Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I enjoyed this workplace romance! The protagonists felt like real, complex people. I appreciated that the characters in this book felt real - had expectations they thought they should live up to, but forged their own path (especially liked that Casey bucked the creative trend and found a passion for…finance??!?). A touch of enemies to lovers, a smidge of forced proximity, a whiff of fake dating - this romance has a hint of all of these tropes while being something uniquely delightful.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a great office romance. It was well done with the balance of work and romance aspects. The writing style was also unique and a great debut addition to the romance genre. The descriptions felt fresh and new. I will definitely read more of her books when she writes them!

Love Interest by Clare Gilmore is a cute forced proximity workplace romance.

Casey is passed up for her dream job and instead the role goes to Alex Harrison, the chairman of the board’s son. They are then forced to work together.

I enjoyed the New York workplace timeline and I could feel the spark between Casey and Alex. This enemies to lovers debut is not to be missed! I can’t wait to read what Clare Gilmore does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book centered around work and included way too much mundane day to day work stuff. It took me out of the romance and left me bored.

Love Interest is peak workplace romance, and even better: workplace rivals! This book is swoonworthy, easy to read romance, while also tackling the characters' complex stories and emotions.

Casey is sure she is a shoo-in for a new position at the company she works for, until handsome, easily-likable, charismatic as hell Alex appears in the elevator and gives her a run for her money. When he's hired instead, she has a brand new workplace enemy. At the same time, Alex (whom everyone likes) has just met his match with the one person he can't win over.

Casey and Alex are so cute that I want to squeeze them, and we get to know them both very completely while they get to know one another.

This book was written for you if:
1) You love a workplace rivals to lovers romcom
2) You want to spend a day of your life in the office building in NYC
3) You are interested in a quick-to-read romantic comedy where you will fall in love with the characters

This book was a little bit heavy on the office and workplace details for me. And I needed a bit more at the end.

But the relationship? I loved it so much! There’s a hint of enemies to lovers and forced proximity, which I love. But what really got me was all of the sweet and swoony lines that melted me into a puddle. So dang romantic.

The main characters were perfectly flawed and cute and funny and so dang likable! Also.. the friend group. I want to read all of their stories!!

Thank you netgalley and St Martins for allowing me to read the book.
Omg omg I’m in love. What a wonderful loving story.
A workplace romance. Tell me more. The story revolves around Alex and Casey. And omg aren’t they just adorable. They first meet each other in an elevator. And you could say Alex fell for Casey first. I loved that it shows you could love someone while enjoying your job.

Love Interest by Claire Gilmore
Contemporary romance.
Casey Maitland feels there is truth in numbers. She is a finance professional at LC Publications and because of her creative fathers, thinks she may have missed the true direction in a career. She tries for a Project Manager transfer but loses out on the job to the board chairman’s son. Alex Harrison and Casey are tasked to work together on a project and she soon realizes he has a vision she totally missed. Worked hours turn into overtime and the team relaxing at the local bar. Which leads to more time together and sparks between the two. Corporate secrets and intrigue could cause a total overhaul and job loss so they need to figure out their own priorities.

Casey is adorable with her numbers but still wanting to honor her fathers. The group bar events are so true and amusing, all I could think was “those were the days”. Career concerns can really hit home too. Obviously there are deeper issues and concerns in this book that I thought were handled well. I loved the ending too.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

Cute story about workplace romance. It was nice to have a numbers-oriented introverted female MC who is ambitious and has goals up against a very social, always on-the-go male counterpart. The story itself dragged at times and had a lot of details about the inner workings of the company that seemed to bog the story done but on the whole, it was cute and entertaining.

I truly loved this work place rom com, it was such a fun and quick read! This was Clare Gilmore’s debut novel and I think she did amazing on this! I cannot wait to read more of Clare Gilmore in the future.

Enemies to lovers
Forced proximity
He falls first
Single POV

Casey works for a large magazine company and is going to interview for a position that management has encouraged her to apply for. We quickly find out that she does not get the job and it was given to Alex who is the son of someone on the board. Casey is not happy one bit that he was chosen for the job over her.
Casey and Alex have started to work on projects together which forces them to spend a lot of time together and Casey might have miss judged her thoughts on what she thinks of Alex.
Alex has been captivated by her since the beginning, as for Casey this has taken much longer.. Alex just wants to figure out why Casey has such a problem with him..And how he can start to win her over.

The chemistry, spice, and tension throughout this book really kept me reading and captivated. I truly enjoyed this book and highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good Rom Com!

Workplace romances are my catnip & this one checked all the right boxes for me (though I was a little lost during all the finance analysis talk, but I was just happy to be along for the ride 🤪)! This book is v character driven & the way that Casey & Alex always communicated in ways that they both needed was >>> 🥹 Honestly if you’ve ever imagined that you would spend your 20’s working in a NYC high rise w the best group of friends & a workplace enemy that you would eventually fall in love with, then pls live vicariously through Casey & Alex bc it is v satisfying!! Thank you to St Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review <3

REVIEW FOR LOVE INTEREST

4 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martins Press and SMPRomance for the gifted eARC!

