This book is fun and cute and would sit right at home with my collection of queer YA romances. It has a similar vibe, but in this story we get a fun mystery to go along with it. And the mystery seems at just the right level for the maturity of the characters and the intended audience. One fun detail in this book, that's frequently missing when a group of teenagers is solving the mystery, is that there are multiple suggestions that they involve adults and somewhat fair political reasons why they choose not to. That's a nice touch as many teenage mysteries are relying on us not questioning our getting frustrated with the lack of adult intervention.

Considering the title of this book, I expected it to be more romance focused, but it kinda felt like the backstory to the fantasy and "crime fighting/ solving" elements.

The writing is is "YA excellent". Meaning not poetic or awe inspiring but very much fades into the background which can create a great reading experience. You don't notice the prose very much because you're too busy being in the mind of the characters. That's a huge success in this kind of story.

The pacing and stakes felt perfect to me. I was engaged with the characters, never felt bored and consistently wanted to know what would happen next.

The world-building was good. There wasn't anything terribly unique about it except perhaps how all the common supernatural tropes and beings fit together in this universe. The world building is probably the reason I keep thinking of the word "fun" when considering how to describe this book.

There is one big complaint I have about this book and that's the attitudes and characterization of the protagonists' parents. They felt very two dimensional and bigoted for the sake of the plot and less like the way real people are bigotes. At least compared to the real life bigots I've met. I don't want to claim no one has had experiences like the one in this story.

I recognize the very obvious metaphor of prejudice against supernaturals as a parallel to prejudice against queer people and is an interesting choice. On the one hand, it provides the opportunity to include that part of the queer experience without the characters having to struggle or focus on their sexuality. It normalizes the queerness, which is kind of cool. But I'm not sure the parallel totally works because while bigotry against queer folks is silly for the same reasons, queerness is also genuinely invisible and it's very sad, but also makes sense that people try to discredit it, call it unnatural, say it's a choice. Comparing that to people who have shape-shifting abilities, telekinetic powers and other very obviously underdeniably visible things in the universe this book takes place in makes the bigoted characters' motivations somewhat unbelievable. Bigotry never "makes sense", but your characters still should. And making bigoted characters that themselves don't seem to understand really why they feel that way, makes them feel like Disney villains; bad because you tell us they are.

I can still of forgive that though since it didn't really feel like a focus for most of the book and the moments where those grown adults are blatantly harping on their desires for normalcy with no nuance whatsoever, were quickly moved past.

And the rest of the book was great and so fun so I'll still give it four stars. If there's more with these characters or this universe, I'd happily read it. There are plenty of loose ends still by the end despite the relatively satisfying conclusion.

This was my first book by F.T. Lukens, but you'd better believe I'm going to go read their entire backlist now that they're on my radar!

As an almost 40 year old woman, I'm a little leery about reading romances that feature high school students - I'm sure you can understand why! But even being an Old, I really enjoyed this YA paranormal romance. Cam is just finding himself and who he is, and in his sophomore year of high school suddenly finds himself going from loner human with only one friend to super-rare type Pokémon (sorry, I mean... supernatural entity?) with a whole new, diverse group of friends/allies.

I love the diverse cast of characters, in terms of gender, sexuality, race, supernatural (type? class? race? what word do I use here?), personality. Each character in this ensemble cast has a very distinct and original voice, and I definitely would have wanted to be part of this oddball found fam in my own high school days.

I did see the plot twist coming from a fair distance away, but I'm going to contribute that to excellent foreshadowing. ;) I highly recommend this one if you're into the Chosen One trope, found family, The Breakfast Club type ensemble casts, and Teen Wolf.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Okay I am a FT Lukens Stan. I will read every single thing this author puts out no matter what. Another magical romance was exactly what I needed.

I loved Cam and his friends. The group was so sweet. I eat up good found family troupe. There’s a mystery here where I totally saw it coming after a little while, but it was still fun. The end sort of goes 0 to 100 so quickly. The last like 20% felt like I was running. While I don’t think this was my favorite book by this author, it was still cute and I said awww a few times. The romance here was barely there, so it is not the main focus of the story. I loved seeing the different magical creatures/abilities. I’ve always thought living in a world like this would be awesome. Like why can’t I be besties with a witch and know fairies? That would rule. All in all if you are a FT Lukens fan or just really like fun fantasy books I’d recommend!

love at second sight 5 ⭐️

thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchanged for this honest review!

if you love supernatural, a good girls guide to murder, truly devious, blood and moonlight, the chilling adventures of sabrina, or wednesday, you will adore love at second sight!!

