Love at first sight is the stuff of a million romance novels and countless Hollywood movies. But is it really possible to fall in love within milli-seconds of seeing someone for the first time, or is it just a true love fantasy that's so magical that we are desperate to believe it is real?

Well if you're looking for a definite answer, we're sorry to say that's going to be a bit tricky, because the reality is that the answer isn't cut and dried. The closest you can come is to say - 'sort of'. And it's a guy thing. In our great new book on making true love appear in your life called 'First Date Magic' love at first sight is discussed in detail. In a nutshell, here's what we say.

The first thing to understand is that the 'love at first sight' phenomenon is more akin to lust than love. It's the instinct that makes you turn and watch a pretty girl walk past in the street, then forget her moments later, when someone else just as pretty goes pat the other way.

You see it's all a throwback to our caveman ancestors who just needed a quick look at the hottie from the next cave to kick-start the mating process. In those days you never knew when you were going to be eaten by something big and fierce, so time was precious.

Even now, men seem to fall in love faster than women. It's not that men's standards are lower it's just that they have much simpler criteria when it comes to rating a potential mate.

Men tend to be attracted to women who display youth and beauty, (which equates to fertility and healthy offspring), and explains why guys usually marry women who are younger than they are. What's more lots of guys also have a 'Knight in Shining Armor Complex' and are drawn to women who look like they might 'need' them. Men want to be helpful and solve problems.

On the other hand women are generally a lot more choosey and take a lot longer to decide if they want to see a man for a second date. Women's more complex dating criteria gives them a much longer list to tick off. For example women often value money, status, and ambition more than good looks. In fact, research in America recently found that women look for financial security twice as much as men do.

So boys look out for gold-diggers, and girls think carefully about what you want, because you just might get it.

We suggest that both men and women need to be a lot more thoughtful about what they want from a relationship, and good long look before they take the plunge.

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