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The Experiment
At twenty-nine, Holly Sparks finds herself in a position few women her age could ever imagine—CEO and owner of a prestigious matchmaking company based in Los Angeles, California. The red head can predict engagements, find impossible matches for her sometimes nearly impossible millionairesses, and dish out dating and relationship advice on her blog like nobody’s business. But none of that has helped her get far in love. With the overwhelming demands of her high-paying clients, Holly spends most of her time tending to their needs instead of her own. Balancing a career and a love life seems nearly impossible, specifically when her boyfriend of four-years decides to dump on her Valentine’s Day, the night she believes he is going to propose.
Just when this matchmaker fears her own love life is doomed, she is visited by family friend, Dr. Catherine Adams, an eighty-year old renowned relationship therapist. The doctor comes to Holly in hope of using her as bait for her latest experiment: to go undercover on her new dating website, and blog about each date for an entire year. There is only one rule—no getting involved romantically with any of the test subjects, every date is strictly experimental. This should be a breeze since Holly has been against online dating since it was invented.
After a slew of horrendous dates, Holly meets Jake McClusky. Just by his pictures on the dating website, he is the last person Holly would ever be attracted to, but of course, she agrees to meet Jake for experimental purposes. Surprisingly, he ends up being one of the more pleasant dates—a true gentleman whose passion in life is running a children’s group home in the valley.
Suddenly, love is in the air and an unexpected real romance unfolds between Holly and Jake, the kind that was never supposed to happen. Holly discovers that the line between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat and sometimes you have to risk everything for love.
Just when this matchmaker fears her own love life is doomed, she is visited by family friend, Dr. Catherine Adams, an eighty-year old renowned relationship therapist. The doctor comes to Holly in hope of using her as bait for her latest experiment: to go undercover on her new dating website, and blog about each date for an entire year. There is only one rule—no getting involved romantically with any of the test subjects, every date is strictly experimental. This should be a breeze since Holly has been against online dating since it was invented.
After a slew of horrendous dates, Holly meets Jake McClusky. Just by his pictures on the dating website, he is the last person Holly would ever be attracted to, but of course, she agrees to meet Jake for experimental purposes. Surprisingly, he ends up being one of the more pleasant dates—a true gentleman whose passion in life is running a children’s group home in the valley.
Suddenly, love is in the air and an unexpected real romance unfolds between Holly and Jake, the kind that was never supposed to happen. Holly discovers that the line between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat and sometimes you have to risk everything for love.
433 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2013
2 people are currently reading
1380 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Edlund
13 books110 followersI've been writing novels for over 15 years. I've completed 4 novels and now working on my first novella.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 18, 2013
With this book it was actually the cover and the title that drew my attention. This book wasn't even on my radar until I saw it posted on facebook as a freebie. I can't remember who posted it (I follow a lot of other book blogs) but it grabed my attention. Normally when I download a book, it sits on my kindle or kobo for a while, however this was definitely one of the books that shot right to the top of my TBR pile.
I think sometimes after you've finished a book and are looking through your bookshelf for something to read, sometimes a book just grabs you and this one did. I have 3 other books I've started but are unfinished at the moment but those are books that are collections of short stories so I tend to read those right before bed. This book I read when I was hungover after a fun night out with my new CrossFit friends and my husband didn't want anything to do with me. I think that's why I chose to read a book about experimenting with online dating which I haven't done since I was a teenager about 15 years ago! I was very curious as to what it was like these days. It was lovely to just lay down on the couch and read something completely different to what I've been reading lately. It brought me back in time but was very modern!
I really loved this novel. It took me 2 days to read because I only had a few hours reading time each day but I definitely knew exactly where I left off and was super keen to see what happened in Holly's life. This book was very real for me and kept my attention!
I rate this book 5 stars because I couldn't put it down and it was right up my alley of books! I loved the blogging elements mixed in with Holly's story! Definitely a romance novel with a twist! Highly recommend!
