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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
Ahh
Ahh, so y'all disliked this because the plot was trash? Now I understand. The start of the book had some promise and the ending was so implausible, I didn't know what was going on half the time.
Ahh, so y'all disliked this because the plot was trash? Now I understand. The start of the book had some promise and the ending was so implausible, I didn't know what was going on half the time.
This book was a different read for me that I enjoyed since I haven't read any spy books before. I think the new different setting was a good thing and helped me enjoy the story more.
DNF @ 46%
It rubbed me the wrong way during a lot of parts, but I think I could have finished it. I just made the executive decision that there were other things I could spend more time reading.
It rubbed me the wrong way during a lot of parts, but I think I could have finished it. I just made the executive decision that there were other things I could spend more time reading.
"Wouldn't it be better to send us in when we're a bit older? No one finds the love of their life while they're a teenager."
"You haven't read any YA novels recently, have you?"
So say the characters in this deliciously meta book that pokes fun at so many YA tropes, while somehow still making you swoon over them.
Caden, a Nice, has to compete against Dyl, a Bad (complete with leather jacket and sob story to account for his jerky behaviour), to win the affections of their Chosen. The winner gets to spend the rest of his life at her side, spying on her. The loser gets incinerated.
To makes things worse, Caden is falling in love with his competition.
THE LOVE INTEREST is fast-paced and action-packed. It's sexy. It regularly says, "Oh by the way, I'm using Trope X right now" and makes you laugh because yeah, it totally is using that trope and you're totally swooning over it. I read most of it in a day because I couldn't put it down. This is definitely one you want to pick up.
"You haven't read any YA novels recently, have you?"
So say the characters in this deliciously meta book that pokes fun at so many YA tropes, while somehow still making you swoon over them.
Caden, a Nice, has to compete against Dyl, a Bad (complete with leather jacket and sob story to account for his jerky behaviour), to win the affections of their Chosen. The winner gets to spend the rest of his life at her side, spying on her. The loser gets incinerated.
To makes things worse, Caden is falling in love with his competition.
THE LOVE INTEREST is fast-paced and action-packed. It's sexy. It regularly says, "Oh by the way, I'm using Trope X right now" and makes you laugh because yeah, it totally is using that trope and you're totally swooning over it. I read most of it in a day because I couldn't put it down. This is definitely one you want to pick up.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was nice, I liked it. I did feel like there was something missing though, like the writing could've been refined just a little more to make it read better. I don't know.
Like the characters are okayish—the only character I liked more than the others was Juliet—but they didnt really make me want to go in hard for them, they were just there. Like I kinda get the set up of the story and it's a really cool idea, but it just didn't hit the mark for me, it didn't take me to that higher place.
It kinda reads like Ready Player One in that's there's a lot of pop culture refrencing (like I'm actually surprised Game of Thrones wasn't mentioned). Ten, maybe twenty years from now, if any kid reads this they might feel out of touch because most of this refrencing is for teens of these past years, so in ten years kids may not get the refrencing from the book and not be able to connect well enough.
And then the whole explaining everyone's outfits thing. Like explaining outfits works for certain situations, but is kinda of overkill when a character has to describe every outfit they wear, like every time they change they have to tell us what colour the button down shirt with short sleeves they're wearing is and what outfit all their friends are wearing or what everyone's hair is doing. It's a bit much. And I saw the and/and/and thing a little too much too.
I'm not disappointed by this book or anything, but I feel kind of meh about it. Even the ending was kind of meh, like it didn't leave me going holy shit or even going aww, it just was like “Oh, that's the end? Cool.” It didn't leave me with a feeling of wanting more, like a being excited for the next book kind of thing (I'm pretty sure this is stand-alone, but the point I'm making is that it didn't end in a way that, if there were another book, I'd be excited for it).
So yeah, it's a cool idea, it's a nice read, but it's kinda bland overall.
Like the characters are okayish—the only character I liked more than the others was Juliet—but they didnt really make me want to go in hard for them, they were just there. Like I kinda get the set up of the story and it's a really cool idea, but it just didn't hit the mark for me, it didn't take me to that higher place.
It kinda reads like Ready Player One in that's there's a lot of pop culture refrencing (like I'm actually surprised Game of Thrones wasn't mentioned). Ten, maybe twenty years from now, if any kid reads this they might feel out of touch because most of this refrencing is for teens of these past years, so in ten years kids may not get the refrencing from the book and not be able to connect well enough.
