This is a fun, sweet read with a female main character who aspires to be an author and a Mr. Darcy-inspired male main character. I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Liv and Aiden. I also appreciated the supportive, kind side characters- it would be a perfect read for someone looking for a light, low-drama book!

Tropes: Some mild spice, a mix of enemies/friends to lovers, forced proximity

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books. I absolutely demolished this book in a matter of days. Olivia is a romantic and fell in love with her brothers best friend 10 years ago but when he moves in with her and her brother do things change. Definitely has a fair few steamy chapters.

ARC REVIEW

My Star Rating: 3.75/5 ⭐
My Spice Rating: 3/5 🌶️
Favorite Characters: Liv, Aiden, Stevie

What you’ll find:
🩷Single POV (FMC)
🩷Enemies to Lovers
🩷Brother’s Best Friend
🩷Witty/Flirty Banter
🩷Forced Proximity
🩷References to Mr. Darcy

Liv is a hopeless romantic, avid reader, and aspiring writer. She lives with her brother in London while writing her novel and working as a part-time librarian at a large university. Liv is having a hard time writing her book because she can’t figure out a love interest and lacks a romantic partner of her own. To her, no man compares to Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Her world is turned upside down when Aiden, her brother’s best friend, lands a job at the same university where she works.

While looking for his own flat in London, Aiden moves in with Liv and her brother. Things didn’t go well at Liv and Aiden’s first meeting ten years ago, and they have been enemies since. As Liv spends more time with Aiden and focuses on creating a love interest for her romance novel, she realizes there may be more to her relationship with Aiden. There is a thin line between love and hate.

There are things to love about this story – Aiden has a sexy Irish accent and is Liv’s real-life Mr. Darcy, the witty/flirty banter is perfect, references to great romantic movies/books, grand romantic gestures, and even a spicy library scene. There are some super sweet moments and some laugh-out-loud moments. The descriptive writing kept me wanting to read to the end. I loved the dynamics of the relationships in the story: Liv and Aiden, Liv and Dan, Dan and Theo, and Liv and Stevie.

Like most romance books, the story was predictable at times. There were also times when I felt the dialogue could have been more realistic. There could have been more character development, and it would have been fantastic for this to be written in dual POVs to give readers more from Aiden. Overall, this was a nice, light, heartwarming, and easy read. If you love witty banter and Pride and Prejudice, this is the perfect story for you.

Thank you to Victoria Walters, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was an adorable and hilarious enemies-to-lovers romance with all the swoonworthyness you'd hope for from this trope. Great tension, sizzling chemistry, witty banter, and an Irish accent!

WHAT I LOVED MOST:
Banter! Delicous, heat filled banter!
Jealousy... who doesn't love a bit of a jealousy in their enemies-to-lovers?
Bookstores and (wink, wink) libraries! A bookworms dream setting!
Mr. Darcy Moments-IYKYK (PS-Y wanna K)

MY FAVORITE QUOTES:
"This is why I don’t tell men I’m writing romance.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Straight men,’ I corrected. ‘They just don’t get it."
"Books are my favorite backdrop."
"Aiden cocked an eyebrow. I wish I knew how to do that. He made it look cool. I looked like I had a nervous twitch when I tried it."
"‘God. Don’t quote Pride and Prejudice at me. I will never get over you otherwise..."

Overall, this book was a delightful weekend read for me. It made me laugh out loud and awwww out loud too. If you're in the mood for a romcom with a little spice, check this out!

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This is a perfect read for fans of enemies to lovers. The book follows a librarian Liv who for the longest has been trying to write a romance novel. Her luck might change when her brother’s best friend moves in .Aiden and Liv don’t get along but he could be the muse she is looking for.Lovable characters, a great plot, page turner and great one liners -this is the enemies to lovers book we needed .

This is a super cute enemies to lovers story and I enjoyed reading it. Liv and Aiden made me smile and I thought their banter was pretty funny. Of course, communication was an issue, but as romance readers we know this to be part of the deal. I enjoyed the secondary characters as well, they broke up the strife within the story in a way that added to it and I loved how everyone got their own versions of a HEA.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood books. I like this book but I was not all into it. It was more of a read but not something I always wanted to pick up. I think it is worth the read but I was not all deeply interested but the author has something going for them and I would be willing to read more from them.

⭐⭐⭐⭐✨/5

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵.”

