The Love Interest by Victoria Walters is a sweet romance book that inspires all book girlies to keep their standards high and their Mr. Darcy will find them eventually.

Shortly after moving in with her brother, Olivia "Liv" Jones is inspired more than ever to start writing her romance book, not because there is a great love in her life, but because her love life is lacking. Stevie, her best friend and fellow romance reader who works with Liv in a university library in London, encourages her every step of the way, pushing Liv out of her comfort zone. But between writing and hanging out with her content creator brother, Dan, and his boyfriend, Theo, Liv's world is turned upside down when her nemesis enters her life more permanently.

Aiden Rivers is Dan's best friend going on ten years, but after their disastrous first meeting, Liv and Aiden butt heads every chance they get. After avoiding Aiden as much as she could for the past ten years, Liv learns he's been hired as the Film Department Head at the university where she works with Stevie. Even worse, Dan has invited his best mate to crash in his apartment until Aiden gets his place, and his room is next to Liv's.

Now, Aiden seems to be everywhere and a hopeless romantic. Liv doesn't know if his actions are to drive her crazy or to woo her over. He's shirtless in their kitchen when she tries to get coffee after her morning yoga sessions, he's in the cafeteria line on Liv's lunch break, and somehow, he appears in Liv's book as the love interest after Stevie points this out to Liv.

When an accident strikes the Jones household, Dan leaves Liv and Aiden up to their own devices for a week, and everything could go either right or wrong. Is Liv going to speak up about her own love interest, or is their hatred for each other standing in their way? After all, opposites do attract, don't they?

The classic romance scenes from movies that made their way into "The Love Interest" were stunning and swoon-worthy. The romantic gestures that Aiden made for Liv throughout the book were lovely, and I had to ask myself how she didn't see that he was head over heels for her the whole time!

Dan and Theo's relationship evolution and healing throughout the story allowed more light to be shed on why Liv reacted to relationships drastically differently than to romance. A single mother raised Liv and Dan after their father walked out on the family when the two were young, leaving their mother, whose heart was broken, to pick up the pieces and carry on. Both Liv and Dan were hesitant about committing fully to a relationship, and the fear of heartbreak was always on their minds.

The spicy scenes that appeared around 50% of the way through the book were well written and almost a bit too much for the book since it had the feeling of a fluffy romance instead. It wasn't all about the spice and sex, even though it was in the story.

Liv's character is immature and lacks specific depths that most female main characters in books of this genre seem to have. While being obsessed with romance stories, to the point where it's nearly all she can think about, Liv's character doesn't seem to know the whole picture most of the time, and frankly, Aiden deserves better than her.

"The Love Interest" is a single-point-of-view book, and if Aiden's POV had also been written in, the pacing and overall storyline would have been more enjoyable. Liv was a somewhat whiney character whose perspective wasn't always compelling to read from. While the Mr. Darcy references were slightly endearing at the beginning, and the grand gesture at the ending was swoon and laugh-worthy, the constant reference that he is the "perfect" man and who every woman envisioned was slightly annoying.

With Liv writing her romance book parallel to the storyline, some excerpts from that are inserted. While it was a "story within a story," it was annoying that it wasn't the best writing quality and was more cringe-worthy than anything. This caused the epilogue to fall flat and was unconvincing.

Stevie's character had so much potential to find her happy ending rather than simply accepting that she had her heart broken and now must be a severe career woman. Despite being a "side character," Stevie was a great friend to Liv when she needed it the most, and the way that Liv took her for granted most of the time was irritating.

"The Love Interest" by Victoria Walters was an entertaining romance book to read, but it was not without its flaws, especially in its characters and repeated references. Any book lover with a soft spot for grand romantic gestures will likely find this book enjoyable.

Thank you to Boldwood Books for allowing me to be an early reader of "The Love Interest" by Victoria Walters, which comes out on February 12, 2024. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

“What makes a great love interest?
* Attractive but flawed
* A fully realised character with their own agency
* Chemistry and conflict with the protagonist”

Sweet, cozy, enemies to lovers, brother’s best friend romance when they become roommates and the forced proximity will lead them soon enough to turn them from enemies to lovers. Adrian and Olivia’s banter was so fun to go through and their romance was light spicy and quite entertaining, especially considering she is trying to write a romance novel. The fact that he has an Irish accent and I could easily imagine his voice in my head was quite a plus! Their tension was intense and the development of the book made it quite enjoyable. I have to admit that the third act break-up was quite predictable but it’s absolutely fine!!! I had quite a fun time getting through this book and the fact that the MMC was a handsome man … it was a plus !!!

'Reading romance doesn't make you hard to please. It gives you standards. Why shouldn't we wait for someone special and not settle down with just anyone? Why shouldn't we want someone to treat us well and be romantic?'

“Because this undeniable tension, this heat between us, could either burn brightly or implode.”

This was a super cute and super quick read. I loved Aiden. Liv was a little too oblivious for me but overall, I felt the connection between her and Aidan. I would’ve loved to see more of Theo and Dan’s relationship as well.

