Love Interest

"An amazing workplace romance. Casey's love for her job and her work family. So when she finds out she was passed over for an amazing job opportunity for the bosses son, Alex, it becomes the perfect rom-com set up."

"This is actually so precious but why do the past books I’ve read keep having daddy issues ?? Like I’m not purposely seeking that out"

"2.5 Stars Rounded to 3<br/>Cover 3 Stars<br/><br/>WWTQ: What is privileged information?<br/><br/>Answer: A legal device to protect client-attorney legal advice from discovery and disclosure. It is not the same as confidential information. <br/><br/>I really did not like this. It felt forced, and over-constructed, distractingly so and then it wheedled down to plain uncomfortable. <br/><br/>Casey the FMC is a financial analyst at a magazine conglomerate, something like Conde Nast. In all actuality though she's a bookkeeper. All she does is balance budgets and file expense reports. Throughout the novel there is an anti-STEM undercurrent. Apparently STEM people aren't creative or cool. At some point this is supposed to get reconciled but it's a passing comment from her father, that we're supposed to believe wipes clean Casey's entire history of self-doubt? It felt like an afterthought. Casey also has food and skin allergies. This is an ongoing theme but never amounts to anything. She's so highly sensitive to (some) nuts that she wants a nut free workplace policy, but she also eats at street vendors, and goes to restaurants without concern. I waited the entire book for her to need an epi-pen. Spoiler: She didn't. <br/><br/>My fundamental problem with this book, is that it felt like it was ticking off boxes on an inclusion checklist: bipoc characters, lqbtq characters, disabled/special needs, check check check, but all without context or impact. It felt disingenuous to people who experience these existences. It felt cosmetic. <br/><br/>Regarding the relationship between Casey and Alex, it was over-the-top cheese. I had the "icks" from the elevator meet-cute until the end. There's cute then there's saccharine and this book is the equivalent of high fructose corn syrup.<br/><br/>The third act break-up was a weird choice. White collar crime always is, I suppose. The biggest surprise was Casey wasn't fired. She should have been, especially if she thought she was breaking privilege, which is not something a financial analyst can bestow, but I digress.<br/><br/>All-in-all, this didn’t work for me, but I’m a cynical corporate drone, so perhaps I’m not the target audience."

"This was a really cute and character-focused rom-com. Love interest follows Casey, who, at the beginning of the book, meets Alex(m) in an elevator. Casey realizes that Alex gets the job that she had also applied for, and she immediately hates him. As they work together, Casey realizes that Alex is not like he seems and that she may have judged him too quickly. <br/><br/>I really enjoyed this book it was such a nice and sweet read. I loved Casey and Alex a lot they were compelling characters, and I liked their banter, especially when they were in their enemies phase. I liked that Casey is a 24-year-old financial analyst, and I also really liked how the enemies aspect was resolved maturely. I thought the characters backstories brought an emotional aspect and really helped their character development by the end of the book. Their romance was really sweet, and there was a tiny bit of spice. The side characters were great, and I liked the really tight-knit friend group. I did find the middle of the book took me a little longer to get through because I wasn't too interested in the workplace conflict plot, but it was still a good read. <br/><br/>Overall this was a good debut novel by the author. The workplace vibes, the characters, and the romance were well-written and kept me interested in the book. If you love romcoms and workplace romance, you should read this!<br/><br/>This book has: <br/>- Korean American mmc <br/>- Workplace romance <br/>- Forced proximity <br/>- Only one bed <br/>- Enemies to lovers<br/><br/>Thank you, St. Martins Press and Netgalley, for this arc."