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.

“You deserve love that people write stories about.”

Blurb:
Olivia ‘Liv’ is a librarian that has always dreamed of writing her own romance novel but is lacking inspiration for the male lead. When her brother’s best friend, Aiden, temporarily moves in with them, she might have just found the perfect man to base the love interest in her book on.

I really enjoyed this one! It has so many good tropes! The Love Interest is a super quick and steamy enemies to lovers romcom! The banter in this was great and made it super entertaining and fun. There was so much tension and chemistry between Liv and Aiden, that it kept things interesting and intense to the point that I couldn’t put this book down! I also really loved the pride & prejudice references! 😍

Aiden was swoon worthy and charming with a sexy Irish accent. Liv is brilliant and fun! I can definitely relate to her love of books and her fear of rejection. I really enjoyed seeing the process of her writing her novel.

Overall, this book was fun, sexy, and definitely a must read for romance book lovers, especially those who are fans of Mr Darcy! I really hope the author does a book 2 because I would love to see Liv’s best friend, Stevie get her happily ever after!

“Because life is not about the happy ending, it’s about being happy as much as you can be while you’re in the middle of it.”

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

⭐️/5 🌶️/3 ❤️/5

I loved this book by Victoria Walters! The moment I read the name Mr. Darcy (swoon!) & the title of the book Pride & Prejudice (my FAVORITE book!) I was hooked on this book! In addition to all this the book is filled with hilarious, laugh out loud banter between the characters.

The Love Interest appeals to all the things I love about romance books - enemies to lovers, two perfectly suited characters coming together at last, the grand gesture & a happily ever after. Olivia finds Aiden absolutely irradiating yet somehow he becomes the inspiration for her male character in her novel. She doesn’t see how that is possible until her best friend points out that Aiden & Olivia are the characters. As the novel progresses and changes Olivia finds herself writing & using her book to understand all the feelings she is now enveloped in from all her interactions with Aiden. All they need now is to navigate this new territory together and see the puzzle pieces coming together.

the is a MUST read from me!!! and to all the romantics : read The Love Interest & fall in love with Olivia & Aiden (it’s easy to do). And then afterwards, read Pride & Prejudice, watch the movie & fall in love with Mr. Darcy & Elizabeth 🥰

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing the ARC.

I'm going to start off by saying that I struggled a lot with this book.

At first it was the writing - I was having a hard time getting into Walters' prose. At times it felt very forced, somewhat rudimentary, and just kind of flat. I had a hard time enjoying the story because the writing, to me, was incredibly lackluster. There was no spark, no warmth.

And Aiden and Liv. There was obviously something that happened in the past that was the impetus for their hostile relationship. They have spent years ragging on each other. Some of what they said to each other was really not kind. Like bad enough where I was finding it hard to want to root for either of them to get together.

Overall, this was not a good book for me.

Everyone wants to find their Mr. Darcy. The handsome gentleman whose bluntness induces Elizabeth's anger, but his sweet heart would melt anyone's walls and beg for romance. Walters' protagonist, Liv, is no different. Striving to complete her book, her lack of a love interest infuriates her, but when an old acquaintance reappears in her life and takes the spare bedroom in her shared flat, Liv may have just found the inspiration she needs (not that she would admit it).

The Love Interest was a fun, cute book; a perfect read for Valentine's Day. The humour and hijinks reads as your typical Rom-Com but Walters adds a hint of irony, for what can Pride and Prejudice be other than Romance's most beloved enemies-to-lover novel? Liv has to see beneath Aiden Rivers's veneer to find her Mr. Darcy and it was well worth reading.

Overall, The Love Interest brings the Romance of Jane Austen into the 21st Century (something that isn't new, but fresh to read as its own story rather than a retelling) in a charming, fun Rom-Com where not everything goes the way you think it will.

Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ah, a rom-com following someone who wants to become a romance author. Books like that are always such fun. Though I hadn’t heard about this one before seeing it on NetGalley, I knew I had to check it out. Books, movies, roommates and enemies to lovers? Yeah, that sounds pretty damn good to me.

