49 pages • 1 hour read
Christina LaurenThe True Love Experiment
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 11-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary: “Fizzy”
Connor comes to Fizzy’s signing looking like a “hot lumberjack” in flannel and jeans. She realizes that she saw him at the bar when she was out with Jess and feels a flutter of attraction. She enjoys watching him converse with her dad. She doesn’t want to like him but hopes the flutters mean the old Fizzy is coming back.
After the signing, she and Connor discuss how romance readers are fangirls. Fizzy realizes Connor is becoming interested in the concept of the show, and she suggests they get something to eat.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Connor”
Connor is impressed by Fizzy and wants to impress her in turn. She orders tacos for him, and he’s turned on by watching her eat. Connor recaps the format of the show and then shares more about his background; he came to live in the US with his dad after an accident left his mother with severe anxiety and agoraphobia. He describes his daughter as “part princess, part evil mastermind” (94).
Chapter 13 Summary: “Fizzy”
Fizzy explains to Connor that she never followed up on her DNADuo matches because she was burned by finding out that Rob, a guy she was dating before, was married—she didn’t like being the other woman. Fizzy broke it off as soon as she found out, but about a year later, she ran into his wife, who recognized her from photos on Rob’s phone. She revealed that they divorced and told Fizzy she “was free to have him if she still wanted him” (99).
Connor asks if she is ready for a relationship, and Fizzy thinks, “I know what love looks like—and I’ve written it so many times—but I’ve never felt it myself” (99). She’s attracted to Connor but realizes they’re in a gray area, and she’s never felt that before. She invites him into her house, but he says they can’t indulge their attraction; the goal of the show is to find her soulmate. Fizzy says she’s good at compartmentalizing, but Connor says he’s not.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Connor”
Connor tells Nat about the situation with Fizzy while they discuss childcare arrangements. Then, he begins the process of casting Fizzy’s heroes. The first candidate they interview, Isaac, fits the bill for Hot Nerd. The director, Rory, and Connor’s assistant, Brenna, are both impressed. Connor is curious about casting The One That Got Away, but the men don’t give him any insight into Fizzy. The final decision of the day is Nick, a veterinarian, as the Cinnamon Roll. Nick says what he’s looking for in a relationship is joy.
They have a great cast of heroes, and Connor hates all of them.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Fizzy”
Jess invites Fizzy to her daughter Juno’s soccer game. Fizzy is enthusiastic and makes a T-shirt proclaiming herself Juno’s biggest fan. She looks over at the soccer coach and appreciates his good looks before realizing it’s Connor. She has met Stevie, his daughter, who is adorable. Fizzy tells Jess that she initially thought of Connor as a Lego figure. Connor overhears this and says he hopes he’s either Batman or the Hot Lifeguard.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Connor”
After the game, Connor and Fizzy discuss his coaching outfit. He also tells her they’ve cast the show’s heroes. Stevie notices a Wonderland sticker on Fizzy’s phone, Fizzy tells her she can get them tickets to their sold-out concert.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Fizzy”
Fizzy, Connor, Stevie, and Juno attend the Wonderland concert together. Standing in line to enter, Fizzy asks Connor to lift her onto his shoulders so she can see the entrance.
After they get inside, the group realizes that Fizzy got them a private suite. Juno and Stevie are excited. Fizzy and Connor talk, and Fizzy realizes she genuinely likes him. She is struck by his devotion to Stevie. Connor says he assumed that Wonderland’s fan base would be all preteen girls, but the audience is made up of people of many different ages.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Connor”
Connor can’t keep his eyes off Fizzy, but he also enjoys the energy of the concert. He is impressed that Stevie seems to know every beat of the show, and Fizzy says that is what fangirls do. Fizzy asks about Connor’s love life and if he’s tried DNADuo. She teases him until he admits she is delightful, and she challenges him to call her his new best friend.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Fizzy”
After the show, Fizzy is affected by watching Connor carry a worn-out Juno into her house. She declines a ride home and instead stays to chat with Jess, who notices that Fizzy is insisting she just wants casual sex. River walks into the room when Fizzy says something crude, then leaves. Fizzy insists that she just wants to get Connor out of her system; she resists the thought of having real emotions.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Connor”
Fizzy and Connor continue their joy quests in the weeks of preproduction. On the last night before shooting starts, Connor takes her to Torrey Pines, a beach known for the bioluminescence in the water. He admits that what brings him joy is sharing moments with people he loves, and Fizzy says what brings her joy is hanging out with him. Connor realizes he is falling in love with her.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Fizzy”
On the beach, Fizzy is surprised to realize that beneath the physical attraction, she likes Connor. He makes her feel like a more grounded version of herself. Fizzy kisses him, and she feels like she’s never been kissed like this before. She thinks, “I know passion […] but already this is something else” (156). Their embrace intensifies, but before they undress, Connor says he needs the show to work, and that means they can’t have sex.
