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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
I was so excited for this book, and it's so mediocre. I love the premise-- spies trained to compete in a love triangle fall for each other instead of the target. I think if we'd had dual POV, I might have been able to figure out what made Caden desirable, because it seems like the only notable thing about him is his looks. But even hearing Dyl's side of the story wouldn't have accounted for the numerous glaring plot holes. And I wouldn't even have minded that so much if the writing were excellent. I get that the author was trying to poke fun at YA tropes and do the self-aware protagonist thing, but it just felt like some of that was unintentional. The characters were nothing exciting, the world-building was weak, and I'm so disappointed, because I had such high hopes. I still want to read the plot, but I want it to be better than this. This just reads like someone's first attempt at fanfiction of a really cool story.
I mean, it was okay. The death was really unnecessary and it felt kind of all over the place at some parts but it was really funny and sweet sometimes!! And also the twist with Dyl was also really unnecessary. Like. Why? Juliet was so freaking cool though!!! Part III felt rushed and it was the end part so it REALLY shouldn’t have been rushed. That being said, I really liked the epilogue!!
I move my hand up to the middle of his back and press him as close to me as possible. It feels like our ribs should slide between each other’s cracks, filling the gaps. But they don’t.
I enjoyed the writing style (for the most part.) it made me laugh and I think the concept was cool, like a 1984 but gay YA spy book that’s kind of a teen superhero movie by the end? But anyway. dyl is canon bi and u can never take that away from me now.
Our eyes meet, and he doesn’t look away. For the first time, I start to wonder if love, is, in fact, necessary.
I move my hand up to the middle of his back and press him as close to me as possible. It feels like our ribs should slide between each other’s cracks, filling the gaps. But they don’t.
I enjoyed the writing style (for the most part.) it made me laugh and I think the concept was cool, like a 1984 but gay YA spy book that’s kind of a teen superhero movie by the end? But anyway. dyl is canon bi and u can never take that away from me now.
Our eyes meet, and he doesn’t look away. For the first time, I start to wonder if love, is, in fact, necessary.
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It could have been so much...more.
2.5
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Gaslighting
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Violence, Blood, Alcohol
*3.5 stars*
This book was super, duper cute, and a pretty quick read! I haven't been finishing many books lately, but this was one I had to get all the way through as quick as possible. I really enjoyed the characters--I thought they were all distinct in their personalities. I know that might not sound like much, but creating likable, interesting characters is hard, and the more books I read the less characters stand out to me. Caden and Dylan were also adorable, of course. <3 The writing style was also super easy to get through; it was perfect for this type of book.
I did have some problems with the pacing, which is why this book isn't rated higher. Honestly, the beginning was totally fine with pacing--the book was going to be 4/5 stars until the end came, which is where the pacing got all over the place. Stuff happened way too fast and then was wrapped up at basically the speed of sound. I finished it not really feeling completely satisfied with how fast characters did things/forgave each other. For that reason, the dialogue was also pretty weird sometimes too.
But honestly, if you're in the mood for a super cute LGBTQIA+ read, I would recommend this one! Super fun! I defineitly want to check out what Cale Dietrich has to offer next!
This book was super, duper cute, and a pretty quick read! I haven't been finishing many books lately, but this was one I had to get all the way through as quick as possible. I really enjoyed the characters--I thought they were all distinct in their personalities. I know that might not sound like much, but creating likable, interesting characters is hard, and the more books I read the less characters stand out to me. Caden and Dylan were also adorable, of course. <3 The writing style was also super easy to get through; it was perfect for this type of book.
I did have some problems with the pacing, which is why this book isn't rated higher. Honestly, the beginning was totally fine with pacing--the book was going to be 4/5 stars until the end came, which is where the pacing got all over the place. Stuff happened way too fast and then was wrapped up at basically the speed of sound. I finished it not really feeling completely satisfied with how fast characters did things/forgave each other. For that reason, the dialogue was also pretty weird sometimes too.
