A strong 3.5 leaning towards 4 star book. I picked this book due to the cover and description and I was not disappointed. It delivered everything it said it would and the only reason it dropped some stars was due to the flow and writing style. I found it a little difficult to read some parts due to the blocky sentences, however I am glad I carried on because it was a fun enemies to lovers story and I look forward to the release of this book!!!!! I can see it being a huge hit.

Have I watched Pride and Prejudice a few too many times? Maybe. Do I like an enemies-to-lovers trope? Guilty. Was I in the mood for an easy, straightforward book I didn't have to think too much about? Uh-huh. When I saw The Love Interest, I knew it would check all these boxes. A bonus that I was delighted about was that I got a behind-the-scenes look at Liv's (FMC) own writing process as she struggled to come up with the perfect male lead. I get it, Liv; who hasn't had incredibly high expectations after having book boyfriends like Mr. Darcy?

Enter Aiden (MMC). The man is fine, cocky, and slips into the classic situation of teasing the little sister of his best friend, who we know he is secretly in love with. Or is he just a jerk? Well, you will have to pick up a copy of The Love Interest to find out.

Ultimately, this was a classic romance novel with a low level of spice and a high level of cuteness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

Overall I enjoyed this sweet, quick romance novel. The main characters were fun (I especially loved Liv’s obsession with Pride and Prejudice) and I’m such a fan of the forced proximity trope used to get our characters together.

I felt that the event that prompted Liv to label Aiden as her “nemesis” was weak - I’m just not sure that should’ve fueled the fire for 10 years. The side characters had potential, but they were all underdeveloped yes-men at the end of the day, not really challenging the plot or the characters. I felt some of the writing was choppy, but not to the point of being distracting.

I’d recommend this as a straightforward, easy romance that is great for fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope.

4 stars. A cute enemies to lovers story!

This is the first Victoria Walters book I've read. The cover is cute and the plot sounded interesting - after all, Pride and Prejudice is a classic of romantic literature!

The book follows librarian Liv, who is writing her first book, which is a romantic story. Liv hates her brother's best friend Aiden. He begins to use reality as inspirationto her book, as the theme of his book is enemies to lovers. However, as the story progresses, Liv and Aiden feel more something completely different than disgust towards each other.

I really liked the plot of the book and the main characters were cute together. Their relationship from hate to love was interesting to watch, and the story unfolded nicely little by little.

Overall, the book was a nice and entertaining read. I hope this book gets sequels, I would love to read them!

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Big brother’s best friend
Tall, dark, handsome hero
Forced proximity
Second chance
Little bit of steam

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this!

The Love Interest is a spicy romance with a librarian/author main character and a fun enmities to lovers style. I loved the pacing, the detail of the MCs fashion and style, and the drool worthy love interest. This book moved along at just the right pace, I was always eager for more, but never felt like it was rushed. The MC felt well rounded and real. She has her own style and I felt like I got to know her. The love interest is a sexy film nerd and is respectful but also very flirty. There was so much banter that I could really feel the chemistry. I will definitely be recommending this to friends! Such a great read!!

First of all, THANK YOU to Boldwood for sending me an ARC, I truly appreciate it.

This novel, where do I even begin. The big thing I love about this novel is that in a way, it shows how authors think. With Liv (FMC) being an aspiring author--which I'm sure many of us readers dream of being as well--, we really get insight into the details behind writing a novel. This was definitely bold, interesting, and different from what other books have to offer. Furthermore, this book wasn't predictable, which I LOVED! It did include references to other major literary novels and films but I think being able to incorporate those into this novel really blossoms the love between Liv and Aiden (MMC). But that Pride and Prejudice "thing" at the end though ;) that was definitely adorable.

Will say, I could not put this down, read it in one sitting because it truly is written very well. The side characters (Dan, Theo, Stevie, and Jasper) were incorporated into this story beautifully. I'm not an AVID reader of enemies to lovers but this one really warmed my heart.

The thing holding me back from 5 stars is that I wish there was more emotion in this novel. While reading it, there were many parts where my feelings of joy just kind of plateau'd for a while. Would love if there were some really gut-wrenching tear-jerking moments added in.