In this book, we follow Liv, a librarian who has been dreaming of writing her romance novel for years. She just doesn’t have the inspiration for a love interest as good as Mr Darcy. As she finally decides to sit down and try to write, her brother’s best friend, Aiden, moves into the flat she shares with her brother for a bit. The two of them don’t get along, but he begins to inspire her romantic hero, and Liv decides to just go along with it. Especially, when she figures out that she is still attracted to him.
I will note this review will have spoilers as I wanna rant.

This did sound like a lot of fun, and it had its good moments. I loved that everyone was encouraging Liv to write her book, and I loved that both she and Aiden were so passionate about specific forms of media. But that was…kind of it? I thought I’d have more thoughts as I gave this book 3 stars when I finished it, but a few days have passed, and I just feel meh about it now.

I struggled with suspending my disbelief in parts. Especially, related to publishing. When we get to the end of this book, what Liv’s best friend and LI do to ‘support’ her would kind of have me screeching no. I get it was supposed to be supportive, but ooof? Also, how’d it go well so quickly when this was her first novel? I just can’t believe that.

Plus, I just didn’t care about the romance. I wanted to, and I thought I would. I managed to make my way through the book, but I just didn’t care in the end, unfortunately. I wish I had more to say about this one, but sadly just didn’t wind up with many thoughts.

The good thing about this one was the not-the-love interest wasn’t an idiot. It always baffles me when the heroine falls for the awful smarmy man’s charms and seeing her not fall for someone for just normal reasons was great. The fact she wasn’t described as hideous looking also helped because books always seem to describe their heroines in a false self-deprecating way which makes them sound insane, good to read a book about two normal people making it work. A great read.

If there were an award for least self-aware main character - this one wins! I’ll admit this was slow to get into, but once I did, I started to really enjoy the obvious chemistry between Liv & Aiden! Towards the end, it did fall off again and I found myself skimming more than I would’ve liked. The miscommunication throughout the book was a bit of a turn-off, but if you’re into the Mr. Darcy thing, this could definitely be for you. Catch this one when it comes out next week on 2/12!

Librarian Liv is an aspiring romance author but is stuck when it comes to creating a hero. When her brother's best friend who's also her nemesis starts staying at their shared flat, she's annoyed at the very least. Aiden pushes all her buttons. It doesn't help that he reminds her of her all-time favourite character, Mr Darcy.

This story was interesting for the first half of it but when the conflict arose, I didn't get why the FMC tried to reconcile with the MMC by using the one thing that tore them apart. The grand gestures were honestly too much of a cringe fest for me. I lost interest from then on and just skimmed till I finished.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Meet Olivia and Aiden. She's an assistant librarian, romantic and wants to be a writer. He's everything she hates [or thinks she does]. When these two are in the same room, sparks fly... but they usually result in insults. What will happen when the two are forced together, will the enemies become something else?

I just love Victoria Walters' Glendale Hall and Dedley End mysteries, and I was excited to pick this one up. From the very first page I was hooked. I wanted to read faster and faster, to find out if Aiden and Olivia get together, but at the same time I didn't want the story to end!

As many readers know, I love a good biblio-anything. Be it romance or mystery, I love when the setting has a biblio element, and the background of the University library was the perfect place for this modern day romance. With as many Pride & Prejudice references that my Mr Darcy-loving heart could handle, The Love Interest was an absolute pleasure to read from beginning to end.

For readers of the Glendale Hall series, this romance is a little steamier and I am completely here for it. Victoria Walters steps up to the plate and writes a story that is a little spicier, with chemistry and romance leaping from the pages.

If you're looking for a new romance to celebrate Valentines Day this February, pick up The Love Interest. It's the perfect story to make you believe in love and happily ever afters!

