Jennifer E. Smith “had chills” watching her romance novel get adapted into ‘Love at First Sight’

The new romance film Love at First Sight drops on Netflix Friday, and for Jennifer E. Smith, the author of the book the movie is based on, watching her words come to life couldn’t be more surreal.

The film centers around two people who fall in love while on a flight to London. There was one moment Smith really hoped would feel just like her book, and she is happy to report that stars Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy pulled it off.

“When they almost kiss outside the bathrooms on the plane,” Smith said. “The first time I saw it in the movie, I cried. I had chills. It’s just, it’s even better than I imagined it, honestly, when I was writing it.”

This isn’t the first time one of her books has been adapted for the screen — Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between was released in 2022 — but Smith says it’s always nerve-racking.

“You’re always thinking about the readers who love the source material and wanting them to be happy with an adaptation,” Smith said. “I’ve just been very, very fortunate with both of these in having teams who really cared about the book.”

In fact, Smith had such a great time watching her book come to life that it messed up her cameo in the film. She was supposed to play a disgruntled person in line at a ticket counter, but she was having too good of a time to pretend to be angry.

“I was, like, biting my lip to keep from smiling,” Smith said. “And then [director Vanessa Caswill] called me back and she was like, ‘You’re too happy.’ And I was like, ‘I am happy, though. My book is being made into a movie right now. I can’t not be happy.’”

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