#5 [2024/CBR16] The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of writing partners and best friends, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. I didn't know this book was by a writing team until after I finished, but it sounds like a fun idea. And then you get to do press with your best friend, which would be way more fun than traveling around the country by yourself. Anyway, they wrote The True Love Experiment (2023), a contemporary romance novel about a reality television dating show. Now, my husband and I have been a little bit obsessed/frustrated with Love is Blind, so we are very up-to-date on reality dating shows. I thought it would be fun to read about one where love really wins out in the end. 

Fizzy Chen is a romance author who played the role of best friend in The Soulmate Equation (which I haven't read yet, but looks interesting). And now she has her own story. Fizzy is 37 years old and a successful romance author, but she's found herself in a slump. She has extreme writer's block, and hasn't had sex in over a year (which is very unusual for her). 

But then Connor Prince decides that Fizzy should headline his new reality dating show. Fizzy finds Connor intriguing, and decides that the dating show might be a fun idea. Fizzy and eight men will use a new DNA dating match app that Fizzy's best friend developed (and is the subject of Lauren's previous book). Fizzy will go on dates with them, and the audience will vote out two men each week. In the end, the audience will choose a winner. Then the DNA dating app info will be revealed, and everyone can see whether the audience did as well or better than the DNA dating app.

The main problem is that Fizzy is more attracted to Connor than any of her potential suitors on the show. She tries to squash her feelings because she doesn't want to ruin the show and/or get Connor in trouble. But both of them are having a hard time staying away from each other.

On the whole, this was a fun novel. I liked the two main characters, and I felt some emotions as I read. Although there were times, when I felt the authors were reaching a little for plot purposes, I enjoyed this one. I have so many other books to read, but I might go back and read the earlier novel as well.