This was such a cute, fun and sexy read that I couldn't put down! The premise was really enjoyable and all of the characters I absolutely adored. I really loved our two main characters, Liv and Aiden - the enemies to lovers trope between the two was a whirlwind in the best possible way and I was rooting for them every second. The side characters were also an absolute delight, you will find yourself also rooting for their happy endings! Having already been a fan of Victoria's previous work, I really enjoyed the different atmosphere and entertainment this book provided compared to others and look forward to what comes next!

Olivia work as a librarian and also preparing to finish writing her first ever rom-com book. But she encounter one problem, which is unable to create a charming sexy love interest as Jane Austen's Mr Darcy. It did not help when her forever nemesis aka her brother best friend, Aiden is now working at the same university and has to stay at their place for one whole week. Her relationship with Aiden is never peaceful, as he always know how tease and pissed her off. Things gone unexpectedly when she begins to write her love interest character based on Aiden.

I'm gonna be honest, I truly did not expect much from the book. But it proves me wrong. Aiden and Olivia banter are so cute, entertaining. Their chemistry is top notch, I find myself looking forward to see them together and being in love. While some parts are a bit cringe and gives me secondhand embarrassment, I did enjoy it more than I expected. There is a slight misunderstanding and miscommunication, but the way it resolves was quite okay. I love that the conflict resolved pretty quickly instead of dragging it. Also to mention, while I love their relationship and Aiden feelings revealed it kind of giving me ick (don't want to spoil it but you will know if you read it). But of course it just what I felt.

Overall, would highly recommend this book if you want a good enemy to lover, brother bestfriend troupe, light and sweet read. This book is so good! Giving it 3.6 🌟 Thank you Netgalley for the review copy.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book by Victoria Walter’s.

It made me laugh and I didn’t want to put it down.

The story was so well written and I loved the characters and their development throughout the book.

I highly recommend this book.

Let me tell you about this gem of a book called "The Love Interest" by Victoria Walters! From the moment I cracked open its pages, I was whisked away on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, laughter, and swoon-worthy romance.

A Fun and Flirty Storyline:
Picture this: a lovable librarian named Liv dreams of writing her own romance novel but can't seem to find the perfect leading man—until her brother's friend, Aiden, enters the scene. Cue the witty banter, the undeniable chemistry, and the hilarious misunderstandings that ensue as Liv's imagination runs wild and her feelings for Aiden start to blur the lines between fiction and reality.

Characters You'll Root For:
Liv and Aiden stole my heart from the get-go with their playful banter and simmering attraction. Liv's quirky charm and Aiden's brooding yet endearing demeanor make them a dynamic duo that you can't help but root for. Their journey from reluctant acquaintances to something more is filled with ups and downs, laughter and tears, and moments that will tug at your heartstrings.

A Love Letter to Romance:
What I love most about "The Love Interest" is how it celebrates the magic of romance and the joy of storytelling. It's a book that embraces the power of love in all its forms, from the slow burn of enemies-to-lovers to the heart-fluttering moments that leave you grinning like a fool. Victoria Walters' writing is like a warm hug on a chilly day, wrapping you up in a cocoon of comfort and happiness.

In the end, "The Love Interest" is more than just a romance novel—it's a reminder that love can be found in the most unexpected places and that sometimes, the best stories are the ones we write for ourselves. So if you're in the mood for a feel-good read that will leave you with a smile on your face and butterflies in your stomach, look no further than "The Love Interest" by Victoria Walters. Trust me, you won't be disappointed!

A hot enemies to lovers romance novel with great banter! If you’re a big fan of rom coms then you will absolutely devour this!

The idea of the book was sweet and the romance was cute, but the conflicts felt forced and a bit weak for me. The sentences felt a bit choppy, and could flow more smoothly. The elements of a romance book were all there, but it wasn't stitched together into a smooth plot as well as it could be.

I did enjoy the side characters! Her brother and her best friend were sweet, but all the characters seemed a little too perfect. No one seemed to have any flaws or difference of personality. There were no conflicts with any of the side characters.

I think the first half of the book was stronger than the second half. The enemies-to-lovers was great with their banter and the build up. The second half fell a bit flat for me. It became cheesy and felt rushed.