Author: Cale Dietrich
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Part of A Series? No, A Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: The Publisher via NetGalley
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQIA
Synopsis: There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.
Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The brood-ing, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boywill pursue her. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?
Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have tobe– whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.
What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.
I have been excited for this book for a really long time. In fact, The Love Interest made my most anticipated book releasing in May list - if you read the synopsis, I'M SO SURE you'd want to read it to.
Two boys, one Nice and one Bad are vying for the attention of the same girl. Except, they're trained spies, the one who loses will die AND that the two boys are falling for each other? YES PLEASE.
Truth be told, this book wasn't ALL I expected it to be - it fell a little flat at times, the last quarter of the book had some WILD AND CRAZILY UNBELIEVABLE plans, and I so STUCK about whether I like this book or not.
I LOVED THE PLOT. It took on some stereotypes, over exaggerated them a little so you could see it and also added in an LGBT romance that I loved. I loved the fact that this played with the Good Boy and Bad Boy stereotype, and that the girl was supposed to choose. I love that they portrayed that not everyone is all good and all bad.
Apart from the fact that this book had a GREAT PLOT, and one HUGE TWIST THAT I LOVED AND DID NOT SEE COMING, it was pretty dull.
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| Image from the author's Twitter |
One of my biggest disappoints is that this was told only from the Nice Boy, Caden's POV, and not both of them. I felt like the book could have been more if it was told by both boys.
While I liked Caden and Dyl, I didn't love them. Their relationship was SO MUCH LUST and the fact that there was this BASIC HUMAN INSTINCT to not let someone die and NOTHING ELSE. There was no real chemistry - they went on drives, they showed off their six pack abs, they were gorgeous humans and that's it. THEY WERE IN LUST, NOT LOVE.
They might have been in like, but I HATED THAT THEY USED THE WORD LOVE. Also, the two of them pouted. A LOT. WHAT EVEN?
Another person I didn't understand was Juliet. I don't know WHAT I expected from her, but she was so... normal for a company to invest in. Sure, there were two scenes where she seemed like a mad scientist but other than saying 'Oh these *insert cool tech here* gloves that I made* and somehow reverse engineering a signal, she did NOTHING. IN FACT, SHE DIDN'T EVEN USE THE WORD REVERSE ENGINEERING. She didn't come across as a genius. She barely came across as a human - being the stiff and "I've decided to forgive you" (like forgiveness is a statement not a feeling.)
And the last 30% felt... unplanned. Their plan was over the top and not really a plan at all.
I guess I wish the book was A LOT more, but I still ABSOLUTELY LOVED the basic plot of the book. I do recommend it - it's definitely worth it to read once!
Cale Dietrich is a YA devotee, lifelong gamer, and tragic pop punk enthusiast. He was born in Perth, grew upon the Gold Coast, and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. The Love Interest is his first novel.
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