One of my tells for a good book is getting on Goodreads to see how many other books are available by that author? However, when I check Clare Gilmore's back list I did not find anything since it was a d;ebut release. It took me a little bit to decide if I liked the protagonist, Casey Maitland, but once I realized the answer was yes, I was all in. This is a work place romance where the two main characters get off on the wrong foot on day one. Casey dislikes Alex for reasons only she understands and he is smitten, but confused. Their romance hits many bumps before the happy ending, but they are mostly believable barriers and the end is worth the wait. Good news: her next book is schedule for publication at the end of October.

I wouldn't exactly classify this as enemies to lovers, I don't think they truly hated each other, but I do love that he fell first. Casey and Alex are co-workers and Alex gets the job that Casey was hoping to be promoted to, but he has no clue about it. Him pursuing her with no idea that she's upset about the job situation is comical. It's a fun and quick ready with a slow but boring romance.

I loved this workplace romance! Casey is passed over for a promotion. Alex is the outsider who landed the job. Sparks are obvious between the two and as they get to know each other, Casey sees the real Alex and can’t be mad that he got the job. I enjoyed seeing the relationship develop between Casey and Alex.

I was hoping t0 enjoy this more than I I’d be used I do enjoy work place romances but I just could not get into it. Neither if the leads clicked with me so I was not invested in the romance.

With relatable characters, plus a really beautiful romance, I couldn’t find a single flaw in Love Interest. This may as well be my favorite contemporary romance I’ve ever read yet!

Fairly predictable rom com but it was still a good read that I enjoyed it. It was also a quick read.

This was a super cute little read. I felt that it was well written and didn't stall out. I lobed the chemistry between characters and found that it was completely relatable. The setting was super fun and i felt that the arch of the story line was well flushed.

I love workplace romance, so I was excited about Love Interest. Unfortunately, I found Casey to be irritating. I imagine others will enjoy this book. I will not be reviewing this book on my page.

This was sooooo sweet. I loved the tropes! Rivals-to-lovers, forced proximity! What more could one want? I'll definitely be recommending this to my friends.

Fun office romance. Cute story! Love Interest was a great debut. I'm looking forward to what Gilmore publishes in the future. Good for fans of the Hating Game.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this. Loved the characters, the work place romance was perfect. The story was easy to read and I felt invested in the characters. Cute romcom!

Workplace rom com and a great debut. Well-rounded and very likable characters, I enjoyed Gilmore's writing style a lot.

An adorable workplace romcom! This adversaries-to-lovers romance is perfect for fans of the Hating Game. I can’t wait to read other books by Clare Gilmore.

I loved everything about this witty, fall-in-love immediately, romcom. Gilmore's debut is well worth the wait (and the preorder).

Casey is all about the numbers and when she interviews for a new job at her company she learns the board of directors son has gotten it and she is upset and on principle hates him. Enter Alex he has no idea hes gotten the job she was wanting. He can't figure out why she doesn't like him. The more time they spend together he starts to learn why and she starts to stop hatting him and realizes he is perfect for the job. its funny to se him try to figure out but we already know the issue.

This was a great enemies to lovers, he falls first, romance office romance. And I LOVE she is such a strong smart woman.

This is a light fun read and it will pull at your heart strings!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I adore this book so much! I loved the characters, they were very likable and I was rooting for them the whole book. The plot reminded me of The Hating Game (love that book) and I think I enjoyed Love Interest equally or even more. I couldn't believe this was Clare Gilmore's debut novel! she seems like she has been writing a lifetime, I was really impressed and I will definitely be reading anything else she releases. Thank you Clare Gilmore, Net Galley, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to receive an arc of this book.

Love Interest was an interesting book with two likeable enough characters, a workplace romance, and some corporate espionage/issues. I liked the male lead better because I feel like there was more to his backstory but I dont think we still got enough of him being able to heal. She was an interesting woman but i want way way more of her history, her backstory, her past relationships everything. It was all alluded to but not much delved into and it would have given her so much depth. Things like mentioning a grandma but then we dont meet her or know anything really about her at all. The love story was good, it made sense and wasnt too abrupt. I just think i wanted to know them more.

Love Interest is a debut novel that reads like a seasoned published author’s 10th book if that makes any sense! The writing is just sooo good; the pacing is perfect and the story just flows naturally. All of the characters are well thought out and portrayed with their own personalities and characteristics where you really feel like you know them all — and there are a lot of characters to love. I wish I could climb into this book and hang out with Casey and Miriam, Brijesh, Alex, and Casey’s dads. I love that Casey wears her heart and all her emotions on her sleeve and Alex is basically the complete opposite. Their dialogue is so well done, each character having a unique voice, and the banter is perfect. It’s a romance so it’s obviously about loving another person but it’s also about loving yourself, learning who you are and want to be by your own merit and without needing approval/acceptance from anyone else. The business drama was also a really fun/interesting storyline that I did not expect I needed in a romance novel but that really kept my attention. This book 100% had me up late at night and would have been finished in one day if I hadn’t started it at 10pm on a work night. I don’t even know what else I want to say without giving away spoilers but I just really loved this book and think that everyone should check it out🥰

🪴Workplace Romance
🪴Enemies to Lovers
🪴Found Family
🪴Only One Bed
🪴LGBTQIA+ Representation

I received an advanced digital copy from NetGalley like a week before this was published (in October) so I’m a bit behind but I voluntarily read and reviewed this and am so glad it was my first read of the new year💜🩵🩷

I truly look forward to whatever is next from Clare Gilmore and am thrilled to have found another author I love to read!

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.