I've always loved Victoria Walters' Glendale Hall Series, so when I began reading The Love Interest, I had to pause to check if I was actually reading the same author. This one has such a different vibe, and I'm completely here for it. The interactions are absolutely hilarious; I cracked a lot. In addition, this has most of the tropes that I like: Enemies to lovers, close proximity, miscommunication, Witty Banter, and, of course, book & movie talks. The level of angst and chemistry are also totally on point. Anyhow, if you're a fan of Jane Austen's BBC Pride & Prejudice, particularly Mr. Darcy's lake scene, I'm sure you’ll like this one too.

I was sorely missing a lighthearted romantic comedy after consuming books that were emotionally intense; fortunately, this one met my needs on both counts.

Consider adding it to your TBR for this year's Valentine's Day must-read! Many thanks to the author Victoria Walters, the publisher Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading an eARC of The Love Interest. The opinions expressed are completely my own.

I really loved reading this book, it was the perfect book to pick up on the run-up to Valentine's Day. It's got two of my favourite troupes in it the enemies to lovers and the brothers best friend/ little sister and I love it when I get them both together, don't ask me why because I can't tell you but I just do. I loved Liv, her style was epic I could never pull anything she put on off but the outfits all sounded amazing and I just really liked her, she just sounded like a really nice person to be around. I loved getting glimpses into her book and watching her hidden feelings for Aiden come out in it and her gradually figure out that she did really fancy him. Aiden was a perfect leading man, I so enjoyed watching the ways he tried to show Liv he actually liked her before they actually talked about it, they were so sweet if sometimes irritating to her.
I loved the little side story romance of her brother Dan and his boyfriend Theo, they were so cute together and I loved how their ending went( no spoilers from me)
I really don't want to say much more about the story because I don't want to do any spoilers but one of my favourite scenes was near the end and let's just say any Mr Darcey fans will love it.
I found this such a lovely easy book to read it flowed so well and Victoria Walter's writing style is perfect for this kind of romance, i can't wait to read more by her so I'm eagerly awaiting her next book.

The Love Interest by Victoria Walters

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

No man can be as good as the one in your imagination... Librarian Liv Thomas has always dreamed of writing a romance novel. But she’s stuck when it comes to creating a romantic hero – sadly – lacking anyone in real life to base him on.

When her brother suggests his best friend stay in their shared flat for a few weeks, she can’t believe her bad luck. Aiden Rivers is irritating and pushes all her buttons. Worst of all, he’s gorgeous, has a sexy accent and reminds her of her all-time favourite character Mr Darcy.

Liv finds herself unexpectedly inspired and the leading man in her novel begins to bear an uncanny resemblance to Aiden. He can never find out she’d never live it down. Because Aiden can only ever be her love interest in the pages of her book – and definitely not in real life… right?!

A sexy enemies-to-lovers rom com, perfect for those who spend far too much time thinking about Mr Darcy coming out of the lake!

My Opinion

I read this book over the course of a day, I put it down for a few hours and just wanted to get straight back into it. For me Victoria did a great job with these characters and I liked the character development. I found this to be a great book to read on a weekend and I would highly recommend this book. If you have read a Victoria Walters book then you will know what to expect from this.

Rating 4/5

I don’t like giving negative reviews and honestly I rarely do. I picked this book up because I love the concept and the cover art is so cute. However, this book was very hard for me to get into and never really caught my attention. I had a very difficult time enjoying interactions between characters and found this book very cheesy and overly relying on the ideas of the tropes with poor execution. Very little made sense in the way of character development in the shifting of relationships between the love interests. For such a short book, it took me far too long to get through it.

Absolutely excellent romance. This is the ideal “enemies to lover” set in a bookshop. It is utter perfection. Loved the characters and the literary references. Will recommend to everyone.

Gosh i tried so hard to read and finish this
Besides the fact that in the first 40% somthing nothing of a big deal happens, the rest is even worse

Thank you netgalley for the arc tho, really appreciate it

I really had to read this book after I read the book blurb! I’m a huge fan of the Mr Darcy coming out of the lake scene and so I was utterly sold on that concept alone!
I loved the enemies to lovers trope, it was wonderful to see them banter with each other throughout the story.
Aiden was a gorgeous character, and I could see why Liv had focused her writing based on a character like him!
It was fun to see them becoming drawn to each other, and to watch the love develop in real life too. It was a clever concept having Liv writing a romance whilst living it out at the same time.
A lovely romance that was filled with fun moments and a great amount of interesting characters.