this follows out main character Cam who has been human all his life. he’s starting his sophomore year of high school and is finally back in the same school as his best friend, again, who, much to his parents dismay, happens to be a witch. on his first day, he’s at the wrong place, at the wrong time and gets caught up in a fight between the werewolves and sprites. Cam suddenly passes out and has what he thinks is terrible nightmare of a girl being violently attacked, potentially a murder. when he comes to, he finds out it was not a nightmare but a vision of the future.

with his new clairvoyant abilities comes a new found friend group. a witch, a werewolf, who happens to be Cam’s long time crush, a medium, a sprite and a human. with the help of his friends, Cam decides to try to save the girl from his vision, while also trying to be a regular teenager, come to terms with his new abilities, date, meet with all the paranormal fractions and deal with his not so thrilled parents.

i love this so so much!! this was spooky and so fun! i loved all the characters in Cam’s friend group so much!! the found family in this book was so good. i loved that all of his friends rally around Cam to help guide him and to support him, no matter what. the murder mystery investigation was so good! it had so many twists and turns!

this reminded me so much of an episode of supernatural meets a good girls guide to murder and i ate it up! this was so much fun and i highly recommend it!! i would honestly read a whole series about these characters! i adored them so much!!

read if you love:

queer & paranormal characters
autumn, small town setting
teenagers solving a murder
coming of age stories
clairvoyant x werewolf romance

This was so sweet and fun! I really, really love this world the author has created. Broom lanes along with bike lanes??? I mean, come on. I really liked Cam and all of his friends, and I would love to read more about them in the future.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Teen for access to the e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Lukens has done it again with another amazing book! Once I started it was impossible to set it down, and honestly I wish I could read it for the first time again! I love the pacing of the story, and how all of the characters and world building was introduced. I adore Cam and Al's friendship, and how Lukens shows that even the closest of friends go through hard times. The found family that formed has my whole entire heart. I would actually love to see more of these characters, because one book of them honestly isn't enough! I also liked how Lukens showed the brutality of what bigots can really be like when left to their own devices (sound familiar?). I genuinely enjoyed every single thing about this book and HIGHLY recommend it!

as with all ft lukens books, these characters truly captured my hearts. i know i can trust them to write a found family story amongst a group of queer (and often out-casted) teens and know they will guide me well through their stories. and it has become a welcome yearly tradition each april to dive into these fantastical worlds and get lost in them. something i think they truly do so well.

cam, like many of the past main characters i’ve followed in lukens' works, is so damn relatable. he’s just doing his best to survive a new year, a new school. to fly under the radar. but when he learns he has future-telling abilities it turns his plans (and his identity) upside down. to me, cam has the most understandable response to being thrown head-first into a paranormal world, one he’s only ever really glimpsed into via his witch best friend. he’s confused, he’s searching for answers, and ultimately a bit hesitant at the beginning. but as he meets new paranormal classmates (collecting his paranormal yahtzee as gemma would put it), he begins to accept and embrace his situation. and these interactions with his friends, as they help cam out, figuring his new found abilities, that is what kept pulling me back to the story.

i think love at second sight is easily lukens’ least romance heavy story. there’s intentions and declarations by the characters that they like each other and want to date each other. but it’s truly not a main facet of the story. and honestly, while i wasn’t expecting that, it was a nice change. i think it made sense with the story that they’d be much more focused on solving the main murder mystery. and for any lacking romance plots i know most people love to see in their books, this one definitely had a lot of platonic love. like i said, it’s what truly kept me hooked into the story (beyond, of course, learning what happened!).

my only qualm with this story is the structuring of the main plot. i think the last 50 pages had SO much happening, it almost felt like whiplash. it’s one of those stories i wish we had another 50 pages tacked on so we could go through the ending to the murder plot with a little more grace. it felt like we went from so much learning throughout the majority of the book, to everything in the vision (and more) happening over the course of the night and only taking 3 total chapters. this is something i wish had been further developed unfortunately. because i think we could’ve have had more focus on the group’s dynamics (mainly kaci’s growing abilities being hinted at), on cam’s recovery after everything, and the overall fall out with what happened. and i definitely wish we had one final interaction with cam and “the victim” (not to spoil by naming who!) as well as some more with cam and aiden reconnecting. tldr, i definitely needed more time for the resolution portion.

overall, ft lukens knows how write my perfect stories and i hope to continue my april tradition for many years to follow.

Cam and his best friend Al are finally going to the same school. But a fight between Sprites and Werewolves on the first day of classes triggers events that will change Cam's life forever.
A good, satisfying middle-grade queer romance with Sprites, Psychics, Werewolves, Faeries, Witches, and Humans.

Love at Second Sight by F.T. Lukens is a quick paranormal coming-of-age story with a mix of mystery, humor, and heart. It’s clever, queer, and full of heart—perfect for fans of character-driven stories with a supernatural twist.

