Book Review: The True Love Experiment
Author: Christina Lauren
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publish Date: May 16, 2023
Format: Hardcover
★★★★★
This book is perfect for those that like: Stories About Romance Writers, Pining, and Grand Gestures
You might not like this book if you aren’t into: Reality Shows or People Who Like (and Talk About) Sex
Favorite Line: “Do I look like a horny hobo?” ~ Felicity “Fizzy” Chen
The Book
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.
my thoughts
I have two copies of Christina Lauren’s THE TRUE LOVE EXPERIMENT.
I originally checked this out from the library (yay, libraries!) so I couldn’t make notes in the book like I usually do. Instead, I used removable highlighting strips but when I finished I didn’t want to lose all these notes and memories since I would have to remove them before returning. With the book due tomorrow, there was only one thing to do…grab a copy and move all the highlighting strips (plus notes this time!) to my own copy! Y’all, I HAD TO. I love this book so freaking much…
The dedication page told us that this book would be a love letter to our genre. By page 50, it was a fact. This book was going to be an absolute love letter to all the Romance Readers out there.
On page 62, I was smitten.
Page 94? Irrevocably and undeniably IN LOVE.
On page 289, I was mentally yelling at the pages DO NOT DO THIS TO ME.
I sobbed from pages 358-359.
The end was everything I ever wanted for these two and this story.
On page 404, in the acknowledgments, they say “We think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.” And I believe they are right. This is their best book to date. I’ve been a fan of these two since the Twilight days (shoutout to those days of waiting for updates from tby789 and LolaShoes) and this book right here is not only an amazing love story and a love letter to all of us fangirls (those Twilight references were chef’s kiss) but it is also a rallying cry for those of us who love this genre with our whole hearts, who defend our Romance Reading Ways online and in real life. It’s as Connor says, “Seems it’s pretty hard to write a compelling book when the reader already knows how it ends.” THIS FOREVER. We know how every romance ends - with a HEA - but it’s the journey that we come for each and every time. And this time? These two have taken us on an incredible ride and I’m just overwhelmed with how much I love this book and these characters.
So thank you, Christina Lauren. Thank you for celebrating everyone that loves love.
more about the Author
Christina (L) and Lauren (R)
Credit Brystan Studios/Lori Brystan
From Christina Lauren’s website:
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The #1 international bestselling coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced nineteen New York Times bestselling novels. They are published in over 30 languages, have received multiple starred reviews, won both the Seal of Excellence and Book of the Year from RT Magazine, been inducted into the Library Reads Hall of Fame, named Amazon and Audible Romance of the Year, a Lambda Literary Award finalist and been nominated for several Goodreads Choice Awards. They have been featured in publications such as Forbes, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Time, Entertainment Weekly, People, O Magazine and more. Their third YA novel, Autoboyography was released in 2017 to critical acclaim, followed by Roomies, Love and Other Words, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, The Unhoneymooners, In a Holidaze, and The Soulmate Equation and Something Wilder.
Lauren Billings Lauren Billings (but everyone calls her Lo) received her doctorate in neuroscience from UC Irvine, and before she started living the dream as a full-time writer, spent her days researching neurodegeneration in aging. She lives in California with two cuddly dogs, two less-cuddly teenagers, and one mountain biking, homebrewing scientist husband.
Christina Hobbs (but you’ll always hear Lo call her PQ) used to spend her days in a junior high counseling office surrounded by teenagers. These days you can find her at her desk, writing, or watching BTS videos. She lives in Utah with her husband and daughter, thinks she’s the luckiest person in the world to write books with her best friend, and is an unapologetic lover of boy bands and glitter.
You can follow their shenanigans at: @ChristinaLauren on Twitter, and @ChristinaLauren on Instagram.