The Love Interest

March 27, 2017
In this subversive take on the quintessential YA love triangle, two guys—the clean-cut boy next door and the brooding bad boy—compete for a girl’s affections. But nothing is as it seems: the guys are actually secret agents, trained to follow a script and fulfill specific romantic roles, and whoever doesn’t win his target’s love will be killed by his ruthless employer. Narrator Caden is a “Nice,” Dylan is a “Bad,” and Juliet is a genius with a bright future ahead of her. Caden has everything planned out—until he and Dylan fall for each other. As they explore this unexpected desire, they attempt to complete their mission, knowing one of them will die when Juliet makes her choice. Dietrich’s debut is impressive, provocative, and a clever take on well-worn romantic tropes. The emotional connections among Caden, Dylan, and Juliet balance out the artificial nature of the relationships forming, while the thriller elements add tension and numerous surprises. The only downside: the ending and epilogue leave too many dangling threads and unanswered questions about what happens in between. Ages 13–up. Agent: Leon Husock, L. Perkins Agency.

April 1, 2017
Gr 9 Up-Caden is a spy. He's spent most of his life so far in an underground facility being groomed physically and mentally to become a Love Interest for someone influential. Now he's finally been chosen. Caden's been pegged as a Nice, the nerdy-boy-next-door type with perfect abs and ocean blue eyes. His competition is Dylan, a dark-souled Bad who's the dreamiest boy Caden's ever seen. Each of them must pursue Juliet, a girl destined to be the next great scientific mind. Whoever wins will share Juliet's secrets with the Love Interest Compound, which will then sell them to the highest bidder. Whoever loses dies. Caden doesn't intend to lose-but no one prepared him for the way Dyl makes him feel. The narrative is told entirely from Caden's perspective, and it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between what's actually going on and Caden's assumptions. This might be overlooked if the story had a lot less exposition. Still, fans of spy fiction and LGBTQ titles will find the novel worth reading. VERDICT A serviceable addition that might appeal to fans of Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle and Ally Carter's books.-Kaitlin Frick, New York Public Library

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Nice guy Caden is just that: raised by a secret spy organization to be a Nice, carefully sculpted to nonthreatening physical perfection and full of boyish, bashful charm. Caden is also a Love Interest, trained to make a target chosen by the organizationin this case, high-school science whiz Julietfall in love with him so he can steal her secrets. But there's a catch: competition in the form of Dylan, a Bad, trained to appear tough, brooding, and a little bit dangerous. Whoever doesn't get the girl dies. Caden, not as Nice as he should be, hopes that his will to survive will help him win, even though this means another boy's death. But Juliet turns out to be smart, capable, and kind, and Caden hates betraying her. Worse, Dylan has started showing up at his window in the middle of the night, and even though they're supposed to be enemies, Caden feels first camaraderie and then something deeper for him. For Caden, love was never supposed to be a factor, but it's starting to make all the difference. There's a Hunger Games vibe here to be surea deadly teen-on-teen competitionand this is packed with similar questions of morality. High stakes, well-developed characters, and an LGBTQ slant on the classic spy story make it all the more intriguing. Stock upthis one has something for everyone.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)