The Soulmate Equation

Idk if this 4 stars is because this was the first CLo I have ever enjoyed from beginning to end in about 3 yrs or not, but I had a really good time with this book.

Jess and River are magic but tbh the more magic coupling are Jess and Fizzy and their banter and love just SHINES, and a part of me can't help feeling this is the duo i.e CLo writing subconsciously about their IRL sismance which makes me so happy.

But genuinely, this was a fun romcom filled with great characters and I had a blast reading everything.

Jess Davis has a full plate between her freelance statistician jobs and single parenting her 7-year-old daughter, Juno, along with the help of her grandparents and her best friend, Fizzy. Jess does not have time for the trash fire that is online dating. But when Fizzy convinces Jess to try a new service that creates your matches based on DNA, Jess ends up with an unprecedentedly high match with one of the company's founders, Dr. River Pea. While there's no denying the attraction, neither of them are sure they actually like each other but as they explore a relationship they'll find a bond that not even science can explain.

Another really charming and occasionally steamy contemporary romance from Christina Lauren. I love the world they show more create for Jess and how well they explore the challenges of single parenting, even when she does have a supportive "village" behind her. While the idea of DNA-based matchmaking services is undeniably farfetched, they make it seem realistic and the real draw here is the undeniable chemistry between Jess and River. Jess's best friend, Fizzy, is also a highlight and many of her lines had me cracking up. Recommended for fans of the genre. show less

What do you expect from a romance novel? It must have moments of comedy and tragedy, romance and lust, heartbreaks and reunions, goody-goody main characters, a couple of morally gray secondary characters, and a Happily Ever After. The most important factor on which this genre relies is predictability. And yet, it must have some novelty to succeed in readers' minds. If you are looking for a book that checks each and every one of these boxes, The Soulmate Equation is for you.

Jessica Davis, an almost-broke, single mom who freelances as a statistician, has sworn off dating to care for her old grandparents and seven year old daughter. To satisfy her best friend Fizzy, Jess ends up joining GeneticAlly, a new dating site that matches profiles show more based on the person's genes. Imagine her shock when the company reveals a potential soulmate with an unprecedented 98% compatibility. The problem? This "soulmate" is none other than River Peña, the chief scientist and head honcho of GeneticAlly, who himself is stunned at this revelation of an almost perfect match. After all, he was into this research for the science, not for romance. Neither Jess nor River have a good opinion of each other. What do they do? Can they allow statistics to decide their relationship? Should they listen to their heads or their hearts? You know what happens next.

I've read The Unhoneymooners by this pair of authors together known as Christina Lauren and remember thinking that it was overrated. The first half was excellent, the second half went over the top with crazy plot twists and unrealistic situations. So when I started reading and enjoying this particular book, I kept awaiting the downswing in my experience. To my great surprise, it didn't happen at all.

The book maintains a steady balance of fun and seriousness throughout. Most of the characters are really nicely sketched and appear human rather than perfect, something that is usually not the case with most women's romance books. One thing I especially enjoyed was that Jessica wasn't the typical ditzy klutz who is so common in such books nowadays. As an educated woman, a practical mother, and a caring friend, she won my heart.

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a book of this genre so much. More importantly, I can't remember the last time I read such a book without rolling my eyes even once. We don't read these kinds of books for their writing accomplishments, we read them to go 'Oooohhh!' and 'Awwww!' And there are plenty of Oooohhh and Awwww moments in The Soulmate Equation. So it is a very satisfying book for when you want something you can read with your brain turned off.

