




At a cocktail party, Jess and River share a passionate kiss in public. She concludes that she is attracted to him, and that the feeling is mutual. Jess’s physical response to River continues to escalate when they participate in a newspaper interview and photoshoot. On their first date, she is surprised by his charm and humor, as well as his kindness towards Juno-who interrupts their date by walking over to the restaurant, which is next door to Jess’s apartment. Jess holds on to her first impression of River-however, this changes as they get to know each other. After consulting Fizzy, Pops, and Nana Jo, Jess agrees to the offer-made all the more appealing by her recent loss of a major client. They proceed to offer Jess $30,000 to date River for the next three months, until the official launch of DNADuo. When she arrives, GeneticAlly employees inform her and River that they are a Diamond Match with a score of 98-the highest score the company has ever seen. Soon after, she receives a message asking her to return to GeneticAlly. The highest match is the rare and elusive Diamond Match, which has proven mostly accurate in predicting successful long-term relationships.Īlthough Jess still dislikes River, she decides to send in a spit sample after a particularly bad day. Jess is impressed with the technology, which uses over 3,500 genes to match clients based on compatibility. A few hours later, an enthusiastic Fizzy drags Jess to River’s office, and they watch a presentation on DNADuo-River’s genetics-based matchmaking platform. River invites her and Fizzy to his company, GeneticAlly, to learn more. Jess approaches him about it, experiencing an intense physical reaction to his touch that will persist throughout their relationship. However, when Jess and Fizzy find out that River is the head of a matchmaking company, they decide to investigate further. She and her best friend, romance writer Felicity Chen (Fizzy), spend their days doing work at Twiggs and scoping out regular patron River-who they initially know as “Americano.” While Jess finds River physically appealing, she is less impressed by his supposedly antisocial, rude, and solemn personality. She has fallen into a rut, spending most of her time with Juno and her grandparents or at Twiggs, the neighborhood coffee shop. While Jess is comfortable raising her daughter, Juno, with the help of her grandparents, Pops and Nana Jo, she is unsatisfied with her love life. Jess is a single mother in her late twenties who struggles to balance parenthood and her career as a freelance statistician. The Soulmate Equation tells the story of the blossoming relationship between protagonist Jessica Davis (Jess) and geneticist Dr.
