Tuesday, March 8, 2022

March 8, 2022 - Staff Reviews


The Soulmate Equation
By Christina Lauren
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Ebook Available from WV Reads


3 Stars - A slightly original romantic comedy featuring the insanity of dating apps and sites. I'm getting tired of all the novel attempts to put a clever twist on cyber dating and create virtual meet cutes. Anyone else? Jess was an adorable mess, and she and Juno made for a cute mom-daughter team. River was a bit of a tough sell at first but he turned out to be the better half of this quirky couple.

For a few weeks, I devoured this writing duo's books. Now that they've jumped on the comedy circut, I've lost a little interest. The earlier novels from these ladies in my opinion were more entertaining. Jess was odd and a bit tempermental, but she was certainly relatable on some levels. At times though, she was cringey. Her sense of humor was strange and she was not pleased when other women didn't pick up on it. River really had to be the savior of this couple and the book itself. And he almost does it. He's smart, cool, and surprisingly patient.

I did a lot speed reading here as the book is an over 300 page rom-com. Yet, I had a hard time understanding why Jess and Fizzy were friends or why she was so broke. Also, I get we're living in the age of of Tinder hook ups and online dating because the majority of conversations happening do not involve actually hearing someone's voice anymore. But it's so unromantic. I find it startling that somehow the latest regency romances manage to feel sexier than the modern ones. I'm not saying a romance has to be burn your hands steam level to be interesting but chemistry certainly helps. For two supposed science nerds, they sure did have to go looking for the spark. Basically, I think the Lauren team is capable of more than a bunch of genetic science mumbo jumbo and a weird enemies-to-lovers tag. There's a decent story buried under all that filler but apparently that enemies to lover angle is all some readers need to be happy. So it's worth a try, especially if you find the concept of being genetically attracted to someone else intriguing. 

(NS)

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