ARC provided by the publisher for review
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Sometimes side characters are scene stealers. In The Soulmate Equation, Fizzy Chen was one of those characters. We saw just enough of her as Jess’ romance writing bestie and coffee shop workmate to go, “Yeah, she needs her own book.” Her story, The True Love Experiment, hits shelves today.
Fizzy Chen is a bestselling author who’s kinda in a slump, in both writing and relationships. She ends up meeting Connor Prince, a documentary filmmaker who gets roped into producing a reality dating show. What better bachelorette could there be than a romance writer? So Fizzy signs on. For his part, along with being a documentary filmmaker turned producer, Connor is a single dad and a hot Brit. And you know how CLo writes Brits. (If not, let me introduce you to Max and Niall Stella in Beautiful Stranger and Beautiful Secret, respectively).
The True Love Experiment is a delightfully meta take on being a romance author. Of course, Christina and Lauren are both romance authors. There’s commentary about how the romance genre is perceived by non-romance readers, there are a bunch of pop culture references (Ted Lasso, Succession, a BTS-like band called Wonderland) and at first it didn’t exactly feel like a CLo book to me. But it was when Twilight got dropped, I giggled. I see you, CLo.
Fizzy is just as funny and effervescent as she was in the Soulmate Equation, even as she grapples with what she really knows about love. I was having a fine time as I read, enjoying myself, but my mind wasn’t blown. Then, the 3rd act breakup almost broke me (the cause was a thing I avoid at all costs in romance). But then. Then! The big finish is just so good, SO GOOD!!! I had to just declare bankruptcy on whatever was keeping me in the “yeah, it’s good” zone and slid feet first into “I loved it.” I LOVED IT.
The dating show capitalizes on hero archetypes in a really fun way (I don’t want to spoil it for you). And steam-wise, it’s about on par with their last few books. I’d say steamier than Something Wilder. Fizzy gets her mojo back in more ways than one. Definitely a book you’ll want to throw into your beach bag.
I’m holding back a star until I get my finished copy because I couldn’t verify the Cantonese in this book. I read an ARC, and the references may or may not turn up in the finished copy. So it bears mentioning that Fizzy is a Chinese American character (her parents immigrated from Hong Kong and raised Fizzy, her brother and sister in the States). Her ethnicity is mostly just a fact of identity, but there are a few Cantonese words in the mix and Fizzy’s brother incorporates a tea ceremony into his wedding.
As a side note, I should also mention that Cindy Kay and Jonathan Cole are narrating the audiobook. Publishers like to create a brand for an author’s audiobooks by pairing them with the same narrators. And knowing that Patti Murin has done CLo’s last few audiobooks, I’m very glad to hear Cindy voicing Fizzy. Representation matters. Whether there are Cantonese words in this book or not.
Christina Lauren is currently on book tour for The True Love Experiment. Check their events page for dates & locations. Several are already sold out.
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