But honestly, if you're in the mood for a super cute LGBTQIA+ read, I would recommend this one! Super fun! I defineitly want to check out what Cale Dietrich has to offer next!
I am not pleased.
2 books.
2 books was all I was able to fit into my luggage as I travel around Europe for the next month.
2 MEASLY BOOKS.
One was [b:Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology|30844667|Begin, End, Begin A #LoveOzYA Anthology|Danielle Binks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479344407s/30844667.jpg|51445098] which did not disappoint, but the other?
Possibly the worst book I’ve made myself endure in the last few years. My only solace in this cruel world is that I received an advanced reading copy and didn’t have to spend any of my hard earned nickels on this glorified toilet paper with words (I’m bad at metaphors leave me alone I am in pain).
I didn't just read this book though. I was stuck on a 16 hour flight with this book.
As there is so much wrong - so, so much bad, I shall start with the good. the one good.
The only reason I didn’t give thisnovel tree corpse 1 star- aside from my perpetual fear of upsetting anybody, including and especially authors, is that it was a genuinely brilliant concept. Plucked straight from a fangirls fever dream, there was just sooo much potential. I was so enthralled by the idea behind it that I found myself rewriting sentences in my head as I read them.
The Plot~ The Agency is a huge secret underground spy organisation with the purpose to basically create YA character tropes to trick future powerful world figures into falling in love- thus divulging all their deepest darkest secrets, which the company will then sell to the highest bidder.
BUT WAIT, it turns out the two boys they send out (one stereotypical boy next door Nice Boy™ and one Bad Boy™) end up falling for each other instead of the target/ teenage girl. Sounds sick right?? basically an organisation that creates ya novel plots!!! love it 10/10 coulda had some cool meta references to other ya novels, love a gay twist, truly great stuff.
BUT NOPE, instead we were stuck with possibly the blandest most uncharismatic characters. Told from the pov of the blandest of the bland, the human equivalent of iSnack 2.0. He was as alluring as tying my hair up with an elastic band- and as enjoyable to read as cutting out the chunk of hair inevitably tangled in said elastic band. He was like Riley from Buffy. Yeah, I went there.
Basically the protagonist is meant to be the Nice Boy™ but actually considers himself a Bad Boy™ pretending to be Nice Boy™ but actually his actions prove him to have a Nice Boy™ heart all along. Wow what a journey. Much character development. yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...... nah.
I knew I really hated this Soggy Weetbix of a protagonist- whom I’ve legit forgot the name of and quite frankly don’t care enough to look it up so shall now be known as Soggy Weetbix, I knew I reeaaally despised him when he mentioned Nicki Minaj.
firstly keep her name out of your boring dumb mouth.
b) Don’t. Call. Her. Nicki. What have you done to earn the privilege to be on first name basis with Ms. Minaj? You may address her as your majesty, your highness, or better don’t mention her at all. You Are Not Worthy Soggy Weetbix. Every time he called her ‘Nicki’ I got madder.
As for the other characters? There was the Bad Boy™ who seemed to actually be a Nice Boy™ but plot twist is a Bad Boy™ but nope wait I spoke too soon he’s a Nice Boy™.
There was the target of these two Boys™ affections who seems like a cool person.
Juliette is smart, kind and a !science genius! Sound like an interesting character to you? you are mistaken she is so poorly written even the fact that she invented black hole bombs did not excite me. Her interest in Soggy Weetbix was just straight up baffling.
There's the pretty cheerleader friend, who is dating the expendable-comic-relief-friend who is also the jock-friend and popular-idiot.
I'll give credit where credit is due, mashing multiple tropes into one character is v economical. Just imagine how much more successful Harry Potter could've been if Hermione, Ron and Draco were one character!!1!
tbh the only ending that would’ve made sense is if it was revealed that they were robots all along. The characters motives were illogical, the dialogue disjointed and i was left thinkin to myself; has this author ever encountered a real life human being? in person? outside on the planet earth?
