Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I highly recommend this! It was absolutely adorable!

3.5 stars

Having loved Kitty Wilsons’s sublime ‘Every day in December’ last year I eagerly awaited ‘The Love Experiment’. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it. Yet it has the same wonderful writing and characterisation that are Wilson’s strengths. The premise is also a good one - a nice tension between two attracted people who have opposite goals for their lives. She also tackles heavy topics with a master touch of sensitivity. I still recommend reading this, however it just wasn’t for me. That said I am going to re-read it down the track as it doesn’t put me off this author, I still am an avid fan.

The idea behind this book sounded fun, and I did enjoy the supporting characters, but something about the main characters just didn’t click for me. Maybe my expectations were off, based on the synopsis, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I’d hoped.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

fun read with some heavy topics that i think was handled pretty well! i think i'd need to give it a second read to thoroughly enjoy this.

Dr Lily Galbraith solves her city’s love problems with wisdom and wit every week on her widely popular Love Doctor podcast, but her own approach to romance centres on one goal: staying single. So when a meet-cute in the sauna brings gorgeous Jay Hooper into her life she knows she needs to run the other way.

Having just agreed to a bet with his sister that he’ll stop dating and searching for ‘Mrs Right’ for at least six months, Jay tries to ignore the attraction he feels for Lily, which is only intensified when they find themselves working together.

He can’t date, and she doesn’t date…but then again, rules are made to be broken, aren’t they?

T/w: mention of past violence and abuse, PCOS

There’s a good balance of light and darker topics adding depth to the plot and characters. As soon as I started reading I was sucked into Lily and Jay’s world and captivated by these complex characters who we see are perfect for each other, but there’s something holding them back.

Lily is a psychologist known as the Love Doctor - she gives practical, straight talking relationship advice. She’s an expert on others’ dating life but not so much on her own! As she opens up to Jay we hear about the bad experiences and struggles she faced growing up. This has left the outward confident, bubbly, completely put together Lily with insecurities and commitment issues.

Jay is cheeky, charismatic and an all round good guy. He has his own past relationship issues and is worried about the controlling relationship his sister is in. He has been her protector since their foster care days and is looking for a happy family setting of his own.

I loved them both and felt for them throughout as we learn more about them from their dual point of view chapters. There’s an instant chemistry between them but it goes beyond the physical - they have such sweet moments together and we see they come to rely on one another and confide in them. It’s an easy connection and they feel as though they’ve known each other forever.

It’s a fun, swoony rom-com full of laughs and emotion that will sweep you off your feet. It focuses on living in the moment and how making a change can be exactly what’s needed. I adored following their journey of self-acceptance and facing your fears to find that something you never knew was missing. An enjoyable read for any romance lover.

With thanks to One More Chapter, HarperCollins UK & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

DNF at 34%.
I didn't like anything about this book. The characters were annoying and awful, I hated the writing and, while the plot sounded good in theory, in execution it was terrible.

I tried reading this one, but every time I started again I was reminded that it is simply not for me. There was nothing wrong with the writing or the story, and I am sure many people will enjoy this one, but it is not the sense of humor I enjoy. So I stopped in the first chapter as I knew it wasn't the book for me.

DNF…..This was just bad. I wasn’t enjoying the writing, the characters, or the “plot” so far, but when the main character said she doesn’t eat fruit because it has too much sugar….nope, I’m out.

The Love Experiment 🌟🌟🌟💫 (3.75)/5
@kittywilson23
This book can be called a romance with multiple storylines and a charming set of supporting characters. My beef is with the protagonist, Lilly, though a successful therapist/podcaster, does not take her oewn advice. I couldn't accept that her own teen trauma was swept under the carpet by her and she's a commitment phobe.
The book however touches on some heavy duty topics such as bullying, domestic abuse and death. Also, her best friend and flatmate Kevin was a delight. He was charming, ruthless, a drama queen but always had her back. I tried hard to connect with Lilly despite her stubborn and unreasonable attitude at times, it did not happen. do pick it up if you are looking for a melting pot of characters with their own backstories.

The Love Experiment follows Lily who is a therapist and also runs a pouplar dating podcast. Her one goal is to stay single. But then she meets Jay and everything changes. However, Jay has agreed not to date anyone for the next 6 months. Everytime they are together they have crazy chemsitry. And they might just be willing to break the rules for each other.

This book sounded really cute but I just did not like it. The main character was just super annoying to me. This was suppose to be a rom com but it didn't have much romance in it. I found the overall plot super boring. There was a lot of red flags with the characters. I also felt like the writing was really bad. I honestly, think you should stay away from this one. Nevertheless, thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, but I didn’t hate it? there were many many issues within this book and overall I would not recommend it to anyone.

pros first:

the novel was split into lily’s pov (the female mc) and jay’s pov (the male mc) which I always like. it was interesting to read their contrasting views and opinions.
there were lots of lovely characters such as Kevin (a star, icon, he is the moment 😌) he was by far my favourite and I thoroughly enjoyed his journey and story, overcoming his fears and insecurities to love and live his best life. I learnt more about Drag Queens and their role in exploring gender, which I did not really know or understand before. the LGBTQA+ representation was one of the main threads within the story.
I particularly liked this line about overcoming doubts and struggles.
“I’m sorry for doubting you and letting my insecurities shape my fears”
Kevin’s relationship with Dan was lovely to read and I was more invested in their story than the main plot itself.
Moving on, Jay’s character was written really well and I liked the dynamic between him and his sister, it was nice to see how much he admired, respected and loved her.
cons:
I did not like Lily’s character - she was selfish and annoying. it was unpleasant to read about someone hurting and behaving in a harmful and negative way to the people they love, even if it was fictional. she heavily disliked herself due to her PCOS diagnosis and it was uncomfortable to read her pov’s chapters. they consisted of constant negative self talk towards herself , verbal abuse towards others while menstruating and eating and drinking in a disordered way.
it was a strange way to portray these things and I didn’t like the way it was written.

it was not a rom-com as there was not much romance or comedy at all. lily and jay’s relationship was screaming red flags and was quite confusing and strange to be frank.

