Christina Lauren books are usually a hit or miss for me. Either I absolutely adore them, or I really don’t care, and I stop after a few pages. The Soulmate Equation was an ohmygod I completely fell in love with it and didn’t want to put it down book. Yeah, that’s much I adored it. This is a sciencey romance book, and it was so much fun.
Jess is a statistician, a single mother and on the verge of giving up on love. It’s hard to date when you have a seven-year-old to look after, and after a bad date, she decides she didn’t have the time. Best friend Fizzy is not happy with that, and after a gorgeous regular in the coffee shop they frequent turns out to be one of the head scientists on a project where they hope to study your DNA and find your true love? Fizzy drags her along with her. But when Jess matches up with the scientist himself, River, she can’t believe it as this guy can’t be her soulmate.
This book was so damn fun. Once I started reading it, I really didn’t want to stop. I loved so many of the characters so much. Juno was such a sweet kid; Fizzy was a fun best friend; Jess’s grandparents were the kindest, and River could be difficult, but he had a heart of gold under the hard layers. There were just so many times where I was awwing and laughing.
I’m sure you all want to hear about the romance too, and you know what? I genuinely loved it. Their banter, the sweet moments and the chemistry…it was everything. I’m with Fizzy in that they could totally have more romance novels inspired by them. There were some sex scenes, but they weren’t all that explicit, and there weren’t too many. A personal preference though I know many will disagree. I mostly loved how River was immediately willing to help out when Jess needed him. Even if she tried to be polite and brush him off. He insisted as it was obvious she was a mess and wasn’t going to help herself. His relationship with Juno was adorable, and it was sweet seeing some father-daughter moments among the romance.
That being said, there are some sad moments too. Jess hasn’t always had the best family life. Her mum is terrible, and when something happens to one of her grandparents, it’s a nightmare. I just wanted to hug Jess and tell her she didn’t have to give everything up for them. That she deserved to be happy, And ugh, I’m so glad that she came to that realisation too.
I will say this book is rather predictable. In the scene where things start to go wrong, it’s really obvious what’s going to happen. And I did roll my eyes a little. But romance is a very formulaic genre, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You kind of expect things to be at least a little obvious.
This book has definitely made it onto my list of best books of the year. I enjoyed it so much, and it’s definitely one I’ll be rereading in the future when I need a fluffy fix.
5/5 Stars
BOOK INFO
Title: The Soulmate Equation
Author: Christina Lauren
Genre: Romance
Age Range: Adult
Publisher: Piatkus
Release Date: 05/08/21 (also out now in the US)
BUY LINKS
Lace and Dagger Books 