The writing was so terribly awkward, full of pop culture references which by publication date are already outdated. I was reminded of my grade 6 attempts at twilight fan fiction, which unleashed a whole bunch of memories that were repressed for a reason.
Here are just a few snippets that made me physically cringe so much I’m surprised my teeth weren't ground completely away;
“The fact that she can sit by herself and not give a crap what anyone thinks makes me respect the living daylights out of her.”
"It radiates from him, in the tilt of his chin, the uneven manner in which he walks, in his borderline obnoxious I-fuck-people-and-I’ll-fuck-you-smile.”
"His expression, which looks alarmingly like the disappointed emoji personified,”
AGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THats enough.
so please feel sorry for me and for the beautiful premise which could've been so awesomely fresh and innovative. R I P.
2 books.
2 books was all I was able to fit into my luggage as I travel around Europe for the next month.
2 MEASLY BOOKS.
One was [b:Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology|30844667|Begin, End, Begin A #LoveOzYA Anthology|Danielle Binks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479344407s/30844667.jpg|51445098] which did not disappoint, but the other?
Possibly the worst book I’ve made myself endure in the last few years. My only solace in this cruel world is that I received an advanced reading copy and didn’t have to spend any of my hard earned nickels on this glorified toilet paper with words (I’m bad at metaphors leave me alone I am in pain).
I didn't just read this book though. I was stuck on a 16 hour flight with this book.
As there is so much wrong - so, so much bad, I shall start with the good. the one good.
The only reason I didn’t give this
The Plot~ The Agency is a huge secret underground spy organisation with the purpose to basically create YA character tropes to trick future powerful world figures into falling in love- thus divulging all their deepest darkest secrets, which the company will then sell to the highest bidder.
BUT WAIT, it turns out the two boys they send out (one stereotypical boy next door Nice Boy™ and one Bad Boy™) end up falling for each other instead of the target/ teenage girl. Sounds sick right?? basically an organisation that creates ya novel plots!!! love it 10/10 coulda had some cool meta references to other ya novels, love a gay twist, truly great stuff.
BUT NOPE, instead we were stuck with possibly the blandest most uncharismatic characters. Told from the pov of the blandest of the bland, the human equivalent of iSnack 2.0. He was as alluring as tying my hair up with an elastic band- and as enjoyable to read as cutting out the chunk of hair inevitably tangled in said elastic band. He was like Riley from Buffy. Yeah, I went there.
Basically the protagonist is meant to be the Nice Boy™ but actually considers himself a Bad Boy™ pretending to be Nice Boy™ but actually his actions prove him to have a Nice Boy™ heart all along. Wow what a journey. Much character development. yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...... nah.
I knew I really hated this Soggy Weetbix of a protagonist- whom I’ve legit forgot the name of and quite frankly don’t care enough to look it up so shall now be known as Soggy Weetbix, I knew I reeaaally despised him when he mentioned Nicki Minaj.
firstly keep her name out of your boring dumb mouth.
b) Don’t. Call. Her. Nicki. What have you done to earn the privilege to be on first name basis with Ms. Minaj? You may address her as your majesty, your highness, or better don’t mention her at all. You Are Not Worthy Soggy Weetbix. Every time he called her ‘Nicki’ I got madder.
As for the other characters? There was the Bad Boy™ who seemed to actually be a Nice Boy™ but plot twist is a Bad Boy™ but nope wait I spoke too soon he’s a Nice Boy™.
There was the target of these two Boys™ affections who seems like a cool person.
Juliette is smart, kind and a !science genius! Sound like an interesting character to you? you are mistaken she is so poorly written even the fact that she invented black hole bombs did not excite me. Her interest in Soggy Weetbix was just straight up baffling.
There's the pretty cheerleader friend, who is dating the expendable-comic-relief-friend who is also the jock-friend and popular-idiot.