But me being me, there has to be a critique too. (My brain only goes on standby, never off. show less

i loved the voice and tone in this. it's snarky and funny and loving and full of female friendship. the voice is so good it immediately made me want to try another of her books.

the rest was good, too, but it's the voice that carries this one for me. the relationships were all really well done. between jess and her daughter, between jess and her grandparents, between jess and fizzy, between river and juno, even between jess and her mother; they are all perfect. i also really love the concept of using science (both dna and data) to find a romantic match. the parts where she went into a little more detail about this were fun for me. i kind of wanted even a little more of jess (and river) geeking out on the data. and i especially show more appreciated that the conflict, when it came, wasn't just an issue of communication or a misunderstanding. it was an actual obstacle.

all of these things made me swoon while reading this book.

the only things that didn't work perfectly for me were that the romance between jess and river blossomed too quickly. or i should say that it got deep too quickly. and that juno was supposed to be precocious, but there's just no way she was 7. she did some little kid things, but the way she spoke and worked and researched, she was much more like a 15 year old. and the resolution was a little quick for me as well. i do think the conflict really works and i even can buy his explanation; i just think there needed to be a little more discussion before it was resolved.

still, i really, really liked this and i am excited to see if the author's voice is as strong and clear and just so damn good in other books. show less

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It is no secret that I love the Christina Lauren Duo. However, this book blew me out of the water. The other book's that I have read by them have been enjoyable, but a little more heavy on the cliche tropes (this is not in anyway a bad thing). I really loved that this book evoked deeper questions into soulmates, and genetics. The way this book made me question my own relationships in terms of if they would change knowing we received a certain "score" was uncomfortable in the best way possible. I really appreciated that this book was lighthearted and funny, but that it had deeper meaning and purpose.

I really loved Jess. I think she is such a show more good mom. I loved that she had her life pretty much figured out, and that she was so independent. I love that her personal life as a child shaped her life as an adult, and that we got to see those more intimate moments in her life. The way Jess kept a level head on her shoulders when she was faced with frustrating and heartbreaking situations was really nice to see. She obviously showed emotions, and seeing her open up during the story was amazing. Jess is a superwoman plain and simple.

The romance aspect of this book was above par. Overall, this is a great romance. If you haven't read anything by Christina Lauren this is the book to start with. show less

{first in DNA Duo duology; romance, feel good}(2021)

She's a statistician, he's a scientist. His theory is that analysing your DNA can help you find your perfect partner.

Best friends Jess and Fizzy live in San Diego and meet every day at their local coffee shop, Twiggs, to work (Jess as a freelance statistician and Fizzy as a romance author) and every day at 8.24 am a hot, professorial-looking but standoffish man comes in for his coffee but leaves without talking to anyone.

"He's attractive but has a brooding vibe." She put it in Nana Jo context:
"Think Mr. Darcy, but without the lovely proclamations. He called me average, didn't hold the elevator, speaks with less emotional fluency than the Alexa in your kitchen, and doesn't know a thing

show more

about parking lot etiquette."

When their barista tells them that 'Americano' as they name him is about to launch a dating app which will match people based on their DNA, Fizzy manages to persuade Jess that they should give it a go. When the results come back, Jess finds that she has a high match with Dr River Peña - aka Americano - the founder of the dating app.

Fizzy held up a hand. "They're typ - Oh." Her brows furrowed. "Okay, you're right. This is weird." She handed the phone back, and Jess's stomach twisted as she read the note. Do you mind coming in? it said.
We'll send a car

So she reluctantly agrees to go on a date with Dr Peña and finds him charmingly shy; of course they connect and continue dating. But, of course, there's the obligatory spanner in the works ...

I liked Juno, Jess's cute (and non-annoying) kid who didn't take centre stage with twee antics but was integral and integrated into the storyline.

Juno growled, collapsing onto the couch. Jess walked over and sat down, drawing her in for a cuddle.
She was seven but small; she still had baby hands with dimples on the knuckles and smelled like baby shampoo and the woody fiber of books. When Juno wrapped her small arms around Jess's neck, she breathed the little girl in.

(Aren't they so huggable at that stage? Mine are taller than me now)

And I was happy that the bedroom scenes were not too explicit.

Cute and fun, like all the Christina Lauren romances I've read so far. There is a follow-on book, [The True Love Experiment] about Fizzy, which I plan to read, too.

