I was excited to read this book by one of my favourite writers Philippa Ashley, under the pen name of Ashley Croft, and I was not disappointed. It is the perfect holiday read, and is so much more than a rom-com because the true focus is on sisterhood; the relationship that Molly and Sarah have, which has some ups and downs, including an ethical issue which I must admit made me feel a little uncomfortable. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone, but what I would say is persevere even if the ethics make you question EVERYTHING.

I really loved the relationship Molly has with her boss, Ewan, and I found him, even at his grumpiest, to be that fatally attractive combination of sexy and intelligent, in spite of his flaws. The charity tandem race they ended up taking part in plus the training they did beforehand was both hilarious and a great way for them to spend time together.

Sarah was a more complex character but I love the bond she had with handsome widower Liam, who she met when he attended her class to make a wedding tiara for his daughter’s forthcoming marriage. He was just adorable in every way, and so incredibly patient

Many thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Dr. Molly Havers was a research scientist and Professor Ewan Baxter’s research assistant. They were working on a project nicknamed “ Love Bug” project. The top-secret project was a revolutionary hormone designed to help humans bond. Than rectically it could make two individuals fall in love. Ewab didn’t have a romantic gene in his body. Her older sister sarah had told her several times Ewan was a lost cause. Sarah had taken on the role of surrogate mother since their parents had died in a car accident. It was New Year's Eve and Molly asked Ewan if she could call it a day as she wanted to get ready for the party. She asked Ewan if he was going and he said he didn’t know. The party and the potential of getting drunk was her one hope of persuading Ewan to let his hair down. Molly added he was expected to be there. Molly said “ when you’re awarded the MBE in the New Years honor list people want to celebrate. Ewan didn’t have an ego and had refused to accept he was responsible for the labs pioneering work into parent and baby bonding among primates. Sarah loved with Niall and they had been together for two years, Niall was a paramedic. Sarah was supposed to stay at Molly’s for the night but she just found out she was pregnant and wanted to be home when he got off shift to share the news. When she came home she heard a noise upstairs and thought there was a theif in the house than she recognized Niall’s voice. She went up the stairs to their room and found him tied up by the ambulance driver Vanessa both were naked. Niall had been behind Sarah quitting her job at the band to start her own tiara making business she had only started a couple months ago. Molly had a crush on Ewan over a year now. Ewan hadn’t responded to any of Molly’s hints. After their parents had died it was sarah who had Molly on the rails and made sure she went to uni . Sarah who encouraged her and supported her through some of the darkest days of her life, of both their lives. Molly and ewan had kissed and then he just dropped her in front of everyone. The next day ewan called her into his office. After discussing the project, he told her he wanted to sleep with her but it would be unprofessional if he slept with her and started seeing her, than how could he supervised her and work with her. He said they were going to focus totally on their research, making this project a success, and publish their results. It would be a big thing for Molly to be associated with ewan baxter, in scientific terms, if not in other ways.
This was an enjoyable book to read. I loved ewan and molly together and happy to see Sarah get her HEA. This did drag at little for me at times. I had some difficulty with the terminology at times but got through it. I liked the plot. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend it.

Ashey Croft tells the story of two sisters who could not be more different, but that is my favorite thing about them. After the death of their parents eighteen year old Sarah becomes the guardian of her little sister, Molly, and nothing is ever the same. After New Year's both sisters are dealing with relationship nightmares and they have to figure out how to move forward when the unexpected happens in their relationships.

At times, I found both sisters trying, but having a sister myself I find this relatable and accurate. Croft tells a story of two people who love each other more than anyone else and how they find partners to move forward with. Full of quirky humor and adventures, and no small amount of exercise (cycling really?) Molly and Sarah's story is a keeper.

2.5 rounded up to 3 stars. This might not be the best romance story, but it was a nice and readable story nonetheless. The writing is pretty average for this genre, nothing particularly special, but easy and quick to wizz through.

Despite the morality and not very evaluated talk about consent and ethic when using the Love Bug, I find the characters came to their senses very quickly, and realizing the wrongs in their doing. I skimmed a few reviews who rated the book very low because of said disagreement on morality, but for me, when it comes to ChickLit I don’t have a lot of expectations wether certain scenarios are super realistic or not, because the book really isn’t that bad. I don’t have to agree with every decision a character makes and characters with knacks are absolutely fine. The motives for their actions were explained throughout the alternating POVs.

