The Soulmate Equation

I am sad to give this 3 stars. I'd give it 3.5, but the 'Zon doesn't allow it. Let me preface this by saying I could not wait for May 18. I preordered. I have read everything by CLo. Love them. Love the laughter. Love the sizzle. Love the charm. So I was primed and ready for Soulmate Equation. It just never really grabbed me. They seem to have really toned down their trademark sizzle. The build up/ set up took too long. The complicating factor was so complicated in its explanation (I don't want to give anything away), that my eyes glazed over. It bored me when I should have been most engaged. And then the resolution of that arc just lacked punch for me. I didn't feel their characters' usual chemistry, except in a few places. I didn't laugh out loud as I'm accustomed to doing with CLo novels. I didn't feel the heat (although the first kiss was a lovely scene). I really debated about writing this review, but since I've loved everything else they've written so much, I thought I owed it other potential readers. If you love CLo, you may still want to purchase this. If you haven't read their other work, don't let this one deter you. They are immensely talented.

Jess is a single mother working as a freelance statistician when her best friend signs her up for a new dating service that finds matches by DNA algorithms. She is matched at 98% with the head of the company, Dr. River Pena, a man she's met previously and dislikes though she admits he's good-looking. Still, she needs money and the company offers her enough to try dating the scientist.It's a fun premise where DNA predicts the likelihood of a long-term romance. Once they get past their initial dislike for the other, Jess and River have a lot in common. I like that there was a slow build. I also liked how much River got along with Juno, Jess's adorable daughter. There are some misunderstandings and some chicanery, but I was pleased with the ending. A good and quick read.

The book dragged. I abandoned it 35% of the way into the story and it took me over a week to get that far. During that week, I read 2 interesting books. I read Love and Other Words by the authors and didn’t put it down. This book is dull, the characters are not even remotely credible and I did not care for, or about either of them.Enemies to lovers can be done well if the initial conflict is meaningful. Jess disliked River because he came into the coffee shop at the same time each morning, got his coffee, and left without making conversation with anyone. I bet that thousands of working people do that daily and are unaware that it would spark dislike in an observer. By her own admission. She is disheveled and unkempt, why would a busy executive want to seek her out on his way to work?Jess is neither credible as a mother, nor as a love interest for River, the stingy tipper who also muscles her out of a parking space and refuses to hold the elevator for her.I was drawn by the DNA match premise, that is the interesting core of the story. Biological science meets romance, and probability statistics are thrown in for good measure. The characters were not sufficiently well-developed enough to support that story.

The Soulmate Equation is another sweet, hilarious, easy-to-read story from Christina Lauren, my go-to duo for books and characters that just make me smile. I don’t know how these two ladies keep coming up with interesting and new stories to tell, but I’m always here for them! This one was a little slow to start, but once it kicked into gear, it was on and I was totally invested.Jess Davis is a single mom who also helps to take care of her grandparents and runs her own freelance business as a statistician. To say she has a lot on her plate is kind of an understatement. She’s been working to make ends meet and provide for her daughter, Juno, for the past seven years and is determined to be the best mom she can be after her own mother left her behind. But when her best friend Fizzy convinces her to sign up for a new DNA-based matchmaking service, she’s in for the surprise of a lifetime.Dr. River Pena is one of the co-founders of DNADuo and is married to his work...he works 100 hours a week and is dedicated to making DNADuo’s IPO a success. He’s a nerd at heart and relies on advice from his two older sisters to help him maintain the suave exterior he portrays to the world. In reality, he’s intelligent, shy and reserved and doesn’t date much because all of his time and energy go into DNADuo. Bu’s client 000001 in the system, so there’s always been a chance that he could find his match...he just never expected it to happen.After they find out that they’ve been matched by the DNADuo program, Jess and River both have to figure out what that means for them. River trusts the science that he’s poured so much of himself into, but he doesn’t know if he can trust his feelings. Jess is skeptical by nature and is hesitant to go all in on the idea of soulmates or if she should continue to guard her heart. Their story and relationship is far from typical but I loved watching it develop into something so sweet and genuine. My heart absolutely broke for River when everything started to unravel and seeing him struggle to bring it all back together personally and professionally killed me. But I do think that their struggles brought them closer together and helped to eliminate some of the doubt about the program they’d been carrying around with them since the match was made.The Soulmate Equation features two of my new favorite CLo side characters: Juno and Fizzy. I think Juno is one of the best child characters I’ve read in a long time - she’s spunky and curious but so smart and observant that she calls Jess out on her shit then completely lets the subject drop/change, just like most 7-year-olds would. Her relationship with River is the sweetest and I loved seeing them connect. Fizzy is amazing. She’s hilarious and irreverent but also so supportive of Jess and her family - she just wants what’s best for her friend, to see her happy and a little bit selfish.This story really was a delight to read. It was intelligent, funny and a concept I’ve never read before, which is always a treat. Keeping my fingers crossed for a Fizzy story in the future, but I’ll be smiling from this story and the wonderfulness that is River Pena for weeks to come!

