The True Love Experiment — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Christina Lauren
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 416

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s 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. Lust? Definitely. 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?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, 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 out of his element. 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? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

First Impressions

I mean… do I even need to say anything about Christina Lauren at this point? They are an auto-read for me. I’ve read and reviews everything they’ve published since 2018. This book is a sequel to Soulmate Equation and I do like the colors of this cover more than Soulmate.

What I thought

Christina Lauren haven’t done a sequel about a side character in the past 5 years that I know of. I was excited to see what they would do.

Fizzy, the best friend of Jess from the first novel, is a romance novelist who has lost her mojo. At this time, Conner, a TV producer asks her to be the heroine in a new dating reality show. Conner is a divorcee with a 10 year old and he has just been forced to move from making documentaries to this reality show, so he has his reservations as well.

Christina Lauren writes romance so well. The chemistry between Conner and Fizzy was immediate. I also liked how they took some of the romance tropes and ropes in them into the story in a tongue and cheek way. While I don’t think the format of the reality show would’ve worked in real life, it worked for the sake of the story and I enjoyed how they tied it back to the dating app from the first book.

I enjoyed that Fizzy is a strong woman who is unapologetic for her sexuality and her personality. She has some crises in the story about who she is and how to continue, but she still stays true to who she is. What I always love about Christina Lauren books is how realistic they are. There are always scenes where I feel like I’ve lived those moments or I know people who have.

The only part I didn’t love about this story compared to some of their others is the third at break. I didn’t love the conflict. There were actually two points of conflict and I felt like one of them was a little stronger than the other. I could’ve done without one of them because the way Fizzy reacted wasn’t my favorite.