This was a fun read. I especially liked the academia portion of it and I love a good friends to lovers romance. I do typically like my friends to lover to be a bit more slow burn (I felt they went from adamantly not seeing each other in that light to being incredibly attracted to each other rather quickly) despite that, I did still enjoy.

Lily Menon does not disappoint! The Sizzle Paradox was an excellent, spicy novel from Menon. While it started a little slow in the beginning, it quickly moved to a well-paced romance, with the ups and downs that can come from a friendship turned romance. I appreciated that it felt like the novel truly let the characters move at a realistic pace, which made the characters feel all the more real.

The Sizzle Paradox reminded me how much I love the best friends to lovers trope and reading the perspective of both protagonists. Lyric and Kian are opposites in so many ways - she has a large, close family, his is small and dysfunctional, she struggles in the dating realm, he definitely does not. But, what they do have in common is an unabashed love for each other as friends, and soon, much more. A great weekend read!

Menon's 2nd adult title tackles my personal favourite trope: friends to lovers, a trope I love because the risk is so high if things don't work out. I suspect reader enjoyment of this particular title will be somewhat dependent on each individual reader's ability to suspend disbelief. The central premise involves a brilliant scientist who decides 5 years of data collection and analysis about brain chemistry are irrelevant if she doesn't have a successful and fulfilling romance of her own, so she tosses aside all that research for the duration of the book, and takes a profoundly un-scientific approach to understanding sexual and romantic attraction instead. This polarity might have made more sense if Menon separated the heroine's work life and the personal life. A brilliant scientist has all the data in the world and writes her dissertation based on that data, but it still doesn't solve her messy personal life. Instead, Menon integrates the two threads, so our heroine uses her messy personal life to PROVE her science, graduating summa cum laude and to the accolades of her faculty with the least scientific dissertation I've ever heard, and one no faculty member I know would ever approve within a scientific context. It's a peculiar choice in today's political climate--to posit that science is best understood by eschewing actual scientific research. And those who understand the scientific method might wonder why our heroine never once applies it to the choices she makes. But the book isn't meant to be political, and for those who can run with the central premise, you'll find lots of flirty banter, plenty of close-proximity set-ups ripe for sexual tension, and two characters who are so clearly crazy about each other from page one, it's easy to root for their blossoming romance.

I liked it, but I didn't love this read. It was definitely a slow burn. I liked the friends to lovers. I definitely liked the fake dating. I liked the side characters (can Charlie and Zoey have their own book?) everything else seemed wonky for me and just didn't hit the right way.

This book was the definition of a light, easy-breezy read. This story followed many of the classic antics of a friends-to-lovers trope. I enjoyed the dual POVs as it made the story a little more fun to follow along during points where it became a little slow.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Lyric is a grad student at age 24 and studies sexual chemistry between two people in a relationship. So she should be an expert on love, right? Wrong! Her love life is basically nonexistent. Thank goodness her best friend, Kian, offers to tutor her and give her lessons on that…

Kian was super adorable! If he was my best friend, I’d probably be having those dreams about him too. LOL. They were both super swoon-worthy, and although this was a slow-burn romance (which I usually don’t like too much), it was a really cute story. The end had me in happy tears.

Also, I’m going to need my boyfriend to take me on a treehouse date. Immediately.

Will definitely be purchasing this book when it comes out on June 14, 2022!

The Sizzle Paradox is a decent read. It’s a friends to lovers romance. There are some The Kiss Quotient vibes, except it’s hey BFF that I’m definitely not in love with, lets fake date so I can teach you how to be better at dating and relationships and not teaching sex. There are 2 spicy scenes, one is a dream the other is when it actually happens. Nothing too over the top if you aren’t a fan of open door. I liked Lyric and Kian both as characters. Their respective fields of study were interesting. Their relationship as friends was great. The transition to them being into each other was a little abrupt for me but overall it was good. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book. Release date is 6/14!
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I absolutely LOVED this!! Friends to loves will always be in my top favorite tropes and this case was no different! I adore Lyric and Kian's friendship and bond so much, and I loved their matching yet opposite personalities. The steamy scenes were done really well and any time a book has dual POV, I will eat it up. This was the first time I had read Lily Menon, but it 100% has turned me into a fan! Looks like it's time for me to go read her other books!

I usually love Lily Menon's writing (especially her YA), but this one didn't really work for me. I didn't feel like Lyric's sizzle paradox concept was well defined, especially as it related to her project, and it didn't make sense to me why she had to nail it down in her own relationship rather than in the data that she was collecting. Shouldn't she be objective? And why would Kian be the one to help her with it when he can't maintain a relationship either? As for the actual romance, it felt like the setup was pushing them together (they're best friends and roommates and everyone always thinks they're together) rather than the characters themselves having the chemistry.

Also, I yelled many, many times "this is not how grad school works!" No way that she lives in NYC as a grad student and has money to fly to London and stay in a 5-star hotel room by herself without being independently wealthy or having a rich family. Working overtime hours in the lab, presumably on her own project, for extra money to pay for it? That's not how grad students are paid. And she took off to London for a weekend the week before her due date for her professor? The entire stakes of the book hinge on her project so she should probably be more invested in it, and then the climax and resolution around her project were very rushed at the end so the stakes fell flat.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

So I really wanted to like this book. I did! But for whatever reason, it didn't quite hit with me. It's really well written and sweet, but the chemistry between Lyric and Kian didn't quite lift off the page for me as I hoped. It's a really cute book, and something I would recommend to friends who are looking to get into rom-coms, but I was hoping for a bit more mmmph and I was left wanting more.

