I really enjoyed the True Love Experiment. It was much better than the Soulmate Equation, even though some of the characters overlap. Fizzy, a romance writer who needs to publish her next book, lost her romance vibes and agrees to participate in a dating show where she decided what kind of men she would be willing to date and the show's producer must find suitable dates for her. After lots of entertaining encounters with Mr. Wrongs, she finds that Mr. Right is right under her nose. This is a sweet, enjoyable rom-com that should hook readers from the beginning and keep them reading to the end. Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this book in return for my honest review.

I absolutely adore Christina Lauren and I was very excited to see Fizzy get a book after The Soulmate Equation. This book was super cute and while some stuff wasn't my favorite, I really enjoyed this book.

Pros:
Fizzy was super fun. Her energy was infectious even through the page and I loved her whole sex-positive attitude.
I liked that Fizzy was a bit older (37). Most romances use women who are in their 20s, which is fine, but most people don't start to settle down until their 30s, and the few romances that use women in their 30s tend to make a point that the heroine is older. It was nice to read about someone who wasn't like fresh out of college and somehow has her life together. Fizzy was a grown woman who had everything together and was ready for a partner to compliment her life, not to fill in and holes in who she is.
I loved the representation of the romance community.
Connor was awesome. I loved how we slowly see him relax and come apart from the uptight businessman he originally comes off as. His energy with Fizzy was awesome and his overall attitude made him a total dream.
I thought the concept of the dating show was interesting. I liked that they tried to make it more authentic and acknowledged the flaws in more popular dating shows that actually exist.
I thought the entire book was really funny and pacing was great. I liked that the chapters were pretty short. It helped keep things moving along nicely.

Cons:
There was a lot of pining throughout the book. At first I didn't mind it as much because it was more Fizzy and Connor getting to know each other but once they became friends I was getting a bit frustrated and just wanted things to move along.
Maybe it's as a result of having read The Charm Offensive recently, but I didn't really think the dating show component (which I know is most of the plot) was very necessary. It felt like an unnecessary added component to prolong the incessant pining.
I'm not a big fan of having kids in romance books and the single parent trope. Christina Lauren wrote it well in this book, but I also could've done without Connor having a kid especially since the child was used at random times to push Fizzy and Connor together. It felt unneeded.
I would've liked more of an epilogue with some explanation for how things turned out with Connor and the higher ups. It was such a big deal throughout the book and then we get to the end and they're like everything will turn out okay because it has to. I would've liked something a bit more concrete.

Overall, I really liked this book and would recommend it to people. I give it 4.5 stars (which isn't an option in the star rating provided). I think if you want a fun and flirty romance, this is the right book for you. I also highly recommend reading the acknowledgements at the end.

"The True Love Experiment" is everything readers have come to expect from Christina Lauren: witty, funny, characters you love rooting for, and a slow, delicious burn that's positively swoony.

This not just a book. This is the book. Oh my god!! I loved every single second of it. I couldn’t help myself but finish it in a single sitting, it was that good. I loved the heroine, fizzy. She’s been my fav since the love experiment. But getting to read about her and see things with her PoV made me sigh with absolute adoration. And the hero was so sweet and swoon worthy. Overall, I enjoyed each and everything about it.

I absolutely loved every single second I spent with this book and it has my whole heart! I could not put it down nor did I want to! It had me laughing, crying, and screaming! The story itself was fun and well written and not having read The Soulmate Equation it was easy enough to follow along without it. I loved the plot revolving around this new dating show! But I think what makes this book a quick favorite is Fizzy and Connor! Fizzy is such a great mc and I absolutely love and adore her. She was funny and bright and brought joy to this book! Her relationship with Connor was everything, who is also a loveable mc who will be your next book bf and has a British accent! Their relationship literally had me screaming into my pillow because of their forbidden romance as she’s the dating show star and he’s the producer. The pining, tension, emotions, and jealousy were all there and were so well executed! Like this is literally true love as per the title!

Overall, this was an instant favorite for me and I cannot recommend this enough! It comes out May 16 so do yourself a favor and preorder!

Read if you’re looking for…
•forbidden romance
•reality/dating show setting
•single dad
•dual pov

Well, writing duo Christina and Lauren have done it again. Swoon-worthy, sexy, smart love interests in a story I simply could not put down. Any rom-com fan will adore The True Love Experiment. Romance novelist, Fizzy, and a documentary filmmaker, Connor, team up to make a Bachelor-esque dating show stacked with every dating trope in the book (pun intended), and spoiler alert, sparks FLY!

In the words of our leading lady Fizzy Chen, "book people are just better, I swear by it." Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC. I can't wait to tell everyone I know to read it.

I love Fizzy’s story maybe even more than Jess’s. Such a good read. I couldn’t put it down. Connor was such a good character that I was fighting for him the whole time.

Incredibly fun and heartfelt, loved the tension, chemistry between the two leads. All the feels and all the heart eyes. Highly recommend!!

I adore Christina Lauren. These two ladies have written some of my very favorite books ever and I always squeal with glee when I get my hands on a new title of theirs, which is why it pains me so much to say that I did not finish The True Love Experiment. I quit reading at 57%. This did not feel like a romance novel to me, and Fizzy is better suited as a side character. I just didn't like her. Also, there's more spice (that's more lust-based than romantic) in this book than I've seen in CLo's more recent releases, and it was more than I wanted to read. I'm disappointed, but will never give up on Christina Lauren! You can't win them all!

