An action-packed, sci-fi / romance / YA book that takes the standard love triangle plot and shatters it with a modern-day twist—I loved this book!

Two boys compete for the affection of a girl. One is the gorgeous, smart, aw-shucks boy next door (I am picturing Scott Eastwood) and the other is the moody, quintessential bad boy (complete with leather jacket and motorcycle). The girl must choose only one. You are probably thinking to yourself that this is pretty common as far as plots go, in fact it’s one of the most recognizable YA tropes around.

But all is not what it seems. What the girl doesn’t know is that an evil, secret organization has groomed these boys to be stereotypical Nice Boy/Bad Boy spies. Their mission is to infiltrate the girl’s life and win her affections. The winner gets the girl and will report back to the organization on her activities as necessary. The loser meets a horrific, fiery death. What the organization is not prepared for is for their spies to actually fall in love with the wrong target. Are you in now??

While there is a touch of a Hunger Games vibe in that the good boy Caden and the bad boy Dylan will fight to the death for Juliet’s affections, I assure you, this is like nothing you have ever read before. The genius of this book is how it blatantly mocks clichéd tropes while you are being sucked into a story about the very thing being mocked. It’s both wary and earnest at the same time. Even if you just take the story at face value, it is original, fast-paced, and entertaining.

But there is so much more going on than in your average YA romance. The characters are caught between their fake identities and their real ones, and they must determine who they want to be and how they want to live. There is a strong message throughout The Love Interest about the importance of being true to yourself, of writing your own story and not conforming just because others expect you to. I also loved how Juliet’s character is no mere prop or damsel in distress. She is a brilliant, badass scientist in the making who has a good head on her shoulders and is empathetic to others.

In a game where lives are at stake and strategy is everything, how can you be sure of what is real and what is being used to manipulate you? I am so excited to introduce you to the heroes that emerge from a nefarious spy organization in this wonderful debut.