Love Interest was well-written and had good pacing. I enjoyed the relationships between the MCs and their friends and found that those relationships made both Casey and Alex more relatable. I loved the scene where Casey first meets Alex's friend Freddy at Sleight of Hand (great bar name!), then the ongoing adventure to the Karaoke Bar. The characters totally felt like real people I could be friends with and have fun!

I found that I liked each of the MCs individually, but that something was missing in their chemistry together. I could believe them as best friends who care about one another, but it was a leap once the romance kicked up between them.

Overall this was a good read, perfect for fans of The Hating Game, but with less focus on destroying the enemy.

Favourite Quotes:
"I'm dying to be wrong about you, Casey. You're not making it easy."
"You'll look as pretty tomorrow as you did the day we met."

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Clare Gilmore for an advance copy. These are my honest thoughts.

This is Clare’s debut which is A) scary, because what magnificence will she gift us with next?! B) rude, because we don’t have sixteen Clare Gilmore books to dive into right this second.

This book physically rearranged me while I was reading it. My heart? In throat. My stomach? Butterfly shaped. My eyes? HEARTS. I fell instantly for Casey, and when Alex entered the picture (LEANING, NO LESS) (you know exactly what I mean, While You Were Sleeping fans) it was game over. The banter and chemistry between these two were immaculate, and Clare builds a fully realized cast of characters around them that never feel distracting, but rather serve to make Casey and Alex’s lives (and life together) feel utterly real. Clare’s prose is warm and familiar and fresh; while I was reading, I felt like I was in a world I already knew, with people who were friends of mine. And while there are plenty of laugh out loud lines, they’re beautifully balanced with moments that made my heart ache. This story is about love, but it’s also about finding yourself, about *choosing* yourself, and so much of what Casey felt and went through resonated deeply with me. My ebook is riddled with highlights (41 to be exact).

It’s also worth noting that Clare made math romantic and beautiful!? Casey is a financial analyst and some of her musings about math—what it’s done for her in her life, how it’s made her feel—quite frankly choked me up. And for a girl who barely passed Algebra, that’s a significant win.

Bottom line: this is a book to be savored. You’ll get to the last page and feel like you’re getting in your car after a night with all the people you love. You had the best time and now that it’s over, you want to linger to keep that feeling just a little longer before you have to say goodbye to it. My heart is still aching thinking about it, and those are the kind of books that become my forever faves. Which, coincidentally, LOVE INTEREST is.

Thanks to netgalley and St. Martins Press for the early access to LOVE INTEREST.

I adored this book! A stand out debut from Gilmore, this was like a big hug. It had banter to rival Emily Henry, work place romance for two people who are working towards a common goal, and an exceptional supporting crew. I loved how relevant and timely it was without shoving it in your face. It had references for the current age but they were placed elegantly, so it wasn't cringy. Alex was so pure, and I truly adored all of the supporting characters.
Over all, this romance is not to be missed. SO much good - truly no negatives, I really loved this!

Thanks NetGalley for the free ebook! The review is my own.

This was super cute. I found the characters extremely relatable. My partner is ADHD and a lot of the same personality quirks he has, Alex has. I also share a lot of the same quirks as Casey when it comes to social situations. Furthermore I work in finance and crunch numbers all day. I hate it though haha. Numbers are hard and therefor capture my mind but not my interest. They keep me out of trouble. Casey though loves numbers and her job but feels forced into a creative direction to make other people more impressed with her. Alex and Casey both stumble through their personal traumas and dramas and try to make their lives make sense. The pacing was just a but slow for me and since it was so close to my daily life I kept comparing what could really happen and it brought me out of the story a lot.

This was a work rivals to lovers romance. The story follows Casey who works in the finance department, and after working at her company for a while, she thought she would apply for a project manager position that has just opened up. She feels really confident about getting the job, until the job is offered to the board chairman's son, Alex.

Everyone loves him, except for her. She hates that he got the job, because of his father. But things aren't always what they seem. And when they are forced to work on a project together, it all because clearer to her. There is more to Alex than being the boss' son.

While this story follows a very cliche plot, it also somehow talks about really important topics. It had a good amount of depth to it, and it really made you feel like you knew these characters well.

The book Love Interest was an enjoyable read. I would recommend any book written by Clare Gilmore. Happy Reading!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.

There was a lot of bookstagram hype and my experience was more indifferent than thrilled. 3,5 star rounded up.

An adorable New York romance. Casey is a numbers girl through and through, but she's excited to make a change when she applies for a project management position at her company. Unfortunately she doesn't get the job, and the man who does is irritatingly perfect. Alex, the estranged son of a board member, is looking to finally impress his father with a successful project launch. Despite some sore feelings, Casey agrees to help make the project a success. Along the way, she gets to know the true Alex. Of course feelings start to develop. It's just a temporary, casual thing though, right? Things are further complicated by stress about the company's future, and by what Casey sees in her own. But just maybe, they can make things work, if they really want it.

