This was a delightful rom-com featuring some heavy tension and enjoyable characters. This is a quintessential friend-to-lovers story with all the classic tropes we know and love like fake dating.

Here’s what I liked:
- Our main character is a woman in STEM and both parties are going for their PhD
- The dynamic between the characters was great both before and after they realize their attraction
- This doesn’t include the quintessential he or she was always in love with the other trope. They were both genuinely happy in their friendship until they realized they wanted something more.
- The relationship developed organically between Kian and Lyric and we get some pretty great scenes as a result.

Here’s what I struggled with:
- Sometimes the characters were just unbelievably dense in their reactions to the other and how the other was feeling. It built the tension but sometimes felt a bit contrived.
- Kian’s tense relationship with his parents is presented, but never really concluded. We just see and experience the tension, but then nothing much comes of it.
- The ending felt a bit rushed and so did Lyric’s reaction to everything that occurred. She seemed to be a woman who asked more questions rather than just acting rashly without all the information.

Overall, however, I really enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to read the next by Menon.

📚 The Sizzle Paradox by Lily Menon 📚

Releases June 14, 2022!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half/5
🌶🌶.5/5

~ARC REVIEW~

This was such a cute and steamy read! I devoured it within one setting and I’ll admit I scrolled back through a few scenes that stuck with me! “The Sizzle Paradox” follows Lyric and Kian, two best friends who met in their early college years and have been together since. Lyric is a grad student who is struggling to finish her thesis project on sexual chemistry as she finds her own romantic life lacking. Kian wants to help her out, and so he offers to teach her how to flirt, and takes her out on fake dates!

I’m such a sucker for fake-dating between friends!! There is just something about two long term friends who suddenly start feeling attraction and tension that makes my heart flutter! Lyric and Kian had amazing chemistry, and once they both realized their feelings had changed, the sexual tension was top notch and when they finally get together? I was blushing and I may have re-read that scene a few times.

The reason I rated it 3.5/5 was that I felt the pacing could have been better and the miscommunication went farther than it needed. The first half of the book felt like a build up to their romantic relationship, and once the story hit the halfway mark, they were just started to see the other differently. A lot of of the conflict between Kian and Lyric could have easily been solved if they both just communicated and listened to each other. When they did resolve their conflict, it felt easy after they both made big decisions in order to get space and I would have liked to see them discuss it before making those choices.

I will say that I consider this more of steamy read than spicy, and I reflected that in my spice rating. There was only one major scene that was descriptive and lasted a few pages, but “The Sizzle Paradox” had lots of sizzling tension and build up that was definitely worth it!

I do recommend this book for anyone who loves:
- dual POVS 💜
- Steamy academia 📚
- Friends to lovers 👩‍❤️‍👨
- Fake-dating 🌶

Thank you to NetGalley, Lily Menon and St. Martin’s Press for approving this copy of this ARC for an honest review!

- Dual POV
- Friends to Lovers
- Fake Dating
- Miscommunication
- Academic Setting

What happens when doctoral students in STEM have to study sexual chemistry but struggle with their own romantic life? You get your friend/roommate to teach you how to flirt and take you on fake dates. Lyric and Kian's chemistry and miscommunication make this book perfect for anyone fan of The Love Hypothesis. This romcom will keep you laughing and swooning over the STEMASTIC romance that Lily Menon has concocted in this one. The Dual POV has me hooked, and the steam kept me reading. I finished this one in two sittings because I had to cook dinner in the middle. It was fun, fast, and blush-worthy—a solid 3-star romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the Advance Readers Copy of The Sizzle Paradox in exchange for my honest review.

A full review with spoilers will be posted on my blog on June 14th.

Honestly this book just did NOT do it for me. I liked the dual point of view (I always prefer dual POV) and the general idea of the book, but the execution just wasn't there. The combo hit of friends to lovers and miscommunication tropes was just too much, and there wasn't good writing to overcome it. I almost DNFed when the author used the phrase "curly brown hair the color of wet dirt."

Loved how they just found the perfect connect. The amount of spicyness was just a *chefs kiss* a fast easy read.

3.5/5

This was a fun, quick romance! I liked that we got dual POV for Lyric and Kian, but the miscommunication between them drove me a little crazy. I liked the idea of their fake "dates" and wanted to read a little more of those, I felt like they were really fun. As always, I love an academic setting and the side characters were great.

This book was so darn fun to read. I loved the combination of fake dating AND friends to lovers. Their relationship was adorable and I loved how it evolved. So grateful that we got dual POVs. I’m always so interested in reading what our leading gentlemen is thinking.

While an adorable read, it also had the perfect amount of spice. Lily Menon turned up the heat at the perfect moments, while keeping it light and airy the remainder of the read. Fabulous story♥️♥️

The premise of the book is so charming, but I had trouble connecting with the writing. Lyric and Kian's chemistry felt really forced. Their dialogue and how they interacted felt more clunky than endearing, which made it hard for me to root for them.

