This is an absolutely delightful story that mixed fate and destiny with free will and choice. It bounces between NYC and LA and centres on Jack and Rooney as our romantic couple. Out today, this book is everything that you want in a romantic story and my only wish is that I wish it had been longer because I wanted to spend more time with the characters.

Thank you to @netgalley and Forever ( Grand Central Publishing ) for the eARC!.

This book is my love letter to fated mates/stringmates, the Red Thread of Fate, and art and science.

“May fate bring us close enough to choose.” 🏮🧶♥️

Thank you @readforeverpub for the eARC and ALC of RED STRING THEORY - I adored it! I absolutely loved Lauren Kung Jessen’s first novel, LUNAR LOVE, so I was ecstatic to be able to read her second novel early, and it truly did not disappoint.

A Chinese legend explains that everyone is tied to their one true love by the red string of fate - a sentiment that Rooney Gao, an anonymous artist that goes by Red String Girl, has held close all her life. When she meets Jack Liu, a successful and handsome guy, she must figure out if fate is stepping in or if she is reading the signs wrong.

This is just an adorable, closed-door romance; I adored our main characters, both of which were driven professionally. And, the “third act breakup” felt completely realistic and purposeful - something that would actually happen in real life. On top of that, you get: one perfect day; soulmates; missed connection; workplace romance; and fantastic multicultural rep - with an emphasis on Chinese myth, food and culture.

Fans of the movie SERENDIPITY and Taylor Swift’s INVISIBLE STRING will definitely enjoy RED STRING THEORY. {And, for fans of LUNAR LOVE, you get a small cameo from our LL couple and a peak into their HEA!}

CW // discussion of birth; invasion of privacy

I read this after reading and not vibing with Lunar Love, and I have to say I enjoyed this slightly more, but it also wasn't entirely for me.

This book again started off so strong, but then everything quickly fizzled out for me. There were certainly charming moments, but the writing overall didn't work for me, and I found myself zoning out.

wow I loved this story so much! Rooney is such a lovely, good-spirited, kind and clever character! and Jack is such a sweetheart, I just loved the way he and Rooney are so drawn together and how he just accepts his instant attraction to her and explores it.

I loved their whole relationship, from start to finish! they seem so opposite at first, but they find, through Rooney’s perspective of fate, how seamlessly they fit together, it is so special to read it! I loved how their first night in the city plays out, so adventurous and wanting on both ends, accepting fate and also choosing to go along with it. and then when their work brings them together again. seeing how choosing to be together, to take a leap and trust the other person as they wholly are, is part of trusting fate and all its nuanced promises.

I loved the representation of this story, reading about culture and history riddled through a lovely romance story! it speaks so true to life of how who we are and what we believe being central to our own personal love stories. I loved the messages of trust, faith, love, and acceptance all throughout this story. everything about it is absolutely lovely, beautiful, and entrancing.

thank you for the arc!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for an arc of Red String Theory. A cute chicklit story with an artist, Rooney, and a NASA engineer, Jack. They meet randomly in NYC one night and Jack gives Rooney his number, but she inputs it wrong and then a year later, they end up working together in LA. So maybe a second chance romance or a friends to lovers, but either way it’s a fun read and you get to learn a little about the Chinese culture with the Red String Theory. Rooney’s believes in it and fate, while Jack is more calculated and does not. This book was recently published and you should go grab it today. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#redstringtheory #chineseculture #goa #stringartist #redstringgirl #rsg #netgalley #foreverpublishing

Struggled with this one some. The pace felt slow and I just couldn’t see Jack as the MC. He felt boring. The romance felt rushed and didn’t have much substance. I did really like scenes with Rooney, Jack and the team. One in particular was super fun (although all were good).

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I've always been a strong believer in fate, and the idea of the "red string theory" is one I also put plenty of stock in rather fondly. I read Lauren's debut novel, Lunar Love, this same time last year and loved how much emphasis there was on both the Chinese and Asian-American communities as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed Lunar Love, and Lauren's newest novel - Red String Theory - had me feeling much of the same! I love seeing the growth in Jessen as an author between the two books, and found the story itself to be very sweet and charming (dare I say even wholesome!). I would definitely recommend this one out to others and will continue to watch out for more of Lauren's work in the future!

I just truly adored every aspect of this book!!! From the fate aspect, to the culturally diverse representation, to the STEAM feature. Lauren Jessen is a master at bringing real, raw, and relatable characters to life. Rooney and Jack are so perfectly imperfect. Their relationship had so many great elements of mystery, authenticity, and fun. I loved the little fate challenges and how they both accepted each other for who they were.

Lots of tear filled, heartwarming, and chills-inducing moments. I found myself so emotional reading this book. If you believe in the red string theory or in fate playing a pivotal role in life, you'll LOVE this one!