Sarah’s behavior and feelings towards her cheating ex-boyfriend were well reasoned. Getting over someone you loved so dearly ain’t no joke, and though her desperation was whiny and silly at first, I thought it was very raw and human to be feeling the way she did. Why does a person have to suck it up and get over someone they love so quickly, because that someone hurt them? It doesn’t make the pain subside any faster. Shit like that hurts. There’s nothing wrong in wanting them back even if you know it might not be the smartest thing to do. But human emotions are confusing, making you go for irrational steps. I’m glad she grew as a character, realizing that she’s better off on her own, giving herself time to heal and to find back to herself.

Molly has a great sense of humor, her wit and sarcasm brought great laughter within the dialogues. She knows that Sarah did a great deal on getting her where she is now. I enjoyed seeing the bond of two sisters. Their relationship was healthy and they are very considerate towards each other. Never wanting to hurt the other and always wanting the best for them, even if some decisions made situations more complicated than before.

I also liked how Ewan and Liam were portrayed. Ewan at first might seemed a little distant and not very interesting, but showed vulnerability and sensibility behind his hard shell. Liam was a sweet addition to the cast. I liked his honesty and directness, and I think his certainty is what Sarah really needed. Pete the Parasite was also a fun recurring character.

There was a lack of romance. It was sweet at parts, but because it focused on two stories at once which are intertwined, there was not much space to develop the relationship of each of the couples. I liked the love story between Molly and Ewan better. It was fun to see how their harbored crushes on each other developed during their tandem training sessions.

Plotwise, we get two narratives who deal with their own problems while juggling the Love Bug drama, so there's enough to deal with. The whole thing with Ewan’s ex-wife was a little melodramatic and not needed, as there was a lot of back and forth already.

All in all, the story was wrapped up nicely, and a lovely depiction of the strength of sisterhood.

This was a cute contemporary with a slight science twist that took my nerdish heart all the way. 

Going into it, I was hoping for more of a science-heavy vibe, but instead it was only briefly touched on as more of a characterization aspect. 

I enjoyed the sisters and couldn't help cheering them on the entire time. I flew through this one in only a few sittings, and I recommend this story for lighter romance readers who just want something to brighten their day. 

I gave this a 3 out of 5 stars. While I did enjoy the plot, how it played out was a little cheesy and predictable for my taste, but overall, it was a fun book to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

1.5⭐️

Oh boy. This book was a bit of a mess. It started off pretty promising, not great but decent, until about 55% of the way through. And then it went seriously downhill for me. I hate to post a mostly negative review, but I’m struggling to think of anything I liked for this one.

This story focuses around two sisters. Molly, a scientist working on a “Love Bug” aka essentially a drug to make someone fall in love with you, and Sarah, a bridal jewelry maker. Molly is hopelessly in love with her boss, geeky and oblivious Ewan. Sarah has recently found out that she is pregnant with boyfriend Niall’s baby and intends to tell him on New Year’s Eve, but before she can do that she walks in on him having a rather kinky affair.

First of all, the writing in this book was just okay. There were a few instances where scenes would jump around without warning and I’d have to double back to see if I missed the transition. There were also some scenes we got an antagonizing amount of detail for, and then bigger confrontations that were entirely glossed over and skipped. The characters themselves were very one dimensional and flat. Even the supposed love interests weren’t very, well, interesting. They kept getting into shenanigans and I kept struggling to find a reason to care.

The crux of this story is Sarah trying to get revenge on her ex, Niall, by asking her sister to sneak her very top secret Love Bug into his system so he’ll come crawling back to her. I had a hard time believing Molly, someone who we are repeatedly told over and over again is a genius, would risk her career and potential relationship with her boss for by agreeing to that but spoiler alert, she does. Also Sarah is pregnant and very obviously has another man interested in her and should sort out her priorities rather than pining after her sleazeball of an ex boyfriend. But here we are. They just make dumb decisions again and again and never really face any consequences for them.

I was definitely pulled in by the cutesy cartoon cover and was hoping for something light, fluffy, and funny but unfortunately this just didn’t hit the mark for me on any of those things.


TW: loss of a parent, brief mention of loss of a spouse.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I first requested this book on NetGalley, but it was definitely not this.

The blurb of The Love Solution made this book sounds like a cute and light romance, which exactly what I was looking for because I've been trying to explore my reading as much as possible this year. Here's the deal. It's not.