I took a lot of notes while reading, but I'll share one quote that doesn't spoil this story. Honestly, I just love some good 'ol classic romance that doesn't involve an overwhelming amount of raunchiness. This is a wholesome book and I would recommend it to anyone who is a film/classic literature buff or just loves a good enemies to lovers / my brother's best friend story.
“I will woo you every day for the rest of your life if that will make you happy.”

At first I didn't like the mc, Aiden bothered me, because he was always picking fights with Liv. All the time I was wondering how he was going to win Liv's heart. But, as the story progressed I realized that Liv enjoyed that confrontation. It was their routine, the way they expressed their attraction without saying it out loud. They were like children, which is somewhat rare at that age, but after several years it was difficult for them to change it. I loved the great gestures of both of them. Aiden dressed as Mr. Darcy and it was very sweet. It became one of my favorites scenes of the book. Although, Liv's gesture was beautiful. Who wouldn't want the love of their life to write them a book? Their love story was sweet and I truly enjoyed. Thanks to the author, the publishers and NetGalley ❣️

I really really really enjoyed it!
I was alternating between giggling and swooning throughout the whole book.
I think Victoria did an awesome job with these characters, their stories and their growth throughout the book.
I usually don't like the miscommunication but Victoria did in a way that didn't feel just dumb and annoying and I really liked that.
For me, this one was a solid 4.6 read and I'm glad I'm adding a new author to my shelves!

As someone who loves Pride and Prejudice, the mention of Mr. Darcy is what immediately captured my interest. I had fun reading this! This book promised a sexy enemies to lovers rom com and it absolutely delivered! I particularly like Liv, our female protagonist, who is working on writing her own novel but finds herself having a hard time drawing inspiration because of her lack of experience in the love life department and, as a hopeless romantic myself, I find it easy to relate to her thoughts and mindset.

Aiden is cocky and finds it amusing to annoy Liv and the banter between the two of them is so witty and funny that I had to sometimes pause because the comebacks were just too good and it left me craving for more of their interactions! The chemistry between them is so on fire! While the banters were all fun, the romance between the two of them were swoon worthy and I absolutely devoured the secret jealousy and pining! I loved how their relationship turned out towards the end. I loved that the banters were very much fresh and alive even when their relationship turned romantic.

It was totally interesting reading through the thought process of someone who is an aspiring writer and how they plan to write the story and characters of their novel! I adored Liv's friendship with Stevie! Nothing beats a friendship where you can spill freely to each other and talk non stop about all things love and romance — as well as knowing your worth enough to know that you should never settle for less especially in love. I adored the side characers and the library setting. Makes me long to have a job in a library myself. Also, I love that this book is called The Love Interest because there were moments that made me realize how that title suits this story so much. It would have been nice if we got to see Aiden's thoughts and POV though to allow us a glimpse of what he thinks of Olive and their years of misunderstanding and miscommunication. The ending kind of left me wanting more. The writing is so easy to follow and I genuinely enjoyed reading this!

If you like a quick, fun, sexy, and swoony enemies to lovers read filled with loads of chemistry and sprinkled with a healthy dose of film and book references, I think you might love this one!

Thank you Netgalley, Boldwood books, and the author for the opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange of an honest review!

This was an okay read for me. The writing and dialogue was a bit clunky/stilted in parts and there was a little to much “tell” re the chemistry between Aidan and Olivia and not enough “show”. The premise was interesting enough and it kept me reading u til the end. 2.5 stars⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers along with the author for letting me to review this book for an honest review. Cute cover romantic flirty banter. This one you can judge a book by its cover. Five stars. Love a good romcom and also library setting says it all.

"Like I was a treasure he'd been searching for all his life.."

I was excited to read this! I felt connected immediately upon reading the synopsis, myself also being a romance reader who yearns for the idea of the "perfect love story". Moments of this book felt like such a quick read but other parts felt as if they moved too slow or dragged on. Their reason for hating each other just felt very surface-level to me. I was hesitant about our couple getting together so quickly as I knew it would lead to a lot of misunderstandings and drama later on (and boy was I right). However, I really enjoyed the characters of Olivia and Aiden, and definitely wish we could have gotten dual POV from Aiden's perspective as you could feel how much he liked Liv - but we were always looking at him through Liv's perspective (and wow can she be dense sometimes). Their banter was quick, sassy and fun! Also while I enjoyed the library scene (eyes emoji) it felt very out of character for them both. They both take their jobs very seriously so it didn't make sense for them to risk their positions for some spicy moments. Overall, I think I enjoyed the couple more in the first half than the second but still wanted to see their happy ending! Very important sidenote, Jasper is a sweetheart.