I received a digital arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Experiment by Kitty Wilson

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Dr Lily Galbraith solves her city’s love problems with wisdom and wit every week on her widely popular Love Doctor podcast, but her own approach to romance centres on one goal: staying single. So when a meet-cute in the sauna brings gorgeous Jay Hooper into her life she knows she needs to run the other way.

Having just agreed to a bet with his sister that he’ll stop dating and searching for ‘Mrs Right’ for at least six months, Jay tries to ignore the attraction he feels for Lily, which is only intensified when they find themselves working together.

He can’t date, and she doesn’t date…but then again, rules are made to be broken, aren’t they?

My Opinion

The Love Experiment is a fun book to read, with a lovely writing style and some great characters. Personally, I feel that this would make a lovely holiday read. This book has some mixed reviews, but I am definitely on the side that this was an enjoyable read and would recommend this to fans of Ali Hazelwood.

Rating 4/5

Another DNF for me. This book just missed the mark for me. I couldn't relate to any of the characters, and in fact, had a difficult time even distinguishing between them at certain moments. I loved the idea behind the book, but the execution wasn't there. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, One More Chapter for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I"m not entirely sure where I sit with this one... there are parts of the writing/story that I enjoyed and found incredibly important and parts that I struggled with significantly. First off, a major issue was the lack of signposting for chapter POVs. As this is a dual POV book and the author writes the characters with almost identical internal voices this led to a lot of confusion throughout regarding whose POV the reader is in. Second, while I liked that Lily as a character is not immune to the problematic ways in which society dictates who/what women should be, some of the writing could have been handled with a bit more care. The depictions of her disordered eating, the ways she navigated the trauma surrounding her SA, and her self-hatred are super important to illustrate because they are things that many women deal with, but the way that they just sat on the page without being challenged or with Lily confronting them as she grew throughout the story is frustrating, and something that would have made the book more powerful. Lastly, Jay deserved a significantly bigger grovel from Lily and the ending of the book was waaaaaay too abrupt!! I did like the fast pace, the myriad of side characters, some very excellent one-liners, the complexity of the main character's backstories, and the entire setup of the story, but the problematic parts are just too hard to get past.

This book had all the makings of a good rom com , however it didn't really deliver much romance if I am being honest. I also found Lily's teenage experience could be quite triggering. However if you are a fan of multiple POVs, contemporary style and a quick read I would recommend to check it out - Thanks Netgalley for the arc!

I really liked this book. I got through it pretty fast and found it quite interesting. I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I tried, but could not get into this book. I was approximately 25% in when I was still struggling. I did not feel the description of a rom-com fit with the progression of the story.

I am going to go back through and try out Kitty's Cornish Village School series as I did like her writing style.

I want to thank NetGalley, Kitty Wilson and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, One More Chapter for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

This book was a reminder of why I love Netgalley and this opportunity to receive ARC’s. The Love Experiment is a book I can see going super far. I fell in love with every character and I was so sad to have to say goodbye. There is so much to say about how much I loved this book and not enough words to express it. I will leave it with 11/10 I would recommend.

I went in to reading The Love Experiment with really high hopes, it had a fun premise and is set in my home town which I thought would be interesting read. On top of that I really wanted to support an author local to me, but unfortunately this book was so painful and triggering to read that I couldn’t get through it.

MAJOR trigger warnings for PCOS, fertility issues, weight loss, dieting or anything like that.

Quite frankly this book made me feel utterly terrible about myself, my body shape and my PCOS. Our main character suffers from PCOS and her views on it are incredibly toxic, the way she talks about weight loss and exercise come across as very pressuring and I would hate for any woman suffering from PCOS to hear that. The blame she places on being previously overweight as the cause for her PCOS is utterly ridiculous and harmful. The final straw for me was the way she talked about her best friend that was clearly having some body confidence issues and wanted to lose weight. Instead of supporting them, she essentially called them lazy and said that there health kick wouldn’t last long because of that.

I always want more representation of conditions like PCOS in books, and I would love to see more books showing the journey of women as they adjust and learn to live with it. Unfortunately after reading a third of this book it didn’t look like that was going to happen. When the main character is a therapist yet is spreading such toxic attitudes towards women’s reproductive health then I just don’t want to read it.

Maybe if you don’t find topics like that trigger then it might be enjoyable but unfortunately I found this so upsetting and angering that I couldn’t continue for the sake of my own health.

This book was a little slow going, especially at the start. Jinx and Chloe were my favorite characters, and I would’ve liked for the youth program and Chloe to have a bit of a bigger role. The plot was interesting, but I found it easy to put the book down and come back to it later. The romance was cute, and I liked how Jinx got a romance subplot as well.