I wanted to love this workplace rivals romance more than I did, but it still makes for a promising debut. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this one and the tropes are right up my alley, so I was excited to dig in. And the meet cute set things off on the right note – I could feel the playful vibes mixed with the tension of their future working relationship. I actually really liked the sweetheart of a hero once I got to know him better, and it was fun putting together the pieces of his personality (since we only get the heroine’s perspective). But there was WAY too much telling and not enough showing; the quick time jumps throughout the story extinguished a lot of the momentum the romance was building, and the focus on (too many) work details meant that the relationship didn’t get the spotlight it deserved. I knew things had truly gone awry when I had zero emotional attachment to their first (strangely described) spicy scene, and the whole thing was a bit of an uneven experience for me. So definitely some mixed feelings with this one.
The story follows Casey (24), a woman who works in finance but is hoping for a promotion that’s a little outside of her wheelhouse. On the way to the interview, Casey runs into a cute stranger in the elevator. The two have a playful interaction that leaves Casey smiling, but those feelings change the moment she realizes that the handsome stranger is the one who got the job – and it was a nepotism hire. The more Casey works with Alex (25), the more she realizes that there might be more to the story, and it’s not long before the two are getting closer. But neither one is sure of where they’ll be next year, and that means starting up a relationship is a terrible idea.
There were a lot of things about this that I really liked, and a lot of things that missed the mark completely. For one, I’m supposed to believe that a 24-year-old who works in finance is being seriously considered to develop a digital magazine…? The nepotism was a lot more believable. I also didn’t love the progression of the relationship itself; not only did I want more moments spent with them actually bantering and interacting, but I also wanted more communication and fewer casual vibes. Instead of showing the first month they worked together, it was summarized in a single paragraph. There were a LOT of missed opportunities like that, so it felt like the romance ended up taking a backseat to the plot revolving around their workplace. I did like the romance in the moments we had it, but I definitely could’ve been more connected to it. I’d love to be able to round this up to 4 stars because of the elements that I did like, but that’s just not the way things worked out.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PBh7XB
Audio Note:
Eh, it was okay. The story is told exclusively from Casey’s POV, so we’ve got a single narrator for the performance. I’d never heard of Hayden Bishop before, and I can see why. Her voice was pleasant enough, though a little robotic. I settled into it just fine. However, her voice for Alex was comically bad. Just… bad. This is one of those audiobooks that didn’t make me dislike the plot, but it also didn’t do anything to enhance it. The runtime (10-11 hours) meant I could binge it pretty quickly, and it does make for a solid workday listen. The spice doesn’t kick in until the back half, and it’s weirdly both descriptive and not descriptive, if that makes sense. Like… you knew what they were doing, but it wasn’t described in the usual way. Anyways, the spice certainly wasn’t the focus, so you could probably listen to this at the office without trouble. It was fine.
Audiobook: https://amzn.to/3FbiWpE
Blurb:
Love Interest is Clare Gilmore’s sparkling debut, a co-worker enemies-to-lovers rom-com that proves falling in love is the risk and the reward.
Casey Maitland has always preferred the reliability of numbers. Now a twenty-four-year-old finance expert working in Manhattan, she wonders if the open project manager position at her company—magazine powerhouse LC Publications—is a sign from the universe to pursue a career with a little more sparkle. That is, until she’s passed over for the job in favor of the board chairman’s son.
Alex Harrison is handsome, Harvard-educated, and enigmatic. Everybody loves him—except for Casey. But when the two are thrown on the same project, what they discover about their company might change everything—including the dreams each of them is chasing and their mutual love interest.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PBh7XB
About the Author:
A Nashville native, Clare Gilmore studied Supply Chain Management and English Literature (a perfect combination) at the University of Tennessee. She is currently a resident of Tennessee daylighting as a corporate analyst. Love Interest is her first novel.
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