Bastone, Cara. Love at First Psych. Audible Audio, 2023. 4 hours and 35 minutes.

****

Non-traditional students Robbie and Marigold seem to be very different – he’s gregarious, silly and outgoing, while Marigold is more introverted and serious. When they are paired together for a project for their Psychology of Love course, they need to interview at least five people about their first meetings, to determine if love at first sight is a real thing. Meanwhile, there is still some awkwardness in the air from an incident from last semester that the listener is not yet privy to and that Marigold definitely does not want to discuss.

This audible exclusive, full-cast audio presentation is an absolute delight. The premise of having to record interviews lends itself well to the audiobook format. The nuanced voice acting and sound effects work together perfectly to convey the characters, plot and setting. I want to recognize Bastone’s skill at creating believable dialogue and warm, real characters with great backstories and rich vocabularies.

I discovered this author through an Audible ad, and went on to listen to Seat Mate, which was equally wonderful, but had more exposition/monologue.