Love and Other Conspiracies
Love and Other Conspiracies makes many references to one of my favorite shows, The X-Files. Sadly, this book about a believer and a skeptic making a web series is no X-Files. It’s not terrible, but it is, alas, boring.
The story is told from the heroine Hallie’s point of view in first-person, present tense, henceforth referred to as FPPT. I may need to make a rule that I don’t review books written in FPPT anymore because it so often annoys me. My feeling about FPPT is that it can be a very effective tool when properly deployed but it is prone to over-use. For instance, in The Hunger Games series, FPPT gives us immediate access to the thought processes of characters who may otherwise be difficult to understand or identify with, and it underscores the immediacy and urgency and speed with which events are unfolding. In a slow paced book like Love and Other Conspiracies, FTTP frankly gives me a little too much insight into the mind of the main character, making her seem immature and self-obsessed. And the present-tense narration just underscores the fact that nothing is happening.
My personal rant aside, Hallie and Hayden are sweet, intelligent, kind people who communicate well and support one another unfailingly. This is lovely. The best parts of the book are little snippets of them interacting while filming their show, which I would absolutely watch. It’s very Buzzfeed Unsolved only with flirting, and I wish there were more of it. Although we only get Hallie’s point of view, we do see some background and character development from Hayden. Sometimes when there’s only one point-of-view character, the other character can be vastly underdeveloped, but Hayben does come across as a real person with a real life.
I’m a big fan of relationships that are drama free, but stories need some conflict to pull them along and the conflict in this book just was not compelling enough for me. The biggest conflict in the book involves Hallie’s co-worker and ex, Cade, who was and who remains emotionally abusive. Hallie’s recovery is very much one-step-forward, one-step-back. This is realistic and understandable, but it’s also very repetitive. Hallie is constantly afraid of what Cade might say to undermine her at work, but the comments from her other co-workers suggest that Cade does not have the upper hand here. We only see the blustery side of Cade, not the charming or manipulative sides that abusers can deploy with terrible effectiveness. So instead of seeming like a viable threat, Cade comes across as a one-note, obvious bully who is almost universally disliked.
This book was a cute story and I enjoyed the monster-hunting interludes. More of those interludes would have been lovely. As is, the book is too nice for its own good. I didn’t hate it – but I also didn’t care much about it. If you want a kind-hearted story that is gentle enough to fall asleep to, this might be your jam.
– Carrie S
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.
Contemporary Romance, Paranormal, Romance
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Interesting review. I was particularly struck by the description of FPPT which, when said aloud, sounds a lot like my response to this authorial affectation. The reference to Hunger Games as an example of effective use of FPPT revved me right up because reading that series was the first time I recognized that first person present tense could work well and that I could love a book written in present tense. I think that this stylistic choice also works best when it establishes an engaging and authentic voice for the narrator, i.e. it works for Katniss because she is compelling character.
My goal this year has been to only read romances with dual POV. It’s meant skipping over some authors I’ve read before who only write in FPPT, but I am much more satisfied with reading stories told from both characters’ perspectives. I just get too frustrated only hearing from one. And it always seems to be the female character in an M/F romance. Has anyone ever read one with just the male character’s view?
Personally, I prefer when romances in particular are written in FPPT (incredible acronym) because I need that intensity of character to care if two imaginary people are going to kiss or not. However, I agree that it’s overused by people who can’t use it, because it also relies on VOICE, for good or evil, and authors can get trapped in Inner Monologuelandia. No bueno.
I felt exactly the same about this book, btw: it was cute and nice, but the romance had no internal conflict whatsoever, and so it was boring. Cute and nice is the dream IRL, but it’s not a good story.
I wanted to like this so bad, but I felt like Hallie’s entire characterization was that she had blue hair and was therefore quirky. Not “she does these quirky things and is therefore quirky” but “she dyes her hair blue and is therefore quirky.” Or, more to the point since this was in FPPT: “I dye my hair blue and am therefore quirky.” Thanks for sharing, Hallie.
I’ve always struggled with FPPT because there are incidences where it actually pulls me out of the story. Who is taking the time to record an entire chapter involving how the H/H wound up in a closet having shmexy time while the villain searches the desk across the room. Is she dictating it to her phone? Is the Hero constantly distracted by her need to “jot down a few notes”? It’s possible that it’s the present tense aspect that is jarring for me, not first person. Either way, it usually leads to a DNF if not done extremely well.
Aww man, I was excited about this one. Too bad!