Review: Love Shots by Travis M. Riddle

Love Shots by Travis M. Riddle
Independently Published

Publication Date: May 29th, 2026
Ebook. 487 pages.

About Love Shots:

"They're dying for a chance at love.

America’s #1 dating show, Love Shots, gathers young, sexy singles in a tropical villa to compete in cheeky challenges, find love, and win a huge cash prize—with no small amount of drama. 

Things go off-script when a recently ejected competitor reappears in the villa. But she isn't the girl the cast remembers... Something is deeply, horribly wrong with her, and she’s not the only danger lurking in paradise. 

These 20-year-old influencers must fight to survive against a security team they believed was there to protect them, an onslaught of terror they can barely comprehend, and producers who have a decidedly sinister finale in mind, all while desperately trying to escape an isolated island. 

But what chance do they have when hundreds of cameras are aimed at them, watching their every move?

Love Island meets Jurassic Park in this twisted, thrilling satire from the author of Carapace and The Narrows."

If you love dating show and horror/thrillers, then this is going to be your new perfect match made in heaven... or maybe hell? It's a satire that Riddle pitched to me as "Love Island meets Jurassic Park" and honestly, that's a very apt description. Last year, I read Riddle's previous release while traveling, and this year I had another trip coming up so I figured, why not make it a tradition and read a Travis M. Riddle book while traveling again? And what a good idea that was, because this book kept me absolutely hooked.

Love Shots is inspired by the popular TV show with a very similar name, and if you are familiar with that show then you'll find yourself very familiar the general format and workings of the show portrayed in this book. We've got beautiful people in a beautiful setting... and yet, somehow, it ends up being a bit of a nightmare. 

The story sets out fairly normally in the middle of a current season of the show, Love Shots, and we quickly get to know the many characters that are a part of it this time around. Riddle always puts a lot of time and development into his characters, so despite there being quite a large cast, I felt like I had a pretty good grasp of the main players due to the detailed introductions for each of them. Admittedly, I did mix up a few here and there, but no more than I usually would with a larger cast size. The relevant characters were are portrayed with layers and depth (though some may have had personalities that were, perhaps, slightly less naturally "deep" than others, but, you know...) and I liked getting to know all of them. Their backgrounds were all unique enough that I was engaged in learning about their personalities and how it affected their behavior on the show, and especially in seeing how they ended up reacting to different scenarios as the more intense events of the story unfolded. 

The narrative is split among many different POVs from the contestants, as well as glimpses behind the scenes from the producer, editors, and a few others working on the show. These behind the scenes POVs are where we really first start getting hints that things might not be quite what they seem. From the beginning, we don't know exactly what is going to be happening to these contestants, and I think Riddle's slow trickle of clues worked extremely well for building that tension and anticipation as we slowly learned more and more about the more sinister aspects of this production.

I was actually a little surprised by how much time the book spent letting us readers settle into the "normal" life of the villa before things really kick off, but I didn't mind it at all because it gave me more time to get to know the character and better understand the dynamics among them and their within their current relationships. I also shouldn't have been surprised because one of my favorite things about Riddle's writing is how it never feels rushed and he really takes his time to describe thing and set a scene, and this is exactly what it felt like was happening here--something that I still really appreciate about his writing.

Love Shots does a fantastic job with its exploration of reality dating shows themselves and just how manufactured they can be. How much editing is done to tell narratives that are perhaps the exact opposite of what's actually happening? How do producers make sure fans are shocked by something that wouldn't really be shocking if they knew the reality? How is the outcome ensured to be exactly what the producer wants? There's much manipulation behind the scenes of these shows in real life, and I loved how Riddle explored all of that in this book. It really highlights the predatory nature of the show in some very intense and literal ways that I found excellently and cleverly done.

I also appreciated the commentary on and highlighting of some larger societal issues that are found within these types of shows. For example, he touches on things like the heteronormativity of dating shows (I mean, when you think about it, isn't it actually quite wild how aggressively straight these shows are in how they act like nothing else exists?) as well as the unique pressures and expectations placed on men and women alike, especially in the influencer era of these shows.

Without going into too many details to avoid spoilers, once sh*t hits the fan, there's truly no going back. This book absolutely basks in its violence and body horror, and I think that will make it a huge hit for fans of the genre. Once the story crossed a certain point, it was incredibly action-heavy for the remainder of the novel. It basically felt like a constant spiral into chaos that left me feeling almost as overwhelmed as the contestants themselves. At first, it's almost so weird or unbelievable that skepticism feels warranted, but then suddenly you can't look away as pure havoc is unleashed. The shifting POVs worked especially well because each character experienced some different aspect of what happened, and this really allowed for more variety in the storytelling itself. This also, of course, only added to the feeling of confusion and panic. It's brutal, relentless, and showed very little (if any?) mercy to anyone.

The book also doesn't take itself too seriously, and the satire is evident throughout. While it stands on its own, there are plenty of absurd and darkly funny moments woven into the narrative that keep things lighter and entertaining--after all, it is a reality dating show. People are expected to be at least a little vain, shallow, dramatic, and entertaining, and some of the decisions made throughout the story are exactly the kind of behavior that reality TV thrives on.

One last note I wanted to make was that I don't usually read too many reviews for books before writing my own because I don't want to be accidentally influenced, and I very rarely see reviews for Riddle's before writing my own reviews (since in the past I read them too early for there to be many reviews yet), but this time I noticed a couple comments mentioning some oversexualization of the women in this book. I completely understand where those readers are come from, and if that's how the book made them feel then that's absolutely valid and I'd never argue that or tell them they're wrong to feel that way. That being said, for me, having read many of Riddle's works, I personally felt like this oversexualization was actually very intentional and done to reflect how much these shows (and society itself) oversexualizes women in these absurd, uncomfortable ways as well. It felt more self-aware than accidental, and I think my own interpretation of this to me highlighted how much these shows do stuff that is just as egregious as some of what is written, if not more. That doesn't mean everyone will enjoy it or feel comfortable even knowing that, but I felt it could be worthwhile to note why it didn't bother me as much, since it felt like the book knew what it was doing and was commenting on those attitudes rather than embracing them and enforcing them. 

While this wasn't my favorite of Riddle's work (and given how much I love so many of his books, that'd be a hard feat to accomplish!), it was still an absolute blast. I'd recommend this to fans of satire, thrillers, a little bit absurdity, and a hearty appreciation for some bloody moments.

Buy the book: Amazon