When Jessie meets-cute with Cal during a fire alarm incident at Whole Foods, her day and her life are turned upside down. She spends a magical afternoon and evening with him, but hasn't gotten his number when the evening ends abruptly and she isn't sure how or whether she'll see him again. But she does, and it's because he has shown up with flowers--for someone else!--on the doorstep of the house she nannies for.

Promising start, right? But oh boy, does this book drown in the telling and not the showing. So much of its substance is thoughts rattling around in Jessie's head, which quickly become repetitive and frankly just not that interesting. I struggled to get into this book and struggled to really care or invest in any of the characters--except for Leo, an alternate love interest, who seemed so perfect for Jessie but whom Jessie kept labeling as a "player" without any real proof of such playing. The book bogs down with health and safety inspection details and workout details and food details and man, a lot of this would have been better as dialog or plot, not description. I will grant that the ending was a pleasant surprise because I had low expectations for this book, but it was also abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying as a result.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I DNF this book and that is saying a lot because I will read any book set in London. The story was just not fully cohesive. The suthor had so many great ideas and is a great writer. I loved the meet-cute but there were too many subplots that weren't well woven together? Maybe too many ideas that were trying to be squeezed into one book when perhaps they could have been fleshed out into other books and not crammed into one. Keep Going Laura Jane- You have a gift!

Love at First Sight is a slow burn contemporary romance centered on Cal and Jesse, though the pace and side stories often blur the main romantic focus. The story kicks off with a chance meeting between the two at a grocery store, where they spend an entire day together—but Jesse never gets his number. Weeks pass with Jesse obsessing over the encounter, eventually leading to a fruitless flyer campaign led by her best friend, India.

While the story improves as it goes, Jesse as a protagonist can be frustrating. Her passive, indecisive nature makes it hard to root for her, despite being realistic in portraying a kind of person who lets life happen to them. On the other hand, Henry—the child Jesse nannies—steals the show with his personality and interactions.

It’s only around the 70% mark that Jesse begins a real journey of self-discovery, realizing that the most important relationship she needs to nurture is with herself. Ultimately, the story suggests that love can be right in front of you all along—but you have to take the long, winding road to realize it.

This was such a cute read! I adored Jessie’s back story and her relationship with Henry, and her idea with Stray Kids. I will say I feel like there were many issues throughout the book that Jessie had problems dealing with, example A being Ali and her dad… a lot of different plotlines. Overall, it was a cute read but sometimes was hard to follow.

Loved at First Sight was such a fresh take on a romance novel! It had a twist in it that I was not expecting and I feel it will encourage reader's to be very reflective of their own choices and prospectives. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I wanted to love this, but it felt a bit disjointed. The premise was really promising for me, but the chemistry was not there. I didn’t personally feel connected to the characters at all. They were hard to root for, especially the main character. The ending wrapped up ridiculously quickly. I would have loved a little more banter and romance. This is my first book from this author.

I enjoyed this book! I felt that the majority of the characters were relatable and easy to connect to. After being a nanny myself i was able to empathize with Jessie on her career aspirations. I really wanted Jessie and guy 1 to work out- he seemed so genuine but there were several little red flags that i am glad Jessie noticed. Guy 2 was likeable from the beginning. He was cleaver and funny and had me cheering for him. Overall I enjoyed this book and liked that all the story lines had been wrapped up nicely by the end of the story.

Can't say this was my favorite. I wanted to like the book. Jessie is a nanny caring for seven year old Henry when she meets Cal at the grocery store. Jessie and Cal have a whirlwind date, she falls head over heels, but their date ends abruptly without them exchanging contact information. When Jessie does see Cal again, it's when he shows up at her employer's house - he's been dating her! Jessie struggles with what kind of relationship she wants with Cal, how to be there for Henry, and how to carry out her dream of having a unstructured play center for children - the same time as she's struggling with her relationship with her dad (her sole family member). Dad is dating a much younger woman, Simone, who is dating him just for his money and purposefully puts a wedge between him and Jessie. And then there's Leo, the handsome butcher who's the biggest flirt Jessie has ever met. Love at first sight might be something different altogether.

Oh gosh, where to even begin. Truthfully wasn’t expecting much from this book, but I looooooved the character development throughout. And the final little twist of who will she choose?! Like, can I have a Leo for myself?!


A more in depth review will soon publish to Goodreads

Thank you to Putnam via NetGalley for the ARC.

Admittedly this is a very fun cute-meet. The fire thing was fun, and maybe I just don’t read enough cute-meets?

I can’t say that I enjoyed the book-I’m pretty sure I spent most of it frustrated. As the synopsis states Jessie meets Cal and it’s love at first sight. HOWEVER, she finds out Cal isn’t all that he says he is, and she spends the entire book pining over him?!

I guess I just really couldn’t understand why. Sure, you can say fate and all that, but even after the universe basically shows you what he is, you still want him? This frustration is multiplied by there being an actual good dude in Leo just doing whatever he can to get her to notice him.

The best friend is amazing, and we all deserve that in our lives. I do consider this a huge plus for the book. Would have loved more of India.

It was quick and fun for what it is. The banter between characters was great, but I just can’t believe the Cal thing. I spent most of the book asking Jessie to open her eyes.

Sinopsis en español:



Jessie sabe que el amor a primera vista no existe. Pero, un sábado soleado en Londres, una alarma de incendio en Whole Foods la arroja a los brazos de un extraño. Cal es encantador y divertido: su química es instantánea.

El coqueteo rápido se convierte en el día más encantador de la vida de Jessie. Pero esa noche se vieron obligados a separarse antes de intercambiar números. Jessie está devastada, ¿y si acaba de perder al indicado?

