Funny, cute, quirky- these are a few of the words that I would use to describe this novel.

Overall I thought that this was fun and light-hearted read - like most Christina Lauren books and perfect for after reading something very heavy. There were times where Jess had me laughing out loud and Fizzy is the IDEAL best friend. Seriously - can she be my new bff?

I will admit that I expected the relationship between Jess and River to be... bumpier? I was almost expecting a full enemies-to-lovers and I didn't quite get the tension that I'm used to for those types of stories. The intensity of the relationship is what keeps me wanting to read more and this relationship in particular was lacking in my opinion. This might be because I am comparing it to The Unhoneymooners, which I LOVED. Honestly, I was more interested in the relationship between Jess and her mother. When Jess gave her mom the $10,000, I swear I almost threw the book across the room - it had me so angry. Ultimately I found this relationship ten times more interesting than the romantic one between River and Jess. Maybe I just like reading about fucked up relationships and that's on me - IDK. I'll still reading anything that the Christina Lauren duo writes.

christina lauren are a forever favorite. i could not love them any more than i already do and this book is no exception

Loved IT! This book made my heart sing, swoon and smile. This was just such a feel good story that gave me all the feels and made me feel all giddy inside. Jes is a single mom to adorable daughter Juno. She is not looking for love but agrees to submit her DNA sample to this new dating app after being harassed by her BFF Fizzy. Jess has a 98% match, the highest match the app has ever seen. However the match is with River. River is not only one of the founders of the app and the science behind it, he is also the “rude man“ that Jess has spotted in her coffee shop over the past year. I love me a forest/fake relationship trope and this book definitely check those boxes. Jess and River were both such wonderful authentic characters that you would love to call friend. The secondary characters were all fantastic as well especially Juno and Fizzy. A fantastic story filled with fabulous characters. And the idea of an app that matches people based on their DNA is super intriguing.

This book in emojis 🧬 🧮 ☕ 🥼

*** Big thank you to Gallery Books for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

This book was great! The charcters were wonderful, the story had me engaged the entire time, and the different relationships were great! I loved all getting to know different characters CLO has yet again created a beautiful romance that I will be recommending again and again!

Can you find your soulmate based on genetics? Lauren thinks so in this slow to build, engaging and fun romance. Her characters are hilarious, flawed and looking for love in all the unorthodox places. Family, friendships and adventure pepper this story with magic and I could not put it down until it was finished. Another Christina Lauren success!

The rom com genre has a wonderful duo with Christina Lauren. Jess hears about GeneticAlly a DNA based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change how online dating is. Jess gets matched and although she doesn’t think this is a good match she finds out just how wrong she may be . Loved this

I LOVED this book! It may be my favorite Christina Lauren since some of their earlier books. I enjoyed the relationships between Jess and her best friend, Jess and her kid, Jess and River, River and everyone in Jess's life. Ah, the relationships were just so good. I'm not usually a fan of single parents in romance but this one didn't use Juno as a plot device. She had her own agency and helped move the plot.

My heart just feels so happy after reading this one. I can't stop smiling when I think of it and want to shout about it. I enjoyed the mix of science and love and two nerdy people finding their HEA.

THE SOULMATE EQUATION • Christina Lauren • Pub Date: May 18, 2021 • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 {rounded up}

Another CLo for the win! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher from my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Brief Synopsis: Single mom Jess Davis is a statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands. At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98 percent compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Peña - a stuck-up, stubborn man who is without a doubt not her soulmate. Or is he?

This one seriously melted my heart. The plot gave me everything I wanted. And the characters!? Ugh. I really enjoyed Jess. She is such a bad ass. She also just feels REAL. I also completely fell in love with River. Juno was the cutest, and Fizzy played the best friend supporting role perfectly. Basically, every character had a well-developed personality, and fit well in the story.

The only reason I knocked off half a star was Jess’ side plot line with Jamie. I’m not exactly sure what I didn’t like about it, but something didn’t sit right with me on that one. This half star deduction though will in no way stop me from telling every romance reader I know to PICK THIS BOOK UP!

I really enjoyed this!! What a fun premise! I have hit or miss luck with Christina Lauren books and this one was a hit for sure. I enjoyed the characters, the plot in engaging, and overall, this was a fun book to read without excessive angst!

The first Christina Lauren I ever read was My Favorite Half-Night Stand, and it's been difficult to find another that matches its mix of heady attraction and deep emotional stakes. Their last few books have fallen short for me for various reasons (mostly premise/plot hijinks), but The Soulmate Equation is a lovely return to form for this writing duo. Maybe because it has shades of Half-Night Stand with its science-centric background--a dating app that purports to make perfect genetic matches--and two love interests who clearly spark physically but have a lot of reasonable commitment issues to overcome.

When the new app GeneticAlly predicts an unprecedented near-perfect match between single mom and statistician Jess and River, a grumpy-but-smoldering regular at her coffee shop who happens to be a co-founder on the app, the two are thrown into the wildest experiment of all: Why not see if there's anything to this? The setup for their sorta-fake-romance rarely feels contrived, as these two science-minded but emotionally-guarded folks are willing to take even potentially preposterous data seriously and along the way surprise one another with what they seem to have in common.

