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A review by starry
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.25
Last night had felt like falling into a deep well filled with stars. Jess could have stayed in his arms for hours without coming up for air.
The Soulmate Equation was an utterly unique story from Christina Lauren, beautifully weaving this story of family and love and science and fate, while grounding it all with imaginary data and a healthy does of doubt. Even at the most imaginative and the most science-y parts, they never lost the human element that is being afraid to have your heart broken, even (especially) by the person who is theoretically your perfect match.
In this story, Jess is a statistician and a single mother who lives in a multi-generational household with her grandparents in San Diego. After being not-raised by her flighty, unstable mother, Jess's main focus is making sure her seven-year-old daughter Juno never feels that same sting. When Jess's best friend Fizzy recruits her to give a DNA sample to the DNA-based dating app startup GeneticAlly run by the cute guy from their favorite coffee shop, Jess agrees on a whim. When she's called in by the board to look at some numbers, Jess assumes it's for her statistics prowess — only later realizing the DNA profile in her hand is her own, and that it's a 98% match for the CSO, River. The closest match in history by 5 percent. What starts as a financial agreement (smile for the cameras, be my fake girlfriend for company publicity) very quickly spirals into the most consuming love either of them have ever known. But how much faith are they willing to put in these numbers? Especially when Jess has Juno to consider, and she'll do anything to spare Juno the broken heart of losing someone she loves.
The Soulmate Equation had the richest sense of family in any of the CL books I've read, which I really loved. Similar to Love & Other Words and Something Wilder, the romance was only the driving force of the plot some of the time and other factors played a major role in shaping the story, something I've really loved from them. In this case, it's Jess's motherhood and River's commitment to the company he's built from the ground up. This book is science-y and we really get to see Jess in action crunching numbers and analyzing data which was super fun! Even in some of the STEM-based romances coming out lately, we haven't seen this much science on-page and I really enjoyed it here. Juno and Jess's grandparents felt like full, beautiful side characters which was a relief because kids can very quickly become props in stories like these. Juno felt like a real kid, which I loved.
I really liked Jess and I liked River, but there's a whole month of their relationship told mostly in reflection and brief asides, that I really would have loved to see pulled apart. I actually felt like River's POV epilogue filled in a lot of the domestic, everyday gaps I'd been missing. In the original novel, we see River and Jess weather enormous storms and support each other in the craziest of times, but I wanted more of what they were like in the little moments, too. I really liked this book, but I think with those extra moments of everyday softness, I would have fallen in love.
The Soulmate Equation was an utterly unique story from Christina Lauren, beautifully weaving this story of family and love and science and fate, while grounding it all with imaginary data and a healthy does of doubt. Even at the most imaginative and the most science-y parts, they never lost the human element that is being afraid to have your heart broken, even (especially) by the person who is theoretically your perfect match.
In this story, Jess is a statistician and a single mother who lives in a multi-generational household with her grandparents in San Diego. After being not-raised by her flighty, unstable mother, Jess's main focus is making sure her seven-year-old daughter Juno never feels that same sting. When Jess's best friend Fizzy recruits her to give a DNA sample to the DNA-based dating app startup GeneticAlly run by the cute guy from their favorite coffee shop, Jess agrees on a whim. When she's called in by the board to look at some numbers, Jess assumes it's for her statistics prowess — only later realizing the DNA profile in her hand is her own, and that it's a 98% match for the CSO, River. The closest match in history by 5 percent. What starts as a financial agreement (smile for the cameras, be my fake girlfriend for company publicity) very quickly spirals into the most consuming love either of them have ever known. But how much faith are they willing to put in these numbers? Especially when Jess has Juno to consider, and she'll do anything to spare Juno the broken heart of losing someone she loves.
The Soulmate Equation had the richest sense of family in any of the CL books I've read, which I really loved. Similar to Love & Other Words and Something Wilder, the romance was only the driving force of the plot some of the time and other factors played a major role in shaping the story, something I've really loved from them. In this case, it's Jess's motherhood and River's commitment to the company he's built from the ground up. This book is science-y and we really get to see Jess in action crunching numbers and analyzing data which was super fun! Even in some of the STEM-based romances coming out lately, we haven't seen this much science on-page and I really enjoyed it here. Juno and Jess's grandparents felt like full, beautiful side characters which was a relief because kids can very quickly become props in stories like these. Juno felt like a real kid, which I loved.
I really liked Jess and I liked River, but there's a whole month of their relationship told mostly in reflection and brief asides, that I really would have loved to see pulled apart. I actually felt like River's POV epilogue filled in a lot of the domestic, everyday gaps I'd been missing. In the original novel, we see River and Jess weather enormous storms and support each other in the craziest of times, but I wanted more of what they were like in the little moments, too. I really liked this book, but I think with those extra moments of everyday softness, I would have fallen in love.