Después de semanas de búsqueda, imagina su sorpresa cuando Jessie le abra la puerta en su trabajo de niñera a Cal sosteniendo dos docenas de rosas rojas.

Lo único es que no son para ella...



Reseña:


Uff, la verdad no me gustó, hay cosas rescatables y dentro de todo es lo suficientemente entretenido para terminarlo, pero nada más.

This was an okay book. The main character seems to have a thing for being walked on and that was very frustrating for most of the story. A lot of the characters were just eh including her boss.
I liked the idea of her main focus being starting her business.

2! DNF. I honestly did try to complete this book but I was just not a fan! I was very much intrigued by the book description however I don't think it was executed well. There also could have been a warning about the love triangle as I am not the biggest fan of that trope.

shoutout to the assistive reader thing on kindle because i listened to basically this entire book while i was driving back to college so... go robot voice!

as for the story itself, this was not good i'm so sorry. i wanted to love this so bad, like it is literally set up to be the cutest cheesiest romcom ever but it's so terribly done while simultaneously being overdone. the characters are next to impossible to root for. especially the fmc, who reminds me of me when i was 13 years old. not a compliment. none of the side characters gave anything, the plot was flat, and the writing was fun at first but got old eventually. so yeah, this is a no for me. cover's kinda cute tho.

thank you to netgalley & penguin group for the arc! all opinions are my own <3

“Love at First Sight” left me torn. While I didn’t fully connect with Jessie, I was rooting for her to finally stand up for herself instead of letting everyone walk all over her. I appreciated the storyline about chasing her dreams, but the love triangle felt forced—honestly, Leo deserved better. That said, the book stuck with me for days, which says something. Even now, I can’t decide if I actually liked it or not, but it definitely gave me a lot to think about.

Thank you to Putnam group and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.
I was drawn into the story and was enticed by both MMC prospects. This book consisted of a lot of toxic relationships that went under the radar. I loved that this wasn't your typical straight line romance book. There were moments I wanted to scream at the MFC, but I can see how her judgement was so clouded.
I didn't love how the MFC was treated by those she called "family", both in name and in genes. She put up with far too much in my opinion and I would have liked to see some of the conflicts play out fully in the end.

This book is recommended for readers who like a love triangle, shady characters wearing sheep's clothing, and no spice.

This book is equivalent to the feeling of sipping on your favorite drink while soaking in that first spring wam weather day. From start to finish I was hooked. Jessie meets Cal and has an unexpected perfect day with him, but it ends abruptly without them exchanging contact information. Jessie is not naive enough to believe something like love at first sight exists, but it sure feels like it. We follow her journey while she navigates the ups and downs of some relationships with those closest to her. And we witness Jessie blossom with personal growth.
Williams writing is filled with relatable and lovable characters. The spice level of this book is a green pepper, but it's not needed for this to be a great story. Love at First Sight is a short, easy and happy read that I will be recommending to everyone.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.
The book started out a bit slow but later picked up a bit. I liked that Jessie found herself in a meet cute, but I was so upset to hear that Cal turned out to be such a jerk. I'm proud of her for standing up for herself and showing how independent she really is. Maybe I could learn a thing or two from her.
I'm so happy that in the end, she decided to take a chance on Leo, who was in front of her all along and complimenting her and being so sweet and even going the extra mile to help her with Stray Kids. I love that he was so smitten with her and willing to wait for her to be ready to give their relationship a real try.

This was my first read from this author and I give it a solid 4 stars. The first 2 chapters I was hesitant like, this can’t be that easy right? There’s a whole book left. BUT the twist? And then the fact it just kept happening. At first I was rooting for Cal but was so disappointed in his character. I think with the FMC learning to put herself first, love herself, and be assertive was such a good overall story. Yes it’s a romance book but it’s also more.

*Thank you to net galley for this ARC!

ೀ Love at First Sight review ೀ
3/5 stars
I was super excited for this arc due to how magical and charming the premise seemed, it seemed to be unique from other romance books, in the way that from the synopsis I couldn't tell how the story would go, which was definitely an aspect of this book I loved, but I ran into major issues with this book, mainly with the characters.
ೀ What I liked ೀ
♥ The writing- The writing of this story, especially the ways places are described was so enchanting, I love the way the author transported me to Jessie's part of London.

♥ I adored the descriptions of Jessie's job and Stray Kids, Henry was so adorable and I loved his character <33

♥ This book was fascinating, I think it took me like only one day to read, and the plot was pretty gripping.

ೀ What I disliked ೀ
♥ THE LOVE TRIANGLE!!!!!!! I think having a bit of a love triangle in this story at the beginning would have made it interesting and I didn't mind it, but why did it have to drag out so long? The romance between Jessie and Leo wasn't developed at all and there was no chemistry between them because Jessie was still struggling to choose between them, 75% into the book! Ugh, and one side of the love triangle was so clearly bad, if Jessie had any brains she would have made her choice 25% into the book

♥ The characters- The only characters I liked were Henry, Leo, and I'm gonna be honest Ali, even though she was meant to be a villain. The main charcter, Jessie really frustarded me through out this. And her best friend India started out really promising but then baisically turned into just a prop there to enthusically support everything Jessie does.

♥ All the plot lines- This book just seemed like it was trying to juggle too much, between the romance, Jessie's issues with her boss Ali, Jessie starting a new business, Jessie's love triangle, Ali's love triangle, Jessie's issues with her father and his fiancee, India's love life, it seemed too much for just one book.



ೀ Pre-Read ೀ
This book's premise is really interesting so I'm super excited to read it! Thank you so much to the publisher and the author for the arc <3