The Interview

Executive Suite Secrets #0.5

by Jocelynn Drake

My boss played cupid … And set me up on the best date of my life.

My boss meddled.
The app matched us.
And Arden curled my toes with his disarming smile, sweet humor, and bone-melting kisses.
Go on a Valentine’s Day blind date and fall in love with Kaylan and Arden.

The Interview is a prequel novelette for the Executive Suite Secrets series. Read the romance of Arden and Kaylan, then check out the sneak peek of The Bargain, book one of the Executive Suite Secrets.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Novella, M M Contemporary, Audiobook, Fiction

77 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 21, 2025

About the author

New York Times Bestselling author Jocelynn Drake loves a good story, whether she is reading it or writing one of her own. Over the years, her stories have allowed her to explore space, talk to dragons, dodge bullets with assassins, hang with vampires, and fall in love again and again.

This former Kentucky girl has moved up, down, and across the U.S. with her husband. Recently, they’ve settled near the Rockies.

When she is not hammering away at her keyboard or curled up with a book, she can be
walking her dog Ace, or playing video games. She loves Bruce Wayne, Ezio Auditore, travel, tattoos, explosions, and fast cars.

She is the author of the urban fantasy books: The Dark Days series and the Asylum Tales. For gay romance, she has completed The Exit Strategy and Shadow Elite series, and is now working on a spin-off of her MM paranormal series, Lords of Discord. She has also co-authored with Rinda Elliot the following series: Unbreakable Bonds, Ward Security, Pineapple Grove, the Weavers Circle. In addition, she has co-authored with AJ Sherwood the following series: Scales 'N' Spell and Wings 'N' Wands. She can be found at JocelynnDrake.com.

Reviews

[Snjez · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

It's a typical short story where the relationship is super rushed and ends with an obligatory sex scene.

I did like the characters, the conservatory, and one cute scene. Though I wish that, of all the possible romantic moments, their first kiss didn't happen literally in front of one of the MC's ex. Also, the appearance of the ex was totally unnecessary.

[⋆｡°✮ Lucy InTheSky ✮°｡⋆]

I'm not rating this. It's not for me.

Not going into another series with this being the appetizer.



🟣 Blind first date
🌶️ One sex scene at the end; some kissing; t/b, hinting at vers

Kaylan's boss Sebastian (the next installment) sets him on a blind date through a dating app and Kaylan, even though reluctant, agrees to meet Arden, the hot graphic designer.
They actually have a pretty cute first date. There are anime, BL and yaoi references sprinkled throughout and amidst all that Arden and Kaylan awkwardly try and try to kiss each other.

It's cute, it's a nice first date, it is, but with short novellas I want something more mind-blowing. Something more powerful than the 'cute date, sex scene and who knows what happens next' scenario.

I didn't like the writing, I didn't particularly connect with the main characters, their date was somewhat boring, to be honest, Arden's ex being there was pointless and while some of the dialogues were kind of sweet, it just didn't hit.


This would've been another really bad series pick for me.

[Cadiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this originally as part of an anthology

Cute prequel setting up the Executive Suites Secrets series but tied in originally to the Heart2Heart charity anthology.

This is an easy read that establishes the first of the relationships for the series with a blind date at a conservatory.

As with a few of Jocelynn's stories of late, there's references to BL manga and other cultural elements relating to Asian dramas etc that went over my head as I'm not interested in them at all.

But it wasn't enough to completely take over or make it too much information that I didn't care about.

Both characters are compelling on their own and the relationship was given a solid grounding with a strong HFN.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cute. It was fun, it was short.

Edit, reread on audio. It was added as an extra in the bargain, and I appreciate it. And now that I have read heaven official's blessing, I do get to appreciate what Jocelynn was talking about with Aiden's eyes being like Hua Cheng and his devotion to his dianxia and the silver butterfly. It's a heaven official's blessing reference. It hits better if you've read that too.

[Monikat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cute short story that I really enjoyed.

[Romance Recs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute short sweet adorable novella set on Valentines that is totally worth it.

[Dawn Siemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet cute

This isn't really a short story. There's no real conflict. Kaylan didn't arrange the date and was planning to let Arden down easy, but once they met and talked for two minutes, he was eager for the date. There are a couple moments where you think there might be conflict, but it's resolved quickly.

There is a sex scene, and happily for now, because this was one date, but these guys are obviously good together.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet quick read

I had enjoyed this story in the H2H anthology so it was fun to revisit it. I’m looking forward to the series and hopefully seeing more of Kayden and Arden.

