This book was so sweet and I loved the concept of learning to love yourself and doing the big scary thing could end up being the best decision you ever make. Super enjoyable, and I really liked the narrators!

A Sweet and Heartfelt Romance with a Fresh Perspective ★★★★☆

Lisa Lin delivers a charming and uplifting romance in The Rachel Experiment, blending humor, heart, and self-discovery into a delightful read. The novel follows Rachel, a brilliant but socially awkward woman who embarks on a journey to step outside her comfort zone—leading to unexpected, yet swoon-worthy, romance.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is its refreshing take on neurodivergent representation. Rachel’s character is beautifully written, making her both relatable and endearing. Her growth throughout the story feels natural, and her dynamic with the love interest is full of warmth, witty banter, and genuine emotional depth. The romance unfolds in a way that feels both organic and rewarding.

While the story is engaging, some moments feel a bit predictable, and certain side characters could have been explored more deeply. However, the novel’s heartfelt message and well-developed main characters more than make up for these minor shortcomings.

Overall, The Rachel Experiment is a lovely, feel-good romance with strong character development and meaningful representation. Perfect for readers who enjoy sweet, slow-burn love stories with a touch of humor and heart. Highly recommended!

3.75/5

This is a sequel to The Year of Cecily. I recommend reading the first book before reading this one. Rachels’s personal development story is better when you read the first book.

Rachel is a socially awkward finance analyst who is more comfortable with numbers rather than leading a team. During the book, she must develop more social skills in order to lead a team for her work. Her relationship with the main lead, Luke, and all the other characters changes as she changes.

I appreciated how all of the personal development was focused on her goals and not forced upon her. She is an adult learning more about the world around her and how to interact with others but it does not feel like she is a kid or teenager.

Luke was a great counterbalance to her and helped her learn along the way. Although he was a nice character, Rachel is the stan out.

This book was not as good as the first in the series but I really appreciated it. The book explores diversity of thoughts and skills without hitting you over the head with mental health diagnosis.

I recommend reading this book!


Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for the honest review.

This was a very fun and adorable read! Loved the cultural representation present in this! Very relatable and easy to connect with.

I tried really hard to get through this audiobook but I really didn’t care for how the narrators Texan accent sounded which took me completely out of the book.

In many ways I was reminded of Helen Hoang's The Kiss Quotient. That is no bad thing. That said, The Rachel Experiment varied from Hoang's standard in a number of ways which kept it from feeling like I was reading a knock-off quickly written to cash in on a publishing trend. Rachel and Stella are different people, even though they have similar jobs and similar difficulties interacting with others. For Stella it's at least partially due to her autism, but Rachel is given no diagnosis in text, and so as a reader who prefers not to armchair diagnose I assumed she simply had not developed any interpersonal skills over the course of her life. If I was mistaken in doing so, I apologize for my oversight. Both of them make arrangements with good-looking, charming men to help them improve their inter-personal interactions, though Stella did so to make changes in her personal life and Rachel to make changes in her professional life.

Which brings me to my first point. One of the things I particularly liked about The Rachel Experiment was that, although Rachel was asked/told to change her behavior in order for people to like her more, just about everyone agreed it was stupid and unfair that as a woman from a marginalized people, she had to go to the extra effort to fit in and be likable in ways a white man in her position would not be expected to. Related to that is the number of times Luke (the lead) is told in various ways that he doesn't seem to appreciate how easily everything comes to him because of his privileged status as a cis white man from a comfortable background. Instances of inequity that can show up in a professional workforce are explicitly named, and I was delighted.

Something else I liked about this book was Lin's ability to show the reader how important Rachel's work is to her, rather than simply handwaving that's she's very, very good at it, as many writers might do. As Ms Lin is a J.D., I was not surprised by the details of the legal profession that worked their way into the text, making the numerous attorney characters in the story feel more real, but the scenes with Rachel at work and interacting with colleagues also added a great deal (I feel) to the book. That said, Rachel's friends and Luke's family felt pretty peripheral, despite how often they appeared in the narrative (Luke's mother was shorthanded as a Steel Magnolia, his father wasn't given much personality at all, and Rachel's friends kind of boiled down to "the engaged one from the last book," and "the one who will probably be the lead in the next book" ), but I think Lin did a fine job humanizing Rachel's family (especially her mother) and making them more complex than they were initially presented. It was a nice touch that the reader got to appreciate more familial nuance as Rachel learned to recognize and interpret social cues more readily. Good writing!

