The writing was great and I really liked how well-rounded the side characters were with their own stories, but this didn’t feel like the typical romance to me — which isn’t a good or bad thing, just a little different than I was expecting.

I think there are people who will love that change of pace and I did appreciate that romantic love wasn’t the be-all-end-all for Casey, that she was invested in her job and in following her dreams to live in another continent, but for me it also had a bit too much personal angst for something marketed as a rom com.

The secret she felt she had to keep from Alex; starting a relationship with an end date; leaving her friends, her home, moving even further away from her family who she seems close with but also hadn’t seen in 2 years to move to London (which seemed to be great for her, just stressful/sad for me!).

There were some great “twists” (not hairpin curves, just things that make you realize things aren’t always what they seem), lines and call-backs, and the relationship between Casey and Alex was really warm and lovely. I think it just comes down to feeling a bit anxious throughout the whole book because it felt like—even knowing that there had to be a HEA—something bad was coming/she was keeping something from someone she was developing an emotional connection with, which makes it kind of hard to develop intimacy. (It all turned out okay of course, but I usually like a bit more stability.)

Wow. I'm absolutely blown away by this book. I have read a LOT of romance in the last few years, but for me this book has embodied the feelings of falling in love better than anything I have read.

The premise is fairly standard for a contemporary romance. Casey and Alex are both twenty-somethings that work for the same Buzzfeed-esque media company. Casey applies for a promotion that Alex receives in her place, because he's the son of higher-up in the company. Casey hates Alex's guts at first, but as they get to know each other, cracks form in their walls and they can't help falling in love.

But my gosh, what a romance. It's not a slow burn in the sense that there's plenty of spicy times throughout, but I've never seen such a realistic slowly-falling-in-love in a genre romance novel. The desire and the curiosity and the insecurities and the obsession you attempt to ignore... Maybe I'm telling on myself, but it made me just want to grab my husband and sob for the sake of love.

To be vague and avoid spoilers -- there is an actual, meaty plot that doesn't feel contrived and actually has to do with the motivations and fatal flaws of Alex and Casey. I saw some of the signs of eventual conflict early on and I dreaded the "third act break-up," but there was enough of an actual plot point going on that it didn't feel contrived for the sake of the trope. (And, dare I say, there was enough of a twist to things that it didn't feel that trope-y at all.)

The secondary characters felt like real people as opposed to quirky stereotypes, despite the unarguably quirky setting of New York and Not-Buzzfeed. There are awkward missteps from youth and inexperience, but interactions that feel genuine to the 20-something experience and not belittling, or like one liners from Tumblr. The writing at times might be melodramatic or overly poetic for some readers, but I thought it was absolutely beautiful.

I don't know what else to say to explain my love for this book. I'm more of a Historical Romance reader than a Contemporary Romance reader, but this book obliterated all the things I usually don't enjoy about Contemporary Romance.

I love it. I can't believe this is a debut. I swear to God I need more books from Clare Gilmore.

My deepest thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eArc.

I had a lot of personal issues with this book, namely that I really should stop reading books that are marketed toward young millennials. I did like the characters for the most part, and I enjoyed the main couple and their romance. However, it was impossible for me to ignore how irritated I got with all the little tangents Casey would have in her head. Very unnecessary and took me out of the book. These are my own opinions, and you may enjoy this book more than I did!

This was a fun work place enemies (kinda) to lovers book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to see what else Clare Gilmore will write.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/ St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise.~

Is there anything more romantic than a man asking what laundry detergent you use?

Apparently not.

This is a classic comfort-read romance for me. I was side-eyeing Alex and his fuckboy-esque mantras for a minute, but I was glad to see they were quickly explained and abandoned. There is a third act breakup--I didn't even realize they broke up at first!--and even though it's an imo overused trope, it felt slightly more earned than most. No miscommunication, so love that.

I was surprised to read that this is the author's first novel, because it reads like a veteran romance author. Thanks to her et all for the ARC!

10*stars. This is a perfectly written love story. I couldn't put it down. I loved it from beginning to end. It is a must read.