I DNFed this book after a couple days, and the reason for that was specifically the writing. Sentences felt blocky, and nothing flowed, every sentence felt like they stood on their own. There's an air of naturalness that comes with writing, or should do, and here it didn't feel swift or easy, but planned and abstract.

Though something I did really enjoy was the plot, and the pacing was great.
Whether in the forefront or in the background, each little section of the story was well thought through and sat well with the rest of the plot.

You can definitely tell the author put a lot of thought into the story, and I appreciate that while admitting that the writing just didn't sit greatly with me.

This is a quick read for people who are fans of Pride and Prejudice, or their classic dark, tall and handsome love interests. The cosy bookish friend vibes between the mc and her best friend were really cute, and I liked the use of irony, which didn't feel too cliché.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book.

As a romcom and romance girl, this book spoke to me. I love the story, I love everything about it other than some bits feeling rushed and I wish the epilogue was longer! I wanted more story!!

Enemies to lovers is my favorite trope and book boyfriends who make you swoon repeatedly 🤤😍

I love all of the couples and I hope we get a Stevie story eventually, with a flash towards the future for the couples in this book!

A wonderful enemy to lovers rom com! This book introduces us to Olivia and Aiden who love to hate each other. They are family friends who have an “encounter” about 10 year back and they just can’t seem to stop spewing borderline mean things at each other. That all changes when Aiden ends up working where Olivia works and they are forced to live together as well! Super cute story. I really enjoyed this read!

Thank you NetGalley and Victoria Walter’s for sharing her book with me!

A cute enemies-to-lovers story between Aiden and Olivia. I love the Pride and Prejudice references, especially the fight scene in the rain. Pacing-wise, the middle felt a little dragging and I wish Aiden and Olivia's initial falling out was revealed a bit earlier. I also caught a few typos that need to be fixed.

Thank you for letting me read this story. I loved it! The chemistry between Liv and Aiden was perfection and I loved the slow burn. It was such an easy read that I flew through it. I would 100% recommend to any romcom lovers.

This one was a bit of a bummer for me - the description sounded right down my alley and it had a lot of my favorite tropes. Unfortunately, there were two main issues. The first - the MMC, Aidan, is such a jerk in the first half of the novel that I have no clue how anyone could fall in love with him, let alone our FMC. I just didn't buy that the man we meet at the top just turns into someone she could love.

The other big issue was the chemistry - which to me was sort of non-existent. It could have been the writing style, which wasn't bad, just not what I am used to reading. It all felt a little told not shown, and as a result I wasn't necessarily buying into the love between the two.

2 stars for me, but others might like it! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers along with the author for letting me to review this book for an honest review.
“A sexy enemies to lovers romcom, perfect for those who spend far too much time thinking about Mr. Darcy coming out of the lake!”
“What makes a great love interest?
- Attractive but flawed
-A fully realized character with their own agency
-Chemistry and conflict with the protagonist.”

“What I needed was to created someone as perfect as Mr. Darcy. I sighed out loud. Who wasn’t looking for their own Mr. Darcy.”

The love interest by Victoria Walters is such a cute lovable romantic comedy that captivated my attention of all 45 chapters. I enjoyed how real the female main character Liv Jones is. She is a libarian who has dreamed of being a romance novel author but she’s stuck on creating a male main character for her book. I loved the witty hilarious banter between Liv and her brothers best friend Aiden. Along with how she made based her romance book male main character about him.
This is a 4 star read that I read in one sitting. It comes out February 12th 2024.

[ thank you to NetGalley, who provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review! :) ]

- enemies to lovers <3
- book about books
- FMC consumed by love of a fictional character. Real.
- Ten years of mutual hating that is also pining

I’m really impressed with how Liv’s writing voice is distinct from Walter’s’, it’s not an easy thing to write a series of mini plots inside the plot. I seriously enjoyed getting to know these characters, as messy as they are communication-wise. Definitely just a silly bunch of disasters who don’t know how to express themselves, and are in love, and I eat it up every time.

Also….the library. That’s all.