As soon as I saw the title of this book I knew I wanted to read it. I, like Rooney, believe that there is a thread that connects us to the ones we are meant to meet. Jack is a scientist and a lot more skeptical about things. He meets Rooney by chance at a print shop the day that her Entangled exhibit debuts, and also gets shut down. He doesn't believe in all of the things she believes in, but he knows that them meeting up over and over again that day means she is probably supposed to be in his life in some way.
As the months pass and they keep in contact, living on opposite sides of the country and thinking about each other constantly, the two have very different ideas about what should happen. Jack's parents never chose him. They left him and he still deals with that. Rooney's mom showed her the world and also exposed her to the Red Thread of Fate. This fable has been what inspired her art and more importantly, her life. She knows that Jack is her thread, but Jack doesn't want her because she feels like its meant to be. He wants her because she chooses him above anyone else.
She is traveling for her art and he is up for a promotion and he just can't take the chance that she will leave him too. I really related to this book on a deep level because I feel like the red thread can lead you to the most amazing people, but it's possible that they are not meant to stay there. Each day is a choice, choosing to love someone over anything else, not just cause you are soulmates, but because you want to be in that love.
Thank you to Lauren Kung Jessen, Forever and Netgalley for an early copy.

I absolutely adored Red String Theory, it's delightful and charming. Rooney and Jack were so perfect. I love Rooney's deep belief in fate and signs and the Chinese astrology elements. Jack is of course the opposite and believes that we make things happen in life through, nothing is fate. Watching them come together, it's romantic and a little whimsical and the perfect feel good read.

So glad I picked this up when I was cozied up during a snowstorm! Talk about fate, it was so charming and like a warm hug.

Rooney and Jack’s introduction was so good, reminiscent of a Nora Ephron movie, those nights where you stay up talking life with friends and the anticipation of something good.

I loved the exploration of fate versus choice. I would say I fall more on Jack’s side, believing more in choice and science. All of the NASA discussion was so cool to me. But I thought Lauren Kung Jessen wrote about art and fate so well, and there were thought provoking lines about both fate and choice.

Thank you Forever for the copy through NetGalley!

When I heard Lauren Kung Jessen had another book coming out, I ran to Netgalley and was thrilled to have gotten it! And it did not disappoint!!

This book is full of so many cute moments. I loved the juxtaposition between Roony being so whimsical and Jack being so logical. I will admit occasionally I just wanted him to just chill and believe in fate lol, but also that was the driving conflict of the novel, so very much necessary.

There were so many moments where I could see the stars aligning, and each one was so satisfying.

A contemporary romance set at Nasa was super interesting and felt like a peak behind somewhere I personally don't know much about. Plus, I loved that it was a different setting from most romances, it's was a nice change. The balance between fate and science made me think on a bunch of things like fate vs. choice in terms of romance and talent. What really is fate, and what is choice?

Overall, it was a super fun romance with late nights in NYC and Nasa gardens, with great character development and story ARC.

Thank you to Lauren Kung Jessen, Forever and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Red String Theory is a sweet romance that explores the idea of fate and how much we should believe in it. This is a perfect closed door romance for anyone who:

• believes in fate
• wants a dialogue heavy book with deep conversations
• loves it when science meets art
• is a fan of Lunar Love (LOVED the cameo from Olivia and Bennett!)

Thank you to Forever and Netgalley for the electronic arc of Red String Theory. All views are my own.

While I was so excited for this book, I unfortunately DNF'd at 50%. I really like Rooney, but I struggled to connect with Jack and found him a bit boring. There also was very little chemistry between him and Rooney. I may pick up again, but overall I just wasn't excited to pick this one up.

I loved every second of this slow burn ode to the concept of love being a verb. It had everything: fate, family dynamics, identity crises, light angst, humor, and is just all around a warm bath of a book.

RED STRING THEORY is a dual-POV romance about an artist who strongly believes in fate and a tech wizard who doesn't. I struggled a lot with the narrative voices of the characters in this book. I didn't find them compelling and was unable to get into the story because of this. I could tell that the FMC was meant to be spunky and creative, but I didn't feel that in her narration. This book wasn't right for me, but may appeal to other readers.

As for what this book is about, Red String Theory follows Rooney, an artist, who was born to an artist mother and she has therefore decided to keep her art career anonymous as Red String Girl. There's a Chinese myth about how everyone has a string mate and that has particularly stood out to her and shaped and directed her life and her art. She has this chance meeting with Jack, they separate, and then SURPRISE, they reconnect later that night at a party they've both been invited to. Jack meanwhile, is a scientist who doesn't really believe in fate and the two of them wind up having these really lovely conversations throughout this book.

I don't want to spoil anything about how the plot unfolds so I'll just say that it's really lovely all of these conversations about fate versus free will and the ability to make your own choices. I love the friendships formed in here and I really enjoyed each of the side characters. The art conversations in here were honestly kind of fun, which was a pleasant surprise because I am the kind of person who doesn't feel like she gets art. So Lauren Kung Jessen's ability to translate art from the page to my brain was incredible and I really appreciated it. I also appreciated the cameo from Jessen's Lunar Love characters, although I stand by, I really wanted her follow up to be Chloe's estranged friend. Maybe next time.

I really enjoyed Red String Theory. No sophomore slump in sight for Lauren Kung Jessen. I’m certainly a fan and will read any of her future releases. I really liked the characters and the storyline, definitely would recommend to romance readers.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. The characters were really flat - Rooney's entire personality, career, philosophy, and interests revolve around the red string story, and I don't know how many times Jack was described as being corporate, wearing a suit, not having any faith or trust, being stand-offish, etc. It made it too hard for me to really root for their relationship when I didn't feel like I could connect with either of the characters.

That being said, the language of the text was well-written, and it was a cute premise. It's not the worst thing I've read, it just wasn't for me.