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?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of Love Interest by Clare Gilmore.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

It started out fun but I didn't feel the chemistry between Casey and Alex. Therefore I didn't get into the story or them as a couple. Also, it was sloooooow....

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!

Really liked this book since the beginning because the writing is really light and fun and the universe in there is also very different than what we're used to. The unwind of their relation with all the assumptions and the forced proximity really got me going and loving every single chapter.

I read this book and all I could do was talk about how everyone should read it because it's really great. <3

Love, sweetreadings

I absolutely adored this book. I am so impressed this is Gilmore's debut novel. I was sucked in from the start and could not put it down. I'm not a huge fan of enemies/adversaries to lovers but she did it so well. I loved the NYC setting, the office setting, and all the drama that entailed. The tension and banter between Casey and Alex was fantastic. I couldn't help but root for them.

I'm looking forward to reading more of GIlmore's work.

super cute romance! it was an easy read and i quite enjoyed it! there wasn’t anything extraordinary about it but i did enjoy my time reading it as well as the characters and plot!

This book is a millennial's wet dream.

I was so excited to read this, I mean just look at the cover, but I was so very disappointed. It was sweet, sure, but I couldn't get over the cringey humor. I wasn't invested in the plot whatsoever and kept zoning out and dozing off as I was reading it. I can definitely see why people like this book, but it just wasn't for me.

I'm not going to say anything else because it would just be rude and not helpful at all.

Thank you, NetGalley and Griffin for the advanced copy.

This was new to me author and I really enjoyed this romance! It was so fun, sweet, angsty, and all the tension. I’m a lover of enemies to lovers. This one delivers just that and more! Casey and Alex are a great match. I adored how they had amazing chemistry and acted like mature adults. This is something that makes me happy in stories! Alex is such a swoony character and how he fell first! Casey was so relatable. Really just a great romance! Highly recommend this one!

This was a stellar debut and I connected with the characters almost immediately. Pacing was a bit of an issue for me - I typically expect workplace rivals/enemies to lovers to spend more time in the enemy phase before dating. I thought the second half was padded with more workplace details than I cared for, so I think a slower-paced first half and then briefer workplace details would earned a higher rating.

Enemies-to-Lovers/Workplace rom-com is my kryptonite, which is why I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. A solid debut from Clare Gilmore!

Casey Maitland is a financial analyst at a Manhattan magazine publishing house, who was passed over for the out of her wheelhouse project manager position for a new brand in favor of the Chairman of the Board's son, Alex Harrison. Everyone loves the charming, handsome Alex, except for Casey, who is bitter about losing the chance at a new position to a nepo-baby. She is then asked to work alongside Alex to help launch the brand, and in forced proximity she does an about face on her position on him, even though she doesn't fully trust that he is not feeding information to his father. The corporate game threatens their fledgling relationship, but eventually Alex does the right thing.

Unfortunately this one was a huge swing and a miss for me. I wasn't able to connect with the young, privileged Gen Z characters, the finance talk and shady corporate dealings, and felt that the romance was extremely forced and there was no real chemistry between the main characters. All of this combined with long chapters made it very hard for me to get through this book and I'm definitely feeling the slump right now. I would only recommend this one if you're a big fan of workplace romances, which I am beginning to realize is not one of my favorite tropes.

I really enjoyed this debut novel about a work place romance! It includes some of my favorite tropes like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed, and he falls first so topping that off with witty banter and chemistry and you have a lovely romcom.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I usually enjoy office romances, but this one just didn’t work for me. It was slow and there were a LOT of internal monologues from Casey. As a single POV her thoughts seemed to go on and on ad nauseam. The worst examples were during conversations when Casey would have a page long diatribe about herself in her head before responding to who she was talking to. I think it would have been so much better as a dual POV. I really liked Alex and wanted to get inside his head more. He was very honest and transparent most of the time, but there were times his thoughts would have greatly added to the story.

Thank you netgalley for this arc! I had high hopes for this one since it had some of my favorite tropes: workplace romance and rivals to lovers. Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me. It was hard for me to feel the chemistry between the two main characters and the relationship felt a little forced to me. There were a few plotlines going on at once which made it difficult for the story to flow. This one had a lot of potential but unfortunately, it missed the mark.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. This book too me so long to read because I didn’t want it to end. It was so so good. I will for sure read more from this author. I love a workplace romance and it was well written.

4 stars!

Oh, how I love a book set in New York City!

I had DNF'd a couple of books and needed something to get me back on track! This fit the bill perfectly! This enemies-to-lovers workplace romance fit the bill perfectly! Easy read with the right amount of spice. Thank you to St Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

I really loved this! A workplace romance with only a one-bed trope?? I loved it. So fun! We all hate nepo babies but I'll make an exception for bb Alex.