Delightful enemies to lovers workplace romance!

Casey Maitland is a finance wiz in Manhattan, looking to spread her wings into a more creative venture. Alex Harrison is the smart, handsome, and educated extrovert that swoops in gets the job.

Sparks fly and soon the will-they-won't-they had me cheering for them both.

I loved this book and loved the cute cover that came along with it. It was a cute novel - enemies to lovers trope which I love. This book follows Alex and Casey as they work together on a project. The banter back and forth was funny and I quite enjoyed how they grew closer and opened up to each other. Looking forward to reading the next book from this author!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Casey is a great financial analyst, and she is hoping to be chosen as project manager. If she does well, she expects to get a job with her company in London where her mother was from. Alex seems to have it all; handsome, rich, and charm. He gets the job and Casey is assigned to help with the financials. He is loved by all except for Casey. She does her best to ignore him but his charm is hard to ignore. While Casey needs the project to go well, Alex wants to be successful to impress his distant father. This book was great. I loved that numbers were easy and fun for Casey. For many women, numbers are a challenge. Casey’s friends are a delight and as Casey and Alex begin going out, they are there for Alex as well. Casey’s two fathers offer a lot of love and support and they were great at creating a life Casey felt she needed. The relationship Alex had with his father was sad, he tried so hard to impress. I admired his ability to hide his feelings and stick with his work ethic. Great characters, lots of love and humor.

I looked up young actors for both lead characters and pictured Julian Kang as Alex and Emma Watson as Casey. So if this amazing debut becomes a movie someday, I called it.
Thank you to #NegGalley for an ARC of Love Interest by Clare Gilmore - release date #10.10.2023

Casey is a 24 year old financial analyst who wants a sexy role project managing a new division of the company… but even though she was told she was a shoo in, it instead goes to the board chairman’s son, Alex. Although he seems equally qualified, Casey hates him on principle, and I found the initial enemies part of this trope annoying. However, they soon put their differences aside and team up… both at work and also in a romance that builds slowly and realistically. Some of the workplace drama felt a little bit fake (the problems Casey and Alex were trying to solve felt like they would be well above the paygrade of 24 year olds, whether rockstars or not), but overall, I really enjoyed this debut novel.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Casey is up for a new job at her company and is left disappointed when finding out the job isn't hers. Alex is the one who is hired the job. After finding out that Alex is also related to the former ceo and current chairman, she dislikes him even more.

Once getting to know each she finds out there is more to the story than originally thought.

I'm usually a huge fan of enemies to lovers but this one just wasn't it. While I liked Casey enough, I didn't care much for Alex. I think I would enjoyed this more if it was told in alternating pov.

Attention romance readers: I have an upcoming romance novel to keep on your radar.

Love Interest is a novel about Casey Maitland, a quirky Gen Z finance expert working in Manhattan for a powerhouse publication. When an opportunity opens for a Project Manager position opens, she throws in her hat.

The only problem….

Alex Harrison.

And romance readers, may I introduce you to your next book-boyfriend. 😉

This book surprised me in all the good ways. It started a bit slow, where I wasn’t fully invested in our MC right away, but that completely changed once we really started diving into the relationship between our Casey Maitland and her love interest Alex Harrison.

If you love rivals-to-lovers, co-worker romance, he falls first, rom-com make sure to check out Love Interest.

Happy Reading ~ Cece

Love interest was a sweet novel between office enemies turned lovers. Love interest follows Alex and Casey as they navigate working together on a project. While Casey is initially hesitant to trust Alex, I enjoyed how Alex and Casey grew together and opened up. In this book you will find sweet moments, clever banter, and character growth. I recommend Love Interest to anyone who is looking for a quick heart felt read.

Casey wants the job that Alex gets and she immediately hates him for it! (Let's be honest...wouldn't you, too?)

Doesn't everyone love the enemies-to-lovers trope? The banter between the characters is fun. I wish the characters were slightly older so it was a bit more realistic but overall a super cute story!