I love a Christina Lauren romance. So of course I had to jump on the opportunity to read this adorable extension of The Soulmate Equation. In The True Love Experiment, we follow Fizzy, Jess River’s best friend, on her journey to find love. You’d think it’d be easy for the best selling author of romance novels, but Fizzy can’t seem to find “the one”. Add in the fact that she’s in a writing slump, and you have one lost Fizzy. So when a genius deal falls in her lap from the British hunk that is Connor Price, Fizzy and Connor begin a partnership that ends up being more than they could’ve imagined.

All the love to CL, I loved the Soulmate Equation and don’t even get me started on Love and Other Words. This one wasn’t my favorite. I found Fizzy to be mostly likeable, but there were moments when I didn’t really care for her. The beginning was a bit slow for me as well. BUT this wasn’t by any means a bad read. And to my CL gals, you’ll probably really enjoy this book. Get ready to meet Connor and Fizzy on May 16 as they find true love.

I always look forward to the latest Christina Lauren books, and I think like a lot of readers I was so excited to hear that a secondary character from <i>The Soulmate Equation</i> would be getting her own book. <i>The True Love Experiement </i> gives Fizzy a chance at finding love, and she is aptly named for the book. It's a light, fizzy romance that's classic Christina Lauren style. I think other readers who have been anticipating this book are going to love it. The characters are great, and it's such a fun, breezy read. I already cannot wait for their next book.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book.

This is the perfect romance novel. Fans of Christina Lauren will love it. It’s a fun, cute story with very likable characters. I honestly don’t know why I don’t connect more with their books. But I would definitely sell it to others!

I wasn't a huge fan of Fizzy when I stared the book, but the authors know what they're doing and by the end I loved her. It was pretty obvious how things would end up, so the stakes didn't seem that high, but nothing wrong with that!

...."but why should I feel guilty for reading something that makes me feel happy?"

My new favorite CL book which is deemed a love letter to romance writers and readers. A fresh trope about a romance writer, Fizzy, looking for love and a documentary film maker out of his element as he creates a dating show based around her. The dual main characters are well developed and easy to root for. This book is for the lover of romance novels who expect the happy ending and aren't fazed by a smidge of predictability.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

✨️ E-ARC Review ✨️

jokes on me requesting this ARC not realizing it's a follow-up to The Soulmate Equation (which I hadn't read yet 🤡)... but also jokes on me because I ADORED BOTH OF THESE BOOKS

Book: The True Love Experiment
By: Christina Lauren (icons)

GOOD THINGS CHECKLIST:

✔️ first of all.... Connor 👏 Prince 👏 the THIRD 👏 - divorced dad, tall, BRITISH, a literal angel of a man... I could not ask for more

✔️ reality TV (think Bachelor-esque) with a romance author as the lead

✔️ BUT IT'S FORBIDDEN ROMANCE 🥵

✔️ Fizzy is legitimately such a likeable FMC - she's bold, fun, quirky, and is on a mission to find her mojo (& get those pants feelings back 🤪)

✔️ if you're a 'grand gesture' lover, PLEASE just read this & you'll thank me later

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK!! you *need* this book in your hands on May 16th if you're any kind of romance lover! 💓

thanks to @gallerybooks and @netgalley for this advanced e-book copy!

I loved this book. I was a big fan of the Soulmate Equation but I was not sure how I would feel about the True Love Experiment, especially given that I am not a dating show fan. However, I loved Fizzy in the first book and was interested in her journey. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Christina Lauren didn’t take away who fizzy was in the first book, but rather enhanced it. I loved Fizzy because she was so unapologetically her in the first book. And despite the fact that Fizzy was the lead in a dating show I never felt like it fell under the dating show tropes I can’t hate (like the woman fawning over all these men for no other reason except because they are men on the show). I highly recommend reading this book if you loved Fizzy like I did, or if you want to read a book with a strong female heroine who is unapologetically who she is.

I love this author. These ladies know how to write a book. I will read anything they write. I was so happy to see this book's info. I loved soul mate equation and I am so glad we were not done with those characters yet, This is a perfect example of writing romance books for the modern time. They deal with real issues and have real reactions, (not the stereotypical canned responses that we often see when people do not want to truly react to something). This felt like the couple could be real. (Despite the outlandish plot line). This is a must read.

LOOOOOOVED reading Fizzy's story! I can't get over how incredibly good Christina Lauren are right now.. They have always written fun, sexy books, but their last three have been so phenomenal that I can't get over it. TRUE LOVE is beautiful. Fizzy is asked to go on a dating show because she is a bestselling romance novelist, though she has pretty much given up on love. Her journey is so so so good.

This is so cute! If you love a good rom-com, this will be perfect for you!

I didn’t realize this is a sort of second book to “The Soulmate Equation.” You don’t need to read these in order since they are pretty much a stand alone book. The book just has some continuation of characters. I would love to see how those characters got together.

The plot is super interesting. It’s not completely a new thought since it is a play on the Bachelor/Bachelorette, but the DNA testing along with the audience deciding on who Fizzy with be matched with us pretty fun.

The one thing that I wasn’t super keen on was the repetitive love/hate relationship and how constantly raunchy Fizzy was thought out the book kind of annoyed me. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the book, but this was just part of the reason the book wasn’t five stars.

Now I need to go read “The Soulmate Equation.”

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed Christina Lauren's newest contemporary romance. It was delightful to see characters from The Soulmate Equation and I loved watching Fizzy and Connor fall for each other. Another sure to be hit from this fabulous author duo!