Overall, a really sweet read

Well…in general it was a nice enough romcom, but the descriptions of the story of the main character’s book based on her brother’s best friend were a bit too long and detailed for my taste, the dialogues were ok but sometimes a bit cringey and the story that led to the misunderstanding not really worth holding a grudge for so many years?!

Honestly, this book is a sweet, short read. It didn't leave a massive mark on me, and I didn't feel too many emotions while reading it... Some parts I was smiling, but that was about it.
The characters felt a little flat; the MMC is tall, dark, handsome, smart and has an Irish accent, and that's kind of all there is to him.
Liv is a wannabe author (girl, same) so I did connect to her a tad more than I thought I would, but she really missed the beat a few times. It would have been nice to see a dual POV (But I'm a sucker for those tbh).

I felt like this wasn't really enemies-to-lovers, more like... A slight dislike over something that felt so... Undeserving of how much they "hated" each other.

Overall, it was still sweet, and I'm giving it a 3/5 because I'm really excited to see how much this author can grow. there is so much potential here.

My name is Olivia, I'm an assistant librarian at a prestigious university. A hopeless romantic who always hoped to write her own romance novel.
Being obsessed with Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Darcy for all the time is making it hard to write my own love interest especially since I have no one of my own.

I'm Aiden Rivers, a professor in Film Studies and Olivia's brother best friend. My whole life she was my nemesis arguing and teasing each other but I always liked being around her.
So when I was offered, to work in the same place as her I jumped at the chance at least I get to be where she is.

Now living under the same roof and working in the same place is going to be a bit challenging or MAYBE not?
LOVED LOVED the book so much😍♥️😍
I can't stress enough how good it was .
All their bantering and teasing was so hilarious and cute.
All the books and movies reference made the reading experience even more enjoyable , especially Jane Austen's fans will fall in love with it.
So make sure to read it you won't regret it
Thanks so much to @netgalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC of #TheLoveInterest in exchange for my honest review.
Favourite quotes:
"I will woo you everyday for the rest of your life if that will make you happy."
"Reading romance doesn't make you hard to please. It gives you standards. Why shouldn't we wait for someone special and not settle down with just anyone? Why shouldn't we want someone to treat us well and be romantic?"

Xoxo💋

Unfortunately, this one was not for me even though I had high hopes. I love brothers best friend tropes and enemies to lovers. This wasn't much enemies to lovers. It was more whiny girl miscommunication trope with a man who was way to sweet to be the enemy.

Unfortunately, this one was not for me. Romance novels are always a hit or miss for me, and it usually comes down to the writing style, which is the case for this one. The writing felt extremely awkward and clunky to me, and it reminded me of stories I used to read on Wattpad back in 2012---fine for an unedited story but not for a professionally published book. This is especially true for the main character's own writing; for a character who loved romance novels and wanted to write one her whole life, she was an awful writer.

I also wasn't a fan of any of the characters in this book. They all came across as two-dimensional and immature, and their dialogue wasn't believable. I also generally hate when modern social media and pop culture is mentioned, so the main character's brother being a TikToker completely took me out of the story.

The premise itself was interesting. I love a good enemies-to-lovers with banter and I'm a huge Pride and Prejudice fan, but this book just didn't live up to my expectations.

Thanks Netgalley for providing ARC version of this book.
If you like this tropes:
~Brothers best friend,
~Enemies to lovers
than this book might be interesting for you.
Liv working at library and try to write her own romance novel. She is desperately need to find love interest who will be the prototype to the main character of her story and of course at this moment brothers best friend is committed. Aiden is living - breathing Mr Darsey with Irish accent and of course Liv beginning to get in love with him. Predicting? - Absolutely, but it romance book so I fullish to expect something else. But I really like moment when Liv put herself inn her character in the book and losing control between fiction and reality. It’s was fun and easygoing.
3.5 stars as a result

i was very interested in the premise of this book, but i had to DNF at 24%. the writing felt very forced and clinical, the main character liv was giving major pick-me vibes, and aiden just immediately rubbed me the wrong way. i love enemies or rivals to lovers, but aiden's mockery of liv felt downright cruel at times and it's just not the kind of love interest i want to read about. this book felt like it relied way too much on tropes, rather than focusing on the story itself, which is just not a good recipe. it's fine to use tropes as ways to explain what a book is about, but you need the development, chemistry and emotion that this book lacked. (also, why was pride and prejudice mentioned every other page? like i get it, they were the blueprint of enemies to lovers, but you can't make that into your book's only selling point.) thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book.

5 stars!! I adored this book. I thought that the main characters were really fun, realistic, and enjoyable characters. Their chemistry was top-notch, and I loved their banter! If you love rom-coms, you will not be disappointed! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

The love interest was okay. The whole story is very predictable from beginning to end. The dialogue doesn't really feel genuine and is cringeworthy in many places. The characters feel like empty shells and again, I just didn't care about them. The book felt a bit like the author had taken a sheet of paper with tropes and tried to knit the plot around it. For RomCom lovers and Pride and Prejudice fans, this book is definitely great, but it didn't excite me at all.

If you're a fan of Mr. Darcy, you need to read this book! It has the perfect mix of Mr. Darcy with modern vibes, and the FMC is an author!