Ultimately, this is a good book, and I feel confident recommending it.

I only got to about 20% before I had to DNF. The narrator did a good job at narrating the FMC's part but I couldn't listen to the fake southern accent for the MMC. On top of that, the dialogue felt really unnatural and cringey, I get the FMC was supposed to be awkward and socially inept, but the dialogue felt like it was a robot speaking not an awkward woman. I also wasn't a fan of their first "meet-cute." The inner dialogue and conversations made the FMC seem immature in comparison to the MMC, so it was uncomfortable and weirdly formal when they agreed to have a one-night stand.

Financial analyst Rachel Bai is more comfortable with numbers than people. With a new promotion in San Fransisco, Rachel’s boss makes it clear that he expects her to become a good leader to her team. A drunken night at a bar intended to be practice for talking with people instead leads to a one-night stand with lawyer Luke Trudeau. Luke is intrigued by Rachel, but Rachel wants to put their night behind them. He convinces her to spend more time with him with a deal – he will teach her how to charm clients and be more personable, and she will help him figure out the financials to open his own firm.

This is the second book in a series but can easily be read as a standalone. The book was good, but there was nothing to make it stand out from all the other romance books available these days or to keep you thinking about it after you finished the story. I think the target audience for this will be exclusively romance fans.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ALC.

2.5⭐️
Generally this was a fun Rom-com.
I did enjoy certain parts, others i didnt.
I didn't really like Rachel's character.
Luke's character on the other hand was likable.

Unfortunately, this book did not really capture my attention. The Texas accent was so annoying and I just did not enjoy this narration at all.

Adorable! Just another rom-com. Rachel a socially struggling business woman gets set to Cali for a promotion but needs to work with a group of people. She meets Luke and despite their interesting beginning they start working together and of course fall in love

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me an opportunity to listen to this audiobook arc. I had trouble reviewing it due to it being archived but I in fact did download beforehand on the NetGalley app?

Aside from the technical aspects. I did enjoy this story. And I was initially attracted to the title/blurb being Chinese Australian myself. In terms of the story itself it was fine. Like Rachel, I also have a terrible time with interacting with people. In that sense I could immerse myself with the character.

However, the story was a bit slow at times. Or in other words it was quite straight forward. I wished there was a little development in romance between the main characters. I didn’t love Luke. While I knew aspects of Luke x Rachel - I just didn’t feel the connections between them.

In terms of the audiobook performance I did have trouble understanding the narrators at time. Which made me rewind back to certain parts. It’s not necessarily a bad performance. Just a personal preference and experience when listening to this book.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
The Rachel Experiment by Lisa Lin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 293 / Genre: RomCom / Narrator: Jennifer Ikeda

Rachel Bai has worked hard to become the successful financial analyst that she is. So much so that she’s been promoted to head a team all her own in San Francisco. The problem is, Rachel is great with numbers but with people—not so much. And trying to gain support and encouragement from her family isn’t happening, especially with everyone focused on the family’s favorite, her younger sister Claudia and her upcoming wedding. Determined to make it work, Rachel forges on, determined to succeed. And it’s in SF where she finds her own support system and works on her communication skills thanks to a sexy stranger she meets on her first night there.

I really enjoyed this cute romcom. We get to watch Rachel learn how to socialize with her team, stand up for herself to her family, build her own support system, and fall in love.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book and Jennifer Ikeda did a great job narrating.

That you @NetGalley and @Dreamscape_Media for the advanced copy of this audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of 'The Rachel Experiment' in audiobook format for my honest review.

'The Rachel Experiment' is a delightful romcom centered around a woman who works as a financial analyst and is affectionately referred to as an 'awkward turtle.' In order to secure a significant promotion, she sets out to enhance her social skills at work. On the other hand, we have a lawyer from Texas who aspires to establish his own law firm. Their paths cross after a chance encounter during a one-night stand, and fate brings them together again at a friend's birthday party. They decide to strike a deal to assist one another, leading to the gradual blossoming of feelings between them.

