For The True Love Experiment book review, the following words are sparkling firecrackers in my head: fun, pants-feelings, fun, hot Brit, fun, DILF, fun… You get the idea—THIS BOOK IS FUN! But there’s more to it than that…
The reason Joe and I picked The True Love Experiment for our latest listen is for the cover. It looks like mine for One Thing Better, and my competitive side wanted to ensure that though the covers could be twinsies (fraternal, not identical), our stories weren’t.
Whew… our novels are nothing alike except (hopefully) that mutual readers would find them both fireworks-level entertaining.
We also picked it because it’s Christina Lauren—a bestselling duo (yeah, that’s right—a writing partnership) whose books have tempted us for a while. And the idea of two women joining forces to write books… TOGETHER… inspires wardrobe-to-Narnia-style wonderment in me. How can this exist? It’s so magical and strange. I don’t understand how this world exists so closely to mine.
And… ah, I can’t wait to visit this world again! (More about them and their process here)
The True Love Experiment is Christina Lauren’s latest release, and here’s the blurb:
Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script—from the New York Times bestselling authors of The Soulmate Equation and The Unhoneymooners.
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 cast the contestants according to a list of romance archetypes. 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 New York Times bestselling 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.
Sweet blurb, right? As a writer, I’m a wee bit of a blurb connoisseur—they are so damn hard to write!
I love so much about this story. Fizzy is a romance writer suffering from writer’s block, and I’m a sucker for books about writers for obvious reasons. She’s also suffering from a libido block since she came to the revelation that she’s a romance writer who’s never been in love (that is, her pants-feelings are gone!). Pants-feelings is a great example showing that Christina Lauren is/are exceptionally clever with their phrasing and descriptions. Joe and I laughed the whole time when she described her hero archetypes—vampire, hot nerd, cinnamon roll, etc. The way the novel kept us laughing and engaged made us fall in love with their writing!
Book review ideas for The True Love Experiment started this morning with Joe on our usual walk. Here’s a sample of that conversation (as I remember it):
Me (ogling the hot jogging couple passing us): We’ll get back to our hot bodies one day.
Joe: Are you getting pants-feelings?
Me (chuckling): Um, I’m glad you can’t tell one way or the other. That must be such a bother for men. I’m writing that review today.
Joe: How many stars are you giving it?
Me: Don’t know. Four.
Joe (aghast): Four? Why not five?
Me: You think five?
Joe: It was funny, entertaining, well-written, and had a great premise.
Me: Yes, all that’s true. I wish I could give it a four and a half.
Joe (thinking I’m stingy): Why not a five?
Me: The True Love Experiment is delightfully fun and beautifully written, and I’d recommend it. But it’s not a book I relate to on an emotional level. The world of super-hot, uber-successful people feels like another planet to me. It’s like a soap opera—I love it because it’s beautiful and sexy, but I slightly hate it, too. It’s not real.
Joe: I can see that. You prefer real over perfect.
Me (smirking because that’s a line from my book, One Thing Better): Exactly.
Joe: If this book isn’t a five for you, what is?
Me: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman [giggling], The Maid by Nita Prose, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman [giggling again], and oh, When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole because… holy shit!
Joe: Watch out! Bike!
Me (smirking and edging over): Thanks, honey. Romance isn’t dead.
Joe: So, a five-star book has what, exactly?
Me: They are ones I want to read again. They give me something to think about long after they’re over. They’re books I relate to, and that shift my perspective…. But giving The True Love Experiment a four doesn’t mean I didn’t LOVE Fizzy and Connor! I love Fizzy and Connor!
Joe: Who doesn’t?
Me (gasping and slapping Joe’s arm): If I’m going to keep doing book reviews, I should probably have a key on my website for what the stars mean to me. [star rating key added to must-do list]
Joe (chuckling): Did that idea give you pants-feelings?
Me: Thank you, Christina Lauren, for adding to our couple-vocabulary.
Joe: That ranks up there with “Too Many Wine” from The People We Meet On Vacation.
Me: Talking books with you gives me pants-feelings. [wink]
*end scene*
The gist of our The True Love Experiment book review comes down to this… For a fun, funny, lovely, romantic escape, put The True Love Experiment on your to-read list. There are many laugh-out-loud moments and good pants-feelings, throughout.
Now, from a writer’s viewpoint, a few takeaways.
Writing should be fun, damn it!
Fizzy reminds me that humor adds so much to a story. Even during a story’s low points, a humorous description or quirky side character (a la Dot from One Thing Better) enhances the moment, like how adding a little spice to chocolate brings out its flavor. Finding fun ways to describe something (a la pants-feelings) not only gives readers an understanding to latch onto but makes it more memorable.
Remembering that it should be fun gives a writer freedom. When I wrote the last book of my Delilah Duffy Series, I said to myself… This is the last one, and I’m going to make it kickass, fun, and everything I want it to be! Unhindered from the shackles of trying to keep the series going and worries about expectations, I threw caution to the wind. I gave my sweet Delilah everything I wanted for her and threw her into her toughest battles yet—multiple murders, bookish mysteries, high stakes, and, of course, her nemesis. I had so much fun writing that book that I felt guilty for spending so much time on it. But, of course, it ended up being the best in the series—so worth it! Totally worth it!
Having fun with it makes writing better.
Give the readers what they want!
A quarter of the way through The True Love Experiment, Joe and I spouted off story predictions like seasoned psychics—we got most of them correct. One might say this makes the story predictable, but who cares? It gave us exactly what we wanted, and we’re excited to download another Christina Lauren book as a result. We trust them now and are excited to follow them into whatever sexy, soap-opera world they want to take us.
Of course, there was ONE thing in The True Love Experiment left undone. I won’t say what—no spoilers—but it prompted another discussion between me and Joe.
Joe: Wait. What? Did we find out —–?
Me: No.
Joe: Do we need to rewind? We missed something.
Me: No, we didn’t. It’s not there.
Joe: Why the fuck not?
Me: I believe the authors made a creative choice not to include it. It doesn’t matter. [I go on to explain why]
Joe (huffing): No. That’s not right. It should be there. I don’t like this.
Me: But it doesn’t matter to the story.
Joe (resigned): This is the only thing I don’t like about this book. The only thing.
Me (patting his back consolingly): Still want to read The Soulmate Equation?
Joe: Of course, I want to read the fucking Soulmate Equation.
*end scene*
So, giving the readers what they want, even if it’s not entirely what they want, translates to creating fans. But it’s okay to play with us a little. BUT JUST A LITTLE.
P.S. If you want to read The True Love Experiment, start with The Soulmate Equation—it’s the first in this series. It’s not really a series, but the books are like cousins.
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