I read this one in one sitting. It pulled me in instantly. I loved Casey as a protagonist. She's very easy to relate to. She's intelligent, introverted, and curious. Alex is charming and attractive, but a much deeper character than what you see at first glance; perfect for a love interest. I shipped them from their first meeting. Their chemistry was fantastic. I liked the workplace setting, and the relationship developed at a great pace. It's a fun read, energetic, and full of heart. Would recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

dnf 16%. I really really wanted to like this book but I cannot for the life of me get into it. There were so much details about the Casey's job and literally everything else that I just kept getting taken out of the plot and dragged the story down. I really wish we would have had Alex's POV ask it may have made me more interested in their growing relationship. I also feel like I was lied to in the marketing of this book, because its was advertised as an adversaries-to-lovers book, but the rivalry had seemingly been resolved within the first 10% of the book and the pair were then fine with each other. This one just wasn't for me and I wasn't enjoying it so I stopped reading. There's a chance I'll return to it in the future, but for now I'm done.

This was a cute debut novel with enemies-to-lovers/strangers-to-lovers vibes. I thought the romance part was a little too insta but I liked the main characters together. Some of the dialogue was a bit unrealistic, but overall I liked the story.

This was a cute enough enemies to lovers book, but there wasn’t a lot of enemy involved. It was a debut novel and was well written.

Love Interest by Clare Gilmore

Published: October 10, 2023
St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Pages: 342
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Clare Gilmore is a romcom author based in Tennessee. She split her time in college studying Business (for the practicality) and English (for the romanticism of it all). When she's not writing, she's cooking excessively elaborate meals in a tiny kitchen, listening to a book on audio while she walks her dog, or planning more vacations than she'll ever be able to take.

Debut novels can often be slow or wordy. But this flowed smoothly. I liked the conversational style Clare wrote in, and I liked her character development. I loved that all of the characters had depth and dimension.

This was a sweet story. I like that the romance picks up fairly quickly; we did not have to suffer through 109 pages of almost and awkward near misses. The dialogue was engaging and made me want to keep reading, and the use of emotion was balanced perfectly.

This has everything you want from a good romance. I love feeling like a book is taking me on a journey, and this story did that.

A solid debut, and an author to keep an eye out for. I enjoyed the plot, especially that the heroine was so invested in finance, and struggled with her identity as an analytical, logical person as a child of two creatives. The style wasn't the strongest for me (I've seen it described as Gen Z, and that makes sense that as a millennial it doesn't land 100%), but I'll definitely give the author's next book a chance.

Enjoyed this fun happy ending book; author has brightness and covered the ideas of love to a new distance. Would read again

This was a sweet, easy read! It was definitely very light on the enemies portion of enemies to lovers, but being witness to Casey and Alex falling in love was precious, and the story's writing and pacing kept me engaged throughout!

This book has all my favorite tropes all within 335 pages. WORKPLACE ROMANCE!!!!!!!!!! One bed, opposites attract, HE FALLS FIRST!!!!!! and found family. This is such an unhinged review.
This was such a beautiful, and feel good romance. I loved seeing the MMC fall in love with the FMC, and her take her time to see that, and to realize her feelings back. It's a true workplace romance. The setting is mostly at work- so it's so true to the trope. Its what I wanted The Hating Game to be.

A cute romantic comedy with some spice thrown in! I love a modern heroine who is conquering life in the work place and in her relationships

A workplace romance featuring two people who think they're not in a place to "settle down."

Love Interest by Clare Gilmore is billed as an enemies-to-lovers rom-com. I'm not sure it is: Casey resents Alex at the start but not for very long, and he never has animosity toward her. Between their dead moms (cancer), identity crises, and work drama, I'm not sure the comedy part is quite there. Instead, I'd bill it as a workplace romance between two characters not intending to put down roots. (Realistic for many 20somethings in NYC!)

I really liked the writing at the beginning, including how passionate Casey seems about her job. But this one sort of fell apart for me. The dialogue - including their texts - felt so unrealistic at times, like it was there to flesh out the story, not because it's how two people would ever speak to each other in the early stages of dating. I can live with that, but I'm just not here for a man telling a woman about herself - explaining her feelings to her. And with all the focus on work in the third act, I stopped caring about whether they got together - in fact, I wondered if she'd be better off without him.

Still, this is the sort of debut that'll keep the author on my radar. And I can definitely see how those less attuned to these things would enjoy this one more - I'd still recommend giving it a shot if the premise interests you. I also think it'll be an easier sell for fans of new adult romance.

This book gave off The Hating Game vibes and I loved it just as much as I loved The Hating Game! I am a sucker for a workplace, competitors competing for the same job, romance and this one did not disappoint. It had banter, it had angst and it had amazing main characters!

This was a cute romance story. Girl sees boy, thinks he’s cute. Boy gets girls job,
Girl hates boy for a bit and then start working together and falling for each other. But to each it’s just temporary but is it?