This book was a solid four stars for me! It was a slow start at the beginning, but once I got into it a bit it really hooked me and I couldn't put it down! So, if you have that problem, keep going, it's worth it! It is so refreshing to have our main characters as scientists and mathematicians and I love all of the fun side characters as well! Fizzy is my jam, but also couldn't get enough of the grandparents! You know, Juno, Jess's daughter was written so we'll! Such a believable 7 year old! I have one at home, so I should know! I kind of felt like the more intimate scenes could have been a bit more sexy/passionate, but I'm not complaining really! It was still overall a great read and it got me out of a reading slump, so thank you! This book just proves how science is sexy!

Single mom Jess does not want to reenter the dating world, until her friend encourages her to try a new genetic-based matchmaking service and it claims to have found her soulmate.

CLo does it again! I loved this story and ALL of the characters. Fizzy had me laughing out loud and is truly what best friends are made of, Juno is adorable, and the grandparents were so sweet. I can't forget about our main pair, Jess and River, whose chemistry and nerdiness had me swooning. Jess was so relatable as she's just trying to hold her life together while never feeling like she's doing a good enough job. I loved that River was shy and the jokes about how far he's come with the help of his sisters -- it reminded me of my own siblings.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the genetics and statistics talk throughout, but the authors did a great job of making the science seem legit without dumbing it down for people like me. I stayed up too late finishing this one and my heart is just so full. Where do I sign up for GeneticAlly and find my own Dr. Pena?!

I highly recommend picking this one up when it publishes Tuesday, May 18! Thank you Gallery Books and NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

THE 411...

Single mom Jess Davis is a statistician convinced that the dating scene is just not for her. She’s felt abandoned way too many times and doesn’t want to put her daughter through that again. Jess and her BFF Fizzy hear about GeneticAlly a match making company that is in its early stages of testing. Finding a soulmate through DNA sounds far fetched and she thinks her odds are low. That is until she matches at 98% with one of the app developers!!! 😮 the same guy who walks into the coffee shop every day with ZERO social skills. The guy who is hot AF but is always on the go to even consider his surroundings. Sort of hate-to-love if you can actually hate someone you don’t really know? Think more along the lines of modern day heartwarming tale on the lower end of the steam scale between two individuals who would make quite the odd pairing if you’re only matching by personality. Jess is super relatable as a single mom who is struggling financially to make ends meet even though she’s quite good at what she does for a living. She also happens to have a strong support system between her grandparents and best friend. Jess isn’t fully convinced that GeneticAlly is accurate, she entertains it with skepticism, intrigue, and sarcasm all at once. Dr. River Pena has invested everything into GeneticAlly, it’s basically his baby and although he also doesn’t believe he could’ve matched correctly with Jess…in order to protect the integrity of his research, he has to be willing to date her.

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS...

I didn’t really go into this expecting a steamy romance, my hopes were that I’d walk away with a new favorite Rom-Com and I feel that’s exactly what I got. Besides the developing romance, we get to see a positive f/f friendship where the BFF is more like family. I ADORED Fizzy! a romance writer who has even written a character based off of Jess and honestly every time she threatened to kill her off, I giggled thinking of my own best friend. I would absolutely read a spin-off based on Fizzy’s own escapades which we get a slight glimpse to in this book. Even seven year old Juno was fun to get to know on the page, she’s got such an inquisitive mind and loves the library. Our love interest is just about the only aspect I wish was a bit more fleshed out. We get to know him through his research but it isn’t until the last quarter of the book where we get to see some of his personal life influences like his family. This is also where we learn he’s Latinx which tbh, I would’ve loved to have learned from the very beginning. A more balanced approach towards the main characters is something I find helps me get more invested in their lives. That being said, my heart melted every time Dr. River Pena interacted with little Juno! his respect for women and just his whole love language was *chefs Kiss* perfection!

The Soulmate Equation hits shelves next week Tuesday May 18th

I am a big fan of CL and I'm always so thrilled to get a chance to read and review their books! Most recently I devoured In a Holidaze and I was looking forward to more fluffy, cozy goodness and they absolutely delivered.

Jess is a freelance data scientist, single mom, and fits the "caregiver" label to a T. Everyone's needs and wants are placed before her own, including her daughter (Juno), parents (Nana and Pops), and a bit of her best friend (Fizzy). Hustling to make ends meet and to make sure everyone is cared for, Jess has become an expert and putting her own needs to the side. Witty, smart, and loyal, Jess is the sort of friend and family member that you want for your own.