This was such a fun nerdy-romance. Really enjoyed the characters and their quirks. Definitely recommend for fans of The Love Hypothesis.

“it’s always been you. always.” *swoons*😍

tropes: friends to lovers, college romance, forced proximity, roommates, jealousy, fake dating

THIS BOOK WAS SO FREAKING CUTE!!! i literally read it in one sitting because i could put it down! i normally don’t read as much friends to lovers but i’m so glad i read this book! the storyline, the characters, and the tension between lyric and kian were incredible!!

lyric is the sweetest i swear. she’s such a little weirdo in the best way and i love how she was always so authentically her! i literally want to be her best friend because she’s so awesome. and i’m so happy she finally found the person she was meant to be with.🥺

kian oh my gosh. he is the cutest and hottest guy like i want one of my own😂 he was such an amazing friend to lyric and always wanted to the best for her! i wanted to give him the biggest hug because of what he’s been through but he’s so strong and such an amazing guy!

overall, i 100% recommend this book if you love friends to lovers romances because this is the cutest friends to lovers book i’ve read in a long time!

Friends to lovers. Met in college, currently doctoral students in STEM. One study is on sexual chemistry and she is struggling with her own romantic life. Her friend/roommate starts giving her lessons on dating and flirting. This is silly and fun. I do think a lot of things could be avoided if the characters just said what they were thinking but it was a very enjoyable experience reading this.

This is a story about Lyric and her doctorate research project looking for the answer to how romantic and sexual chemistry can be calculated.

The book starts with Lyric’s point of view which is just a whole chapter about Kian, mostly his godlike physique. Since Kian is objectified in the first chapter, the reader already knows where the story is going. Personally, I thought this aspect of the book was infantilizing the reader by putting a not so subtile hint that could have easily been exploited in other ways.

The premise of the novel was good, but it could have been exploited better. The secondary plots were actually more interesting than the main one. Zoey, Charlie, Max and Eli seemed to have more depth to their characters compared to the actual main one, Lyric. She did not seem to act at a doctorate level making the reader question how she got there.

I have to say though that Kian was a very nice and well thought character if we remove the fact that he is a six six giant.

The book was a fun easy read, but I would not rate it more than 3 stars.

⭐️𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄⭐️
𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦:
𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢
𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴-𝘵𝘰-𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴
𝘍𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨
𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 🌶🌶🌶 /5

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝:
🤓 Two main character point-of-views. Personally this is my favorite set-up in romcoms because it allows you to see into the head of the two main characters and feel all the feels.
🔥 I adored Kian and really enjoyed that he was a main character POC.
📈 Lyric was super relatable and fun! The polar opposites of her personally (a woman in a STEM field from a family who does tarot card readings and vibes with crystals) was an interesting spin on her character.
🤓 The friendship between these two was just *perfect*. They meshed effortlessly and knew each other so well that it made for a very authentic story.
🔥 I definitely felt the sizzle between the two MCs in this one. Some great romantic moments that were just 🥵…

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝? Yes! If you were a fan of The Love Hypothesis, this will be right up your alley!

Release Date: June 14, 2022

The plot/trope was fine, friends to lovers. But I did not like the two main characters: Lyric and Kian. Their dialogue seemed forced along with their lack of chemistry. Didn’t work for me.

If you're in the mood for a truly funny romantic comedy book look no further - The Sizzle Paradox has all sorts of funny and romance throughout the entire book.

I liked all the characters in the book - and I loved the relationship that Lyric had with Kian. They were great friends, and once they actually opened up about how they felt about each other they made a cute couple.

Lyric and Kian did take A VERY LONG TIME to communicate with each other about how they really felt. Like, it was literally THE END of the book before they told each other they were in love with each other. They kept saying it to themselves and everyone around them, but when push came to shove they both kept their lips sealed with each other, and were then both absolutely convinced the other didn't love them. It led to a lot of hurt feelings and a lot of potential life changing decisions. That was the only thing that really bothered me about this book was that neither one just opened their mouth and said "Hey, I'm in love with you." Other than that I really enjoyed this book.

I loved the whole idea of Lyric needing a "tutor" because she felt so love inept. Her best friend, apparently more capable at love and all than her, offers to be her tutor and it works - they have this trust in each other that makes it just good enough to work. Lyric is able to trust that Kian will be honest with her about why she may be failing in relationships and love. And Kian is gentle and kind enough with Lyric to help her move through her awkwardness at dating.

The book was well written enough and kept me hooked with the story that I wanted to keep reading. Each part of the story worked well together and moved well within the book. I enjoyed watching each event and the entire story play out until it reached the end game.

Even with the amount of humor in the book it also had the right amount of heart and seriousness that comes along with adult life. The author did a great job striking that balance throughout this entire book.

