by Christina Lauren ★★★★☆
When we go on vacation and expect to have a decent amount of time in the car, my wife Stephanie and I have taken to listening to an audiobook on the trip, and we've found that romance novels work especially well in this format. They're fun, the story moves quickly, and if your mind wanders for a few paragraphs, you likely haven't missed anything that prevents you from fully following the plot. That's not to disparage romance novels in any way -- they are a fun escape, and it's a big reason why they are the top sellers in the world of books.
Up until now, our romance audiobooks had been confined to Emily Henry's Book Lovers and Happy Place. I hadn't "read" anything by Christina Lauren, but my friend Juli, knowing I appreciated Henry's books, suggested The True Love Experiment. As someone who unabashedly would tell people The Bachelor was my favorite show (before they unceremoniously axed Chris Harrison), this one was tailor-made for me.
The novel centers on a romance novelist named Felicity "Fizzy" Chen. After a bad breakup she's been in a rut for over a year. She can't date, and she can't write. Opposite Fizzy is Connor Prince III, a smoldering 6'5" British transplant to San Diego who relocated so he could be near his 10-year-old daughter. Connor is handed the producer role of a new dating show that will eventually become "The True Love Experiment", despite knowing nothing about reality television and having virtually no dating life. Events transpire to connect Fizzy to Connor, and she reluctantly agrees to be cast as the lead on the new show.
Since the show is a brand new concept, Connor and Fizzy (at her insistence) have creative license to design it as they'd like. One of Fizzy's final conditions of signing the contract is that in the two months they have before filming starts, she and Connor "get out of this office, away from our keyboards, and rediscover joy". It turns out that "rediscovering joy" looks an awful lot like dating, and the inevitable sparks begin to eventually fly. But wait: Fizzy is under a strict contract that forbids her from dating anyone outside of the show, and if the show doesn't succeed, Connor's job is in jeopardy. How will they navigate this sticky situation? How will Connor feel having to watch the woman he's falling for actively go on dates with eight near-perfect men that he cast on the show? How will Fizzy set aside her burgeoning feelings for Connor and make the show a success? The answer for me was "why doesn't Fizzy just pretend on the show and get together with him after?" But the stakes are too high, and author Lauren does a good job of establishing those risks and why that's not a viable option.
There's an exchange in the novel between Connor and his ex-wife Natalie that seems applicable to reference here:
"C'mon, Nat, you've got to admit romance novels are a touch predictable."
"Why? Because the couple ends up together?"
"Exactly."
"That's a rule of the genre, Connor," she says. "Which you would know if you'd even bothered to google it."
Later in the book Connor says, "Seems it's pretty hard to write a compelling book when the reader already knows how it ends." So, we know how this one is going to end...or do we? Regardless of whether you think you know the outcome, Lauren nevertheless manages to write a truly compelling novel.
The True Love Experiment is entertaining and enjoyable. Fizzy is a flirty firecracker, bold and irreverent, and there are plenty of memorable (and hilarious) moments in the book. Fizzy's the type of character who will unabashedly call Connor "Hot DILF" and "Sexy Lumberjack" to his face when they're just starting to get to know each other. Their "joy excursions" help Fizzy get her groove back, and it's fun to watch her shed her protective persona to become more vulnerable and open to finding love. Connor, meanwhile, is a nearly flawless archetypical romantic love interest. More nuance there might have made The True Love Experiment even more compelling, but he has to be pretty spectacular if Fizzy has eight near-perfect men on the show to choose from, yet we're still expected to want her to choose Connor over them. His sensitive perfection works for what the novel needs.
I'd put this one in the same class as the Emily Henry books I've read: it's a quality, feel-good story, laugh-out-loud funny, and one where the audiobook might even be a better experience than print. It's filled with humor and heart, and it's worth a read (or listen)!