Hello!
I really enjoyed this book, the cover is so beautiful.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC

This was a cute read. Liv works in a university library whilst living with her brother and trying to write her own romance novel. Life is turned upside down when her nemesis Aiden, her brother’s best friend, gets a job at the same university and moves in with them. It’s a textbook enemies to lovers and plods along nicely. Although it has a couple of spicy scenes it does read a bit vanilla at times. Overall, it’s enjoyable and a feel good romance.

What to expect:

- brother’s best friend
- enemies to lovers
- forced proximity
- it’s always been you vibes

Sadly this was a DNF for me at about 40%. While I didn't mind the premise or the characters, it took a little bit too long for the plot to get moving. I'm all for a slow burn, but this was a slowwwww burn. The characters were cute and the setting was fun, but, I could not get behind the "writing a novel" aspect.

It might be for you! But it wasn't for me.

TheLoveInterest #VictoriaWalters #NetGalley #BoldwoodBooks

A Steamy enemies to lovers, brothers best friend romance.

Olivia is an assistant librarian at a university. She lives in London with her brother Dan. When his best friend Aiden gets a job at the university where Liv works, Dan invites him to live with them until he gets his own place.

Aiden and Liv had a big misunderstanding a decade ago, and they still aren't over it. The animosity and tension are thick between them.

Initially I didn't like Aiden and he seemed really abrasive. But he grew on me, he changed during the story.

Now what I liked was Liv's writing journey, that was really fun to read about.
I liked her friendship with her boss, it's nice to see women being friends in stories with no cattiness or jealousy.

Also enjoyable was the Mr Darcy references and the big grand thing towards the end.

The book was good from beginning to end, with a few emotions of course the smile at the end.
It was a light easy quick read. I will be reading more from this new to me author.

This is not a criticism at all but some readers don't like steamy books, just a heads up this IS one.

4 ** highly recommended

Thank you NetGalley, the author and Boldwood books the publisher

Liv and Aiden, seemingly sworn enemies for a decade, discover the blurred line between love and hate. Unfortunately, I found 'The Love Interest' to be a two-star read for me. While I was initially drawn to the enemies-to-lovers concept, the execution left much to be desired. The repetitive focus on Aiden being Darcy felt like a tiresome plot device, failing to contribute meaningfully to the relationship dynamics beyond Liv's fantasy.

Once Liv and Aiden finally come together, the dialogue takes a turn towards the corny and repetitive, which makes it challenging to maintain focus and invested in the story. Their disagreement also didn't feel very believable it felt like a case of "if only they communicated", which I'm realising is not so fun to read.

Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC of 'The Love Interest.' All opinions in this review are my own.

Who doesn’t dream of having their Mr. Darcy in their life. Aiden made me swoon. I get it Olivia, I totally get it. I love how only Aiden is the one that calls Liv, Olivia. I really enjoyed reading about every character’s relationship to each other. I loved Liv and Stevie. Dan and Theo are so sweet. Even Jasper was “nice.” I know for most, miscommunication is the worst, but I truly enjoyed the way it was written because we got to see both Olivia and Aiden work through it as true adults.

I didn’t mind the idea of this enemies to lovers story. You know what you’re going to get from this trope. I didn’t mind the relationship, but I just didn’t like the focus on Aiden being Darcy. It was so repeated and I don’t feel like it added anything to the relationship other than Liv getting to live out her fantasy.

I loved this story! This really was the perfect easy to read RomCom story, ideal for when you want to forget all else. Liv tells the story first person and Liv was my kind of girl, quirky, but in a good way. I loved Liv’s relationship with her brother Dan and she also had a special friendship with her colleague Stevie, but her interactions with her “love interest” Aiden and all their banter definitely stole the show. I could easily picture it all.... in fact I think this book would make a wonderful RomCom movie! It had everything you expect from a good RomCom. cute characters, chemistry, banter, laughter, drama and some steamy romance.

A wonderfully romantic novel and had me swooning. Stunning characters and a believable development of the characters. This was the perfect rainy weekend read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a review.

