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A review by readsforlove
Love at Second Sight by F.T. Lukens
4.25
F. T. Lukens has done it again. I'm telling you, no one does an ensemble cast like they do. If you loved So This Is Ever After, you'll love this book. The cast is similar, all with unique voices and personalities that are engaging and endearing. Lukens takes so much care in how they write relationships, never overlooking platonic bonds in order to uplift and praise romance. In this book especially, it really felt like the friendship between Al and Cam was the central point of the book, with the crushing on the sidelines. As an aroace person, I really appreciated the prioritizing of friendship here! And how we got to see so many different kinds of relationships in the various people who showed up for Cam.
The world building was also very well done. It was straightforward while still being complex, and I enjoyed the politics around each group of magical creatures. That was really interesting to delve into, and appreciated that the book took the time to do so. The magic itself was epic--loved the plant magic especially. And Lukens does a fantastic job of doing the "super special powered MC" without it feeling too cheesy. I was so here for the ride, and having a great time the whole way. Watching Cam settle into himself and his powers was so good--and such a great metaphor for queerness, honestly. I kind of want to reread it specifically to focus through that lens.
While I did overall love this book, I do have a few gripes: 1) the ending was just way too rushed. We didn't really get resolution to Al and Cam's relationship. Especially given Al's moms. That was frustrating, and with how much time we'd been given to invest in their friendship, it was frustrating not to get the payoff of them /really/ talking it out. The writing, especially at the beginning, was also rather repetitive, so we could have cut words down there and put them in the ending instead. 2) I would have like more time to resolve Cam's arc. I won't go into spoilery details, but I wanted Cam to truly be able to face their fears after the climax with the rest of the cast instead of just one friend.
None of these complaints are deal breakers though, and I will still be whole-heartedly recommending yet another banger of a book from this amazing author! Thank you so much to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the review copy.
The world building was also very well done. It was straightforward while still being complex, and I enjoyed the politics around each group of magical creatures. That was really interesting to delve into, and appreciated that the book took the time to do so. The magic itself was epic--loved the plant magic especially. And Lukens does a fantastic job of doing the "super special powered MC" without it feeling too cheesy. I was so here for the ride, and having a great time the whole way. Watching Cam settle into himself and his powers was so good--and such a great metaphor for queerness, honestly. I kind of want to reread it specifically to focus through that lens.
While I did overall love this book, I do have a few gripes: 1) the ending was just way too rushed. We didn't really get resolution to Al and Cam's relationship. Especially given Al's moms. That was frustrating, and with how much time we'd been given to invest in their friendship, it was frustrating not to get the payoff of them /really/ talking it out. The writing, especially at the beginning, was also rather repetitive, so we could have cut words down there and put them in the ending instead. 2) I would have like more time to resolve Cam's arc. I won't go into spoilery details, but I wanted Cam to truly be able to face their fears after the climax with the rest of the cast instead of just one friend.
None of these complaints are deal breakers though, and I will still be whole-heartedly recommending yet another banger of a book from this amazing author! Thank you so much to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the review copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood