The Experiment Books in Order

The Experiment is one of Emma Hart's clearest high-concept romance setups. The two books, The Hook-Up Experiment and The Dating Experiment, are tied together by sibling-run websites and a very blunt question, can people really keep love out of arrangements that are supposed to stay practical, casual, or controlled?

Hart's answer is basically no, but she has a lot of fun proving it.

The series lives in contemporary New Orleans and plays with the contrast between hookups and relationships. One side of the business is built around no-strings encounters. The other is aimed at actual dating. That split gives the books a built-in argument before the couples even get started. The characters think they understand what they are offering, what they want, and what rules will protect them. Then attraction shows up, usually attached to somebody they already have history with, and the theory starts falling apart.

In The Hook-Up Experiment, Peyton tries to prove that repeated hookups do not have to mean feelings by reconnecting with her high school nemesis. That premise sets the tone for the whole series. The leads are not innocent. They go in with a plan. The problem is that plans are weak against old baggage, good chemistry, and the humiliating possibility that your sibling might be right about your love life. The Dating Experiment keeps the same general world and emotional logic, shifting to a heroine who would really like to get over the wrong man in a sensible way and finds out that sensible is not the word for any of this.

What makes the series work is the balance between concept and character. The websites are funny, memorable hooks, but Hart does not leave the books at that level. Both stories are really about pride, emotional self-protection, and the need to control a situation before it can hurt you. The romance grows out of the moment those controls stop working.

The tone is brisk and modern. Expect snappy dialogue, sexual tension, and characters who are a little too sure they are in charge. The New Orleans setting gives the books some extra color, but the real engine is the way Hart uses rivalry, history, and bad decisions to keep the couples in motion.

If you like romances built around a clear premise, The Experiment is easy to recommend. The books are fast, funny, and openly interested in the difference between what people say they want and what their actual behavior is screaming at everybody else. These are not quiet love stories. They are controlled detonations, with the characters standing close enough to pretend they did not light the fuse.