And then the whole explaining everyone's outfits thing. Like explaining outfits works for certain situations, but is kinda of overkill when a character has to describe every outfit they wear, like every time they change they have to tell us what colour the button down shirt with short sleeves they're wearing is and what outfit all their friends are wearing or what everyone's hair is doing. It's a bit much. And I saw the and/and/and thing a little too much too.
I'm not disappointed by this book or anything, but I feel kind of meh about it. Even the ending was kind of meh, like it didn't leave me going holy shit or even going aww, it just was like “Oh, that's the end? Cool.” It didn't leave me with a feeling of wanting more, like a being excited for the next book kind of thing (I'm pretty sure this is stand-alone, but the point I'm making is that it didn't end in a way that, if there were another book, I'd be excited for it).
So yeah, it's a cool idea, it's a nice read, but it's kinda bland overall.
I was honestly really excited to read this book but there was so many things I felt were missing and after reading some other reviews I can see it wasn’t just me. There was a lot of plot holes and places that left me wondering what was happening and how this could logically happen. I enjoyed that it poked fun at stereotypical YA tropes and how it developed the character of Caden. There was just some problems. I think the part of Dyl using Caden's sexuality against him to win the interest of Juliet was what ruined this book for me. It just didn’t settle well with me,
Everyone was just so excepting of the shitty things everyone was doing (Trevor cheating for example) , I just don’t understand how that is plausible in any situation.
Overall Caden's point of view was amusing and fun to read, but I felt like having a split POV with Dylan as well would’ve benefited the story and helped to fill in some of the gaps.
( Short / brief review. Perhaps I’ll add more later )
Everyone was just so excepting of the shitty things everyone was doing (Trevor cheating for example) , I just don’t understand how that is plausible in any situation.
Overall Caden's point of view was amusing and fun to read, but I felt like having a split POV with Dylan as well would’ve benefited the story and helped to fill in some of the gaps.
( Short / brief review. Perhaps I’ll add more later )
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm going to go on a little tangent to explain my feelings on [b:The Love Interest|31145148|The Love Interest|Cale Dietrich|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1485833541s/31145148.jpg|47243315].
I am a lover of fiction, fantasy and adventure. I love to live in other worlds and believe in the impossible. Therefore, my ability to suspend disbelief is pretty darn good. I can be convinced that a world exists where magic killer unicorns walk the land and wreak havoc with their magic killer unicorn powers. Easy. Where my suspension of disbelief falters, however, is in the details. The hows and the whys. If, say, some authority figure in this world ordered that every woman must marry one of these killer unicorns because, um, it's for the good of the, um, land... then I start to see the cracks.
In short, I can be convinced of any "what" as long as the "why" adds up. As long as there is, in fact, a "why". More tangent if you'd like:
And that's the problem with this book. If you are the kind of reader who asks questions and notices when plot choices are illogical, then parts of [b:The Love Interest|31145148|The Love Interest|Cale Dietrich|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1485833541s/31145148.jpg|47243315] will seem really jarring. Parts of the premise are flawed because they just don't make sense.
Contrary to the shelving I've seen around, this is a kind of dystopian novel. It imagines a world where a secret spy organization plants their spies (known as Love Interests) with anyone important or influential - presidents, CEOs, celebrities, etc. - and attempts to gather information from them. To up their chances of successfully making their target fall in love with the Love Interests, they send two LIs to compete for the person's affection. So far, so good, right? A little implausible, but then all the best books are.
The thing that doesn't make any sense is why they send one "Nice" (a sweet, guy-next-door type) and one "Bad" (a devilish smirking bad boy). I get that it's supposed to be making fun of the YA trope, but it makes no logical sense within the story. There is no explanation for it, and it repeatedly pulled me out of the book's world.
That is the biggest fundamental flaw, but there are a myriad other small things scattered throughout that just seemed poorly-conceived. Stupid things like: why are they starving and sharing tuna out of a can in the later chapters of the novel? I get that they don't want their credit card to be traced, but last time I checked, McDonald's (and, like, everywhere) takes cash. And they had cash, just to be clear.
AND the antagonists are so conveniently bad at everything. They are especially poor at surveillance and tracking, going offline exactly when Caden needs them to. This is a huge, old, and extremely powerful organization, apparently, but they never show it. It's kind of embarrassing how.
