Disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a fairly quick read. I liked the characters but I felt like they were not filled with as much depth as they could have been. Most of the smaller conflicts were solved quickly and also didn't have quite the same emotional depth that I require in order for the book to receive a higher star rating from me.

The Sizzle Paradox is my first book from Lily Menon and it was a fun and easy read!
The best friends and roommates Lyric and kian are opposite when it comes to relationships. Kian can bring the romance and passion to his short but sweet relationships. Lyric keeps finding that more she’s attracted to a guy the less of an emotional connection she has and the problem with that is her thesis! She’s studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and her lack of a steady relationship makes her feel like a fraud. So when Kian offers to help her in the dating department…their status as friends starts to blur into something more.
It was a cute story. I could tell from the very start that Lyric put Kian on a pedestal but she felt very immature for a grad student. Besides that I loved the stem story and it made me laugh which is always the way to my heart for a great rom com.

4.5 stars! I love Lily/Sandhya Menon's writing and this book did not disappoint. It was hilarious. I laughed out loud so many times. Friends to lovers is a difficult trope and Menon did it beautifully. At times, it felt like Lyric was just refusing to see the truth of her feelings for Kian, it seemed so obvious, and yet, that's how it goes in reality sometimes too. I definitely recommend.

3 stars = I liked it, but...

There are things that I liked about The Sizzle Paradox and things I didn't. What I liked: I am a fan of friends to lovers and STEM romances and I liked the dual POVs. I really liked the initial view into Lyric's and Kian's seven year friendship and roommate dynamics. Their relationship was really cute and they had pretty great communication. What worked less well for me: It was hard to watch all the miscommunication when they cross the friendship line (and all the 'angsty' inner dialog that accompanied that bogged the story down). Also, I didn't think the setup for pushing the pair over the line to lovers was very well done either - it was sort of weird actually.

Despite my issues, I just went with it because I really liked Lyric and Kian together and really wanted their HEA.

ARC courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley - release date 6/22/2022

As someone who is also a Ph.D. student in a STEM lab, I was thrilled to start this book. Unfortunately, the plot/characters came up short, in my opinion. The two main characters don't have any personality other than suffering from extreme miscommunication. Which is an okay trope if they aren't written as best friends who can read each other's minds... I wish the main character (Lyric) acted more her age rather than a nervous 14-year-old in high school scared to ask out her crush. This book could be transformed slightly and make an excellent book for kids 13-16 years old. Easy/light read but seriously lacking in the romance section.


Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

This was a super cute friends-to-lovers romance!

Lyric and Kian have been friends since the beginning of their university career together. They are both PhD students - therefore are broke and are roommates. Both of them could never imagine dating each other because it would be a complete “disaster”.

From the beginning you could see how perfect they were together and so could everyone else in the story. A kiss changes everything though.

Although this book is really heavy with the miscommunication trope I still really enjoyed it! Lyric and Kian have lots of chemistry together and I enjoyed their banter. The spice was really good as well!

This book was so *meh*. The characterization was kind of weak, the family and work dynamics weren’t really explored, and the stakes weren’t strong for me. Lyric had absolutely zero character growth and it read like YA (or a teenager guessing what people in their mid-twenties acted like) a lot of the time. I also found their miscommunication unbelievable given them being literally obsessed with each other for seven years, apparently knowing everything about each other and then the moment he sees her in a tight dress they suddenly never know what the other is thinking? Some fun pieces and an okay sex scene but I’d be fine to not read anything else by this author.

I love the friends to lovers trope! It's even better when you throw in some science/math/data and some crazy friends and families! This one started off a little slow but it picked up and I finished it in a day. It even threw in my favorite place to shop!

Lyric and Kian are roommates and best friends. They’re both graduate students working on their theses. Kian offers to help Lyric work on her flirting skills in order to help her thesis. This book was a perfect friends to lovers trope. Everyone can see that Kian and Lyric are in love, except for them.

If you loved The Kiss Quotient and The Love Hypothesis, you will probably like this book. It’s a cute friends to lovers book with a lot of STEM and graduate school jargon.

Lyric is an experimental sexual psychologist researching what makes a couple fall (and stay) in love. She realizes that she has some problems figuring it out because she hasn’t been in a relationship in a long time. Enter in her best friend and fellow grad student, Kian, to show her some dating tactics to find a good match.

Of course, there’s the requisite “matching up your best friend with an acquaintance” and “we can only be friends and not lovers” storylines.

I loved the STEM aspect of it and how the grad students are portrayed. I thought Lyric and Kian had some chemistry. I thought Lyric’s character arc was a little wishy-washy but it was fine. This is a fast read, soft and easy book that ends well.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I just have alot of questions about this one....

-Did Lyric actually know Zoey? Because she called her a friend and knew literally nothing about her.

-Did any research go into the fact that a dissertation and a thesis are very different things, and can't be used interchangeably?

- How was Lyric a part of her own study? That breaks like every rule of any research project,

- HOW ARE THESE TWO SO CLUELESS???

