Enjoy!
Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe
Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Berkley
Romance
Published: 8.20.24
Pages: 367
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format: Trade Paperback
Source: Berkley
Sellers: Amazon
ADD TO: GoodReads
GoodReads Blurb:
The hardest thing for a paranormal
conspiracy theorist and a web series producer to believe in is finding love in
this swoony debut romantic comedy.
Hallie Barrett's life has imploded after she's dumped by her hotshot ex, who
also happens to be her coworker and the star of the online series she was
producing. Without a new show to present for the company competition, she’ll be
out of a job. But inspiration can come from the strangest places . . . like the
most handsome guy she’s ever seen passionately discussing Bigfoot on a
late-night docuseries.
Hayden Hargrove made a name for himself as a cryptid expert on his hit podcast,
and is intrigued by the plucky, blue-haired producer who offers him the
opportunity to lead his own web show. When the production team sees that
Hayden’s solo on-screen presence is bad enough to make a ghost blanch, Hallie
jumps on camera too, hitting him (and his cryptids) with a healthy dose of
skepticism—and enough chemistry to electrify their show to the top of the
competition.
As Hayden and Hallie investigate the unknown, they unearth feelings for each
other that shake their beliefs to the core. In their search for Mothman,
aliens, and the truth, the most elusive discovery might just be learning to
love again.
Sophia Rose's Review:
With her career teetering on the edge and her love life up
in flames, producer Hallie Barrett needs a crushing win for a show idea, dare
she take a chance on the outlandish conspiracy and crypto lover, Hayden
Hargrove? Mallory Marlowe could have
been writing her tenth book for all I knew based on her fun idea for a romance
situation and the layered, engaging characters and the slowburn romance she
penned, but in actuality this was a stellar debut.
Hallie is emotionally bruised and her self-confidence is as
low as it gets after her ex did a number on her and he just happens to have his
own successful show that she helped on for a few years. Now, with the cutting edge world of producing
shows, she has to prove to her bosses she deserves to keep her job. In panic
mode, she is sitting up late mulling over the possibilities when she stumbles
across a podcast and the topic is a doozy- aliens, conspiracies and legends
that the podcaster poses do exist. While
Hayden may be crazy, she thinks he’s onto something for a show idea and
recruits him. Her roomie and friend has faith in her, but she doesn’t start to
have faith in herself until she finds herself in front of the camera with
Hayden and swapping zippy dialogue and showing gathering fans the chemistry the
pair have. Will it be enough to overcome
her crushing self-doubt and the egotistical, but popular ex and his show?
At first, I really felt Hallie’s dreary and bruised spirit
and it was hard to read, but Hayden was just what she needed to come into her
life. I appreciated how the change was
gradual, but they were both energized by their pairing. Hallie’s struggles with- I’m calling it
emotional and verbal abuse because that’s what Cade did to her- feeling
adequate and worthy made it essential that she work through that before she
could accept what Hayden was offering so this was slow burn though still very
sexy.
The show was off to a rocky start, but then they were
playing off each other and the energy was real and came off the pages so that I
could feel it, too. I was cheering this
pair on. Hallie is a skeptic and Hayden
a believer. It was fun having them
onsite and getting glimpses of their latest topic, but just as fun seeing how
they were so good for each other. She
might not believe in Bigfoot, but Hallie was the first to draw out Hayden and
believe in him just like he had her back all along the way even when her
detestable ex tried to bad mouth her when they started to get some success.
All in all, I’m a fan, shipping Hayden and Hal right along
with the rest of their followers. I was
grinning so many times particularly when their onscreen dialogue and the fun
locales and topics were as entertaining as their growing romance. Glad to see there is another book coming from
Mallory Marlowe. If you loved the
X-Files or other shows that explore the bizzare and mysterious with a romance
on the side, drop this one onto your reading stack for a sexy romance for
spooky season.
Author Bio:
Mallory Marlowe is the USA Today Bestselling author of Love and Other Conspiracies. Seriously
right-brained since childhood, her love of telling stories began with highly
elaborate plots for her Barbie dolls and taking elementary school writing
projects too seriously. She studied Writing for Film and TV at Emerson College.
While romance is her truest love, she also loves to write across several genres
from paranormal to fantasy to horror. When she isn’t writing, she’s likely
reading, stuck in L.A. traffic, or fallen down a weird internet rabbit hole.
She lives in Los Angeles, CA and writes video games by day.
Website: https://www.mallorymarlowe.com/
Sophia’s Bio:
Sophia
is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing,
piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments,
restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible
man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes
Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and
Chocolate.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that
Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a
prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many
wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading
tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and
romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose
This sounds adorable, and I can see why she'd be hard to read at first. Perfect for the holiday season!
ReplyDeleteIt sure was, Jen. Perfect for a light spooky season romance. :)
DeleteI did like bizzare shows so yes
ReplyDelete