Starting a new semester at a paranormal high school is already hard enough but suddenly finding out you're a rare clairvoyant... who's first vision is a murder that you now have to solve and the victim just happens to be your crush's favorite cousin.... it's time to get a Scooby gang of paranormal new friends and solve the case! Cam Reynolds is a fifteen year old regular human starting his sophomore year at his paranormal high school... he's determined to lay low and have a good year with his best friend, especially after his brother disappeared for having paranormal gifts and his parents have avoided talking about it. Yet on his first day at school he ends up in a fight... and suddenly getting a vision of a murder... and then he finds out that this vision is actually a gift and that he is a clairvoyant and supernatural being himself. Cam has always avoided the paranormal world so now he has to find out everything all the while every single supernatural creature faction wants him to ally with their group and have him use his gifts exclusively for them. Yet all Cam can think about is the murder he witnessed... and when he finds out that the victim is his crush's favorite cousin... it definitely does not bode well for his new potential relationship. High school drama, a murder mystery, and navigating crushes and new friendships all the while discovering your own supernatural powers, what a year it's gonna be! This was a really cute and fun YA read and one I definitely think would make a fantastic read for younger YA readers who want a queer paranormal romance with some mystery. This is also a great way to explore the whole idea of "coming out" or "being different" and it really was a fun read. I really adored the way Cam grew and found his own footing and learned to make friends and stand up for himself. It's a fun read and its definitely one I'll be recommending!

Release Date: April 29, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Margaret K. McElderry Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 stars

I’ve always wanted to read something by this author and this book was a cute introduction to their work. we follow Cam, who has believed his whole life that he was an ordinary human. until one day, he gets a vision of the future where someone gets murdered. turns out Cam is actually a psychic and this makes him popular with the other supernatural factions who want the assistance of his powers. Cam has to race against the clock to find out the identity of the girl in his vision, all while trying to stop it from happening. i liked the friend group here and was curious to unravel the mystery. Cam’s love interest Miguel, was kind of flat though and it could’ve done without the romance all together. the reveal towards the end was so random and the last 20% felt really rushed. this read on the younger side of YA, but i still had fun.

I really enjoyed this book! I thought that this was such a fun read that had kind of a crazy twist at the end. I loved the relationship between Cam and Mateo and I loved the almost found family that emerged out of these characters. They were a group of kids who all had their own setbacks with their magical abilities or social life and found comfort in one another and I loved that. The plot was fun and engaging. It was great to see a story that had paranormal elements but also had regular humans mixed in and what can come of that. Overall this was a very fun read!

3.5 stars rounded down.
f.t lukens never fails to write light, interesting books with loveable characters. every single book they write is a good one.
that said, this plot just didn't work for me as well as it usually does. maybe because i was going in for more murder, romance and intruigue and less found family and wholesome moments? idk. Just to clarify, nothing in this book was BAD, but I just never really got that feeling of "oh my god, what happens next" that i felt like i should have.
anyways, cam was a fantastic mc, even though i think he lost a little bit of his personality as the book went on.
btw, the romance is more general vibes that gets mentioned throughout the book, and the fact that mateo and cam are on the cover is somewhat misleading
still really liked this tho!! f.t lukens please never stop writing <3

Okay, this book reminds me of the first book by the author because I LOVED it so much! So much that I wish we could have a whole series with this group of friends that I fell in love with all of them.

First was our main character Cam. He was so relatable with his oddball persona, and a friend that was kind of drifting away even as they had a chance to go to school together again, because of how their lives were different. And then something crazy happened to Cam, now he was paranormal instead of just human, but it still didn’t mean he and his best friend Al were closer. They still had a distance between them because Al’s family was a coven of witches and they wanted Cam to align with them. But Cam didn’t know that he wanted to align with just one group, he wanted to use his power to help people.

Worse though is that first glimpse or vision that he had. Especially when he figures out who the murdered teen girl is. At that point he wants to know if once he’s seen something it can be changed. Along the way Cam kind of collects his own Scooby gang of paranormal group reps. Starting with the werewolf he’s had a crush on for a long time, Mateo. Mateo’s best friend Kaci, who is also a psychic like Cam, but she has a different talent. And then the other kind of paranormal, besides Cam’s oldest BFF Al – the witch, is a sprite – Reese, someone they aren’t sure at first if he is a friend or just along to make sure how things go. Finally a girl named Gemma – a human – who is the one that kind of outs Cam’s psychic power by posting a video that goes viral on her social media account where she’s all about all things paranormal even if she’s only human.

And then there is the family drama. Cam’s older brother Aiden disappeared when he went away to college and hasn’t once reached out to him. Cam’s parents are not a fan of anything paranormal, and warn Cam that he should find human friends and not pick back up with Al just because they are at the same school. Secrets come out about Cam’s family, good, bad, and ones that lead up to our moment at the end of drama.