Throwing our beloved Jess into an enemies-to-lovers pairing was perfect for shaking up her routine. Dr. River Pena is kind of a dick. He's the sort of character that you might consider for a hate shag. All the early interactions between Jess and River had my hackles up and I wasn't sure if CL would be able to redeem him for me. I ended up swooning hard, especially seeing his sweet moments of caring for Jess and interacting with her friend and family.

The concept of genetic based dating was intriguing! It also ended up being a bit more thought-provoking than I expected and made for some interesting conversations with Mr. B. Jess and River's shared excitement over spreadsheets and data made me giggle and smile. I love moments like that, especially when they start out as enemies. I admit I skimmed over the mathematical chatter, my eyes glaze over anything beyond typical budgeting math, but it was a fun inclusion nonetheless.

I adored the supporting characters as much, if not more, than our leads. Fizzy, Juno, and especially Nana and Pops. Jess's support network brought so much to the story and I really hope we get to see Fizzy in the future. Fizzy is a romance novelist and it really is the best! Even River's sisters made a huge impact with their short time on page. I would have loved to see them pick on River more.

I do wish the ending had a bit more oomph. The resolution for the conflict didn't feel complete but that also might be because I am slow to forgive. Between that and the conflict with "Jess's Mom" feeling underdeveloped, I had to knock my rating down a star.

Overall, The Soulmate Equation was a sweet, utterly delightful romance with plenty of chuckles, toothachingly sweet romance, and a whole lot of heart. Throw in some low key drama to balance out the scorching chemistry between this begrudging couple, and you have an amazing feel-good, romantic comedy that will make your alternate between bursting and aching. It all sounds painful, I know, but really its a good thing.

Recommended for fans looking for a heroine in STEM, single-mom, and the trope-ish goodness that is enemies-to-lovers and fake dating.

I really enjoyed Christina Lauren’s newest release, Soulmate Equation. The premise of a genetic based matchmaking service was unique. I loved the characters and their relationships with one another. However, at the beginning, I disliked our seemingly aloof, main male character, River. The start was a little slow, but once it got going, I was hooked on this storyline. Then, just when I was swooning over River, his personality took another 360...two more times! Honestly, without the personality whiplash, this may have been a 5 star read for me. In the end, thankfully, readers do get their happy ending. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this sweet, sexy and fun digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Definitely will be reading more from Christina Lauren.

I have enjoyed every book I've read by author duo Christina Lauren, and this one is no exception. What a unique twist on a love story - a scientist who figures out a way to create high probability love matches using our DNA. This is like 23andMe meets Tinder with the participants having the ability to choose what level of match they'd like, from likely won't go past one date to Diamond - will definitely last FOREVER! But, what happens when the seemingly rude scientist behind the science matches with the single mom who he sees at the coffee shop every morning at a rate never before seen in the time span of the company? Just how likely are these two completely different people to end up falling in lifelong love? And just how different are they? And can you pretend something into fruition? Fake it 'til you make it at it's best!

Jess is a single mom that has her priorities straight: her daughter, her grandparents, her work, and there's no time for much more, but when your best friend is a romance novelist I guess it's impossible to not get dragged down a promising new dating app that uses genetics to find your soul mate.

I loved this story, the premise was interesting and I loved the characters and the chemistry, and not just between the main ones! (but especially between the main ones). It's hilarious, it made me laugh out loud many times and giggle like an idiot. I couldn't put this book down and I wish there was so much more of Jess and River for me to experience with them, and I wish Jess was a little more curious at the end because I'll die not knowing!!!

The Soulmate Equation is a really sweet rom-com! Jess is a single mom to her 7 year old daughter Juno. Jess was raised by her grandparents and they help her with Juno. Fizzy is Jess's best friend and let me tell you, every girl needs her own Fizzy! Fizzy is a romance writer and while she and Jess are sitting at their favorite coffee shop working the girls meet River who works/and is the founder of a dna based matchmaking company. River invites Jess and Fizzy to come and check out his work. That's when the fun starts! Jess and River are matched and begin dating. Can your dna find determine your perfect match? I loved the characters in this book especially sweet Juno! I thought the ending was perfect! I would love another book with Fizzy as the main character!!! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Big thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and the authors for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. An honest review was requested but not required.

Christina Lauren is (are?) mostly hits for me and relatively few misses. I loved their recent Holidaze but felt really lukewarm on Honey-Don't List. Nonetheless I had high hopes for the Soulmate Equation: I've been reading a lot of manhwa lately and "fake dating" can be such a fun trope. I also loved the premise of introducing verified science into the world of dating and dating apps. On the other hand, I was nervous about Juno (the main character Jess's daughter). I don't tend to love kids in romance novels (I know, I know) as I think they really sap the romance out of the story and hog the spotlight. Or maybe I'm just thinking of my own kids, ha, ha, haaaaaaa.

