2017 Most Anticipated - The Love Interest

Next up on my 2017 Most Anticipated list is story in which a girl meets boy. Girl also meets another boy. The boys, to nobody's surprise, end up competing for her affections. You're probably thinking this sounds pretty similar to a lot of other young adult novels out there. Well....

Buffy pun for the win, but in all honesty you would be mistaken in believing that because Cale Dietrich's The Love Interest twists those familiar tropes into something that sounds entirely unique.

Here is the  Goodreads synopsis which shows that there definitely more than meets the eye to this story (in more ways than one).

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.

A spy school?! Where love interests are trained? Not at all what you thought, right? You have to be kind of freaking out a bit because I for sure am. And, if you read between the lines of that synopsis, it definitely hints that there are other surprises that take this story in an even more intriguing direction.

I got Cale to dish on all things The Love Interest. He shares a lot of fun secrets, and also proves he is beyond awesome. I mean, he used a Kristen Bell gif. Automatic cool points.

1 What gif do you feel represents The Love Interest?

First of all, I just want to say this is my first interview and this is like the perfect first question to be asked! I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think it’s this one:

2 If someone were to make a signature drink in honour of your book, what might be included?

Tough one! I think maybe coffee – because in the book, Caden gets a job at Starbucks, mainly because the girl he must woo is obsessed with coffee. She totally got this trait from me, I think coffee is the best thing ever. Plus, on top of that, I drank a lot of it while writing TLI. So if it was a cocktail it’d probably be something with Kahlua. If it was non –alcoholic it’d be a Frappuccino.

3 The entire premise of The Love Interest sounds incredibly unique. What was the spark that triggered you coming up with this amazing sounding premise?

Ahh thanks, that’s really nice of you to say! The idea that sparked it was basically “how cool would it be if there was a training academy that the dreamy love interests of YA books were all sent to”. I had that thought and remember thinking it was really weird and interesting so I just started writing it. It was one of those ideas that kept opening up interesting story threads, like the idea that the boys would be rivals, and that there would be specific classes (boy next door or bad boy) etc. It was really fun, and I just kept building on the idea and it very quickly became The Love Interest.

4 Name a song you listed to for inspiration while writing this novel

Music is a massive part of my writing process, and I generally spend a lot of time during the early drafts making a playlist so that I can listen to specific songs during specific scenes. So The Love Interest has an official playlist, one that sort of charts out the plot of the book. As for a particular song, I’m going to cheat a little and pick three, because I can’t choose between them.

Hold On by Twin Atlantic was the one I listened to most while drafting, and then Youth by Troye Sivan was the song I listened to nonstop while revising. Recently, during the final few rounds of edits, I’ve been listening to Hypnotic by Zella Day – I think it fits really well with the spy angle of the cover.

5 If you could travel to anywhere, in any time period, when and where would you want travel?

I’d probably choose like two hundred years in the future just to see what the future is like and to drive a flying car and all that. Or, you know, I’d choose to just go to Harry Potter land right now, because I spend about 99 percent of my time wanting to be at Harry Potter land.

6 What 2017 release are you most anticipating?

SO MANY! One of the best things about being in a debut group (The Swanky Seventeens) has been that I’ve been able to read a bunch of 2017 debuts early and so far, they’ve all been amazing. I have a Goodreads list (https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/20839164-cale-dietrich shelf=swanky-17s) of the ones I’ve read, and I think they’re totally all worth checking out. As for ones I haven’t read yet, there’s again, so many, but three I’m particularly hyped for are:

Caraval by Stephanie Garber: This sounds magical and epic and I’ve been so hyped for it for so long, so I can’t wait to get a copy.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon: This is a romantic comedy, and I’m a total sucker for romcoms. Plus it’s diverse and ownvoices, which I really like. So this is absolutely one of the books I’m looking forward to most next year.

The Temptation of Adam by Dave Connis: This one is comp’d with THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, and I have been obsessed with that book since high school. So I need to read this one.

7 If not too spoilery, can you share the first line of The Love Interest?

It’s not spoilery at all, so I sure can! It’s: All four walls of my cell are mirrors.

I am honoured to have been your first interview, Cale. I completely agree, visiting the Harry Potter section of Universal Studios actually sounds like a fantastic idea!  This entire interview has made me even more desperate to get my hands on this novel. I have a feeling I am not alone in that need either.

The Love Interest releases May 16, 2017 so I recommend preordering to help with the wait for this one. It can be preordered from your favourite retailer.

Chapters // Amazon // Barnes and Noble // BAM 

You can also follow Cale on Twitter, and visit the publisher website for more details about The Love Interest as the release date grows closer.

Are you as intrigued by this novel's premise as I am? Do you love books that take what you think will happen and twist it into something else completely? Let me know in the comments. 

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to find out the next book that made this year's list!