Love at First Sighting by Mallory Marlowe

This book was so much fun and the exact pallet cleanser I needed after reading a fantasy! Sometimes you just want that super cutesy, happy little rom-com and this fits the bill. The best part is that it was even better than I expected.

In Love at First Sighting, we start off following influencer model El when she encounters something very otherworldly during a photoshoot for a sponsor. Fearing for her life, she goes live showing the UFO behind her. While this totally tanks her online clout, it draws the attention of PIS (pronounced with individual letters, not "piss") agent Carter whose job it is to keep people quiet about these exact phenomena. 

While El is immediately weary of Carter as someone who is "stalking her," the two eventually partner up to solve the mystery of what exactly El saw. Turns out, there is more than meets the eye with this supposed "UFO" and they wind up digging a lot deeper into the mystery itself and into each other's emotional trauma, for lack of a better phrase.

What made this book so special for me was the development of the characters and the mystery aspect of what many would expect to just be a fluffy romance. As the reader, we really get to know the inner workings and thoughts of both El and Carter alongside a cast of quirky side characters. Additionally, trying to solve a mystery while watching a relationship blossom between El and Carter gave the story some heavier substance, which I immensely enjoyed. 

While I would describe this as "insta-love," I don't say that in a negative context. Their attraction to each other made sense — not only was there an immediate physical attraction, but both characters had been through similar experiences and easily related to each other. Plus, they also worked as a yin and yang, really balancing each other out as people and encouraging each other to be their best and most authentic selves. 

Needless to say, this got a solid five stars from me, and I am very excited to read Marlowe's other books in this series: Love and Other Conspiracies, which was her first release, and the third book in this series, which I don't think I'm allowed to say at this point!

A big thank you to the publisher Penguin Random House and Marlowe for allowing me to read this book as an ARC! Love at First Sighting comes out August 12,2025. 

Read the author's summary --> HERE

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