Okay. Ill stop with my ranting. I really wanted to love this one because a good STEM romance is everything to me, but this one missed the mark. It also might need to be classified as a YA book because the characters acted SO young.

Another good STEM romance to add to one’s tbr list. This is a friends to lover story where the main characters technically fake date (in the name of science). Plenty of banter and funny moments (especially to do with the ‘dating lists’ and such)..

This book had so much going on!! I was not sure how it was going to work but it all came together in the end. The dual perspectives took a bit of time to get used to, but once I got them hang of it, it was smooth sailing. A slow-burn with a satisfying ending.

Honestly, I feel like this should be classified as young adult. I am certain high school me would have appreciated the antics between Kian and Lyric. BUT adult me couldn't stop rolling my eyes. HARD.

The sizzle never sparked for me due to a lack of communication between the main characters claiming to be best friends.

This checked off everything I look for in a book. Was not disappointed. Really enjoyed this book. I will read more from this author.

This book surprised me! I had refused to read the synopsis before starting and that was a great way to do it because then I actually felt the chemistry form between the two love interests. It was a really funny book with an adorable and totally believable romance!
Right from the beginning, I knew I would like this book! The first chapter is so cute and shows the great banter that happens throughout the book!
It also balanced their academic lives well. I thought the idea of them being total nerds was a really cute addition to the romance!
I also love the Friends references! I mean the Lobster joke is clear, but also the fact that two best friends go to London! Perfect homage to one of my favorite TV couples!

This was a cute best friends to lovers romance revolving around two doctoral students. Lyric and Kian are roommates and best friends. Lyric's thesis involves her interviewing and extrapolating data from couples who are in relationships, but feels like a fraud having not had a meaningful relationship herself. Kian has had a number of flings, but comes up short when it comes to meaningful relationships. The two of them decide to help each other. Lyric has a perfect lady to fix Kian up with, and Kian decides to help Lyric by 'dating' her and giving her pointers on her technique.

This book gave me 'Kiss Quotient' and 'Love Hypothesis' vibes. I really liked getting another romance involving people in STEM, and thought that Lyric's and Kian's friendship was really sweet and fun. Their slow burn transformation from just friends into something more was really enjoyable. The conflict toward the end was a little strange for me, and seemed to come out of nowhere, and honestly confused me a bit, but was resolved by the end. I'm still confused by it though, and it took me out of the story.

All in all, I very much enjoyed it. There is a lot of miscommunication in this book, and it lasts a long time, so if that is something that bothers you (and I know a lot of people get very bothered by that) then prepare yourself. Otherwise, I thought it was a lot of fun and a very different premise with a scientific theme.

Thanks so much to St Martins Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am a bit disappointed as this felt very flat and slightly boring. I don;t personally see myself reading this again or purchasing, Characters were underdeveloped and romance was very lacking.

A huge thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC!

*Note: this is an HONEST SPOILER FREE REVIEW*

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“Perhaps we are all born alone and will die alone; however, if we are lucky, there are many years between one and the other. What better way to fill those years than with an enduring love?”

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Oh man, I had a field day reading this one. My best friend got an earful as I ranted to her about this best friends to lovers, slow burn. I mean, best friends to lovers? Check. Fake dating with a lil’ spice? Check. LGBTQ+ representation? Check. Academia? Triple check (grad school + experimental psychology + environmental science stuffy). And they were roommates? *smirk* check. What’s not to die for here?

First of all, I need to take a second to talk about the whole academia setting. As someone who is currently a psychology major (and kind of really hates statistics), I had a blast reading about Lyric Bishop’s grad school journey. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the heroine is a psych major or in the psych field. And as someone who was previously a biology major, it was kind of nostalgic and funny reading about Kian Montgomery’s journey with environmental science.

Okay, moving on from my academia fangirl moment (never thought I’d be saying that). To be honest, this book was kind of difficult for me to get into. Sometimes writing styles or characters just don’t pull me in right away, but once I was drawn in by the story, I was invested. I love Kian and Lyric’s dynamic; how they *cough I’m looking mostly at you, Kian* always looked after one another, their jokes, the cute nicknames, and how their relationship changed over time. I am a wh*re for a good best friends to lovers story…and Kian.

In terms of individual characters, I found Lyric’s struggle and growth to be pretty relatable. Sometimes we hit a speed bump (or drive into a ditch by accident), or get burnt out, or question whether or not the decisions we made were right for us. Lyric’s life and situation was a little more complicated considering that her research and success depended on her life and ability to collect data through her personal experiences, which is an extreme amount of pressure. But somehow she got it right. Same concept applies to Kian’s character. They both grew throughout the story, leading their paths to finally cross. It was a great moment.

With that being said, I can’t talk about much more without spilling the beans, but I definitely encourage everyone to give this book a try when it’s released. Especially if you believe in friendship, love, disasters, and growth. I hope all of you find something inspiring from this story.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin and Netgaley for the opportunity to read an early copy of The Sizzle Paradox! I loved Lyric and Kian! I cannot wait for what Lily Menon writes next.