Liv is working at a library while crafting her novel—an enemies-to-lovers romance—and she finds inspiration in her real-life enemy, Aiden.

I loved the parallels between her book and her real life; she didn't realize she was living her favorite trope!

This was such a fun read, and I absolutely loved it! It caught my attention right away, and held it throughout.

The book features the classic misunderstanding that most enemies-to-lovers books do, but this was executed really well!

I rate this 5 stars.

Tropes:
- Enemies to lovers
- Forced proximity
- Miscommunication

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Liv finally feels inspiration to start her novel. Focusing on an enemies to lovers trope, she has plenty of real life inspiration for the enemies side—Aiden—but feels lost when it comes to the turned lovers side. After a little forced proximity with Aiden, the words are flowing and the confusion is mounting. Is there more to her perma hate with Aiden that she previously thought?

I can see now why novels end shortly after the main characters hook up. Love Interest still had almost half the book to go when sparks officially fly, and I found myself ready to wrap it up. For my reading style, the last half became a little drawn out. The miscommunication was a little dramatic in a non-climactic way. I also became increasingly frustrated with Aiden. I was not impressed with how he handles conflict and puts it back on Liv. His swings gave me mild whiplash.

Overall, I really loved the storyline and the concept. I just lost interest for the last third of the book because I wasn’t sure what we were still doing in the story.

2,5 stars, rounded.

The writing and premise of the book felt a little dialed in. A librarian has dreams of being a romance writer, but she’s never been in love. Her arch nemis and brothers best friend moves in with them as he got a job at the university where she works. Their verbal spars are a muse for the hero in her book. Their issues happened ten years ago, when she deeply embarrassed herself the night they met. I didn't find either characters compelling nor felt any swoon. I also feel the main characters writing should have been left of the page and to the readers imagination (I also feel this when a character writes a song...it's rare for them to not be cringe inducing). Or maybe I'm rolling into 2024 with high expectations for the romance genre.

Thank you Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

We follow the characters Liv and Aiden and their hate for each other since they first met. Aiden’s is Liv’s brother’s best friend and due to a misunderstanding, they been enemies for 10 years. But then he took a job at the university where she works and it’s awkward.

I liked the relationships we see between our characters throughout the book, and the fact that we see a bit of character development and the emotional connections between them. This story was a lovely, pleasant read for a winter day with a cup of coffee, that our friend Liv mentions so much.

The focus on Pride and Prejudice, especially on Mr. Darcy gave a nice touch to the book and I found it quite interesting in the beginning, however it was a bit too much at some point, since he was mentioned quite a lot.

Overall, it was a light and easy read, that warms your soul a bit. I recommend it to anyone who wants a nice romantic book with the brother’s best friend and the enemies to lovers with a touch of Pride and Prejudice to it.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

As a Mr. Darcy fan, I can appreciate any author that creates a love interest based off him. And while The Love Interest is a fun and spicy romance, some of the scenes felt a little off. I do love the writing and the ending! It's definitely worth a read.

I just finished reading "The Love Interest," and I'm grateful for the chance to read it before its official release. While I appreciate the author's effort, I have some thoughts on areas that, in my opinion, could use improvement.

Firstly, the dialogue caught my attention, and not necessarily in a good way. It felt cringy and forced at times, which affected the natural flow of the characters' interactions. Speaking of characters, the main protagonists seemed a bit hard to tolerate, lacking the depth I usually expect from experienced authors.

Unfortunately, I didn't connect with the characters, and they didn't leave a lasting impression on me. The emotional impact typical of a romance novel was missing, making the reading experience a bit dull. Additionally, the plot's predictability and the forgettable storyline added to a feeling of disenchantment.

The central character, Olivia, and the rest of the cast were described in basic terms, lacking the depth needed for a more engaging read. This lack of character development took away from the overall enjoyment of the book, leaving room for improvement in complexity and relatability.

Now, about the writing style – it's a matter of personal preference. The fourth-wall breaks, like the quote "(...)because, well...SWOON," didn't work for me. They disrupted the immersive experience and took me out of the story, rather than enhancing my engagement.

The writing style didn't flow smoothly, and some choices, like Olivia claiming to see a "flash of surprise on Aiden's lips," felt awkward. These moments created a sense of dissonance, affecting the overall cohesion of the narrative.

Lastly, the interaction between Aiden and the heroine, especially him ruffling her hair and calling her "high maintenance," raised concerns. These dynamics might perpetuate stereotypes and may not resonate well with all readers.

In conclusion, "The Love Interest" has its strengths, and I share these criticisms with the intent of offering constructive feedback. While it may not align with my personal preferences, I understand that everyone's taste in literature varies. I appreciate the chance to engage with this work and commend the author for their dedication to storytelling.

brothers best friend, childhood friends, AND enemies to lovers? sign me up! i liked all of the characters and i really enjoyed seeing olivia write her first book! and of course her finding her own mr darcy, so cute!


thank you to netgalley, the author, and boldwood books for an arc!

I loved this book. Very romantic and great lead characters and conflict. Liked how the heroine was writing her own romance novel and liked the setting of a library too. For fans of romance. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.