In this particular Love Interest scenario, a girl called Juliet is the target and her two Love Interests are Caden (the "Nice", and the narrator) and Dylan (the "Bad"). They must compete for her affection and the loser will be incinerated. However, something unexpected happens-- Caden finds himself developing feelings for none other than his rival.
I don't think it was the best decision to have Caden as the lone narrator. He lacked the charisma needed to drive the novel's narrative and his voice was as bland and unremarkable as his LI character was supposed to be (honestly, why someone would think any person would be attracted to a doormat I do not know). It would have been good to get Dylan's perspective to shake things up a bit.
I would love to see more YA books subverting the traditional love triangle trope, but this wasn't the favourite I'd hoped it would be. I struggled to believe in this concept from the start and Caden was never interesting enough to pull me in.
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I am a lover of fiction, fantasy and adventure. I love to live in other worlds and believe in the impossible. Therefore, my ability to suspend disbelief is pretty darn good. I can be convinced that a world exists where magic killer unicorns walk the land and wreak havoc with their magic killer unicorn powers. Easy. Where my suspension of disbelief falters, however, is in the details. The hows and the whys. If, say, some authority figure in this world ordered that every woman must marry one of these killer unicorns because, um, it's for the good of the, um, land... then I start to see the cracks.
In short, I can be convinced of any "what" as long as the "why" adds up. As long as there is, in fact, a "why". More tangent if you'd like:
Spoiler
This is actually why I think Stephen King is a great writer. I think he has a special talent for normalizing the supernatural and unbelievable. In books like [b:11/22/63|10644930|11/22/63|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327876792s/10644930.jpg|15553789] and [b:Revival|20926278|Revival|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394651975s/20926278.jpg|27239641], he takes bizarre, out-of-this-world concepts and blends them seamlessly with such a natural, realistic setting. I think he is exceptionally convincing in the way he frames his fantastical elements.And that's the problem with this book. If you are the kind of reader who asks questions and notices when plot choices are illogical, then parts of [b:The Love Interest|31145148|The Love Interest|Cale Dietrich|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1485833541s/31145148.jpg|47243315] will seem really jarring. Parts of the premise are flawed because they just don't make sense.
Contrary to the shelving I've seen around, this is a kind of dystopian novel. It imagines a world where a secret spy organization plants their spies (known as Love Interests) with anyone important or influential - presidents, CEOs, celebrities, etc. - and attempts to gather information from them. To up their chances of successfully making their target fall in love with the Love Interests, they send two LIs to compete for the person's affection. So far, so good, right? A little implausible, but then all the best books are.
The thing that doesn't make any sense is why they send one "Nice" (a sweet, guy-next-door type) and one "Bad" (a devilish smirking bad boy). I get that it's supposed to be making fun of the YA trope, but it makes no logical sense within the story. There is no explanation for it, and it repeatedly pulled me out of the book's world.
That is the biggest fundamental flaw, but there are a myriad other small things scattered throughout that just seemed poorly-conceived. Stupid things like: why are they starving and sharing tuna out of a can in the later chapters of the novel? I get that they don't want their credit card to be traced, but last time I checked, McDonald's (and, like, everywhere) takes cash. And they had cash, just to be clear.
AND the antagonists are so conveniently bad at everything. They are especially poor at surveillance and tracking, going offline exactly when Caden needs them to. This is a huge, old, and extremely powerful organization, apparently, but they never show it. It's kind of embarrassing how
Spoiler
easy it is for five teens to take them downIn this particular Love Interest scenario, a girl called Juliet is the target and her two Love Interests are Caden (the "Nice", and the narrator) and Dylan (the "Bad"). They must compete for her affection and the loser will be incinerated. However, something unexpected happens-- Caden finds himself developing feelings for none other than his rival.
I don't think it was the best decision to have Caden as the lone narrator. He lacked the charisma needed to drive the novel's narrative and his voice was as bland and unremarkable as his LI character was supposed to be (honestly, why someone would think any person would be attracted to a doormat I do not know). It would have been good to get Dylan's perspective to shake things up a bit.
I would love to see more YA books subverting the traditional love triangle trope, but this wasn't the favourite I'd hoped it would be. I struggled to believe in this concept from the start and Caden was never interesting enough to pull me in.
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