Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The True Love Experiment

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The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

14 reviews

marisabenn's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Now THIS is a rom-com 💕 Oh, how I adored Fizzy and Conner. Their communication and chemistry was out of this world. I sped through this and was so sad when I turned the page and it was over. An out of this park homerun by Christina Lauren yet again!

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bookish_leslie's review against another edition

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2.75

What To Expect:

Chinese American FMC
British American MMC
Dual POV
Forbidden love
Workplace romance
Reality dating show
Romance author
Single dad
Will they / won’t they

Spice: 3.5🌶️
Frequent open door or steamy scenes with detailed descriptions and moderate to explicit language

----------

My Thoughts:

I liked The Soulmate Equation, which was the first book in this series, but unfortunately this sequel didn’t really do it for me. Instead, The True Love Experiment was just sort of meh, sadly erring a bit more toward the “didn’t like it” side of meh.

It wasn't all bad, though. This book was essentially an unapologetic love letter to romance novels, which: yes! Take this paragraph from the prologue, for example:

"Romance isn't gratuitous bodice ripping. It can be, and there's nothing wrong with that, but in the end, romance isn't about the fantasy of being wealthy or beautiful or even being tied to the bed.... It's about elevating stories of joy above stories of pain. It is about seeing yourself as the main character in a very interesting - or maybe even quiet - life that is entirely yours to control. It is, my friends, the fantasy of significance.”

Elevating stories of joy...I LOVE that. On top of that, I appreciated Fizzy’s sex positivity, as well as her refreshing honesty and forthrightness. I wish more people were like her in this way.

I also really liked the book’s general commentary on (a) letting people like what they like without defining it as a guilty pleasure and (b) not being so quick to make assumptions and judge things you know nothing about.

“You describe them as my ‘guilty pleasure.’ Do you have any idea how condescending that is?” “Well, don’t they bring you pleasure?” [Connor] asks, confused. “How is that condescending?” “Yes, but why should I feel guilty for reading something that makes me happy?”

With that being said, I kept putting this book down and not really wanting to pick it up again. For starters, I had a hard time connecting with the characters - Fizzy especially. I liked that she was Chinese American and that her ethnicity was included very naturally rather than in a diversity for diversity’s sake kind of way, but Fizzy was 37 years old, and to me, she came across as really immature.

Yes, she was (rightfully) unapologetic about her sexuality, but her main personality trait seemed to be horndog. There's nothing wrong with being horny, but when that's all you've got going for you??? It was kind of cringey at times. Fizzy constantly objectified Connor (this is gross no matter who's objectifying who), seemed to have no boundaries or sexual self-control, didn’t listen to Connor’s multiple “no’s” - opting instead to move slowly enough that he could stop her if he wanted to, which just felt manipulative and disrespectful at best and assaulty at worst. It was paying lip service to consent without actually being consensual. It didn't matter that he was also attracted to her and wanted to have sex with her; he said it wasn't a good idea, he had his reasons (not that he needed any), and that should have been enough.

I also found Fizzy's frequent sexual jokes and innuendos to be more crass and juvenile than funny. Again: there are other personality traits! It was as if the authors tried too hard to make Fizzy be sexually enlightened and ended up overcorrecting, making her borderline creepy instead.

There was also a lot of showing vs. telling with her character. Over and over again, for example, we heard about how she lit up a room wherever she went, but I didn’t really see any evidence that supported that claim in the way Fizzy spoke or acted.

Connor didn't really do much for me either. I did like his coparenting relationship and friendship with his ex-wife, and I also liked that his first impulse was to stay and talk things through with Fizzy when the inevitable drama hit, but he was judgey and condescending at times, oddly possessive and jealous when he had no right to be, and blew really hot and cold, giving off some pretty major mixed signals.

I also didn't love that

cheating

storyline for him, as it felt like a lazy way to add drama and didn't really seem to suit his character. If it was organically part of his character arc, I feel like it would have come up much earlier during one of his POV chapters -

like when Fizzy told him about accidentally being the other woman in her relationship with Rob and how devastated she'd been by that experience

.

In terms of other characters, most of them were pretty forgettable or blah, if I'm honest. What happened to Jess and Fizzy? Their friendship was so special in the first book, and while it technically (barely) existed here, it was so flat, comparatively. I really missed their friendship spark. And then there were the men Fizzy was dating on the show. I honestly couldn’t even remember who was who, mainly because, for a book that was supposed to be about a reality TV show, not a lot of time was given to said show or to any of the dates or "heroes."

