LOVE AT FIRST SIGHTING

The X-Files meets Hype House in Marlowe’s silly, sexy sophomore romance.

When social media influencer El Martin goes live during an encounter with an unidentified flying object, her brand tanks and her fame-chasing roommates are eager for her to forget all about it and move on to her next sponsored post. Agent Carter Brody of the Private Intelligence Sector catches her alien content, though, and it looks eerily familiar to him; he saw something like it as a kid, just before his father, also a PIS agent, mysteriously died. After getting the all-clear from his boss—who happens to be his father’s former partner, the chain-smoking pseudo uncle who raised him following his dad’s death—Carter is cleared to follow up on El’s sighting. El is used to being stalked by fans and paparazzi, so one hapless man in black is no match for her, but Carter eventually gets through her defenses and an unlikely and slightly hostile partnership is born. What they find instead of the little green men they fear is a massive government cover-up linked to the death of Carter’s father. As the stakes grow higher, so does their intense attraction to one another. In the midst of car chases and B-list celebrity events, El finds that with Carter, she’s able to take off her public-facing mask. And after a lifetime of looking for a place to belong, Carter finds that El is as committed to making him finally feel safe as she is to helping him find the truth. While the book fails to deliver on the flying saucers promised by the cover, the action does not disappoint. A wildly entertaining cast of secondary characters, steamy sex scenes, and pop-culture references add to the fun.

There’s enough fast-paced action, clever banter, and sizzling chemistry for even the most skeptical nonbeliever.