[Tj · Rating 5 out of 5]

So darn cute!! I look forward to meeting the boss who is a romantic and sets his employee up on a blind date so he isn’t alone on Valentine’s Day.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soo cuuuute... 😍🥺❤️

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Drake's contemporary - the rest of her books that I read are in paranormal-fantasy genre. I thought it was cute enough - and I was TRULY curious with Kaylan's boss, Sebastian (who will get his own book next). The "not-date" between Kaylan and Arden was nice to read, and since it ended in HFN I would love to read the update on their relationship in The Bargain

[Kendra Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a blind date set up by Kaylan's boss (who features in book one) for Kaylan and Arden. Kaylan is ready to tell Arden it was a set up and call it a day but when he meets Arden he changes his mind. Arden is six months single and ready to start dating again. He's smitten with Kaylan's pic and is looking forward to the date. They end up at a conservatory and have a blast, with the exception of running into an old acquaintance. When it starts snowing they decide to take the date inside. The whole date is fun and smooth. These two are perfect for each other.

I liked how when these two first met they decided how they were going to preceed with the blind date. It was supposed to be a quick, one off that turned into something else. It is too short for any real world or character building, but it was fun and I felt like they had good chemistry. Hopefully I'll see them in book one.

[Rissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet! It was nice to read how Kaylan and Arden met after reading about them in The Bargain. The author spoke about them like we knew them from before and I was all, where they from another book and sure enough, lol...I guess technically, I should have read this one first. If only I knew this existed before! :)

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have missed this in the H2H anthology last year, but better late than never. Kayden has been set up by his boss on a blind date with Arden. Whilst Kayden is determined the date is going to fail, Arden has high hopes and during an afternoon wandering around a conservatory they find that they have much more in common than they thought. This was a sweet, sexy prequel to a new series and now I'm excited to read Sebastian and Byron's story.

[Damian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast and quick.

The book was a fast read, and you had everything done in one day and night. It was a meet-and-greet, a date of sorts, meeting the ex and his new beau, and finally, a kiss and going to bed for some naughty things. Some of the readers are not going to read this one because it doesn't have enough sex to get off on and not enough angst to thrill them.

[Steven Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start to a new series. This one looks like fun. While this is set in Cincinnati like a lot of other stories by Jacelynn Drake, there were no explosions or hostage situations that needed to be dealt with by our main characters, at least not yet. I like the laid back nature of the fluffy relationship story line and Arden and Kaylan are great together. More!

[Manlove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all bad! I enjoyed the Cincinnati stuffs very much (LOL, yes I quizzed my Cincinnati-raised friend about alllll the sites mentioned in the book). The relationship, etc. was perfectly fine for such a short story. I just wished the Cincinnati botanical garden had PINK bananas! That would have blown my mind (the botanical garden I visited in Auckland had those and my mind was blown!!).

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it when it was part of H2H latest anthology, reread since it’s about to be released as a prequel for what should be a contemporary series. I adore Arden and Kaylan And can’t wait for Sebastian and Byron’s story!

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is short, but very cute. Loved the date set up and how both of them felt something going on, despite how one of them ended up there. The ending was perfect, loved how the boss that pushed Kaylan, also gave him time too.

[Raven and Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable

This story was so,play adorable and I love that the author is building off it for a new series. Arden and Kaylen have the absolute best first date in history. Kalyan is going to owe his boss after this. 😉

[Nancy Woodard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Interview

This was an unexpected pleasure to read. Everything was turned around and backward. Hope the second date was as good as the first. Really hoped for a demon; but, you can’t have everything. Loved the novella and looking forward to the new series.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute, fun tale as two young men are set up on a sort of blind date. Both are a bit unsure about it, not expecting anything much to come of it, but . . . SURPRISE! Things go better than expected, way better, it's like they were destined to meet. It's a really lovely but sadly short read.

[SC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute, quick into to the series. I want to know more about the characters so the book served its purpose. They were both kind of adorable though I could have done without the whole bumping into an ex bit, meh, it’s been done to death.

[Shan · Rating 5 out of 5]

💜💜💜💜💜

This is a modern queer romance, a prequel to the series and I wish I would have read it first! What a funny idea: your boss sets you up on a blind date app! It’s a great quick read and definitely worth the time!

[eesha]

ANY thought i had about this was derailed when they brought tgcf up. texted my friend who loves the series IMMEDIATELY (she is quite literally sleeping like a normal person) a ss like GHOST KING HUA CHENG MENTION??????????????????? IN MY SHITTY GAY ROMANCE????????? HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lee Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Beginning!

This was a great prequel to the series! As first dates go, this was just about perfect. Arden was completely perfect and Kaylen was a hard nut to crack. Loved the by-play between the two of them. Looking forward to reading more books in this series.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars--cute short story

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short pulled from an anthology.

[Amy K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh so hot, sweet, tender, and adorable, the perfect antidote for a dreary morning, complete with meddling bosses, unexpected snow, and hothouse flowers. Excellent escapist fare!

[Tracy Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute short story! A boss sets his Assistant up on a date through a dating app without his permission , but ends up the best date! So Good! I loved Kayden and Arden!