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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
I wanted to like this book so bad, I mean, it sounded amazing and cute and interesting and corny and all that good stuff, but it was so bad, so damn bad, the plot holes are huge, the character development is not existing, the love relationship it's a joke, and that ending? I'm surprised this book got published in the first place.
I wanted to like this book so bad, I mean, it sounded amazing and cute and interesting and corny and all that good stuff, but it was so bad, so damn bad, the plot holes are huge, the character development is not existing, the love relationship it's a joke, and that ending? I'm surprised this book got published in the first place.
Before I reached, say, the halfway point - maybe the two-thirds mark - I was going to say that I could understand how this book wasn't for everyone. And, even now, I still kind of can, but if it sounded enough like someones kind of book for them to read it, I don't understand why this totally hypothetical person didn't like it. Because it was pretty much exactly what I'd hoped for and so very, very much more than I expected.
I will say, the book starts out slow. I read the first 50-60 pages of it then life got in the way and it took me about a week to pick it back up. Once I did though, I breezed through the rest of the book in three days. (That was in spite of being busy and only able to read in the evening before/after I watched tv.)
I do plan on writing a full review on my blog, so I don't want to say everything here, but I will say: if this book interests you at all, take a chance with it. The writing is good, the characters are spectacular and there was real thought put into the world building.
I will say, the book starts out slow. I read the first 50-60 pages of it then life got in the way and it took me about a week to pick it back up. Once I did though, I breezed through the rest of the book in three days. (That was in spite of being busy and only able to read in the evening before/after I watched tv.)
I do plan on writing a full review on my blog, so I don't want to say everything here, but I will say: if this book interests you at all, take a chance with it. The writing is good, the characters are spectacular and there was real thought put into the world building.
This was a pretty good read. I liked the concept of the shady organization planting "love interests" to stay close to important people. I liked the way the author messed with the idea of the love triangle. The story was fast-paced and interesting; I polished most of the book off in an afternoon. There were some really great lines, especially at the end.
The book kind of fell apart for me on some of the finer points. Like, for example, there's no way Caden should've gotten away with as much as he did, considering he had a brain implant and his handler lady could hear his thoughts. I also just in general didn't understand the competition aspect. I get that it had to exist in order to create the love triangle, but it just didn't need to within the confines of the story. It seems wasteful to bring up these people to be spies and then essentially waste one of them in a useless competition. Or, why was the LIC messing around with athletes? It didn't seem like that kind of payout would be worth it in light of their other targets.
I also just couldn't get emotionally invested in the side characters, and I think I was meant to feel something about them. Meh.
So, this book was different and fun. I wish it would've been a little better, but it was an enjoyable read all the same.
The book kind of fell apart for me on some of the finer points. Like, for example, there's no way Caden should've gotten away with as much as he did, considering he had a brain implant and his handler lady could hear his thoughts. I also just in general didn't understand the competition aspect. I get that it had to exist in order to create the love triangle, but it just didn't need to within the confines of the story. It seems wasteful to bring up these people to be spies and then essentially waste one of them in a useless competition. Or, why was the LIC messing around with athletes? It didn't seem like that kind of payout would be worth it in light of their other targets.
I also just couldn't get emotionally invested in the side characters, and I think I was meant to feel something about them. Meh.
So, this book was different and fun. I wish it would've been a little better, but it was an enjoyable read all the same.
A very easy read, fun and lighthearted. As someone not a fan of the romantic trends in more popular YA novels, this one satisfied the cynic in me. The plot is just wacky enough to keep you reading while not being so crazy that you can't follow what's going on, and the characters are delightfully eclectic.
I do wish the ending had more substance to it - the book felt like it was building to a certain point and then it sort of... gave up. The characters remain has 2D & shallow as they first appear, simply going through the motions of the plot. Even considering the lighthearted nature of the writing it felt like a cop out.
I enjoyed the book very much, but I do wish the author had developed it a proper novel or series, instead of a thin parody.
I do wish the ending had more substance to it - the book felt like it was building to a certain point and then it sort of... gave up. The characters remain has 2D & shallow as they first appear, simply going through the motions of the plot. Even considering the lighthearted nature of the writing it felt like a cop out.
I enjoyed the book very much, but I do wish the author had developed it a proper novel or series, instead of a thin parody.
Seriously though. This book was just pop culture reference after pop culture reference! Every time I heard the name Nicki Minaj I cringed. It was like this book was an adult trying to be a "hip cool kid" 
It was a cool concept, a secret spy organization trains people to be love interests, and the one realizes he's in love with the competition. It was just so poorly executed and relied too much on its references. My favorite was the one "You haven't read any YA" like seriously.
I wanted to love this book. I really did but it took way too long for me to read and was completely unbelievable.
It was a cool concept, a secret spy organization trains people to be love interests, and the one realizes he's in love with the competition. It was just so poorly executed and relied too much on its references. My favorite was the one "You haven't read any YA" like seriously.