This was cute, but very Hallmark-esque. I was able to guess what was going to happen pretty early on. With that said I did enjoy the story! I thought the characters were cute and relatable. I also really enjoyed the story being set in London.

@currentlyreading__
Book 13 of 2024

Thank you to @NetGalley and @vickyjwalters for the e-copy of ‘The Love Interest’ and what a lovely cosy read this was! Our main character is Liv Jones, university librarian who, like me, has dreams of writing her own book. Unlike me, she’s not a massive procrastinator! She uses any spare minute to flesh out her book and bring to life her romantic characters but when Mr Darcy is the only romantic hero she can think of, a person closer to home starts to take shape in her novel.

Aiden Rivers is her brother’s best friend and she hates him but her brother has offered him a place to stay (along with Liv) whilst he prepares to start work (at the university Liv works at). Cue, many romance tropes - forced proximity, brother’s best friend and enemies to lovers.

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 though: 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 definite one for all of you romance lovers out there. Out now and currently free on Kindle Unlimited and 99p on Kindle otherwise.

#bookstagram #bibliophile #bookworm #book #booknerd #bookstagrammer #kindle #instabook #reader #bookobsessed #victoriawalters #theloveinterest

This is cute and funny, but just sort of middle of the road to me -- nothing that I really loved about it, but nothing that I really hated either. It was fine!

A great read, the story of Liv and Aiden. She though they connected years ago and he messed everything up. Now they are in forced proximity will it be their second chance? I loves the setting.

2.5⭐️

The Love Interest is a serviceable enough romance that unfortunately lacks in both love and interest. I felt like the idea for a good story was here, it just failed to achieve its full potential.

Thank you Victoria Walters, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Aiden is Liv’s brother’s best friend and they have always bickered like they are siblings themselves but, in truth, Liv was instantly attracted to him when they met ten years ago. Now, Aiden is moving to teach at the same university that Liv works at, and also moving into the flat she shares with her brother. Liv's always wanted to be a romance writer and, with all the forced proximity, Aiden soon becomes the inspiration for her book’s ‘love interest’.

This book went so close to being great.

The book within a book was one thing I disliked about The Love Interest. The writing for the actual book was solid enough throughout but I was put off by the style of the book Liv was supposedly writing. It sucked big time but everyone was sprouting how talented she was. Confusing.

Even though I liked the pop culture references, I didn’t think there were enough of them to make it a ‘thing’ in the book. Walters didn’t include any unique or original titles to capture my attention either. Pride and Prejudice, You Got Mail and Breakfast at Tiffany’s have been used far too many times already.

Walters also fell into the trap of making the book far too long. This golden page limit publishers seem to come up with is so annoying. Letting your authors waffle on about nothing is not doing them any favours.

I don’t want to be all negative though. The book was cute enough and the characters were likeable. It would probably be a great little read for a rainy weekend when you want something to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

3 ½ out of 5

#February read a romance for Valentine's Day challenge

This was just okay, I wasn’t really into it and there was nothing that I hadn’t read before. Some of the dialogue was difficult to get through as well. I wanted to love it, but it just wasn’t for me.

This was a really cute enemies to lovers story and I enjoyed it a lot. The female lead, Olivia, was a librarian which is the dream job for all readers and booklovers and the male lead, Aiden, is a professor. There are also multiple sub plots like brother's best friend and the idea of a romance author looking for inspiration in real life was also really cute. The banter was fun and the spice is nice and it ended on a really cute note.

The Love Interest is such an adorable (and sometimes spicy) #brothersbestfriend, #enemiestolovers, #itwasalwaysyou read that left me feeling madly in love with the characters and wishing for their happily ever after right alongside them. The "new to me" author Victoria Walters writes such an amazing story with an awesome cast of characters that you want to support each and every one of them through their struggles. I cannot wait to see what she writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in return for an honest review.

Swoon! This book is a cute, fun, swoon worthy hate to love brothers best friend love story. I enjoyed the details given to all the characters and the clever banter.

The Love Interest is a must read, especially for any Jane Austen lover. I loved the banter between Liv and Aiden. I loved the underlying goals and dreams. I didn't want to put it down. I was sorry to see it end.