Authors Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, writing as Christina Lauren, bring another shop stopper in THE TRUE LOVE EXPERIMENT.  Loosely tied to THE SOULMATE EQUATION (my very favorite book of 2021), THE TRUE LOVE EXPERIMENT is my top read of 2023 thus far, and it's so fabulous that I can't imagine anything else this year could possibly eclipse it.  This is an outstanding rom-com full of big laughs, body positivity, and snappy dialogue.  It made me ugly cry in several spots due to all the feels, too.  One can't help but think that a lot of the struggles the romance author heroine deals with are drawn from real-life experiences of the authors, dealing with society's general disdain for romance and the devaluing of women’s topics.

Our heroine is Felicity “Fizzy” Chen, a bestselling romance author who's in a major life slump.  She's contacted by a production company who wants her to be the lead in a reality dating show, and isn't that  just an awesome concept to watch an author who brings the world Happily Ever Afters find her own happiness on air?!  Fizzy is trying to recapture her mojo and agrees, but has her own spin on the reality show format, for example demanding contestants that fit the main romance book archetypes like Hot Nerd, Cinnamon Rolls, and the One That Got Away. 

Conner Prince III is the producer, who normally works on socially conscious documentaries but is shoved by his boss into this foreign milieu of reality TV.  Conner is the bomb.  He's delightful, quiet, and self-actualized.  He is such a good man with an incredibly loving heart.  The two of them together seem like maybe they should clash, but they smooth each other's edges and make each other MORE.

I adore Fizzy!  She is live-out-loud fun, with an infectious exuberance that sweeps up her friends, her coworkers, and the reader into her lust for life.  The authors describe Fizzy as bold and bright, and I think that is perfect.  While Fizzy is meeting the eight hunks who are competing to be her true love on the reality show, however, Fizzy and Connor are quietly falling in love.  There is a lot of fun and a lot of angst that this burgeoning relationship brings.  And wow, their chemistry is off the charts!

THE TRUE LOVE EXPERIMENT is hilarious, poignant, and ebullient.  Lauren’s book heads straight to my keeper shelf, and I know THE TRUE LOVE EXPERIMENT is a book I will re-read each year to relive the utter delight of this rom-com romp.