I love a good workplace enemies to lovers but this one fell a little flat for me. The beginning was hard to get through and the plot didn't carry the story along smoothly like it should. I think there's potential if the characters are expanded upon some, and the plot developed more while the little insignificant details are left out.

This was really cute! I loved the main couple and I really enjoyed how fun this felt. It was light hearted and exactly what I needed. And the main character was so likable!! It’s so fun to read a book when the protagonist is your age.

I’ll definitely be reading more of Clare Gilmore!

The only thing I didn’t love was the pacing. I’m not a fan of hookup culture, so I did feel like their relationship progressed a bit too quickly for my taste.

This is a first person, single POV, enemies-to-lovers, workplace, hugely diverse! romance. The cover was super cute, and while the title confused me at first, it really matched the premise, and I loved that. Unfortunately, this book was not right for me as a reader. I DNF'd at 20% because I found the beginning to be too slow and hard to get into for me. I prefer books that can capture my interest and attention fairly early on.

I think it started in the wrong place, and I think that's probably the biggest reason it didn't capture my attention. It opens the day Casey is preparing for a meeting to find out if she got a promotion/job she applied for. After finding out she doesn't get it, we jump ahead in time by like a month. I'm glad she met the MMC in the first part, because that's just how I, personally, like my Romance books to play out, but that was overshadowed by the fact that the entire first part could've been woven into the story as background, rather than being shown in a scene to the reader. Because after the time-jump, the reader is just expected to hate the MMC because he got the job out of nepotism. I didn't feel like there was a build up or even a really good explanation of why we were being set up as enemies-to-lovers except that he got the job out of nepotism. I also stopped reading around 20% and skimmed chunks before that, so it's possible I missed it. But . . . was Alex good at his job and that's why we hate him? Because it turned out that he actually knew what he was doing and was a good fit and that irks our ego because we just want to think he got it solely out of who his father is?

Alex (MMC) came off a little flat, and Casey (FMC) came off a little Type-A, but like, the mildly irritating kind to read about.

It's told from our FMC's POV only, and while that isn't a gripe of mine at all, it was heavy with some internal dialogue that I found myself skimming because it came across as unnecessary to move the story along and maybe even a little random and scattered? I think other readers might find it a little info-dump heavy or too much telling and not enough showing. It made the beginning drag more than it should have, I felt like. There's also a huge cast of characters that are introduced in the first 20% of the novel (with tonnnssss of diversity!!!), which was a little hard to keep up for me. And then she randomly goes viral on a video she helps with, and that confused me just a tad.

I've read some other reviews that say that the story and characters are really well fleshed out and developed fully, which is not something all authors can say, but unfortunately, I didn't get that far into the book because the first part didn't capture my attention and draw me fully in. This is less of a devour kind of book for me, and more of a sampling--easy to put down, fairly easy to pick back up. Again, I've read some other reviews that say once you get past the first 20-ish% that the story picks up and becomes an engrossing devour kind of book, but I think that'll come too little, too late for many readers like myself. Normally, I'd skim the rest of the book to find out big plot points and see how the characters developed, but I just wasn't interested enough to do that this time.

This is the author's debut novel, and while this one wasn't right for me as a reader, I liked the author's overall voice, and I'd happily check out her stuff again in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

Author Claire Gilmore's debut, "Love Interest," is an adorable workplace romance. Casey is a finance pro at an evolving New York Media company. She loses a promotion to newcomer Alex only to discover he's also the board chairman's son. Unsurprisingly, things get heated and sparks fly.
I had high hopes for the book's premise and it doesn't disappoint. However, I feel the drive of the plot isn't enough to push the entire novel and fizzles out about midway through the book only to pick up again in the final chapters. Overall, "Love Interest" is still worth the read if you're looking for an enemies-to-lovers/workplace romance.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
3.5/5

DNF at 30%

The title and cover of the book really caught my attention so I was excited to be able to read it but it was a bit too slow for my liking.

Thank you St Martins Press and NetGalley for this arc.