I definitely love Lily Menon! She is a fantastic writer and really entrances you with her story lines. This was a perfect mix of friends to lovers, science and not being able to deny the one that you love. I felt connected to the characters, especially Lyric, and found that the story wrapped up nicely as well.

Ahhh as a graduate student I understand Lyric's struggle with her project. I definitely am a huge fan of the friends-to-lovers trope and this is a perfect example of it! Kian is the best friend that we all want--supportive and willing to step up and help her in her time of need... I mean maybe a little unconsciously on his part a bit selfish in the RomCom way!

What a bummer that Kian is going to graduate ahead of LB and I was rooting for them to get together the entire time. I hate leaving reviews with too much info but I love this easy read by Lily Menon and am very excited to read her next book!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I struggle to really follow this story and really get pulled in with the characters. Immediately the relationship between Lyric and Kian is set up in the friend zone and a sweet brother and sister relationship. It felt like they really never left it throughout the book.
The book progressed slowly, and the Lyric didn't come off as an adult that is pursue her PHD in her degree. She acted not awkward but like a high schooler still in school. To me it was what caused a disconnect for me.
I thought this book had a good story idea and I wanted to be invested in the plot. I read another book that the author wrote and felt that this book wasn't as strong as the last one.

This was a cute romance novel. This is a friends to lovers trope and the way these two best friends acted together made this novel so light hearted and an enjoyable read.

This novel is marked as an adult romance. With that being said, it felt more like a new adult novel to me. It’s set in college- albeit both main characters are in phd programs but the premise of the book is more geared towards new adult romance. So take that as you will. There was one, maybe two, scenes that were x-rated. One I would say that bumped up the novel from young adult to new adult and the other was definitely young adultish.

So the sizzle paradox is what Lyric, our main female character, is trying to solve. What in our brains shows us that we are in love? She is trying to find out what characteristics in her love life answer this question. What she doesn’t know is that Kian, her best friend and roommate is the way to answer her sizzle paradox questions.

I received an arc from netgalley for my honest opinion

Loved this! Excellent character chemistry. I am always a sucker for the roommate/best friends to perfect couple trope.

Tbh I don’t think I would recommend this friends to lovers book. It started off strong and ended pretty good but getting from point A to point B was a little choppy. Kian and Lyric make a cute couple but the way their story was written was just mediocre.
I’m giving this one a 3/5 stars
This book comes out June 14, 2022

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc!

2.5 stars.

Not going to lie, this book definitely had its moments but overall it just didn't work for me.

The Sizzle Paradox is about a grad student named Lyric and she is trying to crack "the sizzle paradox" which is the key to a long-lasting and loving relationship. She's best friends with Kian, who offers to help her discover said sizzle paradox. Slowly, they begin to realize their feelings for one another and they fall in love, it's the classic best friends to lovers trope.

I liked how it was dual pov (that's always a win) and there were moments where I was smiling at my screen since there were a couple of cute moments throughout the book. However, my biggest issue is that I didn't feel the "sizzle" between Lyric and Kian. I typically like slow burns because of how rewarding the end result is but the chemistry simply wasn't there in my opinion. Kian and Lyric could have stayed platonic best friends and I wouldn't have batted an eye. I ended up skimming through the last 10% or so because I was pretty bored. I would've liked to see more romantic development between Lyric and Kian because them as best friends was great, but them as romantic partners...eh not so much.

I think that people who are looking for a very lighthearted rom-com with a happy ending might enjoy this but I wouldn't go into this with high expectations.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 14, 2022

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this eARC in exchange of my honest review.

Lyric and Kian have been best friends and roommates for years. Both are struggling grad students at Columbia and neither has had any luck in committed relationships. Kian has no issues when it comes to romance and sizzle, it’s that he’s had no interest in committing, but lately he’s felt like he’s getting bored. Lyric, on the other hand, is studying sexual chemistry and what makes relationships successful, but can’t seem to figure it out in her own dating life. When Kian offers to tutor Lyric on dating in exchange for her helping him find someone different to mix up his romantic life, their relationship will never be the same.

This is your typical friends-to-lovers trope. I found it cute, although pretty predictable. The characters are quirky and lovable, but I just wish there had been a little more depth to the story.

This one gets 3.5 (rounded to 4) ⭐️’s from me!

I really enjoyed this book!! It absolutely flew by, and I was just dying to finish it. I really loved hearing from both Lyric and Kian’s POV. I definitely could feel their closeness as friends through the story, and while there was a lot of miscommunication in the plot, I honestly really liked it being used here! Kian and Lyric both being so afraid to be vulnerable felt really genuine because it was clear how high the stakes were for both of them. The only thing that really would take me out of the plot was when they would talk about their research, but I think that was just my own outside biases. Otherwise, the story flowed naturally, and I definitely recommend it as the perfect quick, easy, lighthearted one night read.

Separately — I absolutely loved ALL of the side couples in this book. ESPECIALLY Opal and Arthur! Like they were a highlight — I would love a separate novella or epilogue about them.