Christina Lauren

Synopsis: A romance writer goes on a dating show and falls for the producer.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

I consumed this as an audiobook. While I loved the narrator for Conner, our hero, I didn't really care for the narrator for Fizzy, the author. I don't know if that affected my general feelings of the characters but overall I really wasn't a Fizzy fan in this book though I did like Conner.
Conner is divorced and co-parenting his daughter. He and his ex wife have a great relationship and I loved the show of a healthy co-parenting relationship. It's something I think we don't get to see in books as often as I would like.
Fizzy was funny and cared about her readers but I didn't really mesh with her. I think a huge part of the reason is that she tended towards flippant at times and also she was so lusty that I often felt annoyed with her. Her previous relationships were largely just based on hotness and didn't have much depth.
I love books involving dating shows but since Fizzy is with the producer of the show I didn't feel like we got a whole lot of the dating show part of this book because we were just focused on Fizzy and Conner. I would have loved more of the dating show but I did appreciate the use of romance genre tropes and jargon within the book as it relates to the dating show.
I thought both characters had great social circles and they were important to the story.
Overall, I did love the fun in this book.
This book has a 3rd act break-up and the way it was done and the context almost felt too serious for this otherwise fun and charming book.… (mer)

4.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this read! I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was skeptical at first..I'm not one for chick-lit in general, but this one tickled my fancy, so why not give it a try? What I appreciated the most about this is the fact that main character [Olive], isn't your typical chick. She's genuine from her personality to her physical description. I also appreciated the pacing of this book; it was a quick and easy read, but it didn't feel too long or too short. My one little criticism about this book is that the end felt somewhat rushed in the sense that it was somewhat a bandaid fix. I appreciated that author tried to go somewhere with it, but more could have been explored or it could have been done a little differently to honor the main character. I wish that the author had done the change in perspective throughout the book. However, that being said, it wasn't a horrible ending. If you're into chick-lit, cheesy romance, or just a quick fun read...this is for you.… (mer)

I will preface this review by saying that the only book I've read by Christina Lauren was "The Unhoneymooners" and it was HILARIOUS (the first half was anyway), so I had high hopes for this one!

The Soulmate Equation isn't quite as funny as The Unhoneymooners, but it still had it's funny moments for sure!

My biggest note is that at about 35%, I felt like earlier on, Jess and River could have hated each other more. Jess's negative feelings towards River seem.... inflated, compared to her actual interactions with him.

Also, what is an IPO and a CSO? Sure I could look it up, but it would have been good to have it explained in the book ;)

I love that there's a cat in the story, I love the science and math stuff, and, since I recently read "The One" by John Marrs, I love that it's SO different from that story!!! (The only thing similar is the whole DNA-love aspect.).

Without giving anything away, I would have liked to know a solid answer about the number at the end, rather than just hinting at it.

This book could have EASILY earned a 5-star rating if it was just a bit funnier (I love the COM in a rom-com), and if earlier on River and Jess had more negative interactions to warrant her "I feel like I want to commit a felony when I think about him" thoughts ;)… (mer)