This was a fun scamper through conspiracy theories with a mystery (if not a great one)... Not enough to make me lose sight of the *glaring* unsatisfying motivations of the bad guys, though, and the vague tying up of the mystery. Also, not nearly enough aliens.

Incredibly fun rom-com! The main characters felt very real and I loved the complimentary growth they had throughout the story. Ariel is an influencer searching for meaning in her life outside of Instagram and Carter is an unfulfilled Men-in-Black, X-Files government employee. Their worlds collide when Ariel has a UFO sighting while on a photoshoot and posts about it on her social media pages and Carter is the one assigned to cover it up. There were a lot of genuinely funny moments throughout. The UFO plot in the book was really interesting and led to moments of not too intense suspense. If you’re a fan of Hallmark mysteries or romances then Love at First Sighting will be right up your alley!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this title so much, and while it delivered in some areas, there were some things that just didn't hit for me.

Things I loved:
-Carter is such a fun MMC. He was sweet and funny and just so adoring, and I loved it. Maybe a little naive, but that fit with the golden retriever energy.
-I loved the idea of someone in a close encounter falling for their men in black handler. Very fun twist on the typical believer/non-believer romance I expected.
-I did like the inclusion of a mystery. It was a tad predictable at times, but I think it was necessary to flesh this particular story out.
-The banter was SO GOOD. SO GOOD. I loved just getting to read their conversations, and that's something that's been missing from a lot of my romances as of late.

The not for me:
-I didn't love El's influencer background. Despite the fact that her entire character is built around the fact that she's deeper than the average influencer, we do hear Carter consistently just talk about how beautiful she is. I'd have loved to hear more about her character that went beyond her looks and her career. It made it hard to connect with her.
-I admittedly read a lot of thrillers, so the mystery was very surface-level for me. I think those who don't regularly read mysteries will love this aspect, though, since it's a fresh addition to the story.
-It felt very insta-love/physical attraction heavy, which are not my personal favorite romance trope.

Overall, this was a fun read and a nice continuation from the first in the series. If you enjoyed the first, or if you enjoy lighter paranormal romances, I would recommend. For me personally, I would say this was a 3/5, but I think for non-thriller readers/insta love fans it would be a strong 4/5.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this, I really did. An influencer has a run in with a UFO and then falls in love with the hot Man in Black sent to investigate her case? And throw in a little mystery? That sounds perfect for me. Alas.
And there wasn't anything wrong with it. It was fine.
Just fine. I just simply did not care about what was going on or what the characters were doing. I was dreading picking it back up because I just wanted it to be over.
So much potential. I felt like the mystery was soooo lackluster. I don't know, maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a romance.
This one has a lot of good reviews, so if it sounds interesting to you then go for it! I just don't think it was for me, unfortunately.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this ARC!

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: Audio/E-book

4.25🌟 - I enjoyed it!

This book is soooo campy, but in a fun way! There was a lot of plot happening, and it was truly out of this world! MIB agent x influencer is the most unique romance pairing I've probably read this year. Her humor really shines, and I love her writing style overall. Her debut was such a standout romance for me last year, and this one did not quite live up to it! It was very much a good time, but not a new favorite!

I feel like you need to suspend some belief and just have a good time reading this one!

I really enjoyed Love at First Sighting! While instalove isn’t usually my favorite trope, Carter completely won me over—he’s the perfect golden-retriever book boyfriend. The mix of comedy and government conspiracy was surprisingly believable and kept me hooked from start to finish. Overall, it’s a light, fun, and entertaining read. Solid 4 stars!

This title just didn't quite connect with me. Ultimately, it's 2.5 stars since I did like El & Carter's banter & romance, but the story itself just fell a bit short for me. It's like it couldn't quite decide whether it wanted to be a cozy romance or an action packed mystery/thriller. Unfortunately, it ended up falling short of both. There were a lot of sweet moments between El & Carter but it felt rushed since they also had to solve the main mystery Meanwhile, the mystery didn't have enough time to develop and there's not enough suspense. I essentially guessed from the moment Carter first talks about the tragedy in his life who the culprit was.
Not to mention, every character that isn't our main characters are cartoonishly ghoulish. El's influencer friends are one-sided characters who just exist to make her feel bad & try and control her image. Meanwhile, Agent Carter's government coworkers are all assholes or idiots. Their parents are either dead or estranged, thus this romantic relationship is the only meaningful connection either of them have.
Also... not enough aliens. Also... not enough aliens. I feel misled by that pretty cover.
I know that I am probably an outlier here and I'm sure romance readers will enjoy this one! I just had hoped the overarching plot would have had a bit more substance.

