Summer of Love BUDDY READ: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

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Welcome to the first of six buddy reads that Stephanie (Once Upon a Chapter), Lillian (Mom With a Reading Problem) and I will be sharing over the SUMMER OF LOVE!  Three (including today’s) will be individual reviews shared on each of our sites, while 3 will be co-reviews shared exclusively on Mom With a Reading Problem.

Obviously find my review below, and check out Lillian’s review here and Stephanie’s review here.

Title: The Soulmate Equation
Author: Christina Lauren
Published by: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Patti Murin
Length: 9 hours and 39 minutes
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Spring, Lenoreo's 2021 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Libro.FM
My rating:

Blurb:

The New York Times best-selling author of The Unhoneymooners returns with a witty and effervescent novel about what happens when two people with everything on the line are thrown together by science - or is it fate? Perfect for fans of The Rosie Project and One Plus One.

Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Raised by her grandparents - who now help raise her seven-year-old daughter, Juno - Jess has been left behind too often to feel comfortable letting anyone in. After all, her father’s never been around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before Juno was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close, but working constantly to stay afloat is hard...and lonely.

But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soul mate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands.

At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98 percent compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Pena. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Pena. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soul mate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess - who is barely making ends meet - is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that could make GeneticAlly a mint in stock prices, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist - and the science behind a soul mate - than she thought.

Funny, warm, and full of heart, The Soulmate Equation proves that the delicate balance between fate and choice can never be calculated.

My Review:

4.5 stars — I loved the sass.  I loved the snark.  I loved the emotions.  I loved the LOVE.

Patti Murin was fantastic.  I enjoyed her narration even more than I did in In a Holidaze.  I found her voices more distinct and easy to follow.  And god…her emotions and comedic timing are just top notch.  She made this book a delight to listen to.

I don’t know how they do it, but these ladies always write book boyfriend characters for me.  Which is not to say that River is perfect, by any means.  I mean, he totally bumbles big time at the end.  But he’s just so genuine and sincere and multi-faceted and shy and awkward and adorable and sensitive and…and…  I just.  SWOON.  Big time.  It’s not just the way he treats Jess, it’s how he treats her whole family, and particularly Juno.  I just adored him, flaws and all.  Everyone’s always clamouring for an alpha male, and meanwhile I’m over here just dying over the beta boys.

Jess.  Jess Jess Jess.  These authors may always know how to make me swoon over a boy, but they also know how to make me frustrated and yet empathetic towards the heroine.  She was so…aggravating at times!  But the thing is that I got where it was coming from.  I totally understood how her past had shaped her.  And while it frustrated me, I think we did get to see growth in her as well.  I was worried, but I was satisfied with how Jess navigated the relationship, especially at the end.

As for the two of them together?  They definitely had their challenges, but those moments when they connected were just fire.  And when we finally got to the steam?  Oh yeah, chemistry for days.

The secondary characters, as always, absolutely made this book.  Fizzy was fucking hilarious and odd and awesome.  I loved the friendship they had with one another.  Nana Jo and Pops were just perfect — they made me laugh so many times, but also brought the emotions.  River’s sisters were hilarious and perfect!

And then there’s Juno.  Again — as I’m sure I’ve said in many a review — I’m not a kid person.  I can take them or leave them in books usually, and sometimes I question how realistically they’re portrayed.  But wow, Juno was a firecracker.  She was smart and precocious, and so easy to love.  She was also realistically 7 in her reactions.  She added to the story, and it would not have been the same love story without her.

The concept was entirely fascinating.  I mean, I don’t know how much I believe it, or would even want it, but I loved considering that it was real and that this really did exist in the world.  These ladies do an amazing job of making something fictional fit into the world so that it feels real.  And man, the nerding out was top notch.  I didn’t understand half the things they were talking about, but I love watching people nerd out on their passions.

So yeah.  I’m all about the characters and relationships and emotions and humour, and this one just worked for me.

COYER Community: As I mentioned above, Stephanie (Once Upon a Chapter), Lillian (Mom With a Reading Problem) and I buddy read this book, and I can confidently say we all loved it.  We all grew increasingly frustrated by Jess, adored Juno, found Fizzy hilarious, and felt like this was a perfect summer read!  Lillian and Stephanie both rated it 5 stars.