4.5 stars
StoryGraph Easy Reading Challenge 25: A book with two authors
Jessica “Jess” Davis is a single mom who tries to make ends meet doing freelance statistics work, mostly working at a local coffee shop, with her best friend writing her romance novels right next to her. She lives in a small apartment on the ground floor of the apartment building her grandparents manage, and they help her raise her daughter, just as they raised her after her irresponsible mother gave up on Jess.
While Jess very much enjoys listening to her best friend Fizzy recount her many and varied dating encounters, Jess herself has lived through enough abandonment to want to risk herself on the dating market. Especially because she wants to shield her beloved daughter from getting attached to someone and suffering the same feelings of disappointment as Jess. However, once Fizzy hears about GeneticAlly, a new matchmaking app using DNA results to find their users their perfect matches, she insists that they both try it out – after all, Jess believes in statistics, is she going to deny a chance for science to find her a possible partner?
Shortly after Jess submits her DNA sample, she is contacted by the founders of GeneticAlly. It seems Jess’ sample showed a 98% compatibility with someone. Not only is that the highest match the company has ever seen, but her match is one of the company’s founders, Dr. River Peña, a very handsome geneticist. River comes into the same coffee shop, where Jess and Fizzy work, at the exact same time every day, ordering exactly the same thing. In her previous encounters with the scientist, Jess has determined that he is stubborn, arrogant and unpleasant. He cannot possibly be her soulmate, no matter what the numbers say.
GeneticAlly really could use some good publicity before the company goes live, and they are willing to pay Jess to go on a few dates with River, take part in some interviews and keep an open mind about getting to know him. As Jess is pretty strapped for money, she doesn’t really feel like she can refuse their generous offer. Of course, as soon as the two of them start actually seeing each other regularly, relaxing and spending more time together, Jess discovers her first impressions of River might have been wrong, and starts wondering if science might have found her perfect match.
Full review here.