Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script.

Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

What separates romance from every other genre? It’s the guaranteed happy ending. But the fun isn’t merely about what will happen in the end: it’s the journey of how. Romance will make you laugh and cry, and the best ones make their happily ever after feel earned.

Christina Lauren’s books deliver time after time but I truly think The True Love Experiment might just be their best yet.

Fizzy—a romance writer whose passion for writing romance and for living it has fizzled—is witty and flirty and confident and refreshingly direct. When she’s approached by a (very tall, very hot) producer to star in a reality dating show, she sees it as a chance to reignite her love life. Things quickly take a turn for the complicated, though, when Fizzy finds herself falling for said producer—Connor—who seems equally into her. She’s supposed to be falling for one of the eight heroes cast as her suitors, but it’s hard to fight her growing feelings. The one guy Fizzy wants more than all the others is the one behind the camera: the one she can’t have.

The True Love Experiment is a shimmering love letter to romance and everyone who enjoys it. It’s a celebration of what it means to fight for true love when you finally find it, and of loving people exactly as they are. It’s one of my favorite romances of the year—I just know you’ll love it as much as I did!