Chapters 11-21 Analysis
With the meet-cute part of the romance plot over, this section focuses on the romantic leads overcoming their misperceptions about each other as they interact more. This includes learning their backstories, like how Connor moved from England to live with his father, and this additional information gives him depth and dimension in Fizzy’s eyes. Lauren uses humor to highlight this change when Connor overhears Fizzy remarking that she initially thought of him as a Lego figurine, indicating that he’s more complex than she thought. Connor extends the joke, hoping for a good archetype, like “Hot Lifeguard.” In contrast to the misunderstanding between them in Chapter 6, which makes Fizzy dislike Connor, this one brings them closer together, gesturing at their compatibility and growing romance.
Their compatibility is also signaled when they meet each other’s families; Fizzy is charmed by Connor’s daughter, Stevie, at the soccer game, and Connor enjoys his discussion with Fizzy’s father, Dr. Ming Chen. The approval of the family members is, as Fizzy mentions, an important part of a successful relationship, setting the couple up for their happy ending. The concert also allows Fizzy to see how Connor approaches fatherhood, creating another opportunity for admiration that hints at something beyond casual sex or simple physical attraction. Additionally, Fizzy and Stevie’s shared love for Wonderland allows them to connect, foreshadowing the happy family that emerges with Connor and Fizzy’s union. While getting concert tickets can be classified as part of The Pursuit of Joy for Fizzy, it is also an opportunity to get closer to Connor. She continues to educate him on the appeal of the romance genre and fangirl behavior, while he admits that his initial Attitudes Toward the Romance Genre keep being proven wrong. Their discussion of Fizzy’s readers at her book signing gives Connor more information about the loyalty and devotion of romance readers, continuing to emphasize the genre’s breadth and appeal.
While Fizzy doesn’t think of herself as maternal, seeing Connor’s nurturing qualities and the bond he has with his daughter deepens her attraction, but at this point in her character arc, she insists she is only interested in sex and not any other kind of attraction. This disjunct becomes more glaring in this section, particularly when Jess, who fills the mentor archetype, draws attention to it. By the end of this section, Fizzy recognizes that Connor has become her new favorite person, and she seems willing to explore what this means. The denial of their mutual attraction heightens the novel’s sexual tension, drawing out the anticipation for the moment they do finally come together.
Casting the romance heroes who will date Fizzy moves the plot forward but also provides another opportunity for the novel to comment on the beloved conventions and tropes of the genre. The Darcy, an archetype of the Regency genre, appears proud and reserved at first but proves passionate and devoted. Hot Nerd and Tattooed Bad Boy are contemporary romance archetypes, while Vampire is a playful nod to the popularity of books like the Twilight series, which will be referenced later. The One Who Got Away provides an in-joke for Connor and Felicity since she told Connor about Evan’s Bart Simpson tattoo. However, this also shows how their deepening connection causes conflict and tension with the show, the point of which is to find Fizzy a partner. Connor hating all of the heroes they cast emphasizes this point.
Throughout these chapters, Fizzy resists and subverts traditional romance plotlines in which the woman is pursued and the man is sexually experienced or emotionally aloof. In a neat turnaround, Fizzy is the sexually adventurous one in this pairing, while Connor proves less interested in casual sex. This is a feminist statement in support of women’s sexual agency and the power of choice, a view the authors advance throughout the book. This lens is underscored by the text’s consistent validation of the romance genre, contradicting critics who devalue women’s media.
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