Member Reviews
<b>** I was given an Advanced Reader Copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**</b>
Where do I even begin!? <i>The Soulmate Equation</i> by Christina Lauren was absolutely AMAZING! This is the first book of theirs that I have read and I <b>LOVED</b> it.
<i>The Soulmate Equation</i> follows Jess Davis, a data analyst and single mom who has pretty much given up on love. She is scared to let anyone else into her life. After all, she's been abandoned by too many people; her father was never in the picture, her mother preferred drugs to her, and her daughter's father wanted nothing to do with them. Because of her absent parents, Jess was raised by her grandparents who took custody of her at a young age. She's comfortable being stuck in her tiny bubble.
That is, until she hears about GeneticAlly, a new matchmaking company that will change the world of dating. This company claims it can use DNA to analyze how romantically compatible you are to someone. This excites her best friend, Frizzy, who just so happens to be a romance novelist. Jess on the other hand is skeptical. She submits a DNA sample, only to find out she has a 98% match with someone who infuriates her to no end. This "Diamond" match, just so happens to be GeneticAlly's founder, Dr. River Peña. Jess is sure it's a fluke, after all she can't stand the guy! She's ready to just ignore it all together, until the company offers to pay her money to get to know him. Jess decides to give it a shot, after all she needs the money, and she's not required to end up liking the guy!
I absolutely <b> adored </b> this book. I am usually not one to rate a romance novel 5 stars, but this book was PERFECT for me. It had the right amount of plot-driven versus character-driven details to the book. A lot of the time, I find romance novels to be too character-driven or too focused on the provocative aspects. Christina Lauren does a great job of balancing the story!
There also was a great amount of DRAMA, without the story feeling too overwhelming. I really fell for River and the character development there was great. I squealed so many times while reading the book. I was thankful to have a friend who also got an ARC that I could scream to! I will definitely be preordering a hard copy of this book and I am looking forward to reading more from them!
Good book!! I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this book! It had intrigue it was funny had some heartache and heartbreak! The storyline was very interesting and flowed very well! It had a little steam to it too!! All and all it was a great read! Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for sharing this book with me!
This book had me laughing out loud a ton, while also giving me all the warm feelings with its heartfelt moments. I love Jess and River's characters and their romance. All of their actions and reactions felt genuine.
Jess's best friend, Fizzy, had me rolling and needs her own story. Reading this book was like a shot of pure joy into my veins!
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for access to this arc.
I loved this book, definitely my favorite Christina Lauren book yet!!!
Fun, quirky characters that I could relate to. I loved the original storyline.
I laughed and cried and absolutely could not put this book down. The friendship between Jess and Fizz are total goals and I love River!
I met my husband through match.com so this one immediately appealed to me and I wasn’t let down! This is a must for any CLO fan and for anyone who enjoys fun romance!
Thanks to NetGalley for my advanced ebook copy!
*Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. These words are my own.
WOW, I don't know what I was expecting out of The Soulmate Equation, but it definitely was not this.
This was such a don't talk to me until I'm finished read. Evidently, this is also my first Christina Lauren book and if this is any indication of their other work, this won’t be my last. In just a few words, this book is insanely nerdy, funny, and charming. Who would have thought that I'd actually laugh out loud while reading?
The Soulmate Equation follows an insanely real and lovable Jess, a single mom, who desperately tries her best to raise her daughter in a way that won't profoundly scar her adulthood. Dating? Yeah, that's on the back burner for her. But she suddenly finds herself thrown into matchmaking, science, and maybe even love (?).
Who knew a simple mouth swab would make her believe that being selfish for once in her life, wasn't selfish at all?
This book was so good! I only wish that the pacing made more sense-perhaps an intro that wasn't as slow and an ending that wasn't so abrupt.
Can't wait to get my hands on a hardcover copy of this book in the Spring!
I am sad to say this is one of my least favorite Christina Lauren books. I have a very hard time believing in an enemies to lovers romance if the enemies part isn’t properly set up and that is the case here. Our “heroine” Jess honestly came of as super annoying and I couldn’t get past it. Her reasoning for initially disliking River (hero) is so judgmental and stupid.
Jess and River have been going to the same coffee shop for years they don’t know each other and have never interacted with each other before. Jess is a freelance analyst who uses the shop to work in and River comes in every morning at the same time to get his coffee. Whenever River comes into the coffee shop he gets his order, pays and leaves without interacting with any of the other patrons or the shop workers. Jess for no other reason than she is a member of this tight knit community is insulted by this and deems River an a*shole because of it. She doesn’t like him for no other reason than he is reserved and stoic. One day Jess hears from another person in the coffee shop that River is creating a dating app and decides to aggressively get his attention and interrogate him because she just can’t believe a “jerk” like him has the capacity to create something regarding love. River proceeds to answer her questions, however, because he isn’t overly enthusiastic about being accosted by a rude stranger this further cements Jess’ negative opinion of him. She then proceeds to be passive aggressive and rude to him for the rest of the first half of the book. Going so far as to blatantly insult him to his face many times.
Another reason I couldn’t get into this story is that I just don’t believe in the romance. River and Jess have a total of 3 interactions and none of these interactions was especially deep or romantic but the next thing we are told is that they “love” each other. How? It’s been like a month. I am not saying that people can not fall in love quickly, I just didn’t believe it in this case. The pacing of this story is off as well, everything is moving too fast and at the same time not fast enough.
I also didn’t believe some of the actions that certain characters take in this book. Jess a single mom who has trust and abandonment issues let’s a virtual stranger who she doesn’t like pick up her daughter from school and spend the afternoon with her??? I could not believe it.
