debut. I recommend checking it out.

Rating: 4.5

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. Contemporary romance has not been working for me lately; I’m tired of silly 20-somethings acting like immature fools in shallow relationships based on exactly nothing other than attraction. Love Interest was different.

It’s a workplace romance and honestly, the work-related details bogged me down a bit just because my own career is so different (foreign language teacher). I think this was meant to be an enemies-to-lovers trope and that trope was pretty mild and not super believable. But what stands to me about this book is the character growth. These are mature 20-somethings working through past hurts, family history and insecurities and it’s all fairly relatable. I could see myself as I was in my 20s, dealing with all of that. The side characters and relationships are well-developed, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the friendships. Also, the writing is great for a debut romance novel. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author!

Truly I’m a little scared to keep reading September because I am starting off the month so freaking strong, but oh my lanta Alex Harrison is my new book crush and Casey Maitland is my relatable anxious soul sister.

Casey is up for a new job at work, and gets a meeting request for that morning. She meets a cute guy in the elevator who, it turns out, got the job. And he’s the son of the chairman of the board. She’s immediately suspicious and doesn’t like him because he came in and took the job she was up for. Alex makes her laugh, and they become friendly adversaries at work while working on the same project.

Alex’s declarations are just so relatable. Casey’s are too. These are two characters who feel familiar, like friends. I loved the entire cast of characters in this book. So much good stuff happening!

Chapter 31 made me believe in love. I love love. Someday I’d like to have that kind of magic. Books like this make me really feel. Please read it! Shoutout to @jessicajoycewrites for mentioning it in her stories several times which absolutely prompted me to request from NetGalley. I am SO happy I did. I’ll be ordering a copy for my shelf. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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

It you like enemies to lovers, and workplace drama, this is the book for you.

Love Interest by Clare Gilmore is a work place, enemies to lovers romance, with well-developed characters and overall an engaging storyline. Great banter between the two main characters, Alex and Casey, which kept the book well paced.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and the author for an eARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review. An excellent debut from Clare Gilmore, I cannot wait to read what comes next.