*my rating might have been higher had I not been grieving the loss of a loved one while reading this book so please keep that in mind*

My feelings are all over the place with this book. Some aspects I really enjoyed and some I didn’t. I loved how sweet the MMC was and the mystery plot that came along with him. What I didn’t love is our FMC being a mega influencer. Some of the stuff she said just made me cringe, but I know that this is a personal preference. The last 30% was wild and I was absolutely hooked! I do wish we would’ve gotten some closure about El’s mom and their story line. It just felt kind of thrown in there for no reason.

This is the second book I’ve read from this author, and I will definitely read more from her. This book, much like Love and Other Conspiracies, mixes some silly paranormal activity with heart and real-world personal problems. Both main characters have satisfying growth and become better versions of themselves. The initial UFO spotting in the early part of this book was a little confusing, but the rest of this was a quick and fun read.

Very cute. Sorta insta love but that could have been how fast I read this. I loved this silly little LA romance. I loved the little tie in to Love and Other Conspiracies

This one had me questioning everything. Just when I thought I had it figured out, another twist dropped. At the same time, the relationships and emotional depth made me care deeply about the characters. It’s rare for a book to hit both heart and suspense like this.

Here is my problem with this book - because I actually really love the ending?! I wanted to DNF, but then I got curious about the ending, and I'm glad I read that part. However, the first 100 pages or so have way too much influencer talk. We all understand, at this point, that influencers are likely a hot mess behind their online personas - and I think I wanted to know less about that.

Loved our hero, Agent Carter! His character is what actually kept me going throughout the whole book!

**Thank you to Berkley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR🖤

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
👽 dual POV
👽 1st person POV
👽 single timeline
👽 ALIENS!
👽 influencers
👽 Men in Black 🤪
👽 a little mystery ✨

The plot of this book was so silly; I absolutely loved it!! I love that this author writes books that a little bit out of the norm, because there are so many similar books out there (you can really only tell so many stories 🤪🤪) but this one was so different!! I rarely ever read the descriptions before I read a book, so I was very pleasantly surprised as soon as I started reading.
I really enjoyed the writing style and the humour in this one; it made a very fun and exciting read that I did not want to put down. I love books about influencers because it is just so relatable in this day and time.
I love when a book includes multiple story-telling formats, in addition to narrated storytelling. This one included emails, blog posts and comments, and it really adds so much to the story. It makes it so fun to read seeing all these other pieces that the author spent time on adding into the story.
I am a thriller girl at heart, so I really liked that this “romance” book also had some mystery to it 💜💜 The best of both worlds ❣️❣️
I loved the main characters right from the start ❣️❣️
I really appreciated all the references to things I love in the real world, like TV shows, movies, places 🩷🩷 It made the story that much more relatable to me.
Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing and Mallory Marlowe for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review 💕💕 I absolutely loved this one ❣️❣️

What a charming read! I found this book (and series) to be so fun to read. I really enjoyed the main characters and the mystery. I flew through this and would recommend it if you want something fun, funny, and sweet. The mystery was intriguing enough to keep you interested, but the relationship was uncomplicated. It's nice sometimes to have a couple that just understand and support each other. It was so cute.

3.25 stars! Thank you to Netgalley for this arc. I was really excited to read Love at First Sighting after reading and enjoying Mallory Marlowe’s other novel, Love and Other Conspiracies.

Love at First Sighting has an easily lovable male main character in Carter Brody. His nerdy, men in black essence is hard not to fall in love with. El Martin is our female main character, and while she does have redeemable qualities throughout the book, overall her character was kinda of flat for me.

This book is described as an X-Files type storyline and it certainly delivers in that aspect. It’s all very mysterious and adventurous but with the lightheartedness of being based in a romcom. I do wish, however, there would have been more alien content? It was severely little considering this is marketed as a paranormal romance.


Overall, I liked this book. I hope Mallory is able to make stronger paranormal romcoms in the future.

Thanks to @berkleypub and @berkleyromance for the gifted e-ARC and to @prhaudio for the ALC!

This book perfectly blends humor and suspense! El is making a living as a lifestyle influencer which means hiking into the desert for the perfect sunset photo highlighting her sponsored athleisurewear. But she accidentally captures live footage of a UFO. Suddenly she’s on the watchlist of PIS (please say the letters and do not read it as a word!), the Private Intelligence Sector, a shady government “men-in-black” group trying to discredit her. Agent Carter Brody knows he’s supposed to obfuscate and discredit all of El’s experience. But he had the same experience as a kid and this time he’s getting to the bottom of things.