This book exudes an undeniable charm. However, I must admit that the narrator's portrayal of Luke's accent was a bit jarring for me. As a Texan, I found the exaggerated accent used for him and his family to be distracting and not accurate or realistic. It made it even hard to picture him as the author described aka handsome because the accent was so odd. Despite this, the endearing storyline propelled me to soldier on. Setting aside the male protagonist's accent, the narrator did an admirable job of maintaining my engagement and pacing the narration effectively. Character voices were distinct, and her ability to hold my attention was commendable.

The novel itself is both humorous and relatable, portraying themes of women's empowerment, shedding light on white male privilege, and depicting the bonds of friendship that can transform into a surrogate family. Awkward turtle is something I can relate too. The book also was culturally diverse with the main character being Asian; there were numerous discussions about weddings and familial differences within Asian culture. One of Rachel’s friends is Hispanic as well, and the book delves into discussions of both Asian and Hispanic cultures throughout the story. This aspect of cultural diversity greatly enriched my reading experience. Most romcoms often feature white male and female protagonists, so I am incredibly appreciative of the diversity that the author brings to the genre.

I found the book thoroughly enjoyable and wholeheartedly recommend it to others just maybe go with the actual book vs the audiobook.

I’m sad that I had to DNf this one. I was really excited by the premise, the poc characters, and the cover. However, the narrator threw me off for this book.

The male narrator was from Texas. I’m guessing in order for the whole Texas location to be believable, the male narrator picked up an accent (that was awful and nowhere near a Texas accent). It was very obliviously fake. It would have been better if the narrator didn’t adopt an accent at all honestly.

Me being from the south, I know what a southern dialect sounds like. This was awful for me to try to put myself through. I’m hoping to read a physical copy, since I was really excited about this read.

I was totally bored by the book. The characters are one-dimensional and predictable. The plot has hardly any suspense and nothing surprising.

Overall, this week was fine for his complaints, but I was mostly bore through a good chunk of it

Entertaining to a certain extent, but I don’t think for me

It’s giving a touch of the ‘tism.

Rachel is a well meaning and hard working career centered woman, who is forced by her job to move from Brooklyn to San Francisco and lead a project team. This is very hard for Rachel because her whole life is in NY, but more importantly, she feels woefully inept at interacting with others, forming meaningful friendships, and being in community.

Her solution? Sleep with the hot guy from Texas who chats her up at the bar. (Which, fair. This happens after she lasts 8 seconds on a mechanical bull, we love multifaceted women)

This book was enjoyable, don’t get me wrong, but I felt like I was reading/listening passively. There were so many moments where Rachel was completely unsure how to proceed in a social situation and needed Luke’s guidance, but I didn’t find myself emotionally invested.

Luke is a hot cowboy (labor discrimination attorney) who calls his family once a week. He graduated from Stanford, and reads as the common “liberal” guy, who is trying to do his best, but still didn’t recognize his privileges. I thought the brief interludes to make him understand that he might’ve worked hard AND ALSO he’s a white man so he has more doors open to him were simply boring.

The character building was fine, I would roll my eyes at something one of them said, but at the end of the day, it’s a contemporary romance novel, not the Magna Carta.

Specifically regards to the audiobook. The voice actor who played Rachel was good, and I enjoyed it. I think they captured the moments of naïveté well. The voice actor, who did Luke was good, but I personally don’t like when there are accents like country, or southern accents in books and movies that people need to perfect.

Extremely grateful to have received an advanced reader copy audiobook for me to share my full and honest opinions.

This was a really sweet book. Rachel is a socially awkward person who struggles with human connection. She is excellent in her career though. Her personality is off-putting to many but endearing to Luke. Luke is a gentleman first and foremost. He's kind, understanding, and patient. His pursuit of Rachel was enjoyable to be a part of. The growth of both characters throughout the book was really great. And who doesn't love a "he falls first" love story? The dynamics between Rachel and Luke are fun to read and the spice is unexpected in the best way.

I love books that cover diagnoses and differences. When they show the power behind it and shed a light that helps people better understand the idiosyncrasies and strengths in all variations of personality and behavior.

The narrator did a great job of bringing both characters to life.

I love reading books by AAPI authors all through the year, but was excited to add this to my reads during AAPI month, about a socially awkward Asian American lawyer.

I enjoyed the story and thought the audiobook was fun, and would recommend the narrator.

*many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the gifted copy