The dynamic between each character was well developed and they all played off each other well. Even the weird moments that Lyric couldn't pick out because she wasn't love savvy fit into the story and made everything work.

The growth that Lyric did in terms of what she wanted from her education was good to see as well. She knew she had spent a lot of time investing in her education (and money, let's be real) and she took time to examine it due to her exploration and experiment with Kian. I think that time she took really helped develop her character and made her seem more like a real person.

Overall, this was definitely another hot from Lily Menon that I recommend to any adult who loves romance books!

After seeing this book being compared to "The Kiss Quotient," which really got me into the STEMinist sub-genre of romance books, I was really excited to give it a go. I came across it after finishing "The Love Hypothesis," which I also loved, so maybe my expectations were a bit too high.

This story was a fun, fast read, but nothing I would go back to again like I would with other romances. I love me a good friends-to-lovers trope, and I think that Lyric and Kian had a lot of potential to be an amazing couple. I was disappointed in the lack of character development, however, as well as the lack of real chemistry between the two.

The story is solid and truly has a lot of potential, but the characters need some help: more backstory, more chemistry, more HEAT!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this e-ARC!

As soon as I saw this book described as similar to The Kiss Quotient, I was sold and needed to read immediately. But y’all, I was SO disappointed by this one. 😅😅😅

Here’s just a few things I didn’t like about it:
📝 Major fan fiction vibes, from the way the plot played out to the writing
📝 Lyric was incredibly immature and a pretty insufferable main character
📝 Kian wasn’t much better - he just always seemed like he thought he was better than everyone else
📝 I was 50% into the book and literally nothing was happening, so the pacing was really bad
📝 I don’t think the author knew anything about being a graduate student or doing research
📝The epilogue had one of my least favorite tropes in romance novels 😅

I’m giving two stars because I finished the book and I did love the women in STEM and PhD student representation.

If you are a fan of The Love Hypothesis, you need to read The Sizzle Paradox by Lily Menon. Lyric is an experimental psychologist studying sexual chemistry but struggles in her own romantic relationships. Her best friend, Kian, offers to teach her about dating through a series of fake dates.

What I liked: Friends-to-lovers with fake dating is a top-tier trope and this one is done well. Kian is incredibly suave and Lyric is the right mix of awkward and sweet. As well, the quote from Lyric’s thesis work at the end of the book was beautiful, it made me cry.

What could be better: I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly it is but something missed the mark for me. The Sizzle Paradox got just to the edge of being exceptional but didn’t quite make it.

I would give this book four out of five stars. It was genuinely enjoyable and sweet with a little bit of spice. Kian and Lyric are great characters and the premise was well-constructed. If you are looking for a cute book with best friends to lovers and fake dating, you will enjoy The Sizzle Paradox.

*Please note that the ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Books (especially romance) that take place in academia is my weak spot and I was so disappointed that this book missed the mark. Lyric and Kian are best friends and doctoral students and what should've been a cute and fun friends-to-lovers story just turned out to be okay at the very best. Best friends are supposed to communicate (at the very least) but Lyric and Kian simply... don't. Personally, I just found Lyric's character to be annoying. She was childish and all over the place and I found myself rolling my eyes on more than one occasion (side note: studying sexual chemistry sounds really cool. The unrealistic nature of this book's graduate school setting was something I didn't mind ignoring. I LOVE stories set in academia - just something about the vibes). Kian was okay. I literally could not find myself caring enough about these characters to root for them. I kept waiting to be invested and while it did get better, it honestly just dragged and the end was so rushed. So overall, the pacing of the book was extremely weird.

I'm willing to give Lily Menon another shot but this book just wasn't it for me.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Quick Summary: The Sizzle Paradox was a mixed bag of positives and negatives, in my opinion.

The things that I found appealing or attractive, in some sense, included: the cover, the male-female best friend relationship, the shared drive towards academic excellence, the support that each character gave to the other as it related to family, and the inclusion of interracial relationships.

The things that I thought were lacking or confusing included: the language used at times seemed very immature (akin to how a teenager might communicate), the ambiguity of the supporting characters (I didn't feel like I really got to know anyone), the inclusion of orbital conflicts that remained unresolved but that were linked to a character (for whatever reason), and what I will call the experimental use of profanity (it just didn't come across as authentic, rather it often came across as weirdly misplaced or overly used).

At the end of the day, I still liked the main characters. I found LB to be quirky and sweet, albeit very insecure. She was book smart but clueless on a common sense level. Kian (great name, by the way) was brawn and brains, all in one. He had a good heart. The fact that these characters were able to forge a friendship and maintain it for so long is quite interesting. However, being that they were such great friends (until "feelings" entered the picture), it's kind of at odds with the picture we see with poor communication after the "incident."

Rating: 2.25/5
Recommend: +/-
Audience: New Adult

A thank you is extended to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of this title in exchange for an honest report. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Refer to Goodreads for more.