I loved this book! Everything I love in a rom-com, especially a good enemies-to-lovers storyline. Liv and Aiden are hilarious and I loved watching the relationship change from frenemies to so much more. Will definitely be reading more by Victoria Walters.

Victoria Walters has written some wonderful books, creating series’ I’ve really enjoyed with characters I’ve grown fond of. I was eager to read this latest, standalone book and it did not disappoint in the slightest. Who doesn’t love an enemies to lovers story arc?
I’ve seen reviews that found Aiden annoying at first; I didn’t at all – I thought he was funny, sounded dreamy and was bouncing off the energy Olivia gave to him. Olivia’s brothers best friends has been part of her life for so long and he annoys her, she finds herself frustrated over the smallest thing he does. At first, we don’t understand why, but as the story unfolds we get to learn why Aiden pushes her buttons in all the wrong ways. I like Olivia’s character but boy has she held on to that for a long long time! Maybe it’s just me that could clearly tell he was into her from the start and that teasing, being a bit mean was just his way of showing it?
Olivia is trying to write her first romantic novel, needing something to influence her story she starts to see those around her in new ways, emotions are stirred and perhaps that annoying pain in the bum best friend of her brothers is not as bad as she thought. With life throwing them together in more ways than one, she slowly starts to think of Aiden in a completely new, sexy, way.
This book does play on the romantic cliches that we love, the Mr Darcy-esq moments, the will they/ wont they, the decoy love interest that doesn’t amount to anything (they are definitely not suited at all anyway).
I really enjoyed reading this one, funny with romance and passion oozing from every chapter. An easy read that was entertaining from start to finish.
Another brilliant read from Victoria Walters.

"The Love Interest", by Victoria Walters, is composed around one of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers. Liv is a university librarian who dreams of writing her own romance novel. Aiden is her brother's best friend and her own mortal enemy. The two of them can't stand each other and hate being in the same room -- or do they? Liv is a hopeless romantic with high expectations that love will be just like the relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, and Aiden is desperate for her to see him as a viable match. The two will butt heads and sparks will fly as they learn that romance can come in unexpected ways.

I enjoyed the romantic elements of this book -- the Mr. Darcy references, the romance book tropes Liv is adding to her own novel, etc. However, the storyline felt a little too formulaic and the chemistry felt forced. I also thought that Aiden getting so upset over the novel Liv was writing was a little ridiculous. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

It was a good book and I would recommend this to anyone who likes the enemies to lovers book ! Although I felt like it was quite basic and did not stand out too much but other than that it a good book for those who wants a light read .

Liv works at a university library and lives with her brother. His best friend, Aiden, interviews for a job as head of film studies at her university. Liv and Aiden have always had a tendency to bicker so the last thing she wants is him around more.
Liv – who believes Mr Darcy is the perfect hero - is trying to write a romantic novel, but doesn’t have a lot of relationship experience to draw upon. So somehow Aiden pops up in her mind as inspiration for her love interest.
This enemy-to-lovers rom-com dragged in the second half, particularly as there wasn’t much of a secondary plot thread beyond the romance to keep things interesting. The literary and movie mentions were fun and I love the idea of a film festival with “kissing in the rain” as a theme.

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Liv is an aspiring romance writer who moves to London to live with her brother to pursue her dream. She gets a job at a University library and soon after her brother’s best friend Aiden, whom she hates, joins the University as faculty. Aiden moves in with Liv and her brother temporarily while he finds a place and while they are forced to live together they realize they might’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.

The idea was good, I think the plot sounded interesting, especially as an admirer of Mr. Darcy myself, however I found the story lacked depth and I DNF’d at 55%. Everything is being told to you instead of bringing you into the story with the characters. There was no room for the little things, instead of setting the scene and letting it play out, there’s a time jump to get to the next scene faster, this happened frequently. They start a movie and then the movie is over and they leave. What was the point of the movie if it wasn’t going to play a part in the story? Liv pours a glass of wine and the next sentence she notices it’s gone and she’s drunk. I want to know how she got there, what happened up to get to that point, those little details flesh out the story. Conversation doesn’t flow naturally and feels superficial, it read like someone writing a story instead of interactions that might actually take place.

Unfortunately by the halfway point, Aiden still didn’t have a discernible personality outside of a few quips and Liv’s constant complaints about his existence. What is supposed to be charged banter just comes off as juvenile and petty, especially from Liv.