SYNOPSIS

Jess is a single mom of a six year old daughter who works freelance and is struggling not only to make ends meet, but also in finding balance between working, being a mother, and dating. Her friend, Felicity, who is a romance author, urges her to get back out there and reminds her that she has a community that can help take care of her daughter. By chance, they discover the cute guy who frequents the same coffee shop as them owns a company where you can be romantically matched to someone based on compatibility through their DNA. On a whim, Jess submits her DNA sample. What could possibly happen?

MY RECAP AND REVIEW

This book was cute. It’s predictable to a point, but that’s not always a bad thing, especially in romance books. I went back and forth between liking Jess as a character. I understand her instinct to try and take care of everything on her own. I understand her hesitance in dating again after having a baby.

I didn’t like how she had a huge dislike for her romantic interest, River, in the beginning. This book tried to go the enemies to lovers approach. I don’t buy that they had beef and didn’t really like each other. I feel like Jess forced herself to find a reason to hate him because she was attracted to him. Maybe that’s the point and a testament to her as a character, but it felt forced. She would continuously say he’s an asshole, but like, he really didn’t do anything to her. She just internalized things and needed someone to blame.

This book is also a fake relationship to real relationship situation, which I can kind of get behind. They were forced to spend time together that they may not have if she wasn’t persuaded into this situation and getting paid for it.

I enjoyed all the side characters in the book- her grandparents, daughter, and best friend. They all seem close and have a sweet relationship. They’re truly a family. The book does mention substance abuse by her mother, who is constantly coming in and out of her life. It’s something Jess struggles with throughout the book and is part of why she is hesitant to date.

SPOILER AHEAD. SKIP TO OVERALL TO AVOID!

There is a third act, “break up” when Jess discovers they may not actually be a top tiered match like data suggested. She learns the data was tampered with and River goes MIA as he thinks about what this could mean for the company. They retest, and though Jess doesn’t want to see the results, he confirms they still test pretty high.

It was an interesting way to end it because the DNA testing both didn’t matter and did matter. I don’t get why she wouldn’t want to know what their scores were but still asked about if they were still matched in the highest tier. Also, River is grown. He should be able to communicate why he’s upset before isolating. Also, Jess is grown. She should have realized the results being tampered was bigger than the two of them and could have taken down his life’s work. But I digress.

I think third act breakups are a part of the romance formula in a sense. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone I’m certain situations and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them. I just feel like the reasons behind these break ups are not always reasonable and in this case I didn’t like it much.

OVERALL

Overall, the book was cute. It had its moments and I did like it, even though there were things that I didn’t like about it. The concept itself of being able to see who you’re compatible with through DNA is interesting and will always pull me in. At the same time, you’re not missing anything if you skip it. I would recommend it if you like romance books.

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