Seeing as this is the second book by F.T. Lukens that I have absolutely adored, I think I can officially call myself a fan. Love at Second Sight, despite skinning itself in the genre of urban fantasy, still manages to incorporate sobering topics such as adolescent anxiety, prejudice, discriminatory violence, familial drama, peer pressure, and bullying. However, it does all of this while maintaining the same sort of comforting aura reminiscent of a 90s teen flick where the lead girl takes off her glasses and all the popular kids realize she’s as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside.
Except, in this case the lead is played by a terminally nervous psychic who’s recent visions have both traumatized him and rocketed him to viral fame. Luckily he’s assembled a crack squad of a witch, werewolf, sprite, medium, and a really nosy human to help him deal, and possibly solve a murder before it happens.
I absolutely loved the world building, and having everything play out with the backdrop being this highschool where magical creatures and humans inter-mingle was just such a fun idea. It managed to parallel the sort of alienation and sense of finding community that comes with the teenage experience perfectly.
Speaking frankly, I finished this book in one sitting because of the simple fact that I could not put it down. I stayed up way too late, and was exhausted the next day at work, but I still count it as well worth it. I would one-hundred percent recommend Love at Second Sight to anyone who loves a good romcom with a hint of murder mystery, and honestly I already see it as potentially being one of my favourite reads of the year.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the arc in exchange for an honest review

This is a 4.5 ⭐️
This book took me for a loop. Honestly, it started like ok, i could put it down and picked it up as needed. But when the ball started rolling let me tell you i could not stop. I was suspecting everyone, everyone seemed to have had a motive. Maybe i am naive, but i really thought it was R, and then i was so confused it was M listen it have been. But it had made sense. Imagine my surprised when i find out who it really was. I did find out before it was explicitly said in the book. Like it clicked and i was like those motherfuckers. I had hoped that they would change their mind seeing C in agony cause, how could you let hatred for something make you hurt your own. I can’t wrapped my hear around it. It’s too crazy. While this book is a fictional book i cant help myself drawing a line from Cam and his parents to real life parents who thinks they own their kids, who think they can do whatever they want just to have a semblance of a normal family. They are ready to rid, and traumatized their kids in the name of family and love. Love doesn’t hurt, love is accepting your kids with everything that is them, rather or not it was something you wanted/expected of/for them. You don’t get to take away what makes them themselves to fit your own screw up views/version of happiness or expectations. You are hurting them and in the same breath saying i love you, Im doing it for you. No you are not. Some people don’t deserve to be parents. That being said my baby Mateo come here and let me hug you. You are the sweetest bean and how i love you. You are the best, and you are so understanding and soft ☺️, you have my heart. I love the friendship in this book, not gonna lie i did despise Al for a bunch of the book. And who wouldn’t be jealous if all of the sudden something you have been trying to have all your life, your bf just gets it fall into his life. Nonetheless they should have try and talk it out with Cam Better. I love every side character they were all so good and have such good development. Gemma i did want to shake you a bit, but you are a genius, Reese my swampy baby i love the fact that you don’t hesitate to show up for them, kaci baby im so happy you got to be able to manage everything. I am so happy to have gotten to read my babie stories, i called them the power rangers somewhere in my notes. And you should all take a page from Cam even in crisis you should still tell your crush how sexy you think they are. Don’t let the crisis get in the way of your simping.

Fav character: Mateo (so cute and sweet)

Fav moment: In the room when Mateo came and Al and Reese stand behind him for support. Gemma and Kaci at the door. This was the moment i yell my power rangers. So badass

Song: Legends are made by Sam Tinnesz

“You have an amazing gift. You’re destined to be the center of the local paranormal community. You have main character energy. Why would you hide it?”

2.5 stars

I was mostly enjoying this, nothing great or anything, until the 55-60% mark when it all went downhill. At least it took me a while to see who was behind the mystery aspect of this, so I guess there’s that.

Cam was a fucking idiot. I can’t even describe how much he annoyed me. Everything had to be about him. I didn’t like Al at the beginning because I thought they were just leaving Cam behind because he was human, but then I was like, nah, Al is right, Cam is super annoying and selfish. I mean, Al wasn’t great either, I don’t consider them a good friend to Cam. lmao just overall not nice people

Gemma and Kaci were nice, no real issue with them. Mateo was just a blank love interest. Absolutely nothing to him.

Every other character was mostly one-dimensional, and I’ve forgotten them already.

This was so young 🫠🫠 I know that’s a me problem but I was cringing a lot with how…cringy… all the high school scenes were and some of the things they said and thought. The way everything was handled, the reveal, it was so young. So stereotypical evil or so easy to follow along with, no thinking required. There was especially no thinking on Cam's part BECAUSE I-D-I-O-T.

If you are a under 14 year old human, you may enjoy this more than I did. So take that into consideration.

If you are 14+, eh, maybe don’t bother 🥲

A big thank you to Simon and Schuster for an eARC and a physical ARC!

Lukens scores yet again with a new ya novel that combines mystery and magic, with the excruciating experience of being a young person beginning to navigate their way in the last few years of adolescence.

You'd think the most fatal threat of high school is social death. Unfortunately, for Cam the usual teenage trials (friends growing apart, realizing family might not support who you are) are further complicated by unexpected clairvoyant powers, paranormal groups grappling to have him align with them, and, oh, yeah, the pesky ticking clock of trying to find a classmate's murderer before they are even dead.

This is a multilayered novel destined for best of the year lists.

This is such a relevant book to the current state of North America and it will connect to do many readers who have parents that won't except them for who they are. The cast of characters is so loveable, the themes are on point, and the murder mystery aspect was set up very well.

excuse me while I scream into the void how much I loved this book.

a book about a world where witches, werewolves, and all the other paranormal creatures are all blended with the humans, all centring around a group of kids in high school. it's like it was made for me. I have always loved magical-realism books and this is kinda the perfect description of it all; real-world settings but with a touch of fantasy sprinkled in. It almost reminded me of 'the rest of us just live here' by Patrick Ness but I enjoyed this one a lot more.

it started out like some silly early 200's teen rom-com vibes but once the plot got going, it became much deeper and powerful. the analogies of both racism and homophobia in this world were so beautifully done. especially the ending where everything got very dark very fast was so painful but it really drove home a lot of the more understated references.

I didn't love all the characters, mostly Aiden, and some of them felt a little flatter than others but within the space, I liked having the large range of characters, and I think it was more important.

the other book by Lukens that I read, I didn't love, the writing style didn't work for me in a high fantasy world and it didn't mesh how I would have wanted it to. BUT in a more modern/real-world setting, I think this is where their work truly shines.


thanks to simon & schuster canada/margaret k. mcelderry books, and netgalley for the arc!

Love at Second Sight might be my new favourite FT Lukens book! This was giving early 2010s CW shows, but diverse, which was delightful. The plot was fun, I think the book balanced the mystery plot line well with Cam's discovery of his powers, sometimes one took the back seat to the other but the story was always moving in a way that kept me engaged. I loved the entire cast of characters in this one, every member of this budding friend group leapt off the page and I would gladly read more books in this world with these characters. I thought Cam's personal journey was really well done, it was emotional and powerful, and the romance subplot was really cute and tender.

I will definitely be recommending this one, it was a fantastic read and I've been thinking about it ever since I finished it!