I wanted to love this book. I really did but it took way too long for me to read and was completely unbelievable.
I think a high 3.5 stars on this for me! I was so excited about it, and then I read it and loved a lot about it, but some of it did fall the tiniest bit flat for me. still, super enjoyable and quick read!!
Probably closer to a 3.5
First 200 or so pages of this were really enjoyable but just too predictable, the plot was plodding along exactly how I thought it would. And then it took a turn, and there was a surprise that I loved! It was exactly what I had been craving from this book. However, it somehow managed to reverse all that in the last 50 pages.
So a fun read but not a memorable one I will go back to.
I am intrigued to pick up Cale Dietrich’s next book though, which I believe is out this summer.
First 200 or so pages of this were really enjoyable but just too predictable, the plot was plodding along exactly how I thought it would. And then it took a turn, and there was a surprise that I loved! It was exactly what I had been craving from this book. However, it somehow managed to reverse all that in the last 50 pages.
So a fun read but not a memorable one I will go back to.
I am intrigued to pick up Cale Dietrich’s next book though, which I believe is out this summer.
**I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars
This will be a short review because it's been a couple of weeks since I read it.
When I first heard about The Love Interest, I was so excited because it completely subverts the love triangle trope by having the two love interests fall in love instead. However, I could not get into the writing and frankly I don't have any attachments to the characters.
It took me a month to read this because the writing made the whole thing sooo slow. Also, a lot of the things they describe in the book seemed a bit contrived, mostly I think because of the way it's written about. And the characters! I am completely serious when I say that I did not particularly care for any of them. Not the main character, not Dyl, not Juliet, not the friends. None of them were very fleshed out, and it felt like they were all pretty much flat characters. They all had a couple of characteristics, and that's it. I don't want to post any quotes or go further because I don't want to spoil anything, and it's probably just me who didn't care for this book.
Spoilers for this paragraph though, because this one thing made me really mad. Read if you want, although I wouldn't exactly say it spoils the entire plot because you pretty much know what happens based on the description.
So yeah, this book was a bit of a letdown for me. Again, it was mostly the writing that bothered me, but the thing I really only liked about this book was the twist with the love triangle. We do need more books like this though, so I'm looking forward to the author's next book.
read on my blog
3.5 stars
This will be a short review because it's been a couple of weeks since I read it.
When I first heard about The Love Interest, I was so excited because it completely subverts the love triangle trope by having the two love interests fall in love instead. However, I could not get into the writing and frankly I don't have any attachments to the characters.
It took me a month to read this because the writing made the whole thing sooo slow. Also, a lot of the things they describe in the book seemed a bit contrived, mostly I think because of the way it's written about. And the characters! I am completely serious when I say that I did not particularly care for any of them. Not the main character, not Dyl, not Juliet, not the friends. None of them were very fleshed out, and it felt like they were all pretty much flat characters. They all had a couple of characteristics, and that's it. I don't want to post any quotes or go further because I don't want to spoil anything, and it's probably just me who didn't care for this book.
Spoilers for this paragraph though, because this one thing made me really mad. Read if you want, although I wouldn't exactly say it spoils the entire plot because you pretty much know what happens based on the description.
Spoiler
There's not "bury your gays" trope, but there was this one moment where Dyl tells Caden that he pretended to be gay and like him so that he would "win" (aka get Juliet to fall in love with him). I guess this trope happens a lot in hetero plots, but it felt ten times worse when someone pretends to be a completely different sexuality just to fool you. However, it does turn out that he's lying and does love Caden. There's this one scene where Juliet tells Caden, "Of course he loves you! Just look at the way he looks at you!" which was another cliche in my opinion, especially because I could not tell Dyl had intense feelings for Caden because the writing never suggested it. I felt almost no spark between them for the entire book. It works out in the end, but that scene bothered me so much I almost stopped reading.So yeah, this book was a bit of a letdown for me. Again, it was mostly the writing that bothered me, but the thing I really only liked about this book was the twist with the love triangle. We do need more books like this though, so I'm looking forward to the author's next book.
read on my blog
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I wanted to love this book and it was a quick read but it fell short in a lot of ways that I wanted it to excel but most of all...IT NEEDED TO BE DUAL POV!!! A book with a love triangle of this nature needs to have both the characters POVs because the entire book I was supposed to believe that Dyl was doing all these great things to "win" Juliet's heart and that he had a real shot at winning against Caden but everytime he appeared to her it just seemed forced and odd which made her "choosing Caden" irrelevant and not shocking in the least. Also, for Dylan to then in the third part be like....oh yea I'm not actually into guys. It was shocking and seemed out of nowhere when we could've gone through the ark of his obvious internalized homophobia.
Honestly, this book just missed the mark and while it was quick, fun read it wasn't the best thought out.
This was a fun and overly cheesy book. While I enjoyed getting to know all of the characters I could see all of the big moments coming. It would be interesting seeing Natalie and Trevor's story.