The True Love Experiment

By Christina Lauren,

Book cover of The True Love Experiment

Book description

Sparks fly when a romance writer and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the ultimate Hollywood love story—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script—from the “divine” (Jodi Picoult) New York Times bestselling authors of The Soulmate Equation and The…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked The True Love Experiment as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

One common theme with the books I love is that the characters are amazing. They’re funny, endearing, thoughtful, and fiery. When my fave writing duo came out with this stunning novel, I was hard-pressed to put it down. I loved Fizzy, and I have absolutely no doubt you’ll love her too.

Add in a hot British producer, a romance-based reality show, so much angst you could light a match against it, and the sweetest will-I-make-a-good-step-mom subplot, and you have a comfort read that’ll leave you wishing the show they aired was real.

Christina Lauren is always a go-to for me when it comes to romance. This best-friend writing duo really knows their stuff. They craft characters who are funny, deep, and stick in your memory long after you’ve closed the book for a final time.

The True Love Experiment was no different. Fans of CLo know that protagonist Fizzy was featured in The Soulmate Equation, which was released a few years ago. Well, she has her own book now, and going along on her journey to love was everything I hoped it would be!

Fizzy, a romance writer, has lost her…

There's a pattern to books I love: they make me laugh, they make me cry, and the female lead is a little bit of a mess. Enter Fizzy, a romance writer who's never been in love until she meets Connor Prince, the documentary filmmaker who's been tasked with directing a dating reality show with Fizzy as his lead.

Christina Lauren's books are a little hit or miss with me, but they definitely hit with this one. Every moment of the book is so clearly defined as you read that it's sort of like watching your own mental television show as…

Return to Hope Creek

By Alyssa J. Montgomery,

Book cover of Return to Hope Creek

Alyssa J. Montgomery Author Of A Spanish Seduction

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Australian USA Today bestselling romance author who writes contemporary romance and uses the pen name Alyssa James to write medieval romance. I think the makeover trope resonates with me because although I’m no beauty queen now, I was definitely an ugly duckling in my teens. For reasons best known to him, my father insisted on close-cropped hair, and financial circumstances dictated out-of-style hand-me-down clothing. After university, I found my own style, but it wasn’t until I was accepted as an international flight attendant that I believed that I couldn’t be all that ugly if Qantas employed me!

Alyssa's book list on makeover romances

What is my book about?

Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.

Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing of his own.

Mitchell, a former NFL quarterback, doesn't need the complication of encountering Stella again so long after the messy end to their relationship, but as each tries to build a new life, they are drawn together and find their chemistry is just as strong as ever.

Will their love be stronger the second time around?

Return to Hope Creek

By Alyssa J. Montgomery,

What is this book about?

When two old flames come back to their home town, sparks are bound to ignite. A rural romance from USA Today bestselling author Alyssa J. Montgomery.


A horrific car accident ended former world number-one Stella Simpson’s tennis career, and a betrayal ended her relationship with her fiancé/coach. When a family friend offers to sell her half of a property in the rural community where she grew up, it seems like the perfect place to escape, heal and begin the next phase of her life. Until she discovers that the man who broke her heart ten years ago has bought the…


While discussing books we were reading with a few other authors, one recommended Christina Lauren, a writing duo I had never read before, and another seconded that recommendation and specifically mentioned this title as a favorite. I have to agree. It quickly became one of my favorite reads of the year as well.

The story is set in the reality dating show world, but the fiction is so much more fun than the so-called “reality” of the actual shows that flood our televisions. The premise of what happens when the heroine falls for the show’s producer rather than one of…

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