I'll give credit where credit is due, mashing multiple tropes into one character is v economical. Just imagine how much more successful Harry Potter could've been if Hermione, Ron and Draco were one character!!1!
tbh the only ending that would’ve made sense is if it was revealed that they were robots all along. The characters motives were illogical, the dialogue disjointed and i was left thinkin to myself; has this author ever encountered a real life human being? in person? outside on the planet earth?
The writing was so terribly awkward, full of pop culture references which by publication date are already outdated. I was reminded of my grade 6 attempts at twilight fan fiction, which unleashed a whole bunch of memories that were repressed for a reason.
Here are just a few snippets that made me physically cringe so much I’m surprised my teeth weren't ground completely away;
“The fact that she can sit by herself and not give a crap what anyone thinks makes me respect the living daylights out of her.”
"It radiates from him, in the tilt of his chin, the uneven manner in which he walks, in his borderline obnoxious I-fuck-people-and-I’ll-fuck-you-smile.”
"His expression, which looks alarmingly like the disappointed emoji personified,”
AGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THats enough.
so please feel sorry for me and for the beautiful premise which could've been so awesomely fresh and innovative. R I P.
The Love Interest was one of my most-anticipated releases of 2017. A satirical YA novel about all those stupid YA tropes? I’m totally ready for that.
Caden has spent his entire life inside a secret compound, training to become a Love Interest. He takes acting classes, learns about pop culture, and spends endless hours working on his abs. If he gets chosen for a mission, he’ll have to convince his target to marry him. Then, the rest of his life will be dedicated to spying on her.
After years of training, Caden is finally chosen for a mission. His target is Juliet, a teenage genius and inventor of deadly weapons. Unfortunately for Caden, he has competition. The compound has sent a second Love Interest, Dylan, who is also trying to win Juliet’s affection. Caden is ready to fight for Juliet, but as he gets to know Dylan, he starts to realize that he can never love Juliet. Because Caden is kinda in love with Dylan.
Have you ever found a book that makes you smile like an idiot while you’re reading it? The Love Interest did that for me. It shows how stupid some popular YA tropes are. For example, super-muscular teenagers. Caden works hard for his muscles. He exercises and has to think about every bit of food he puts in his mouth. You don’t see that in YA. Those guys are just effortlessly buff, I guess?
The book plays with that “brooding bad boy” vs. “cute boy next door” trope. Caden is a Nice, so he basically has to live for Juliet. He can’t argue with her, and he has to let her walk all over him. He can’t stand up for himself because it could be perceived as Not Nice. Dylan is a Bad, so he has to be a jerk to Juliet, even when it doesn’t make sense for him to be a jerk. It’s sad and hilarious. The boys are expected to have no life outside of their potential girlfriend.
Then, there are the parents. Caden has stereotypical terrible YA parents, but they’re terrible because they’ve had their memories erased. They’re basically drooling idiots. It’s perfect!
There are so many silly stereotypes addressed in this book. It takes on the “gay best friend” trope:
Even though this book made me happy, I didn’t completely love it. On the surface, it’s a fun, fast-paced adventure, but underneath it’s pretty . . . shallow. It’s set in a dystopia-type world, but there’s barely any world building. At the end of the book, I still had questions. Like, why does the compound have to send a “Nice” and a “Bad” to compete for each girl? I know that the book is making fun of tropes, but what’s the logic for it in the story world? Why couldn’t the compound just make all the boys great actors? Have the boys tailor their behavior to each specific target. Why bother with all the nice and mean stuff? Just figure out what kind of guy Juliet likes and play that role.
The characters are also shallow, especially Juliet. I kind of wondered if that was intentional. Is Juliet supposed to be one of those empty Bella-Swan-type characters that are just a shell for the reader to insert themselves into? Is Juliet empty because we’re seeing her from Caden’s point-of-view? There’s no reader in there, which means she’s blank? There’s not much going on with Juliet. She’s cardboard.