So I started out cautiously... but I didn't need to. This book was magic. I loved it from beginning to end. Jess is a super character, flawed but human, and River turned out to be awesome too. The chemistry between the two of them was 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥. It has seriously been a LONG time since I've felt so, uh, bothered by a book. Whew!!! *fans self*. The side cast was great all-around: Pops and Nana, Fizzy, Juno turned out to be super cute and realistic, the sisters, David (or was it Daniel?) the barista, and Jamie, who honestly provided a much needed foil. I even loved that Jess had a nerdy math job and that the authors more than once dove straight into the world of numbers for her. In short I enjoyed every minute and stayed up way too late reading this book. Going straight onto my keeper shelf and tbh I will probably buy a copy once it's published. ❤
5 stars and will definitely be recommending this at work and to friends.

The Soulmate Equation is another excellent book by Christina Lauren. I love that they’re consistent in pumping out great books that give me the feels and makes romance readers proud.

The book’s protagonist, Jess, was so relatable with her struggles in trying to balance all aspects of her life in the various relationships she has; especially with the different hats she has to wear. I appreciated the conflicted emotions between her and her estranged mother and I felt the chemistry between her and River was magnetic.

For me, the real star was Juno, Jess’ daughter with her too smart for her good ways and enthusiastic learning about different topics was just the cutest!

Overall, this was a sweet and enjoyable book with steamy and heartwarming moments.

I really love every Christina Lauren book I have read. I enjoy the characters, the banter, and the fun escape they provide. In this one single mom, Jess, isn't looking for love but when her best friend, Fizzy, convinces her to sign up for a DNA matchmaking service she finds out she may have found a perfect soulmate. Interestingly, he isn't someone she even likes. This is full of lots of tension between the love interests and has a lot of fun dialogue combined with an interesting premise. At times the science of it all got a little long but I understand it has to be believable. This would make a great beach or pool side read for the summer.

This book is available next week, May 18, 2021. Thanks NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm gonna say up front: if your complaint about Christina Lauren books lately is that they aren't steamy enough, you will continue to have the same issue with The Soulmate Equation. That said, I had a pretty good time with this one and thought they did a fantastic job depicting a single mom and what a 7 year old kid is really like. The premise is over the top, but still fun.

Jess is a single mom and freelance statistician, but between motherhood and financial struggles her dating life has been lackluster at best. But when she and her best friend find out about a new dating app that matches people based on genetic compatibility, her friend pushes her to give it a try, expecting very little. Surprisingly she matches at an unheard of rate with the founder of the company Dr. Pena, a grumpy man she's had less than glowing interactions with. So they offer to pay her to try dating him as a publicity move....

This is a light, fun semi-enemies to lovers story with a super nerdy Latinx hero and a just as nerdy heroine. (seriously, I was living for all the science and math puns). And for anyone concerned that this sounds like eugenics, they do try to address that issue early in the book, saying that a match doesn't mean being the same, differences are often compatible emotionally and sexually, and the algorithm can't take into account differences in experience or culture, which is why people have to make their own decisions of what to do. And you can set your profile to match with a variety of genders etc. according to preference. Whether this is adequate you'll have to decide but I can say it wasn't an issue I was bothered by, especially because it doesn't feel at all realistic to me in the first place. I received an advance copy of this book for review via netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. Christina Lauren is back! This book was super cute, and really fun to read. CLo's trademark humor was in full swing in this book, and it was an easy, fairly low angst read, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.
When single mom Jess was having a bad day, she impulsively submitted a sample to a DNA-based match making app, and then fairly promptly forgot all about it. She was pretty surprised to find out later that not only had she been matched, she'd received the highest match score to date and with the founder himself. Despite the fact that they could barely tolerate each other, they agreed to give it a try For Science.
If you've read enough romantic comedy, you know exactly how the plot unfolds, but this still manages to be fun and charming. Jess and River are cute, but to be honest, the very best relationships in the book are with their families. Jess has built herself a community of friends and family that are her bedrock foundation, and they are pretty fabulous. Her best friend is the kind of friend we all want to be, and I would love to read Fizzy's story some day. Overall, this book is fun, sexy, sweet, and the exact comfort read that I think we all need.

