Love and the Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe

e-Audio, 09:18:06
Narrated by: Alex Finke
Release Date: August 20, 2024
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: August 28-29, 2024
Series, #1
Source: PRH Audio App (I received a copy of this e-audio from the publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Toxic Relationship, Emotional Abuse, Death of a Parent, Drug Use (You’re given enough time if you want to skip over that part like I did), Alcohol, Domestic Abuse, Mental Illness, Sexual Content, Body Shaming
For Readers Interested In: Creepy Cryptids, Romance, Realistic Fiction, LOL, Social media (Podcasts), Adult

      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.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I can’t lie…. I was a little worried this was going to be a little too quirky for me lol But as it turns out, with the addition of the Hallie the skeptic, it worked out really well. I had so much fun with two of them chasing not only the creepy people, but also each other.

Ok so the characters in this one I LOVED. Hallie was so real to me. She was so bad ass with everyone else, but with that ex of hers, she seemed like a little girl. She turned into herself and it was so sad to watch. (Read?) I think Marlowe did a really great job of depicting her as a woman working through an ex’s trauma. Also, I hated her ex. He was definitely an asshole. The love interest was so cuteeee! Talk about a hot nerd lol This one hit a little too close to home tho because I find those Cryptid Hunters so interesting. I really would like to meet one in real life lol

The romance was cute, but very instalovey. It did feel organic because she did have a crush on him as soon as she saw him, but it still felt weird to me. It just seemed really fast for them to admit that they liked each other and that they were going to try. Maybe that’s just me listening too fast, but I remember being like wtf lol The spice tho, I was not expecting. His mouth was terrible! lol But its always the nerds who surprise you. And he definitely did.

I’m normally not a huge fan of workplace romance, but I think it’s because none of the workplaces were ever this fun. I haven’t laughed this long at a book in so long. And the podcast excerpts that they had, I loved that as well. I can’t lie, I wanted to listen to some of those episodes. I definitely want to listen to/watch the last one from the Epilogue. I don’t want to say which one for spoilers, but I thought it was really cute tho.

After finishing this and finding out a little while later that there will be a second in the series, I can’t say how happy I was. It was not on my Bingo card to like this as much as I did, but it happened. And now, I can’t wait until we get to get my hands on the next one too!

Overall, I give this