Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe 
Published by Berkley Books on August 20, 2024
Genres: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.
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.
I need this show in real life. Can someone get on that please.
I think the idea of a paranormal/conspiracy show where one host is a believer and the other is a skeptic with the kind of chemistry being given off by Hallie and Hayden would be everyone’s newest obsession. Who needs true crime podcasts when you have The Out There with Hallie and Hayden.
Hallie is given an opportunity to produce her own show for the upcoming season, the winner will get picked up for a Season 2 and given an actual budget. While trying to come up with an idea, Hallie comes across Hayden doing in interview about his podcast The Out There. Hallie has never considered herself a believer in that kind of thing, but listening to Hayden Hargrove, she is caught up in his passion about his theories. Hallie believes that Hayden will captivate an audience as well as he captivated her.
The problem is when she brings him to the studio to present the idea to her boss, Hayden is very awkward before the camera, looking down at his notes, something you wouldn’t notice in a podcast. Hallie realizes that the interview she watched, Hayden was discussing the theories with the host and throws out some questions and argues against his theories, so her boss can see how Hayden lights up discussing his conspiracy theories and cryptid creatures. This works so well that Hallie is shocked when her boss wants Hallie to come out from behind the camera and co-host The Out There with Hayden, and idea that Hayden whole-heartedly agrees with.
Hayden and Hallie and The Out There not only becomes a success but is leading the race for the number 1 new show, especially when their audience gets behind the chemistry between Hayden and Hallie and are happily “shipping” this couple.
This pisses off Hallie’s rival and ex-boyfriend who was not happy when Hallie walked out of the abusive relationship. Hallie wants to be strong, but after years of living with a narcissist who wore down her self-esteem to build himself up, there is still a part of her that listens to his torment and demeaning attacks as truth. She also knows that no matter how much she is coming to admire Hayden, it will not look good for her to go from one co-worker relationship to another, and she fears the repercussions to her already floundering career.
Hallie still doesn’t believe in Bigfoot but she is starting to believe in Hayden and that maybe he is worth risking her fragile heart.
THOUGHTS:
I loved this “real” X-File type show and the chemistry between Hayden and Hallie shines brighter than Area 51. It was fun to find myself looking up some of these conspiracy theories–some I have heard of, some I did not.
I kept waiting to see if Hallie would have an encounter which would make her a believer but I was kind of happy that the author didn’t play into that and no matter where their adventures took them, Hayden would find “proof” and Hallie would dispute it, and as the tag line says on the book “They want to believe,” even if that belief is only in each other.
I had fun with the premise and fun with the characters. I did feel bad that no matter how successful Hallie was and how successful the show was and how much Hayden liked her, she kept encountering her ex-boyfriend. He was an expert in manipulating her and charming his bosses and everyone around him to believe he was wonderful. This left Hallie feeling depressed while he manipulated things so she felt unable to fight back against him. While he might have been needed as a plot point, I think I could have enjoyed this story much more without him showing up as he kept bring the fun to a sudden halt.
This was a delightful story and I would really like to watch an actual episode of The Out There. I am pretty bummed it doesn’t actually exist.
Favorite Scene:
“He is cute,” she says. “But is the whole show going to be him telling us about aliens?”
“No. Of course not. We’re going to edit it and include other sources and footage.”
“Hmm…”
Hayden looks up, notices another person in the room, and begins to stumble over his words. He pauses, clearing his throat, but it’s like he’s forgotten everything he’s ever known about aliens. Chloe’s checked her phone four times in the last minute, so I know she’s getting bored. I need to salvage this. Somehow.
What gets Hayden going and pulls him out of his shell? Then it hits me.
“So, this guy is just waving classified info about aliens out in the open?”
Hayden’s gaze shoots up to me. His brows furrow behind his dark hair. I can’t tell if he’s more shocked by what I’ve said or that I’ve interrupted his take.
I know all of this.
He knows I know this.
But that doesn’t matter. I need to get him fired up.
“What?”
I step closer, but make sure I’m sill out of frame. Nora scratches her head, but motions for Jamie to keep rolling.
“This guy who is dealing with potentially classified information about aliens just has this written on a piece of paper for everyone to see?”
“Well, no. Everyone he was with was also in the know. They were looking at a crashed UFO, for god’s sakes. I feel like the ship sailed on keeping the circle that small. And it wasn’t being waved around. Look at him.” Hayden flags me over, pulling up the picture of Roger Ramey on the laptop staged on the desk. I’ve seen the picture a hundred times now as we rehearsed the script. The camera lights glare in my eyes. I’m not used to being on this side of the lens. “He’s squatting and surveying the UFO–“
“Weather balloon,” I correct.
“UFO.”
“Whatever.”
“What do you mean, ‘whatever’? If someone can decode this, it’d mean we’d know if this was actually a flying saucer and–“
“It looks like a sad kite.”
“You know, before you interrupted me, I was going to say that we’d also know if there were little alien bodies inside the flying saucer.”
Hayden’s voice pitches down, and he’s talking so quickly now that his Boston accent slips out. Across the studio, Chloe’s smiling. Good. This is good. I need to poke the Bigfoot until it drags me into its den and eats me alive.
“If there were little alien bodies, what did the US government do with them?”
“Well,” Hayden slips a pencil behind his ear. Then the glasses comes off. Bingo. “According to some reports, they ran autopsies on them. This mortician came out like forty years later and alleged that he was getting calls from the air base, asking about little coffins.”
“That’s nice. The US was going to give them little alien funerals. But how awkward would it be if they…like…didn’t decompose?”
“Are you insinuating that aliens could be real if you’re wondering how they decompose?” Manic energy surges in his eyes.
“Absolutely not.”
His fists thump on the table. “Goddammit.”
“But I guess it wouldn’t matter if they put them in caskets and buried them. Like ‘well, let’s hope nobody exhumes that’.“
Hayden coyly covers his mouth with his hand, continuing to play it serious as a smile spreads across his face behind cover.
“You’re terrible.”
“Could you imagine digging it up and being like, ‘holy shit, that is the world’s ugliest kid’?”
“Oh, man, this one never grew out of their newborn alien phase” he laughs. He rests his head on the desk, and my laughing fit prolongs his. After a moment, he takes a deep breath and sits up. “Okay, I’m fine. Any other questions?”
“Not at the moment. Thank you. Proceed.”