I think the ending is drawn out too long. The characters call themselves “The Protagonists,” so we all know that they’re going to defeat the bad guys and save the world. I wanted them to get on with it.
This is a fun book with lots of smiles and plot twists, but I had huge expectations for it. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to them. Still, I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something quick and fun.
Caden has spent his entire life inside a secret compound, training to become a Love Interest. He takes acting classes, learns about pop culture, and spends endless hours working on his abs. If he gets chosen for a mission, he’ll have to convince his target to marry him. Then, the rest of his life will be dedicated to spying on her.
After years of training, Caden is finally chosen for a mission. His target is Juliet, a teenage genius and inventor of deadly weapons. Unfortunately for Caden, he has competition. The compound has sent a second Love Interest, Dylan, who is also trying to win Juliet’s affection. Caden is ready to fight for Juliet, but as he gets to know Dylan, he starts to realize that he can never love Juliet. Because Caden is kinda in love with Dylan.
Have you ever found a book that makes you smile like an idiot while you’re reading it? The Love Interest did that for me. It shows how stupid some popular YA tropes are. For example, super-muscular teenagers. Caden works hard for his muscles. He exercises and has to think about every bit of food he puts in his mouth. You don’t see that in YA. Those guys are just effortlessly buff, I guess?
The book plays with that “brooding bad boy” vs. “cute boy next door” trope. Caden is a Nice, so he basically has to live for Juliet. He can’t argue with her, and he has to let her walk all over him. He can’t stand up for himself because it could be perceived as Not Nice. Dylan is a Bad, so he has to be a jerk to Juliet, even when it doesn’t make sense for him to be a jerk. It’s sad and hilarious. The boys are expected to have no life outside of their potential girlfriend.
Then, there are the parents. Caden has stereotypical terrible YA parents, but they’re terrible because they’ve had their memories erased. They’re basically drooling idiots. It’s perfect!
There are so many silly stereotypes addressed in this book. It takes on the “gay best friend” trope:
“I don't exist to teach her a lesson, and it irks me that she thinks labelling me is okay now. Like, by liking guys, I automatically take on that role in her life. That I'm suddenly a supporting character in her story rather than the hero of my own.” – The Love Interest
Even though this book made me happy, I didn’t completely love it. On the surface, it’s a fun, fast-paced adventure, but underneath it’s pretty . . . shallow. It’s set in a dystopia-type world, but there’s barely any world building. At the end of the book, I still had questions. Like, why does the compound have to send a “Nice” and a “Bad” to compete for each girl? I know that the book is making fun of tropes, but what’s the logic for it in the story world? Why couldn’t the compound just make all the boys great actors? Have the boys tailor their behavior to each specific target. Why bother with all the nice and mean stuff? Just figure out what kind of guy Juliet likes and play that role.
The characters are also shallow, especially Juliet. I kind of wondered if that was intentional. Is Juliet supposed to be one of those empty Bella-Swan-type characters that are just a shell for the reader to insert themselves into? Is Juliet empty because we’re seeing her from Caden’s point-of-view? There’s no reader in there, which means she’s blank? There’s not much going on with Juliet. She’s cardboard.
I think the ending is drawn out too long. The characters call themselves “The Protagonists,” so we all know that they’re going to defeat the bad guys and save the world. I wanted them to get on with it.
This is a fun book with lots of smiles and plot twists, but I had huge expectations for it. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to them. Still, I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something quick and fun.
“This isn’t Tumblr, Juliet, straight men do exist here.” – The Love Interest
Este libro simplemente cumplió con lo que prometió. Eso no quiere decir que no me haya gustado, simplemente no tenía grandes expectativas con la historia y por eso creo que lo disfruté UN MONTÓN.
Pronto opinión en el canal.
Pronto opinión en el canal.
The fatphobic remarks were a bit unnecessary and the whole plot, writing style and characters were incredibly bland.