Oh, and it’s black in colour and is perfectly described as the “perfect killing machine” (because why not?). There’s this largely unexplained Stalker robotic…thing…that acts as one fail-safe if Love Interests don’t do their love interest-y stuff. without the inclusion of heavy technological advancement, then I can pass it off.īut no. If it were just any default organization (like the CIA or something idk?) breeding these Love Interests to act on surveillance etc. To be clear: this is not a genre classification that I have seen for this book…but it should be. My concern begins and ends with the leniency on the necessary science-fiction and/or dystopic element to The Love Interest. The social conventions are fine, the vividness of the imagery is fine, the nice/bad dynamics are fine. The contemporary world building is not something I’m going to speak to. And this is where The Love Interest fell flat for me as it carried through to the other elements as I will discuss below. A journey is sometimes only as good as the revelations and ending that are presented. The third act - specifically the last 40-ish pages of the book - just went downhill really quickly. The first two (see: the build-up) was decent and had the hallmarks of what it promised to deliver. The Love Interest is broken down into three acts. But even a smart concept has to deliver an ending that’s more than satisfactory to the high-concept of a plot. The Love Interest is a book about the use of tropes in storytelling.įor many sections of the book, the satire that comes alive off the page is hilariously and makes you question the ridiculousness and necessity of these tropes in every story. – Protagonists fit into neat check boxes and are build upon commonly used character framework and tropes Initial ThoughtsĮxcellent premise muddled by an ending that left so much to be desired.ĭisclaimer: I received an ARC of The Love Interest from Raincoast Books. – Reads as contemporary romance with a science-fiction undertone contemporary parts of the story were great but once the story enters the third act requiring sci-fi elements to be explored, it looses it’s propulsion – Smart concept on paper bogged down by choices in storytelling that lack world building in support of the premise Should this book be picked up? the tl dr review: (re: Goodreads The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich) They have to be – whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?īoth Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Dylan is a Bad: The brooding, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome.

Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection.

The love interest by cale dietrich