Overall, I was let down by this book. Which is a huge disappointment as this was one of my most anticipated books of the year.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an E-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Christina Lauren's newest title, The Soulmate Equation, is full of friendship, family, and a enemies to lovers romance, which had me devouring yet another one of their books in one sitting! It hooked me from the start, with a best friend duo which would make anyone envious. I adored the funny, relatable friendship between Fizzy and Jess and how they help one another navigate through life's ups and downs. Jess' daughter Juno is an adorable side-kick, and her single mom life is undeniably realistic, every decision she makes because of her child.
Enter River, the tall, dark, and handsome stranger, whom Jess outwardly detests, but secretly cannot deny just a tiny bit of attraction. The two are forced into a relationship and their sweet, yet steamy, romance evolves. Both have so much to lose, professionally for River and personally for Jess, which brought a true vulnerability to the relationship.
You can count on Lauren's witty writing to provide playful banter and heart-melting love scenes. Do yourself a favor and add to your TBR!
Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley, Christina Lauren, and Gallery Books for the gifted ARC of The Soulmate Equation. This book felt like a glimpse into the future of romance! This felt like a romcom with a modern twist. I thought Christina Lauren did a fantastic job with all of the details in this book. I can't imagine it would be easy to write a romance that has such a heavy focus on genetics and statistics, but they did a fabulous job! One of the things I enjoy most about their books is the details in their writing. They do a phenomenal job describing the characters, emotions, and settings. As the reader, you really feel like you see and feel the emotions with these characters! I really enjoyed this book!
This review will be published on our Instagram account closer to the publication date. Thank you!
Single mom and freelance data analyst Jess is ready to give up on dating when she and her best friend meet a hot but seriously stuck-up guy named River who invented a genetics-based matchmaking technology. At a particularly low moment, Jess decides to submit a sample to the dating service. But she never expected to match at 98% compatibility (completely unheard of) with the jerk River himself. Could she have really found her soulmate through science? River is just as shocked when his colleagues corner him to tell them the news. The company scientists are so interested in the pairing (and its success’ impact on stock price) that they make Jess an offer: get to know River and we’ll PAY you. Strapped for cash, Jess feels she can’t refuse. As the couple gets dragged to PR events, Jess discovers there’s a lot more to this snobby scientist than she thought.
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This book had me laughing out loud within the first few pages. I adored Jess and her family and friends—Christina Lauren does a AMAZING job with side characters and backstory to help build the plot. Juno was hilarious and cute, and Fizzy was such a great friend.
River was sweet and thoughtful. I loved the way we got to know him through the different situations. The ending overall made me so incredibly happy. He does do a few things in the last act that bothered me, but I understood why. I just wish there had been a bit more verbalized self-reflection on his part at times.
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The pacing was good and the chemistry between the Jess and River was smoking. I like that there was some ambiguity about “certain” things in the end. I felt like the overall set-up was super creative—and a bit bonkers in the best possible way. This was a one sitting read for me because I couldn’t wait to see what happened. It felt very fresh. I wish we had more romantic comedies where the leads are single parents.
Hats off to the ladies behind Christina Lauren, they did it again. Fabulously fun read.
Thank you so much to Christina Lauren, Netgalley, and Gallery Books for this gifted arc in exchange for an honest review!
I’ll be posting my review on Goodreads today and then on Instagram and Amazon on publication day.
I always love this author and was so excited to be granted an ARC through netgalley. This is a book is about dating via dna comparisons and I found it really interesting - how are we not doing this yet?? River was a solid hero and Jess was a solid heroine. I liked the element of Juno and the secondary characters. Overall I would give this 4.5 stars.
This felt like a return to vintage CL. I really enjoyed Jess and Fizzy’s friendship (can we get a Fizzy story please). River gave me the warm and fuzzies and I appreciated the slow turn from enemies to lovers.
Christina Lauren never disappoints. Soulmate Equation was such a great read! I’m all for enemies to lovers troupes and loved Jess’ daughter Juno! I think adding Juno into the story made it more real with the story and chemistry between Jess and River. A solid Christina Lauren novel. 4 Stars!
Christina Lauren does it again! The Soulmate Equation hooked me with the question, "If you could find your soulmate thru a DNA test, would you?" As someone who did A LOT of online dating, and even married the man I met on Tinder, this premise had me curious. I couldn't put this book down, and I love the beautiful characters that Lauren writes, each unique and full of personality. I already can't wait for their next novel!
Thanks to Gallery and NetGalley for this eARC.
This was cute! Jess, a single mom and freelance statistician and River, one of the founders and scientists in a new dating company based on genetics are matched by the algorithm - at the diamond level, which is almost unheard of. This is kind of a P&P retelling River and Jess need some time to get over their first impressions, even after their impressive match numbers. I LOVED the side characters. Juno, Jess's daughter, and Fizzy, her best friend, are so fun and I would very much like Fizzy to get her own book. My only issue was in the pacing - a little to slow at the beginning and a little abrupt at the end. If you like CL though, you'll like this one! Also, shocked that no one (that I know of) is ACTUALLY doing genetic dating.
This is it. This is the book I’ve been waiting for. I’ve been on a string of duds lately, and this book was just SO happy, fun, uplifting, and LAUGH OUT LOUD funny. Christina Lauren usually never disappoint and I enjoyed this one so much more than there last book; it’s possibly my new favorite of there works.
This book just had such a great story, and allll of the characters were fun and so well developed. Fizzy is my favorite CLo character now by far. Fizzy and Jess are friendship goals. I couldn’t put it down.
I truly loved it. What a great first book for CLo to begin their hardcover publishing life :-)