See my full entry at: http://www.becboots.com/books/you-should-read-if/you-feel-like-vanilla/5stars/the-experiment.html
I think sometimes after you've finished a book and are looking through your bookshelf for something to read, sometimes a book just grabs you and this one did. I have 3 other books I've started but are unfinished at the moment but those are books that are collections of short stories so I tend to read those right before bed. This book I read when I was hungover after a fun night out with my new CrossFit friends and my husband didn't want anything to do with me. I think that's why I chose to read a book about experimenting with online dating which I haven't done since I was a teenager about 15 years ago! I was very curious as to what it was like these days. It was lovely to just lay down on the couch and read something completely different to what I've been reading lately. It brought me back in time but was very modern!
I really loved this novel. It took me 2 days to read because I only had a few hours reading time each day but I definitely knew exactly where I left off and was super keen to see what happened in Holly's life. This book was very real for me and kept my attention!
I rate this book 5 stars because I couldn't put it down and it was right up my alley of books! I loved the blogging elements mixed in with Holly's story! Definitely a romance novel with a twist! Highly recommend!
See my full entry at: http://www.becboots.com/books/you-should-read-if/you-feel-like-vanilla/5stars/the-experiment.html
June 22, 2015
Let my just say, I was really excited about reading this book. The synopsis made it sound really good. And I was really glad I read it, because I have learned a great deal about relationships from it. When I first really got into the book I couldn't put it down. Holly, the main character, is this CEO and matchmaker at a company she inherited from her mom, when she passed away, and having boyfriend. And some years later everything changes because he breaks up on Valetine's Day, what can be worse, than that?
She becomes part of this experiment, where she has to date guys from a dating website, a family friend has started, for a year and blog about. And her mind is set on that she wont get emotionally involved with any of the dates. Well that didn't go as planned when she meets Jake, and they start to see more of each other, problem is he doesn't know her real name, and she falls in love and puts everything on the line. After almost a year of dating him, she cuts it of because at so happens to be, his mother becomes a member of her matchmaking company.
Jennifer has written a really great love story, about a girl who thinks everything is going the way it should, and then drastically changes direction. Then turns for the better after some time. There are challenges for Holly all the way through the story, because she can't reveal who she is to Jake, but really want to because has fallen for him. I definitely think this a book worth for you to read if you love the typical kind of romance, found in a different way than normally. I loved the book and is proud to promote this book for Jennifer, she deserves that people give this a try.
She becomes part of this experiment, where she has to date guys from a dating website, a family friend has started, for a year and blog about. And her mind is set on that she wont get emotionally involved with any of the dates. Well that didn't go as planned when she meets Jake, and they start to see more of each other, problem is he doesn't know her real name, and she falls in love and puts everything on the line. After almost a year of dating him, she cuts it of because at so happens to be, his mother becomes a member of her matchmaking company.
Jennifer has written a really great love story, about a girl who thinks everything is going the way it should, and then drastically changes direction. Then turns for the better after some time. There are challenges for Holly all the way through the story, because she can't reveal who she is to Jake, but really want to because has fallen for him. I definitely think this a book worth for you to read if you love the typical kind of romance, found in a different way than normally. I loved the book and is proud to promote this book for Jennifer, she deserves that people give this a try.
October 9, 2013
couldnt get enough ov this book loved it . makes u sit up and take note of online date'n , ov who,s out there , yes u can find true love but allso nutjobs too ,
couldnt wait to find out if holly would find her man and the twists in the book made me want to read on , love this story xx
couldnt wait to find out if holly would find her man and the twists in the book made me want to read on , love this story xx
July 29, 2013
3.75-4.00 stars
i thought the writing was really good for the most part. it grabbed your attention and was really easy to understand. i enjoyed the storyline and the characters. i did think that holly was way too forgiving with her ex roommate madelyne.
i thought the writing was really good for the most part. it grabbed your attention and was really easy to understand. i enjoyed the storyline and the characters. i did think that holly was way too forgiving with her ex roommate madelyne.
October 22, 2013
Real pager turner!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews