The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

Release Date: 16 May 2023

Genre: Romantic comedy

Helpful hints: If you like the bachelor, this one's for you!

Prefer closed door romance? Skip Chapters

Romance novelist Fizzy Chen is in a slump. She realizes that she's never been in love, and ends up with terrible writer's block. Producer Connor Prince is used to making nature documentaries, but the production company he works for dumps a reality TV show in his lap, he comes up with an idea. He'll target romance lovers like his ex-wife by casting Fizzy as the heroine of a new dating show. Fizzy, unimpressed by Connor, creates a list of archetypes for the heroes. We have the hot nerd, the cowboy, the cinnamon roll, and even a vampire. Will Fizzy meet her prince charming?

I honestly loved this book. I am admittedly not a fan of dating shows, but this book flips the script. Fizzy and Connor's banter is hilarious, and all of the characters are well developed. Also features Jess & River from The Soulmate Equation, and the dating show in the book ties in River's DNA based technology. I think this one is one I'll reread in the future.

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa

Publication Date: 14 Nov 2023

Genre: Romantic comedy

Helpful hints: Features a male main character in recovery from alcoholism and a female main character who considers herself to be pansexual (and has dated mostly women)

Prefer closed door romance? Skip Chapters (half of) 14, 15 26, 27

This was my first time reading an Erin La Rosa book, and I must admit that I found myself feeling like I'd jumped into the middle of something without knowing the background of the other characters. When I looked it up on Overdrive, I discovered a book about the female protagonist in Plot Twist's sister, Nina. I'm now on hold for it, (because Plot Twist was great!) but Plot Twist might make slightly more sense if you read the first book in the series, "For Butter or Worse," before this one. With that being said, there was enough information for it to still be able to be read as a standalone.

Anyway. Plot Twist is the story of bubbly Sophie Lyon, a romance author, and her seemingly grumpy neighbor/landlord Dash Montrose, a former movie star and recovering alcoholic. When Sophie gets drunk and bashes love during karaoke, she goes viral on TikTok. Her best friend Poppy sends her brother Dash over to check on a very hungover Sophie, she vomits all over him, and against all odds, they become friends. Join Sophie and Dash as he helps her navigate the world of TikTok, she attempts to learn why she's never fallen in love, and he does his best to remain sober. Hijinks and shenanigans unfold with a plot twist I probably should have seen coming but somehow didn't. Not going to lie, with as many books as I read, it's hard to surprise me these days lol. My favorite random feature was Richard the squirrel, who has an inexplicable disdain for Richard Gere. 😂

Somehow this book manages to cram a lot of tropes into one book -- best friend's brother, friends to lovers, AND grumpy sunshine -- but somehow it still works without being cliche.

I'm baaaaaaaaaack

 I'm back to reviewing books on a blog (instead of directly on Netgalley and Amazon) for the first time since 2016. My last post not so coincidentally coincided with morning sickness courtesy of my oldest daughter. 😂 

Regardless, I'm excited to be back in the world of book reviews! I've been mostly reading romantic comedies in the time she's been alive, with a focus on happily ever afters, so that's mostly what you'll see here.