(June 2025)
4 stars show less

“People who believe in soulmates commonly accept that one will feel 'complete' once they have found their soulmate, as it is partially in the perceived definition that two souls are meant to unite.”
(Wikipedia contributors. (2023, May 17). Soulmate. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:12, June 8, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soulmate&oldid=1155215827)

I don’t believe in soulmates. I believe in compatibility; in growing together, in growing in parallel and, yes, in growing apart. In fact, I feel that looking for someone else to “complete” oneself is, in many ways, highly problematic: Is such an expectation of a soulmate even realistic? Is anyone “incomplete” until such a soulmate has show more somehow materialised?
It is important to cultivate a sense of self-worth and fulfilment outside of a romantic relationship, and to recognize that a partner should complement, rather than complete, one's life.

So, what even brought me to read a book that would, obviously, be about soulmates? The promise of a nerdy romance! Sadly, even that didn’t really work out: Jess, our heroine, is a statistician but apart from earning her livelihood and at one important point in the novel, that hardly plays any role. River, her potential “soulmate”, is a geneticist - or so he says because that, too, is “established” by a lame Gregor Mendel pun… Thus, this is more of a romance novel with some light nods to the characters' professions rather than a ‘nerdy romance’.

»He was most comfortable when facing the fume hood with his back to the room, just him and some tubes and billions and billions of paired-up nucleotides.«

(Give me a computer any old day and I’ll be out of your hair for any length of time!)

The humour fluctuates between that of adolescents…

»Listen to this tagline: ‘Your future is already inside you.’ Wow.” She set the card down and leaned back, grinning. “‘Inside you’? Did anyone read that out loud first?”«

(Keep in mind: Jess turns 30 during the narrated time, her best friend, Fizzy, is slightly older…)

… and more subtle and witty, with a touch of irony…

»She was flanked by an empty seat on each side, a little buffer zone to protect the other parents from the infection of singlehood.«

What also annoyed me was the intense level of Jess insecurity, overthinking and the mental drama she creates at times…

»If she could only make herself believe this result, learning to tolerate his face for the sake of science wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, would it?«

Enough of the negative, though, and let’s move to the positive aspects that made me finish this. First and foremost: I liked the realistic portrayal of Jess as a parent: She tries to do her best, fails, tries again, and does it better. Shockingly much of parenthood is trial and error and the results often aren’t less than ideal and even much less than what one tried to achieve. You can read books, you can try to prepare, you can make plans - you might not make the same mistakes your parents made but you will mess up. You can only take responsibility for said messes and keep trying your best with all the love you can give. And a little help sometimes…

»Pink? Purple? Polka dot? Knock yourself out, kid. Jess had never had the luxury of being frivolous before; it felt strange but also wonderful. She watched Juno finish her dinner and pull out the iPad again, humming as she added art supplies to her cart.
Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness had never seen this.«

That said, I really liked how River interacted with Juno: treating her as an equal, never condescending, always empathetic - his behaviour in this regard is a real highlight. (Although it's always easier when it's not your own child that you spend 24 hours a day with.)

I also very much enjoyed the friendship between Jess and Fizzy. The chemistry those two had eclipsed that of Jess and River at times. I have a feeling that this might not be a coincidence…

»And, finally, to each other we say: You are my best, and here you are my only. And look … we just wrote a book about soulmates. Funny thing, that.«

(From the acknowledgements.)

The communication between Jess and River was both enjoyable and frustrating: Jess recognizes a lot of good in River - and doesn't tell him. Even after situations that would have caused other relationships to fail, but not theirs, Jess still can't express her growing feelings. On the other hand, River shows his feelings and communicates non-verbally quite successfully. However, he makes significant mistakes towards the end, which Jess is able to compensate for.

All in all, this would have been a three-star reading experience for me, if it weren't for this one thing...

»“I haven’t been home in years, but I feel that way with you.”«

I too have found my home in a person. Unexpected, atypical, and head over heels. That was almost a quarter of a century ago. It wasn't always easy. We have grown and grown together, raised three children. I don't believe in soulmates. I believe in you, C., and I love you.

Four stars out of five!

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