3.5 stars, rounded up.

This book was a lot better than the first in the series. There was a lot more relationship development this time around, which made for a more interesting book.

Overall, I wish there had been more exploration into some aspects of Asian culture. For example, the disapproval of Rachel’s parents to her dating a white man. I went through something similar, and I would have loved to see more conflict, and then have the ending of Rachel’s parents coming around. This particular situation felt too “easy” and surface-level, having gone through something similar myself.

I found there was a general lack of depth for many of the brief interjections of Asian culture (specifically Chinese/Taiwanese). My previous gripe about the first book in the series was that it was overly explained in a disruptive way to the flow, but I think in this book, it was the opposite where the topics were not touched on enough. It wouldn’t have been too difficult to elaborate on some of the conflicts as a plot point.

Rachel’s personality and behavior was an interesting break from your typical romantic protagonist. While it’s never explicitly stated, it’s heavily implied that Rachel might sit somewhere on the spectrum. There are deliberate attempts by the author to bring attention to Rachel’s lack of social skills, particularly in recognition with social cues. I can only assume and don’t know for sure that this was the author’s intention.

I do think this book redeemed the series for me, and I would continue to read future books by the author.

I listened to this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Dreamscape Media for approving me.
This was an easy book to listen to. The characters were pretty likeable; Rachel was like a female Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. I liked that they got together so early on, and the chemistry between them was fun. It did admittedly, take them a while to properly come together, but that was okay. There could've been a few more flirty moments every now and again to keep the audience engaged.
The voice chosen for this audiobook did a good job. Pleasant to listen to and she also made it easy to distinguish between the voices of other characters.
3.5 stars

I really like the idea and concept of this book but the main character drove me insane. Being quirky and socially awkward is one thing but i feel like this book took it to an extreme and it was so cringy to read. I love the book cover though!

3.5

I liked this, I didn’t love it. The dialogue between the two was bland making them feel stale together. It was light and fluffy, pretty clean read, past two light spice scenes. Wanted more spark in this read over all. The characters and plot are not bad, just a little short of making these two stand out for me. I would read the next book in the series and suspect that each one will be better and better.

One Night Stand
Date to Sisters Wedding
Social Awkward FMC
Texan Drawl MMC

Audiobook provided by NetGalley and Dreamscape Audio, opinions are my own.


Posted review on Amazon still pending linked my Amazon profile instead

Rating: 4 stars
Audio rating: 3 stars
Romance: 3/5
Chemistry: 3/5
1st kiss: 1% in
Spice: 2/5
Humor: 2/5
Drama: 3/5
Suspense: 0/5
Foul language: 2/5

- I listened to the audio for this one, and I think I would have enjoyed reading the book better. Our narrator was great with the narration part of the book and most of the dialogue was off, she made our female main character sound like a robot. It really sounded bad when our female main character spoke and it became a bit exhausting to listen to. There were also times our narrator didn't comply with the authors request when our characters whispered, or spoke softly and this made the dialogue lose a lot of the credibility. Our narrator did laugh at the right times though, she has a good Texas accent for our male main character. Tones for other side characters were fine as I could identify who was speaking.
- The story itself got almost 5 stars from me. I just took 1 point off because of the ending. I thought it was kind of a mess up when Luke knew he stuffed up and then all of a sudden he was surprised he did anything wrong to hurt Rachel.
- I loved FMC and her ways, reminded me a lot of some one with Asperger Syndrome (just like me). If the author was trying to represent an Asperger, she did a pretty good job.
- I also loved all the culture aspects of a Chinese wedding, I learnt some new interesting things!
- Rachel's circle of friends were awesome - Girl Code. (pity with the audio I couldn't decipher if they were out to get her or truly her friends).

Overall:
- This was an open door romance with what we can call slow burn after or MC's get together right in the beginning but then call each other friends for the rest of the book and regret it.
- We get some interesting culture shock, seeing our FMC is from Thailand and has a traditional family.

Tropes:
- Lawyer MMC
- Lover of numbers FMC
- Chinese culture
- one night stand
- Sisters wedding
- Inter-cultural romance
- Introvert FMC
- Socially awkward FMC

I found myself often relating to Rachel, which made it easier to immerse myself in the book. She really had to step out of her comfort zone and did a great job of portraying the difficulties of it. I did not realize this was the second book in a series until I finished the book. It was a great stand alone read, but I will go read the first book now.

I dont know what it was about this book, but I absolutely adored it!
Maybe it was the exact genre, story, characters i needed in my life, but this hit just right!

'The Rachel Experiment' is a sequel to 'The Year of Cecily'. The story focuses on Rachel, who was Cecily's childhood rival who is now her friend. I listened to the audio book version, and I enjoyed the narrator, Kat Riley. She also did the audio book narration for the first book, and she brings a lot to the characters.