Which brings me to pacing. Sometimes the pacing dragged and felt tedious, and at other times, it felt rushed and seemed to skip over things (like basically the entire reality TV show plot line, as I’ve just mentioned).

Connor and Fizzy’s attraction to each other definitely came through - with a bit more spice than I personally like in my romances - but I didn’t quite understand

how they got from disliking/judging/patronizing each other to best friends so quickly, nor why they spent so much time together on “joy excursions” at the beginning of the book. And if we, as readers, were expected to accept these joy excursions at face value, then I at least wish there'd been more detail about the time they spent together during them, so their foundation as a couple felt more solid and believable

.

I also didn’t understand the ending in relation to the whole forbidden love angle.

Connor spent the entire book telling Fizzy they couldn't be together because of his job, and basically ignored/avoided her after his confrontation with Blaine, but then he suddenly outed his and Fizzy's feelings for each other on national TV and in front of a live audience (without checking with her first, by the way!). And because 38.6% of the audience voted for him, even though he wasn’t a contestant on the dating show, that suddenly exonerated him from losing his job, even though he lied to his boss about not hooking up with Fizzy during filming? What was Blaine’s reaction to all of this? I get that if the audience was on board, there wouldn't be the same scandal that the network's other show was experiencing, but was that really it? The audience was on board, so it was all fine?

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

📖
I had a good time reading this book. It was cute. I loved the dynamics between Connor and Fizzy - from their first glance at each other to their first meetings to their developing romantic relationship. I liked the DNADuo and the reality show.

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breathehopebooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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savheath's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

While I really enjoyed The Soulmate Equation and the BFF side character of Fizzy, I didn’t find this book with Fizzy as the MC on the same level.

Some reasons being:
• Fizzy being 37. She acts and talks much more like the typical CLo heroine who is usually in the 26-30 age range. Gave serious Clare from The Bachelorette vibes. Maybe that was the point idk.
• The premise was intriguing, another take on the buzzy reality TV dating show. I felt like it was misleading in its plot as, really, the actual contestants on the show aren’t given much to do in the story. They have little to actually do with Fizzy. As the show itself is what brings Connor and Fizzy together, I expected there to be more tension and back-and-forth with the other men to up the ante with Connor.
• WHERE WAS THE BUILDUP, THE PROLONGED JEALOUSY, THE TENSIONNNNN?!?! It irked me that there never really was much struggle between Connor and the contestants, and that it honestly didn’t take much for him and Fizzy to get together. It made the story less fulfilling and passionate to me. I wanted more from the contestants vs Connor. Instead it’s like the contestants are there for no reason. Like what was the point of having the show if the other men weren’t gonna add much to the “who will she choose” aspect.

It was cute and I liked the ending. Just found the chemistry and magic wasn’t there.

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kimmy0__0's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Christa Lauren does it again!! I love their abilities to write a funny, cute, hot romance book. Connor is swoon worthy and Fizzy is the girl everyone wishes they could be. Loved it.

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kristapeters's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Open door romance

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

An enemnies-to-friends-to-lovers rom-com set in partly in a reality dating show. I loved that Connor was the show's producer instead of one of the contestants. It made the book have more tension to it. I also liked that since Connor is a father, he was more hesitant to date, especially to have a casual relationship. The ending was perfection! The only part I didn't like was the lag/boring middle where the book just felt like it was filling pages. I also loved the jokes about romance books, the excellent defense about why reading romance isn't a guilty pleasure, and how Connor's perspective changed. Also, it had just enough spice! Almost a 5-star read but because I struggled with getting through the middle-near the end portion it's not quite 5 stars.

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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I received an ARC of The True Love Experiment from the Simon & Schuster table at a library conference. The rep said it was a good starting place for Christina Lauren books. I didn't realize it was a sequel, so when I got back from the conference, I checked out The Soulmate Equation and enjoyed it. I was looking forward to more Fizzy in this one.

It's full of tropes and more than a little meta, but the authors pull it off wonderfully. I saw the ending coming chapters away, but I was very curious as to how they were going to pull off the ending. Which they did with flying colors.

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