I had so many problems with this book!
❌ The ethical issue of Love Bug. I knew that science will take part in this story, but I didn't realize that the purpose is to force people to love you. And the fact that Sarah wanted to use it on the ex-boyfriend that cheated on her, blamed her for his own mistake and got the nerve to be the one who dumped her? This girl needs help.
❌ The ethical issue of giving confidential information about on-going science project to an outsider. This girl needs help too.
❌ Romance story with no chemistry. Every single character in this story is one-dimensional and there's no chemistry sparked at all. I can't even sense the sibling chemistry between Sarah and Molly.
❌ Odd writings. It's just... odd? Like in the prologue, the writings made Sarah and Molly sounded much younger than they actually were? I deadass thought they were at least five years younger because they sounded childish!
On the other hand, it was fun to hear her younger sister treated like a toddler.

'I can manage without you and Dad, you know. I'm not a little girl.' Sarah muttered, knowing she was pushing her luck.

And after the prologue, I couldn't stand Sarah's never-ending mentioned that Molly was a geek because she was into science and how Sarah despised it, and apparently, Sarah's interest in jewelry making was so quirky and made her better than her sister.
Sarah despaired. Her younger sister was a fully paid-up member of the Geek Club. Seeing that horrific sweatshirt and her dirty jeans, Sarah wondered if Molly would even wear the earrings that she'd been making for her upcoming fifteenth birthday.

And this stereotyping continued 'til they were adults!
'Even geeks fall in love and get married. Eventually.' Sarah said, watching them.

❌ Everyone sounds the same. Still related to the previous point, but I don't get it why would the author made everyone speak like Chandler from Friends. And I mean everyone.

Thank you Avon Books UK and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted so much from this book! I was hoping for a cute light romance maybe with some more serious notes but that's not what this was. To start I really didn't enjoy the writing style with the storyline not carrying very strongly at times. My main issues though was that I just couldn't relate to Sarah and as she shared half the perspective of the novel it made it tough to finish the book. Overall it was an okay read and I'd like to try another by this author in the future.

The premise of this book drew me in. I’m someone who has a background in science and enjoys all sorts of crafts, so seeing two main characters, one who is a scientist and one who is a crafter, both in a romance called to me.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t what I was expecting. I was hoping for a slow burn cute and steamy romance with strong main characters and tension from beginning to end. Instead I found characters that weren’t as deep as I was expecting and a story that felt a bit flat for me. I liked how things were shaping up in the beginning but then the story took a turn and I just couldn’t continue.

This was an ok book. A quick and easy read.
There were some bits that I liked but it’s not one of the best romantic novels that I have read.
This book is just about an average read

Rec’d an ARC from Net Galley for an honest review. The book started off well with the story of two orphaned sisters seeking love, but then became bogged down with love remaining inaccessible. The love bug solution could have been left out entirely; it just dragged in a tired Keystone cops sort of way. The female protagonists, and the males for that matter, could have acted more their age. Disappointing.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun, quick read. The book follows 2 sisters, Sarah and Molly. Their parents died from a car accident and the sisters are very close. Sarah finds out her boyfriend is screwing his coworker and she kicks him out. Molly is hopelessly in love with her hot boss.

The book focuses on love and heartbreak and the men in their lives. I liked Molly's storyline best with her boss and their confusing mixed signals. Will they, won't they. They're working on a love bug/potion for animals and Sarah gets the harebrained idea to use it on her ex, Niall. I thought it was completely out of character for Sarah, at half way through the book, to come up with this scheme and even more upset that Molly went with it. I had a hard time relating to Sarah and how she dealt with Niall. Their whole story arc was weird and never really seemed to mess with Molly's

I'm happy they got their HEA and I would be willing to read more by this author. I received an ebook from netgalley for an honest review.

This reminded me a lot of The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang and that is a huge compliment.
I liked the two sisters really much but the romance was not as strong as I wanted it!
I would recommend it though.

I really wanted to like this book because it sounded promising, however I found myself struggling with the book and I found myself disliking the storyline as a whole. I stopped reading the book at 35%.

The book sounded super cute, but it lacked a bit for me. I found the time breaks a bit jarring, sometimes a day sometimes a month. Also Sarah wanting to use the hormone to make her ex fall in love with her made me uncomfortable. It felt way out of line to ask of her sister, not to mention morally shady. While the ex was a jerk no one should be drugged into loving anyone. Overall, wasn’t super crazy about it.

I really enjoyed this book! The writer kept me engaged and wanting me to keep reading from page one. There was never a point in time where I found myself bored or wanting to skim pages.

I loved Molly and Sarah equally. I adored their relationship and how much they cared for one another. I enjoyed reading about them together and the side stories they had in the book while they were apart.

I was also invested in each of their love stories. I liked both Ewan and Liam and were rooting for them throughout the book.

