I have loved everyone of Sandhya Menon's YA novels! To be completely honestly, I did not enjoy her debut adult novel as Lily Menon, "Make up Break up" as much. I felt similarly about the Sizzle Paradox. I definitely think I'm more inclined to stick to her YA books.
A sincere thank you to NetGallery for this book.

The MCs were so immature and just didn’t have that much personality. The book kept telling me they were best friends but there was very little backstory to the being best friends. And why was Lyric just dying to set Kian up with someone she wasn’t even really friends with. Also the chemistry between them was really lacking. There was so much tell and very little show in this book, and it just didn’t work for me.

Thought this would be a "Love Hypothesis" type novel, but unfortunately it didn't give the same feels. Disappointing for me.

*Thank you @stmartinspress for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Review not posted to Amazon/Goodreads because less than 4 stars or DNF.*

4.5 stars - Kian and Lyric make a delicious pairing for this friends-to-lovers romance. I love this particular trope and for the first troupe. I’ve read 100s of them. Yet, only with this one, for the first time, I found myself picturing how terrifying, awkward, and tenuous moving a relationship out of the friend zone must feel. This is a testament to how well Lily Menon crafted this story and these characters. Reading it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lyric is in her grad program studying the effects that love has on a neurological way. However, Lyric hasn’t felt any of these feelings before and feels like she’s failing in her research. Lyrics roommate Kian offers to tutor her in the ways of romance to show her the way. However, they both might have agreed to something they shouldn’t have.

I really enjoyed this cute read and wanted to know what was going to happen between the two of them. Are they going to stay friends or will it be something more?

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy

love a roommates/friends to lovers and add in some science and love "tutoring" and it was enjoyable mostly!

This was an okay read. 🫤

✔️Woman in STEM
✔️ Fake dating
✔️ Dual POV (every book needs this)
✔️ Nerdy characters
📉 Miscommunication (one of the worst tropes)
📉 Poor character development
📉 Immature characters

Lyric Bishop and Kian Montgomery are grad students, roommates, and best friends. Lyric’s thesis is on physical and emotional intimacy and how they affect the body. Lyric does the research herself and struggles to find high levels of both in a single person. Cue Kian. She decides to get daring help from her best friend, Kian. As they start fake dating, they start to see each other in a different light.

Predictable but as cute at times. It was rough when Lyric would constantly ping pong back and forth between liking Kian and not. A bit of a headache. You’re mid to late 20s. I’m hoping they would understand what it would feel like to actually have feelings for someone.

The ending also seemed very rushed. All of a sudden 0 to 100. Minimal build up.

Overall, an okay romance. Not a need-to-read book.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Enjoyed this but didn’t love it. Sometimes these cartoon covers are hot or miss for me. Overall okay

It took me over 3 months to read this book. I tried and tried and tried, but it just fizzled out for me. Actually, it never real got started. I just did not like the main characters at all.

oof this one was,,,, not good. super weird dialogue and vocabulary choices, seemed like a wannabe love hypothesis.

I wasn't able to read this one before publication day and then the reviews weren't the best so I put off reading this one but I actually really liked it a lot and I'm sad I waited so long to read it! This was probably one of the best friends to lovers books I've read. I did think the Sizzle Paradox thesis was a little silly but I just loved how this book really showcased their friendship and the obstacles they went through to become lovers. There was chemistry and tension and I really loved their relationship. I though the side characters were entertaining as well. It felt like the female main character might be neurodivergent but I wasn't 100% sure if that is what the author was going for but I really enjoyed her as she was trying to figure things out. I was also happy to see more women in STEM! I also enjoyed the different POVs. This was a fun read close to Valentine's Day. I'm just so shocked the reviews aren't higher.

*Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

Friends to lovers is probably my least favorite trope, coupled with the himbo MMC and dorky, awkward FMC - yeah this was very much not for me. I enjoyed the science and school aspect as I have an interest in research and academic love stories (my personal love story is through schooling), but overall I was bored and put off by both characters. Also, "teaching dating" to your inexperienced friend is such a weird story line for me, especially as internally both are cringey about it.

Overall yikes kind of book for me *personally*. This could be your next favorite book simply because the aforementioned tropes are your favorites. This does has a lot of positives, there is some good racial representation and friendships.

That's about all I can say about this one honestly. It's not for me. But that's okay.

**Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**

This was a cute slow burn friends to lovers romance. My one gripe is that maybe the slow burn was a little too slow. I just wanted them to kiss already, because I loved their relationship. lol

I liked this in general but got very frustrated with some things. The pacing is alright - it feels like it has a slow beginning and then rushes the end a bit. It takes a while for them to even start fake dating and realize their feelings for each other, and I would have liked the second half to be more drawn out. The ending was quite good though!

I appreciated that both characters are in PhD programs and that we get to see academic settings, even though this isn’t always realistic. I don’t know what kind of stipend she’s on, but I would have loved to be able to take a spontaneous trip to London and stay in a fancy hotel! There are some mix ups with how PhD programs are structured, but this didn’t bother me too much for the most part.

Lyric is working in experimental psychology studying sexual chemistry. I thought this was interesting but didn’t entirely get why she was so hung up on not having the personal experience to be able to write up her results, especially since I write up results of my analyses all the time without having that personal experience. I can appreciate her feeling blocked with writing her dissertation and feeling drained/not as into it though. She seems to come from a large, eclectic family who all seem supportive but also too much at times. I kinda wish we got to see more involvement from them or just more development with them. I did think Lyric was funny overall and could relate to her being awkward.

Kian was in environmental engineering (I believe). This seems like an interesting focus, and I liked some of his projects that we get to see. He seems nice and smart, and he’s definitely there for Lyric. He comes from a more strained family background - I liked seeing some things develop with this, but we also don’t get to really explore the aftermath with how it changes him.

I did feel their chemistry together and rooted for them. However, I felt VERY annoyed by how dense they are at times and the level of miscommunication that happens for most of the book. It’s like they’re willfully oblivious, and I definitely did not like how drawn out this is, especially when Lyric keeps trying to hook Kian up with her friend Zoey when it’s clear that neither Kian or Zoey are into it. I feel like I would have liked more of their backstory with how they became friends and just more development with their personalities.

Overall, I liked this quite a bit but had some fairly large complaints with how some of the elements are done. I’d still recommend this, though don’t go in expecting it to be The Love Hypothesis.

Friends to lovers is my favorite trope, so when I read the synopsis for this book I was immediately hooked and had very high hopes. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. I did not feel the chemistry between Lyric and Kian, either as friends or romantic partners, and the plot was very slow moving.

I love a fake-dating romance as much as the next gal, especially one set in academia. The Sizzle Paradox was such a fun read. I loved all the characters and was so excited to cancel all my plans to finish this book. Definitely looking forward to Lily Menon's next book.

I’m a huge fan of fake dating. I really liked the best friend aspect to this story. The chemistry between the characters was great. However, I just couldn’t get emotionally invested in the two characters. It just wasn’t a can’t put down book.

I was hoping for something similar to the Kiss Quotient, but it fell a little flat. The premise was good, but the execution fell flat.

Too predictable, but it was a nice palate cleanser. The heroine was wildly immature and overly quirky.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC! I simply could not get into this one and I usually love books like this! The main character was awful and the romance felt forced.