Mundie Moms

Monday, June 26, 2017

THE LOVE INTEREST by Cale Dietrich / Book Review



By: Cale Dietrich 
Published by: Feiwel & Friends
Released on: May 16th, 2017
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads
Source: arc from publisher to review in exchange for my honest review

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 brooding, dark-souled guy who is dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose the 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 to be—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.


A fast paced, quick read, with a predictable twist. The Love Interest is one of those reads that you can easily sit down and read in an afternoon. It's one that's not weighed down with in-depth plot twists or characters, though it felt like this was what Dietrich was trying to go for, but didn't quite achieve. Maybe that's where this book failed to do it for me at. 

First off, there is nothing wrong with a quick, fun read. Which this book was. Sometimes I like not having attachments when I read a book. I just want to sit and read without over analyzing and overthinking everything that's going on. This book was just that. A fun read. 

I liked the moments of humor, and the fact this book could poked fun at YA tropes we too often see in books. However, through out the book there are times when it felt this book was trying to be more than that, which simply didn't work. I don't fault the author for that, because that's something editing should have caught. There's so much mixed into this story, that it should have done away with trying to be more serious, when it wasn't, because it reflects on the author's writing. 

Character wise, I'm a little torn. I liked that they weren't in-depth, but at the same time, had they been I may have felt like I understood them more. There were a number of things that happened between the characters that I either didn't like, or that weren't explored enough, or were completely unrealistic. One of the things I did like, was this book doesn't make the gay character a BFF, but a main character in the story. Not that the BFFs are bad, but they're so over done. 

Sadly I feel this book is another victim to overhype, not enough editing, and a rush to get this book into the hands of readers, vs the publishing house taking it's time to polish this book up to make it live up to the hype it received. I believe it could have been on that level. If this book is ever made into a series, I feel the second book would outshine the first one. It's not to say this book is bad, because it's not. If you just read this book a quick read, and don't over think it, you'll most likely enjoy it more, than if you look for this book to live up to all the hype it received.

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