Rachel gets a promotion at her job as a financial analyst, and she moves from New York to San Francisco. Because of this move, Cecily and her fiance, Jeffrey, appear throughout the story. Also, in this story is Luke, who was the lawyer that Cecily went on a date with in the first book. Luke meets Rachel at a bar, and they have a one-night stand. He feels a connection with her, but she leaves without giving her phone number. They meet again at a mutual friend's birthday party, and they decide to help each other. Luke will help Rachel improve her small talk and people skills while Rachel will help Luke with information about starting his own business.

As they spend time together, feelings start to grow. I like their connection, but I think it was too much of a slow burn. It started out steamy with the one night stand, but it quickly cooled off and seemed to drag.

I would have liked to see more romance between Luke and Rachel. It started out so strong, but it took too long to get them to share their true feelings. When they did, there was miscommunication, which made things drag out longer.

Overall, this had potential to be really great, but it is still a fun story. Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ALC of 'The Rachel Experiment'.

Rachel is awkward and has poor people skills. In preparation for her new promotion, Luke is mentoring Rachel on how to properly interact with people. In exchange, Rachel is helping Luke look into opening his own law firm. Of course, after spending some time together, sparks started to fly.

This was a bit of a letdown. I enjoyed the first novel in this series. However, this one was just okay. It didn't offer anything new and nothing stood out. Also, the story doesn't feel as genuine as it could have. Overall, just an okay read.

*Read for AAPI month*

***Thank you to NetGalley, Lisa Lin, and Dreamscape Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

The Rachel Experiment by Lisa Lin
From Sunset Park, With Love series #2. Contemporary romance. Own voice / Asian. Can be read as a stand-alone.
Rachel Bai is a financial analyst and uniquely suited for the job. She is good with numbers and lacking in social skills. After meeting attorney Luke Trudeau for an out-of-character night of passion, she contracts with him to exchange a business plan for him, with him teaching her to better manage social engagement. Her new job is on the line. She needs to manage a team and without Luke, she feels she will fail.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook version narrated by Kat Riley. There were distinct voices for Rachel and Luke, the latter with an accent of a southern drawl and twang. The performance has the two play off each other with attraction and determination and hints of humor. I found the best speed for this was 1.4 which about my usual at the moment. The added family for both sides lends itself to their nationalities, and regional norms with drama and support no matter the differences.

I admired Rachel for making up her mind to learn to socialize and be a success as her job. She learns and changes her behavior even when setbacks left her discouraged. Her trying to math her way into riding a mechanical bull is adorable.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media.

I listened to Lisa Lin’s debut The Year of Cecily a couple months ago when it was released. I’m so happy her follow up The Rachel Experiment came out so quickly. This was a friend we met in book one and fell for, with their awkward relationship from high school (the Asian parents causing the girls to have a rivalry for top marks), turned besties.

Rachel is sent across the country by her company, from NYC to San Francisco, and luckily has her newly found friend in Cecily in this city. She is out one night and has a one night stand with Luke (something totally out of character for her), and really starts enjoying the new life. When she and Luke end up working on a project together, all bets are off for not prolonging that one night stand, and he even offers to escort her to her sister’s upcoming wedding - and she’s got her new girl group by her side for when he inevitably messes everything up.

A great sophomore novel I may have enjoyed more than book one! I definitely recommend this one. The audio was fantastic and I recommend that you get the audio for sure - narrated by Kat Riley, who did a great job.

I received an advance listen copy from NetGalley and Dreamscape Mediam and this is my honest feedback.

The Rachel Experiment is a sweet, if predictable romance between the analytical and socially awkward Rachel and the extroverted Luke. The two connect and have an explosive one night stand on one of Rachel’s first nights in San Francisco for her new job. Rachel doesn’t think she’ll ever see Luke again, until she runs into him at a friend’s birthday party. But it’s not sex that she wants from him; her promotion hinges on her ability to run a team, and she needs Luke’s helps learning how to be a people person.

It unfolds how you’d expect. Eventually, he comes with her to her sister’s wedding, and he realizes he’s in deeper than he thought. They have a typical third act miscommunication (this one is especially annoying to me, as it would have been so easily solved!) but all is happy in the end.

2.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC.