This book could have easily been a five star if it weren’t for the “Love Bug” itself. I know what you’re thinking... it’s called The Love Solution and the love bug plays a big role or is supposed to. To me the love Bug took a lovely realistic story and added something very bizarre. I am probably the unpopular opinion in this but that’s ok.
If the author would have cut out the love bug and kept the conflicts in the book as they are then it would have been 5 stars.

So overall I give this 3 and a half maybe 4. I’d definitely recommend it to friends and I know people who would specifically enjoy this. I’ll definitely be reading other books by this author in the future. Love her writing style and her characters.

Thank you so much NetGalley, The Author and the Publisher for granting me access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK/Avon Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

chem·is·try
/ˈkeməstrē/

noun
noun: chemistry

the complex emotional or psychological interaction between two people.

Although sisters Molly and Sarah share a close bond, they couldn't be more different. Molly wears a lab coat and is a scientist, while Sarah runs her own craft business making tiaras.

Molly has been assigned to a top secret project and is totally thrilled. Some of her excitement may also be because of her attractive new boss.

When Sarah suffers a humiliating and painful breakup, she turns to Molly—and science—for help. After all, what are sisters for?

Will Sarah find love where she least expects it, or is it really all in the chemistry?

First things first, the cover is adorable and totally sucked me in. However, this was a mixed bag for me. At times I found the story delightful and getting me right in the feels and other times, I was rolling my eyes.

The 'love bug' premise was cute and definitely had potential, but too far fetched that Molly would share this top secret project with her sister, no matter how close they are. Molly and Ewan were adorable as colleagues and their back-and-forth banter/relationship will have readers rooting for them to hook up. But Croft dismantles some of this with the bicycle race filler which was campy and unnecessary. I also struggled with the lack of depth that the love interests had, they were flat characters that could basically be interchangeable. They were without personality and dare I say, rather forgettable.

I had high-hopes for this story, but it really was lacking the chemistry (no pun intended) that a romance novel should have. Ultimately I struggled with the plot—the conflict that is the driver of the narrative is incredibly frustrating, as is Sarah. Why would she want to be with such an absolute tosser? This book simply wasn't for me and I'm confident that it will find its audience.

The concept of this book was interesting to me, but once it gets really into the plot, I was kind of not on board. Because what these two sisters are working on together is kind of unethical and Molly could lose her job because of it. It left a bad taste in my mouth about that.

If you like a low heat romance, this is a book for you. There is mention of sex in this and some body part descriptions, but the actual act is done behind closed doors. So if you like romance done that way, I definitely recommend it. I don't mind sex scenes, but closed door romance books are fun too. When one of the couple finally gets together I was so happy about it! Honestly, they were the more interesting couple to me.

I think one of the reasons this book just didn't gel with me completely was because it felt a little disjointed. I definitely found some discrepancies, like where Liam is mentioning Sarah's secret, but she never told him. I honestly thought I missed something but I went back and couldn't find mention of it. I also just didn't understand how Liam stuck around! That dude was just too good, considering all of the stuff with Sarah's ex. It felt a little bit like just too much was going on in this book, almost like these were two separate books that were mashed together.

I definitely preferred Molly's point of view over Sarah's. I found her work and her romantic entanglement so much more interesting. However, there's a lot of conflict because of Sarah that throws a wrench into her love life, that maybe it wouldn't have been the same book without that. There's some other things about Molly's love life that I could have done without, like when it seems like Ewan is back with his ex-wife. Like, why???

I didn't totally love this book, and I think most of it boils down to the unethical mess of giving some one a controlled substance without their consent and the fact that Sarah was just such a boring character. I think I would have liked a book about Ewan and Molly way better.

*I received an eARC copy of this second look book via Netgalley and the publisher Avon Books. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This just was not for me. Following two wildly different sisters with romantic troubles, and a dash of science? This sounded so up my alley. But I didn’t like the chemistry of either couple, and the idea that Sarah would ask her sister to let her use her in-testing hormonal drug to get her ex back, and that Sarah would even consider it...made me so uncomfortable.

This was a fun contemporary romance. I find romances that take place in Britain have a different kind of flow and tone to them. Not just because the English used is different. I feel like they are more comfortable taking their time.

That being said, I love these 2 sisters so much! Molly and Sarah go on very different journeys in this novel. Both of them were interesting, and had our characters growing. Their close bond was lovely to see.

All of the characters in our story were very human and flawed. I enjoyed how realistic parts of this story were. Everything was handled in a way that was plausible and believable for our characters.

All in all, I feel it is worth checking out!