I thought this was a super cute, enemies(ish) to lovers workplace romance. I loved Casey's excitement about not only her life in NYC, but also her job. I wasn't completely sold on Alex- I liked him, but there is was something about his aloofness that made me weary. I think the chemistry he and Casey had was off the charts.

What could have been a bit better is I felt the entire situation with their company was a bit too casual- the entire thing screamed privilege and it would have been better if there was some actual suffering that occurred. Otherwise, this was a refreshing story from a new author and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Looking forward to Clare's next book!

Love Interest by Clare Gilmore

Thank you NetGalley & St Martins Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a cute workplace rom-com based in New York City, and it is filled with funny banter that has you smiling and laughing! But also has the sweet and tender moments as well.

The story follows Casey, who has just lost the promotion she applied for at her work. Not soon after, she meets Alex, the man who got the position, and learns that he is the former CEO’s son, she’s takes an immediate dislike towards him. When the two are roped into a project together, Casey learns that she may have misjudged him too soon.

Now this was a workplace romance. A huge chunk of the plot was them working in the office and about Casey & Alex working together. But I thought it was great! Clare’s writing kept me engaged in the story and the little details that was added throughout about Casey and Alex’s life allowed me to connect more with their characters.

Casey was so relatable, she is pop cultured, socially awkward & introverted but as the story progresses you can see the character development happening with her becoming more confident. And Alex was such an intense and gentle character. I think they complement each other really well, they are both fun and easy to love. And their meet cute moment was definitely one of my favourite parts. I just really loved seeing Alex and Casey’s going from enemies to slowly progressing into something more.

The side characters in this story were great and very fun, and were such a tight-knit friend group that had become a found family.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and a great debut novel! I thought the writing and the plot were great. The characters were fun and relatable. The book was a soft and sweet book with a touch of spicy moments and a ton of sexual tension.

If you like workplace rom-com’s with the enemies-to-lovers, he falls first, forced proximity, only one bed tropes, I recommend checking this one out!!

Don't let the fact that this book took me FOREVER to read fool you - I absolutely loved it! I just made the mistake of starting it right before having to read several book club books. You know how that goes.

This book, sincerely, has everything I love going for it. Enemies-to-lovers, workplace romance, secret dating - THE WORKS. Casey & Alex's chemistry just sparks off the page, and I am here for it. I loved that they were basically complete opposites and yet were able to relate to each other and give each other the space they needed to process in their own time.

I really enjoyed both the representation of what appeared to be ADHD in the MMC and a little OCD in the FMC.
I loved that they both worked to bring each other rout of their shells.
I really liked that their whole dislike stemmed from a lot of miscommunication.

I did not, however, enjoy the third act breakup (spoiler alert: like all romance novels - this book has one). It felt sort of out of place and both fell apart and resolved kind of weirdly.

But I let it slide because of how much I enjoyed the rest of the novel.
This is an Aardvark Book Club pick this month (Nov 2023) - and I think you'd be doing yourself a favor if you picked it up!

Read if you liked:
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
The Last Word by Katy Birchall
Just My Type by Fallon Ballard

This was such a pleasant surprise. For all the workplace enemies to lovers books out there, I really appreciated Casey and Alex, neither one of them tried to change the other, and they really grew together. While I wouldn’t call them enemies per se, I wouldn’t have called them friends either, they fell into their relationship organically and it was lovely.

Love Interest starts with Casey Maitland getting passed up for a project manager position at her company for the board chairman’s son. After they are forced together for a project, Casey sees it as her opportunity to transfer to the London office. The only thing getting in her way was perfect Alex Harrison. As they get to know each other after hours, a workplace romance begins to spark.

I really enjoyed the diverse cast of characters and friends, and the chemistry that Alex and Casey had was very sweet. However, I do have an issue with Love Interest being described as a rom-com when I don’t think there’s that much comedy. There are definitely funny moments, but overall the emotional topics discussed, especially multiple mentions of cancer and death, do not lend towards a lighthearted read.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

This was the perfect office enemies to lovers love story with so much depth. I loved both our main characters, Alex and Casey. The book had humor mixed with deeper issues and the romance was sweet and swoon worthy! Our couple felt real, and I was genuinely invested in the outcome. There was great character development and endearing dialogue...and I'm still smiling!

4 stars

I went into this thinking it would be similar to the hating game but boy was I wrong. This is the cutest love story and I loved watching it play out. Having both the FMC AND MMC be falling in love with each other while the broken parts of them get healed is a trope I didn’t realize I needed! The ending is so sweet I feel like it should be covered in chocolate 🍫.

This was such a fun, cute story! I am always here for a good enemies to lovers forced to work together in the work place, and I ate this up. It’s fun to see a spin on the classic “creative daughter of intellectual parents” trope here, with Casey being the intellectual daughter of creative parents instead.

And watching her and Alex be thrown together time and time again kept me glued to the page. The tension and the chemistry truly crackled off the page.

Cute and fun, this one took me by surprise in the best way. There’s a lot to love here and the banter is well done! I will be looking for more Claire Gilmore books!