Christina Lauren - Autoboygraphy

Fangirl meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this “sensitive and complex” ( BCCB ) coming-of-age novel from New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren about two boys who fall in love in a writing class—one from a progressive family and the other from a conservative religious community.
Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.
But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.
It turns out, Tanner is only partly four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

Comment: This story got on my radar because of the theme and because it would be a different type of book for authors Christina Lauren, of whom I had only read one other book. Still, these authors usually write m/f romance and I was curious abut how they would approach an m/m one, even if it was YA.

In this story we meet Tanner Scott, a student at Provo High school, as he embarks on his final year, an already quite eager to go to college. Tanner and his family moved from California to Utah for his mother's work and things have been fine but Provo is home to a huge Mormon community and they don't approve of gay relationships. Tanner is bi but he knows if he is interested in another guy, most people would not like it, even if his own family gives him all the support. He feels things will quickly change as soon as he goes to college but now, out of seemingly nowhere he meets Sebastian Brother, son of the local Bishop, a student who wrote a book in the famous Seminar class many seniors attend. But Sebastian cannot like guys, right? But how can Tanner explain the connection? Is there any hope for them?

I had liked but not loved the other book by these authors I had tried. I was still eager to try this one for the novelty of the theme - for me - and was curious to see how the authors would deal with a m/m story. I also liked reading the note at the end and how they were inspired to write this book, but I will say that for a reader that has read other m/m stories, this wasn't the most thrilling one. At the same time, this was clearly a story with a message,so...

The story is told by Tanner except a couple of chapters closer to the end, which are in third person focused on Sebastian. I liked Tanner as narrator because he is funny, smart, interesting and he happens to have a supportive family which tells us how much support he has at home. I liked seeing this perspective and the close relationship he has with his parents and sister, but the parents really are great. Regardless of this, though, he is still at a teenager age, about to move on to new adult and some of his behavior shows. There is a reason why I tend to avoid YA novels....

Anyway, the conflict here is mostly related to how Sebastian is part of the Mormon community and the "rules" for those who profess this faith are very specific and this does affect how Sebastian and Tanner could be seen by others if they were to become a couple. I think the authors really did a good job presenting the traditional adolescence issues with this specifically religious aspect; after all, they could not assume if they were a couple if Sebastian wanted to remain part of the Church.

There is doubt, fear, anxiety but also eagerness and true feelings while these two become closer and until their first kiss. As expected, a lot of the issues are set on the forbidden aspect, so much that added with the YA label, this story is a bit too plain in how the attraction between that is portrayed. Still, the way they think and process their emotions and how they cannot control the opinion of others is always at the back of their minds. To be fair, they don't have time to be a couple before serious obstacles happen in the plot and the focus isn't on the physicality of their relationship, but I still think some things were made to seem a bit too simplistic in that regard.

As I kept reading, some details started to be quite predictable and namely the progress of the relationship and where it would go felt very obvious. At some point a big conflict related to Sebastian's parents and how they would "hypothetically" deal with a child that was not heterosexual caused major issues. Then, in my opinion, Tanner does something which feels like a very pointless decision by the authors. I thought to myself, why, this is not necessary, and it ended up coloring my overall notion of the book. I think this detail i'm thinking of, quite the spoiler, was not well done.

To top this, as the story ends, the characters make some decisions and I feel the story should not end the way it did, basically because some decisions are not that easy, nor emotionally likely. To me, this would not be a romance, considering the themes developed and the choices taken by the authors. This said, the story is cute at times, has many positive elements, I did like it more than the other book but it wasn't as emotionally fulfilling as I imagined.

Grade: 7/10

Christina Lauren - The Soulmate Equation

Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. After all, her father was never around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before her daughter was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close but working constantly to stay afloat is hard...and lonely.
But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands.
At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98 percent compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Peña. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Peña. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess—who is barely making ends meet—is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that could launch GeneticAlly’s valuation sky-high, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist—and the science behind a soulmate—than she thought.

Comment: The writing duo Christina Lauren has been well liked by many readers but I must confess something about the blurbs of their books just didn't "call to me" and I didn't mind I might be missing out. However, the blurb of this one felt intriguing and I wondered how the authors would develop such a premise, so I've convinced a friend who also had it in her TBR and we buddy read it.

In this story we follow heroine Jess Davies, a single mother trying to make ends' meet - and humbly succeeding - at the same time she raises her daughter and deals with the frustration of what it means to be a single woman trying to date. She and best friend Felicia hear about this new app whose matchmaking method is based on DNA and on a whim they both send their samples. Jess is surprised to learn she has a 98% match result, something unheard until now and the company directors call her in, trying to think about a way to market the app further. And who is Jess' match? One of the founders of the app, dr River Peña, who also happens to be the man she and Felicia see every single morning getting his Americano at the same coffee place they go to. But Jess has doubts this works despite the numbers, can she and River really match beyond those results?

I think what I probably liked the most about this novel was the substantial research the authors must have done on matchmaking apps, on math, on odds, on all the necessary things to present a DNA based matchmaking method that kind of sounds plausible. I mean, I'm not knowledgeable about any of those subjects, but the more technical information used here, even though I can't say how realistic it is, sounded strong and helped me to accept the odds presented throughout the story.

I kept thinking, though, as the characters sometimes, could a DNA match be that competent to mean a couple would have an instant connection even if, perhaps, there wasn't chemistry between them? The couple still needed to get to know each other, right? It could not be a given that the couple would work out without much effort, isn't' it? I suppose the authors tried to follow some of these issues by choosing two characters who are practical and have a more scientific background ( Jess works with data and statistics) so that their path to happiness wouldn't be due to simple romance expectations. Well, if it wasn't so, it felt like it to me.

Overall, the story was both cute and clever but I wasn't dazzled by it. I can't decide if I feel the authors took too long setting up the app and Jess' character - we don't have River's POV - or if the book just wasn't long enough for the romance to feel strongly developed, but I had the feeling Jess and River are placed in a situation they can't truly control but they are still expected to match right away. In a way, the romance wasn't that romantically done. Despite the app and what it should mean, I still wanted to have scenes with them bonding, with them really feeling the chemistry, with them learning about one another in such a way that the notion they could be "the one" would be effortless and spontaneous.

I think this isn't an obvious conclusion, though, and then there are also many distractions. The story is told in third person but focused on Jess and, in a way, this is a little unfair to the hero, for I feel River was not as fully developed, even though he shares things about himself with Jess.

The thing is, a lot more is focused on Jess and in how her unbalanced relationship with her mother affected her need to be in control of her life, how much she loves her daughter and her grandparents and how money worries sometimes affect her too... all these things are valid elements to make Jess wary of a new romance but I thought the goal would be to have River "convince" her that they would be a good couple and, sadly, I didn't finish the book with that impression.

As expected, when things start to go better for them and it seems as if their connection really has a base to go, something happens that makes Jess doubt things, then River doubts as well and it seems as if they can't trust their feelings enough to advance. I understand this need to add some sort of conflict, so that we could more easily accept their decision and their (kind of) emancipation from those problems they believe could separate them, but by this point I was simply liking the story, not really loving it.

All things considered, this wasn't a bad book, no. But the sum of all the parts and the rather weak romance just didn't fully convince me. I liked having the experience of reading a book by these authors but I can't say I'm a fan... Perhaps I'll try another book one day if I see it at the library.

Grade: 6/10