The Soulmate Equation

 Fiction by Christina Lauren

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jess Davis is doing fine at the beginning of this book. She has her loving grandparents, her daughter Juno, her best friend Fizzy, and her work-from-home consulting job. She's not really looking for love... but then she meets River Pena.

River is a hot guy who frequents Jess's local coffee shop and happens to own a company called GenteticAlly. This company claims they have discovered how to scientifically find your true soulmate! Will Jess and River find true love? Don't answer that; it's not the point. This book is good enough to make the reader (almost!) forget the predictable nature of romance novels.

This was a fun little straight romance, something this author team does very well.

I also read by this author: Something Wilder

The Need

 Fiction by Helen Phillips

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Molly is a mother of two young children and a paleobotanist, and she's having trouble juggling both roles but still mostly managing. Then her husband has to go away for a week and she hears an intruder in the house one evening. Or is she imagining it?

The beginning of this story was good and grabbed my attention. I was sometimes not sure what was real and what was not. The plot was interesting but also very strange. I did not like the ending at all, but the whole thing was certainly thought-provoking. It would be fun to discuss in a book club.

The Ones We Choose

 Fiction by Julie Clark

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Paige Robson is a genetic research scientist and a single mother of eight-year-old Miles, conceived through an anonymous sperm donor. She has staunchly believed that her son has no need of a father, since she has a close extended family and plenty of love, but she discovers that Miles longs to know who his father is anyways.

This is an interesting story that weaves concrete science with the fluidity of human emotion.

I also read by this author: The Last Flight

Perfect Little World

 Fiction by Kevin Wilson

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

What is the best way to raise a child? If you asked a hundred people, whether parenting experts or not, you might get a hundred different answers to that question.

Dr. Preston Grind is a research psychologist, raised by research psychologists, and he studies families. He sets up the Infinite Family Project,  a new child-centered approach in which ten children are raised in a communal environment with ten times the parental love of an ordinary family. Will his utopian approach actually work?

This is a thought-provoking story with amazing characters.

I also read recently by this author: Nothing to See Here

Where the Forest Meets the Stars

 Fiction by Glendy Vanderah. 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jo is a graduate student in ornithology, and she’s taking a summer to do field research in a remote cabin when she gets an unexpected visitor. It’s nothing creepy, however; it’s just a little girl. But where did she come from?

This is the beginning if a really lovely character story that I enjoyed a lot. 

Flight Behavior

Fiction by Barbara Kingsolver.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a story of a young wife and mother stuck in a nothing town in the middle of nowhere, and an extraordinary thing that happens. It's a really good book, with believable characters I cared about. I would give this one two thumbs up, except...

There was one problem, though: I absolutely hated the ending. It was just the last few pages, but they ruined the experience of the novel. I'm pretending they didn't happen, even now. So you should skip that part.