Review: "Conflict of Interest" by Zarah Detand

Conflict of Interest by Zarah Detand
Published July 2026 via Storm Publishing
★★★★

Finn is days away from the next chapter of his life when he does something out of character—he plays along when a hot guy mistakes him for a prostitute. It's harmless fun...until he gets to his new role at the hospital and realizes that that hot guy is one of his supervisors. And also, neither of them really wants to leave the past in the past.

I had a bit of trepidation about this one, because "guy mistakes another for a prostitute" has so many possible ways to go wrong. The others of Detand's books that I've read have been delights, though, so I took the jump—and really, I should not have doubted. I'm very much enjoying the way Detand takes a look at the obvious route and says, in effect, "hmm, maybe not". The characters don't get it right all the time; they have minor misunderstandings and make decisions that don't always have a whole lot of common sense and take risks that they probably shouldn't. And at the same time...they have conversations as mature adults, and they take ownership of their actions, and they're good at (and passionate about) what they do without being unrealistic Wunderkinder. In short, they're people I would genuinely want to spend time with, which is both my favourite starting place for a romance novel and (let's be honest) though a depressingly low bar, one that many romance novels simply don't clear.

(Brief tangent: "Travis" is absolutely an evil-ex name in romance novels. Note that I'm talking specifically about romance novels—if your name is Travis, or your partner's name is Travis, or you named your kid Travis, that's great; I'm sure you or they are absolutely lovely. But in a romance novel? Absolutely a sign that they're not the end game.)

Altogether a satisfying read. I did note that the conflict had some similarities to that in Operation Boyfriend, but happily both the characters and the way the plot plays out are quite distinct. I'd happily read more in this series, and from Detand.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.