A review by beckyyreadss
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

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 wanted to read this book because Christina Lauren’s book are all over the book community. I am always looking for new authors. The storyline was strong and the characters were sweet but for some bizarre reason I was expecting this to be smutty.  

This book has two points of view. The first is Felicity Chen also knowns as Fizzy. She has got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached. Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. She has felt lust. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie? The second point of view is Connor Prince. He is a documentary filmmaker and a single father. He loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is way out of his element. He is desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? 

I liked Fizzy, I think she was hilarious and strong-willed and I'm glad she didn’t give up for what she wanted, no matter what people and logical thinking was telling her. I liked the banter between Connor and Fizzy and that the internal monologue were them both thinking the same thing but trying to be logical about it. I liked the trope of everyone knows you like each other but yourselves. And how the whole cast and crew were behind on the final reveal. The kids in this book were adorable and so fun and I would leave to see another book with them in a few years, trying to find their own love stories especially with their parents having such epic love stories.  

I really, really don’t like third act breakups and I didn’t mind the reality TV show aspect, but I would have preferred for that to wrap up quicker and to get back to Fizzy and whether she was back to writing books. This whole thing started because Fizzy has lost her love for romance and yeah, she got it back, but we never found out about the books she wanted to write and if she did write a new book. Did Connor get to do the documentary he wanted to do? We don’t know. It just ended with they are in the love and the reality show was a hit. For some bizarre reason as well, I was expecting this to be smuttier and the smut was very closed doors. I would have liked it to be a bit smuttier especially with Connor being British, I would have loved to have heard his mouth could be. 

So, as I was writing this review, I realise that this has a crossover with the Soulmate Equation, and I didn’t even know. This was the first book I've read of Christina Lauren’s and will gladly read the Soulmate Equation to see how Jess and River fell in love. Does anyone also struggle if the MC is named after a family member . . . my younger brother is called Connor.  
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