This had a very slow start and I struggled to identify with the characters. Their actions just didn't meld, and I don't feel like the characters were really explored very deeply at all.For one, we never felt any sense of urgency, poverty or desperation from Jess regarding her money situation. She was all about her daughter full stop, but accepting money to basically install a strange man into her life? She probably wouldn't have done that unless she was desperate. Not just because she couldn't afford ballet lessons.River never really redeemed himself or showed much personality beyond being a love interest. The fact that Jess asked him to pick her daughter up from school when they were barely dating just wasn't belivable to me.Over all, I just felt like the third person perspective did this novel a disservice and the book couldnt decide if it was a comedy or a serious romance novel.

So there are things to love about this book and things not to.Let's start with the love:Main character is an independent woman making her own way in lifeSupportive and amazing BFFFunny and sassy daughterRaised by the best Grandparents a girl could wish forSurly male lead but we all know he's a big softy underneathInteresting premise for meeting your love interestLets now move on to the not so great things:Plot twist around the main story - I cannot think that this wouldn't have been regulated and as such been a reportable event with multiple public retractions and possibly the end of it allThe writing was a bit puke worthy romantic in places - ok for others - not my bag thoughLets talk spice - now back in the day CL used to write the hottest stories (beautiful stranger anyone? - hot and emotional) - now I get we are talking mass market publication here and that means watering stuff down but to be quite frank there is an absolutely bizarre scene that appears to contain a blowee but it's been hacked with a machete to the point that it makes no sense and I had to reread the section 3 times as it felt like I'd skipped part of the book. Now seriously publishers, us long term readers were here from the start with all of the spice, we aren't going to wilt like the ladies in the 1920's if you tell us she wrapped her lips around his you know what (edited for zon)Unnecessary drama - we had the main drama - did we really need the mum as well? In all honesty I found the mum parts made me want to give the daughter a kick for being such a walkover. And if the grandparents took her in before and looked out for her, why aren't they still aware that mum's causing trouble?In short, give me more of Pena being broody but lovableGive me more hot Pena with Jess and get me invested in them as a coupleDitto sweet Pena and Jess and family time with Juno - again the small things we saw were great but I wanted more.Give me more sassy Fizzy, maybe something more about the inspirations for her writing - those bits were golden and brought some much needed humour into the book

@christinalauren are absolutely an automatic download for us, and The Soulmate Equation was no different. I loved the premise behind this book, single mum taking a chance on a new dating app.As you can expect from these authors this has a couple with lots of chemistry and steamy scenes. There is a bit of a spin on a fake relationship trope here in that they decide to make a go of it but it’s always in the background that it’s for show.For me there was a bit too much info dumpyness relating to the scientific ins and outs of the dating app and I zoned out a bit in the beginning. I would have loved to see more made of the ending and less of the science-y bit.I think for me, nothing will ever beat The Unhoneymooners in terms of standalone novels from these authors and certainly nothing will ever top the Beautiful or Wild Seasons series. If you haven’t read either of these series but enjoy authors like Daisy Prescott and Meghan Quinn then you should definitely give them a go.

💛 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝔼𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 💛."𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮".Cute, charming, funny and oh so swoony this was everything I was looking for and have come to expect from Christina Lauren.I'm not sure if this could be classed as a fake dating story but it definitely has those vibes. I just loved watching Jess and River genuinely discover if they have a connection. The data may have been what told them to head in a certain direction but it was definitely all them and their choices that made this couple worth rooting for - and boy was I rooting for them.Dr River Peña aka "Americano" - there are book boyfriends, there are book husbands and then there are men that just make you swoon so hard they make you a bit wobbly and Dr. River definitely made me a bit wobbly - swooooon

Usually I love CLo’s books but this missed the mark for me. I didn’t feel a connection to the characters or even between the characters and the usual heat, smut and feels were missing from this one which is incredibly disappointing and most unusual for this author. It was also slow paced and trying too hard to be funny. It got better in the final third which is why I pushed through to finish it but then the conflict at the end was resolved in a predictable and unremarkable way which kind of marred the end.I really hope they return to form with their next one and please first person narrative. That would really help.Ah well. Complete story. I can’t recommend this one, there’s much better books out there from this author duo.