Gah, I just loved this book so much and could barely put it down! I love the way all of our Scooby gang characters had things to grow and do with their own powers, even if they’d had them their whole lives. I love the whole parallel to being “outed” for his glimpses and it was against his will, and how that can apply to the LGBTQ community and people treating them the same way. Even how Cam’s parents treated him when he got his power was what I’m sure is reminiscent for teens who have non-supportive parents when they come out as their preferred gender or sexuality.

I have only one teeny, tiny issue, and it was at the very end, when he asked one of the elders who they thought he should align with, and their answer was good. But there was nothing at all about who he should pick or that he shouldn’t pick anyone or anything like that. And he didn’t even think anything about that? Another great book from this author!

3.5 stars. Every FT Lukens book feels like I'm reading a DND campaign in the best way possible, and this one was the same! I loved the Monster High-esque setting, and I almost wish we saw more of the different supernatural beings that populated the world. The concept was also really intriguing, with the main character who thought he was human suddenly having a vision of a girl being murdered at their school, but the pacing of the mystery felt a little off. There wasn't much progress until the last 20%, when suddenly there was a fake-out plot twist + a real plot-twist + a sudden escalation in conflict with characters we didn't even know we were in conflict with. The romance was cute but also felt a little rushed, as it definitely took a backseat to the mystery plot. Overall I think I would've loved this book if the plot points had been given more room to breathe.

This was a sweet paranormal story where Cam, a "normal" and his witch best friend, Al, are starting their first year of high school together, when Cam accidentally discovers he has clairvoyant powers. In the process of learning about his psychic abilities and trying to solve the mystery of his first vision, Cam befriends his werewolf crush and a gaggle of other paranormal teens. They are only missing their own Mystery Machine!

While the story takes place in a queernormative world, Cam's parents' prejudice against paranormals mirrors homophobia, especially in their views that Cam has a "choice."

Cam and Al had some cute banter, and even though they had a miscommunication "friend breakup" early on, I like how they (and all the teens) owned their mistakes, apologied, and seemed really in touch with their emotions.

Definitely a fun, easy read that grabs you in the feels.

I received this ARC from publisher @simonteen through @netgalley. The opinions are my own.

Love at Second Sight will be released on April 29, 2025.

🐺🔮🧙 BOOK REVIEW – LOVE AT SECOND SIGHT by F.T. Lukens 🧙🔮🐺

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5/5 stars)

Huge thanks to Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, McElderry Books, and NetGalley for the ARC! This was such a delightful ride. Love at Second Sight blends supernatural mystery, high school drama, and a dash of romance into a heartwarming story that really hit the sweet spot for me.

I’ve loved every F.T. Lukens book I’ve read, but this might just be my favourite. Cam’s clairvoyant awakening throws him into a whole new world, but it’s the found family of loveable misfits that truly stole my heart. The friendship dynamics, the banter, the support—they were pitch-perfect. Each character brought something special to the group, and I honestly wanted to hang out with them all IRL. The queer allegory was subtle but meaningful, and the whole story had me smiling (and occasionally gasping) right through to the end.

Yes, the romance took a backseat to the mystery at times, and sure, it skewed on the younger end of YA, but honestly? I didn’t mind. It was charming, heartfelt, and filled with so much heart. If you’re a fan of found family, quirky paranormal worlds, and fast-paced YA with a big soul, this one’s for you.

#LoveAtSecondSight #FTLukens #QueerYA #FoundFamily #ParanormalMystery #NetGalley #YAReads #BookReview

3.25

I loved So This is Ever After and have read others of Lukens’s books but nothing really recreated that magic (pun intended). I’ve really grown out of being able to enjoy YA books so part of why I didn’t enjoy this a lot was just because of the genre itself. It’s about high schoolers who act like high schoolers. Overall it was fine, I think just not for me.

I LOVED this book!!!! I was hooked immediately and had so much fun reading this. This book put a smile on my face with the unlikely friend group coming together with all their quirks and personalities. The characters were a blast and definitely people I wish I could have in my corner. The drama was intense and I am so impressed by Cam for his open mindedness and strength in everything that happens to him. The writing was fun and easy to sink into. The story takes some truly wild turns and had me gasping out loud multiple times. I was on the edge of my seat for that ending and phew it was good. I already miss these characters so much!!

Thanks to the publisher for a free ARC and free audiobook; my thoughts and review are my own.

This wasn’t the book for me. It leans more on the younger side of YA than I can really get behind.

The characters weren’t my favorite and it was a slow start to trudge through. It reminded me a lot of The Rules series, especially the subtle (too subtle IMO) romance. It just seemed like maybe a draft of what The Rules could’ve also been; so in a way it felt redundant for the author to make both stories.

If you really liked The Rules and just want to read a similar but different story then this one’s for you. I think fans of Netflix’s Sabrina, and Fate The Winx Saga might be into this.