The Love Interest

By: Cale Dietrich

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

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, and dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will 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 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.

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich is a gay YA thriller that is nonstop action from start to finish.

©2017 Cale Dietrich (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Great story

This is a story I love to revisit. It broke my heart and I’m not sure it went back together this time, but I know I’ll come back to it again to enjoy.

Disappointing

The premise of this particular book sounded so intriguing and I remember being greatly disappointed when I was not able to get my hands on an ARC. Eventually, it came out in Audible format and I bought it and saved it for a long transatlantic flight. Sadly, the execution did not live up to the premise; very flat characters, logic holes, sloppy world building, and questionable writing really let the book down. Despite that, however, enough promise showed through to make me want to read more of what this debut author will produce in the future.

Story: Caden and Dylan are orphans raised by a secret group who develop/train and then provide 'love interests' to promising or powerful people. These love interests stay besides their 'prey' and feed secrets to the agency, who uses that information to gain power, influence, and money. Here, promising scientist teenager Juliet is targeted by "nice guy" Caden and "bad boy" Dylan. When Juliet settles on one of them, the other will be incinerated for his failure. Should the boys try to run away, they will be hunted down by murderous robots. But what happens when one finds himself attracted to the other love interest and not their target?

The first major hurdle with the Love Interest is that all the characters are flat. Especially Dylan, Caden's competition, comes off as a cardboard figure - no personality, no depth, and other than being physically handsome, no good reason for Caden's interest. He felt like an aging hound - lumbering, almost bovine with empty black eyes, and sounding like a halfwit most of the time. It was REALLY hard to understand Caden's interest (or Juliet's), despite being given Caden's POV for the entire book. Caden himself was also greatly underwritten, seeming more of a caricature than someone raised in a secret organization without family or affection. I won't even get into the side characters, who fare no better. But that segues to the second issue: logic and believability.

Much of the world makes absolutely no sense. Readers can suspend disbelief but it shouldn't have to be a constant fight, either, to do so. From the silliness of the secret organization or that we are being led to believe that this teenage girl is so damn important as to get two huge resources wooing her, the book really fell apart once it left the high school setting. I would have preferred to see the entire last quarter of the book jettisoned and instead focus spent on expanding and strengthening the first 3/4. The bad guys were stupid, the whole thing inept, too many coincidences, and with a far too 'pat' ending. There was a lot of eye rolling after the 80% mark.

The last big issue was that the writing was very simplistic and unexciting. When even a professional narrator can't elevate it (in my Audible version), then I know for sure that we have a problem. The love was 'insta' all around and certainly was as romantic as a dead cat. Juliet was a lot of 'tell' with little show and Caden spends most of the book mooning over 'Dyl' (who is oblivious) instead of actually trying to woo Juliet and ensure he isn't incinerated.

In the end, a very disappointing read of what could have been a fantastic premise. It greatly needed some gravitas and rewriting, something perhaps the writer will tackle some day when he has more experience under his belt. Reviewed from an Audible recording.

Apparently there are alot of HATERS here...

Personally I found this book to be very entertaining. Michael Crouch is my favorite narrator so that made this book ten times more enjoyable. I love that he can read different characters in slightly different tones. As far as the plot goes i thought it was a very creative setting, I think this book could be turned into a good movie. Its a reasonable concept. To be seen as an asset in the world and then set up that your life partner is a spy for a group that sells your secrets. The ending did seem to run through the hurdles pretty quickly but none the less this is a YA genre book. Its not meant to be super complex. I think overall this was a great read.

Great 👍

LOVED it, course Michael Crouch could read the alphabet and I’d be entranced! Story was great, I had a few huh moments but overall I really enjoyed it!

Michael Crouch gives these characters life.

I have listened to this audiobook three times over the past two years.Today is my third time,because,I really love it that much.

The characters of,Caden and "Dyl", Dylan feel like real people.I loved this book from start to finish.

I want to sincerely thank both the author of this book and the narrator for their amazing work.

The narator,Michael Crouch,really brings all of the charaters to life especially,Caden and Dylan.


I would like to ask the author,Cale Dietrich:

Can you please consider writing either a sequel or a spinoff,with Caden and Dylan.Thanks

good narration, cool plot, weak story.

it was good, but could have been great with a better editor to help mold it.

Oh. My. God.

This honestly has been the best book I have tried this year. Forget this year, since forever! I almost never give reviews, but oh my God, this book definitely deserved one.
I guess I now have the perfect answer to the question, “What’s your favorite book?”

It’s something y’all don’t wanna miss.

Lazy ending

story was good and interesting all the up until the 3rd part of the book.
then it was sped up and all of a sudden they all saved the day.

Jaysus, can Michael Crouch narrate my daily life?

Where does The Love Interest rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love an usual story that is inventive, innovative and well-written. This book certainly is that.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Love Interest?

What I loved about it was the matter-of-fact treatment of same-sex relationships which form a large part of the heart of this work. 10 years ago, that subject matter would have been taboo or groundbreaking. Now, it is just an element of the story, and a sweet one at that. Baby steps turn into giant leaps. :)

What does Michael Crouch bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Oy, where can I begin on this? Michael brings his characters to life--each of them had a unique, nuanced, and very distinctive voice. He breathes life into them. You're not listening to an audiobook with him--you are eavesdropping on a conversation with the characters. At one point, he was managing FIVE characters at once, and making each one so real and personable. Michael is passionate, expressive, and real. I have quietly decided to build my own Michael Crouch library. That is all

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The epilogue was particularly satisfying. I had been tense the last few chapters. It was a very satisfying denouement.

Any additional comments?

How can I hire Michael Crouch to read me to sleep at night. Seriously.

Love

I really enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great LGBTQ read.