What's fascinating is that the story's turning point could have been predicted, but is also executed in such a way that it fits well with the emotional and plot setup that have led up to it. Any frustrations with the characters' behaviors still feel earned because it matches the narrative that has been established. An excellent Christina Lauren installment that really delves into the ramifications of its specific premise without sacrificing the plausibility of the love story.

Jess is a single mom to Juno, living with her grandparents, and juggling jobs as a free lancer. She has given up on love to focus on her daughter.

River is the owner of a genetic company that matches compatibility of the users. With over 3500 gene types being matched, it’s the latest up and coming company! He’s too busy to look for love, and too concerned over the success of the company he has created.

When Jess’s best friend, Fizzy, sends in her spit sample, she tells Jess to do the same. After Jess struggles through an extremely frustrating day, she does indeed do this, with zero expectations. So you can imagine her surprise when she is called from the company as she has been given the highest compatibility score ever - with none other than River - the one who created it all!

Another gem by this amazing duo!

Another perfect romance from Christian Lauren! These two write *the best* chemistry between characters. I loved the banter. I loved the scientific spin on “fated mates”. Perfection.

Such a fun summer read & a classic Christina Lauren! River & Jess are fantastic characters & so easy to love & watching them navigate their relationship considering all the circumstances that actually brought them together. The scientific background was really interesting too!! Overall a great summer read!

This isn’t my first Christina Lauren novel, and it definitely won’t be my last! Soulmate Equation did not disappoint.

Jess is a statistician and a single mom. Under the pressure of her BFF Fizzy, she agrees to spit in a tube and send her DNA off to GeneticAlly. This is a company that uses science to help you find your soulmate based on DNA. Her plans are to forget the whole thing until she’s told she scored a high match percentage with the company's founder. Oh…and he’s hot!

Jess' best friend, Fizzy is a romance writer. She’s there every step of the way to encourage and sometimes push Jess to find love…or help her get over heartbreak. I knew something was going to happen, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. This love concept is truly original and creative.

Thank you to Gallery and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm so torn on this. I feel like the concept was intriguing, but the actual process was a little sloppy and all over the place. The relationships with the characters were great, not just the main couple, but the mother daughter relationship, the grandparents are so cute and Jess and her friend. My big problem with it was the 3rd act breakup, which felt really predictable and kind of lazy.

This is a fresh, fun, funny (two similar, but separate words there) and romantic summer read. I smiled so much while reading it which happens often whenever I'm reading a Christina Lauren book. I believe that they write some of the best romantic fiction being published right now. This one is right up there with my favorite - Josh and Hazel!

I adored this story - though I'm not surprised. Almost every new story released by Christina Lauren is fabulous.

The basic plot: Jess Davis is a single mom who is more apt with numbers than she is with her love life. Enter GeneticAlly - a new DNA-based matchmaking company that purports to find your soulmate through DNA. Purely science, purely analytical, and purely something Jess can get behind.

The caveat - Jess gets paired with one of the founders - Dr. River Pena - at an astonishing 98% compatibility. Which is super hard to swallow, seeing she's already had a run-in with said man, and the interaction resulted in the opposite of love at first sight. River is haughty, conceited, and rude. Hell no to that match.

But GeneticAlly makes her an offer - get to know him and they'll pay her. Needing the money, she begrudgingly says yes. Both enter into the relationship with little to no enthusiasm. However, the more they spend time together, the more the walls are broken down. The more they realize they are more than the science behind their DNA. And I love how Christina Lauren ended the story - a twist you may or may not see coming. However the resolution felt real and oh so satisfying.

Christina Lauren does it again. The Soulmate Equation is another gem! Please sign me up for DNA testing to find my soulmate. I’m so over online dating! I fell in love with Jess and River. They are caring, genuine, and funny! Juno and Fizzy were especially great characters as well. I laughed so many times because of Fizzy! River may be one of my new favorite book boyfriends!

Thank you, Gallery Books and NetGalley, for my gifted copy for my honest review.

Jess Davis is trying to make it work as a freelance statistician. She's a single mom who lives across the courtyard from her grandparents, who help make the village to raise her whip smart daughter Juno. Her best friend Fizzy is always game for something--being a romance writer, she's curious about a lot of things, many of which make it into her books. When the handsome, brooding stranger at the coffee shop is revealed to be a partner in a new DNA based dating program, Fizzy signs them up at once. Naturally, Jess matches at an unheard of 98 percent with that same stranger, Dr. River Pena. The story plays out as the two get to know each other. There were some fun moments involving Juno, the local restaurant and the publicity they navigate for the company. However, I thought there was an awful lot of science-y explanations that I kind of skimmed over as I read. But it was definitely a fun read.

Christina Lauren is fast becoming my go to author when I want a quick read that I will immediately get into. I love how I can count on them to pull me into the story and the characters as soon as I start reading. In this book, Jess is a single mom who doesn't really date. But when she is matched by her DNA with River Pena, who happens to own the DNA matching company, how can she resist the science of it. So she agrees to see him and just see if science can make the perfect match.