Rachel is a Financial Analyst who moves from New York to San Francisco for her promotion; a more managerial position as a senior financial consultant. That means more meetings and more interacting with people, something she has trouble with. I think she’s autistic, since she really has difficulty connecting with people and never knows the right thing to say in conversations. When Luke dares her to ride a mechanic bull, she analyses the length and weight of another woman riding the mechanical bull to calculate her own performance. She approached everything very analytical instead of emotional. After a one night stand she leaves a note: ‘sorry that I had to leave your front door unlocked’ - not what you’d expect! Generics are confusing to her, she needs specifics: When her friend wants to meet “at six, six thirty” she doesn’t know what time they’ll meet and asks her friend to be specific. She ‘never possessed the ability to connect with people’ and knows it: ‘She wished she could be like everyone else.’
But despite that, she goes all in, ‘failure not an option’ and wants to make the best of her new job.
Luke works as an attorney at a big law firm and is thinking of starting his own business. He needs someone to do the financial planning. He is from a stable, loving family, whereas Rachel’s family makes her feel she’s failure. Luke likes that Rachel is ‘so unfiltered’. After meeting and an impromptu invite from Rachel to have sex (?!!) they make a pact by teaching her how to have small talk with other people and she will help him with a financial analysis for his business.
I like the writing; very funny and witty, but I felt there was a bit too much focus on Rachel’s inability to ‘read’ people and interacting with them; almost everything revolved around that. The book is more about how autistic people view the world and that might be illuminating, but the romance played second fiddle. That also slowed down the story a bit. Despite that, it was a sweet and feel-good read.
The audio book was narrated by Kat Riley, she did nice voices and even a Texan accent.
I received and reviewed an advanced copy of this book and I am grateful for this opportunity. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Title: The Rachel Experiment
Written by Lisa Lin
Narrated by Kat Riley

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this audiobook through Netgalley.

The first part of this book did not capture me at all. I was thoroughly bored until Rachel and Luke met. There was one other lull halfway through the book for about 15 minutes. The rest of the book was fantastic.

Rachel is an odd duck with zero verbal filter and she’s an original off-beat girl. She marches to the beat of her own drum. Rachel is Asian American and an overachiever at work. Her big sore spot? People-ing. Anything to do with being a people person is part of her failing - small talk, business lunches, long term friendships, banter, even polite small talk… she’s just not good at it.

Luke is a good Texas boy with good southern manners. He’s a lawyer ready to strike out on his own.

He needs someone to help analyze what he needs to do to start his own practice. She needs someone to teach her how to people.

Their story has a good bit of dealing with their different cultural backgrounds and families.

But, the heart of the story is these two people who could never be complete without the other.

I do recommend this book… just be prepared for the initial sloooooowwww pace. It gets better - I promise!

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook.

Story was cute. Not my fave.I wasn’t found of the narrators.

This book was really awkward and disappointing. There was no chemistry between the main characters. I may have been influenced by the audio narrator, but I didn't care for the way Rachel was written.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This book provided in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 rounded up.

When Rachel gets a job offer across the country, she is determined to learn how to better her people skills. She sets out to a bar for research, and meets Luke and proceeds to have a hot one-night stand. The next morning, she sneaks out of Luke’s apartment hoping to never see him again. Little did she know, they had a mutual friend and met again at a party. Luke and Rachel strike up an agreement to mutually help each other in their careers.

This was a cute idea and had such promise. I have to admit I almost DNF’d it at 15% but it did get better the more the story went on. The narrator was a little static, and the beginning had many info dumpy scenes. Rachel was very awkward in the beginning, and it wasn’t an endearing kind of awkward. Not sure if the author intended for her to come across this way, but it didn’t jive with me. The one-night-stand almost felt like their first time ever, not first time together.

There were scenes that were especially cute. I loved when Luke came by her apartment when Rachel was sick. I was super proud of Rachel during the family dinner scene prior to Claudia’s wedding. The jar was particularly sweet as well. I lived in Texas for a while, and I think Luke and his family were portrayed well.

Overall, the book was fine, and was generally cute, but I had a really hard time with the beginning and found some parts cringe-worthy.

I'm sad to say that I didn't enjoy this book. Perhaps I should have read it instead of lstened to it because the narrator had a lazy accent for Luke. But more than that, I was exctied when I started because it was clear that Rachel is neurodivergent and I was looking forward to her finding both love and friendship and learning that she was not a freak but someone who had common perspective and there were ways to accomodate and succeed. And it just didn't go there. The author also tried to address what it might mean for a person of color to date and love a white person and it was just very superficial, no real moving through it,especialy for Luke.

This was such a good book to listen to! The main characters were really good. I absolutely love the narration on this book! Will totally be recommending it to friends that read, thanks to NetGalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape media for the free ALC in exchange for honest review. I had such high hopws for This as i really enjoyed book 1 and felt the narration was off slightly and thr story just didn't work for me. 3rd act break up is least favorite like misscommunication. I will check out the authira future work.