Carter and El team up in an action-packed, but spicy (that scene on his desk! 🔥), adventure. I was surprised at how exciting and suspenseful the story was for a romcom! I liked both main characters. Carter dressed like a 1940s G-man and was delightfully nerdy and earnest. El was influencer culture to a T. But behind the facade, she longed for something real. The dual narrators did a great job bringing them to life.

Pick this one up tomorrow and enjoy the laughs and thrills!

Thank you for the free book @berkleyromance @netgalley @mallorymarlowewrites #berkleypartner #berkleybooks #berkleyinfluencer #berkleybookstagram #berkleypub !!

I love the X-Files and I love @mallorymarlowewrites for writing books that bring me back to my Phile days of scouring for fic on the internet using a dialup modem. As an #old this feeling means a lot to me - complete dissociation into a medium is like gold, especially now.

What if an internet influencer found love with a MIB government spook working for a shadow government organization called PIS? It stands for “Private Intelligence Sector” but yeah, it sounds exactly like piss, and that’s funny to me. It’s high on the secrets but low on the budget.

El is a disenchanted internet influencer who, while testing out some fancy butt molding workout gear, has a close encounter with a ship of unknown origins. It becomes rookie fall guy Agent Carter Brody’s business to investigate her actual knowledge and stop people from believing it might have been a UFO. Essentially, Carter needs to manage a coverup. Also, he’s Carter, what’s not to like about a Carter? (Iykyk)

Carter has a bad boy face scar going on but he’s pretty much a golden retriever in a man old timey film noir MIB suit and fedora; he’s gobsmacked by El’s stubbornness, resourcefulness, loyalty, and let’s be real, hotness. He tries to hold back because technically she is his assignment, but can he? (Shh the answer is no)

He’s also burdened by his father’s mysterious death when he was little at what he’s starting to believe is a government conspiracy at the hands of the man who raised him, his father’s former PIS partner himself, Marcus.

In addition to Marcus, there is an Elon Musk-esque bad guy, an ex-boyfriend who fancies himself a magician, an impromptu cutting in half, and an influencer roommate who gave herself a Cockney accent for funsies.

I had a blast reading this book, just like I had a blast reading Love and Other Conspiracies. This series of standalones is a whole bunch of fun, and I desperately needed some fun.

🛸👽🛸👽🛸

The main character stories develops and it reminds me of the X-files entirely and side characters did not feel overwhelming to me. The romance was believable, likable, and well-developed as was the pacing and plotting. I think there was just a disconnect for this storyline for me. he pacing was easy to read and relatable. The plot kept thickening as was the magic and conspiracies but there should be trigger warnings for death and violence.

Perfect if you love:
Cinnamon rolls are rolling!
Magic and Mystery
Conspiracies!
UFO / AREA 51
Men in black suits
Romantasy baby!

I know there will be more from this author, and I am intrigued to what she writes next! Thank you so much to the author, the publisher Berkley Publishing, and NetGalley for this arc!

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHTING is a fun, quirky paranormal romance that follows El, a social media influencer, and Carter, a literal man in black. Between a possible alien sighting, a dash of light stalking, and plenty of drama, it had all the fun ingredients, though it didn’t land for me quite as much as I’d hoped. Still, it made for a light and entertaining listen while I cleaned the house.

What You’ll Find:
🛸 UFO sighting
📱 Influencer FMC
🔍 Mystery
🎭 Drama
💘 Insta-love

One of my favorite books of the year! Love at First Sighting is an absolute gem—equal parts romantic comedy, swoony slow-burn, and quirky UFO adventure. El is such a fun heroine: sharp, confident, and secretly craving something real beneath her influencer-perfect life. Carter, the Man in Black assigned to her case, is the perfect grumpy yet endearing counterbalance, with his mix of duty, dry humor, and hidden vulnerability. Together, their banter sparkles, their chemistry leaps off the page, and the tension kept me smiling the entire way through.

I loved how the book weaves humor, heart, and just a touch of the fantastical. The UFO plotline gives the romance a unique backdrop, but it’s the relationship that shines brightest—two people finding something real and unexpected exactly when they need it most. Mallory Marlowe nails the balance of charm, wit, and emotional depth, making this both hilarious and heartfelt.

Playful, swoony, and delightfully out of this world, Love at First Sighting is a rom-com that made me laugh, swoon, and immediately want to reread.