I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Single mom Jess meets her DNA match with Dr. River Pena in this disappointing contemporary romance.
The Soulmate Equation, sadly, did not touch my soul. With a plucky premise and a solid beginning, I expected to love it. Instead, I found myself barely able to tolerate the tepid romance between Jess and River. Their chemistry completely crumbled once the two discovered they were a match made in DNA (or is it RNA?) heaven. Insta-love between the two swept away all of their previous problematic interactions. Insta-love isn’t bad, per se, but I expect a bit more emotional depth and character development in my contemporary romances.
My other issue is the relationship between Jess and her mother. I didn’t love how their codependent relationship was handled in the book. If my mother was as toxic as Jess’ mother, I would not have been throwing my life savings away with a “don’t come back” threat. It showed Jess falling back on bad habits, and I very much doubt this episode would be the last time she would see her mother. Since it was an important part of the story, the resolution between the two should have been more impactful and fully realized than it appeared to be.
tl;dr The romance between Jess and River was too insta-love for my taste.