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet. I absolutely loved it. A DNA-based matchmaking company? So cool! Jess is a strong, fierce, brilliant force. Loved her and Fizzy’s friendship. Loved “Americano” and the development of he and Jess’s relationship. Juno is a love and the grandparents are absolute blessings. I couldn’t put it down, nor did I want to.

This was a really sweet story by Christina Lauren, whom I love. Single mother Jess reluctantly submits her DNA to this new dating company that has found a way to match people based on their genetic makeup. When she gets a 98% match with the owner of the company, she cannot believe it, especially when she had previously met this person and didn't think she liked him. Loved this book!!

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Christina Lauren books are always a hit-or-miss for me. I either LOVE them or feel like it’s nothing special. Unfortunately, this book was the latter for me this time. I feel like the premise and set-up was amazing. I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope. I love fake dating. I should love it, right?

I really loved the idea of this book that there could be markers in your DNA that indicate whether you’re compatible with someone or not. It brought in a science fiction element without it being too science-y (?). I really loved that our two love interests, Jess and River, already knew each other as regular patrons of a local coffee shop. I love it when characters already have a history before their love story starts. So, I was really expecting to love this thing, you know?

I don’t really know what fell flat for me, to be honest. It could be a number of things. I think the main things is that I feel like their connection, or at least what the book was mainly focusing on, was very physical over emotional. A book that is about compatibility and finding love, I would expect more focus on the emotional. Take for example, when River tells Jess all the things he loves about her in a truly sweet manner and then finishes with “And I want you in my bed,” Jess goes on to just focus on that last part. Just. Bypasses all the sweet things he said about her and what he likes about her. That made me feel a little… odd.

In the end, I just feel like it was nothing special. I feel like I kept being told that they were compatible and made for each other because of the numbers, but I couldn’t really feel it. I just feel like they liked each other in a physical way. Nothing wrong with that, but it isn’t really what I read a love story for; I want to SWOON. The sweet moments sprinkled in with River and her daughter, Juno, were adorable and it was what kept me reading. Otherwise, a quite predictable read. But, hey, we all need a comfort read like this once in a while.

This book was a delight. I loved the first two thirds of it but the ending conflict wasn't that great. I loved the build of their relationship and wish they had been together a bit longer before the third act conflict. But the cast of characters was great and all of them were woven into the story so well. There were a few laughs out loud moments. Overall I really enjoyed

Christina Lauren is an auto read for me at this point, and The Soulmate Equation did not disappoint. Jess is a single mom and unlucky in love. She hasn't even wanted to date while raising Juno, but when she learns of a new dating service connected to your own biology her best friend convinces her to give it a try. To her surprise, she ends up being a supremely high match with one of the project's founders, and a guy she finds absolutely unbearable. Enter some forced dating for press releases and Jess & River find themselves spending a lot of time together. But will they fall in love as genetically predicted?

This is a very interesting take on the online dating romances that have been published to date. It's also the forced dating trope, which is not one I read often personally but do really enjoy! The tension in the beginning is classic Christina Lauren as they get to know each other, and then the romance is sweet as they get together more. I appreciated the interesting take on the main conflict, it was not what I was expecting to have happen in a great way. I also loved that she was a single mom, which you don't see in romance novels as often.

I did have a lot of questions about Jess' willingness to go along with this, I just feel like there was some level of suspension of belief required in this book. It definitely walks the line of what people will normally see as acceptable behavior.

For Christina Lauren fans, definitely a worthy edition to their lengthy publication history. For the scientists out there, you can let me know if it is factually accurate or not!

**Thank you to Gallery Books and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

My geeky little scientific heart loved The Soulmate Equation!

Single mom Jess Davis uses the time at the local coffee shop to work on her freelance statistic jobs and visit with her best friend. Jess had a few random dates so when her friends found out that one of the customers ran a matchmaking company GeneticAlly that used gene compatibility to find the perfect person for them. All she had to do was send in some saliva and wait for the results. Little did she know that she would be an almost perfect match with customer and Subject # 1 Dr. River Peña.

I loved The Soulmate Equation because it showed that just maybe we can use science to help people find their match or at least help bring the couple together.

P.S. I would love Felicity to find her match!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Gallery Books for an advanced copy of The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was such an interesting and fascinating premise. It has some of my favorite with enemies to lovers, some fake dating feelings at the beginning, absolutely wonderful main characters in Jess and River, the best secondary characters in Fizzy and Juno and the witty banter that you expect in a CLo book! The coat sharing scene at the photoshoot was the sweetest thing.

I honestly read this in a night and couldn't put it down.