4.5 stars

There was sooooo much to like about this book! Friends-to-lovers rom-com. Great banter, might I say "sizzling" chemistry between the leads, and overall a fun read. There were three things, however, that kept this from being a solid 5-star.

1. The book's synopsis states that "Lyric Bishop feels like a fraud – she's studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for a successful long-term relationship only she can’t seem to figure it out in her own dating life. The science is sound, but how can she give her expert opinion with no real-world experience?" I find it hard to believe that every scientist has to *personally* experience what their data reflects. What if she was measuring something in animals or same-sex couples and she's heterosexual?
2. The communication between the leads as their relationship began to turn from best friends to lovers was frustrating, to say the least. They kissed but couldn't actually talk about it afterward.
3. This one irked me the most and it's really not that important. The two main characters kept referring to their big, final research paper as a thesis, not a dissertation. In my mind, a thesis is written at the master's level and a dissertation at the doctoral level. I know there may be some regional differences, so I did some google research and Columbia University (which is the setting of the novel) does refer to the doctoral research as a dissertation. In the e-ARC, there are 3 references to a dissertation and 33 to a thesis. Maybe this will be corrected in the final editing process.

Despite my concerns above, I very much enjoyed reading The Sizzle Paradox and would happily read more of Lily Menon's work. As a matter of fact, I was just approved for the audio version, so I look forward to listening to it in the next few days!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in return for an honest review!


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I think it's safe to say that Menon's adult books are not for me.

While this book has some of my favorite romance tropes, I just could NOT with our main characters. This was the same issue that I had with Make Up Break Up. The characters are very unrealistic, especially in their age bracket and I just don't understand their character motivations.

Some authors really flourish when they jump from YA to Adult and for me, Menon just doesn't make the leap.

I loved Lyric and Kian’s story. If you love friends to lovers stories, you will love this one! This has lots of communication mishaps and cute will they/won’t they moments! Everyone seemed to know they were perfect for each other before them.

The Sizzle Paradox is a contemporary romance/rom-com featuring women in STEM set in New York City.

The book alternates between the male and female 1st person POVs.

Kian (26) and Lyric (24) are roommates and doctoral students. He is an environmental chemist. She is a psych student.

I really liked how her thesis was devoted to studying how partners in successful relationship keep both the romantic and sexual chemistry alive.

I liked parts of this story. But I was not super invested in the couple or the romance. It was a cute romance. But the miscommunication was too much. The epilogue was really good. But I wish that the romance part of the story took up much more of the book.

Omg! Such a great story! Definitely predicted the plot of the story at the beginning but was very much surprised with the direction it took and the decisions the characters made. Was definitely caught off guard at some point but thoroughly enjoyed the book regardless. Lyric and Kian were definitely destined to be together and make such a cute couple. There was a point in which I felt it was dragged out a bit, but in the end it worked out well. Would’ve loved to see a bit more of them but the epilogue was a great addition to their story.

The Sizzle Paradox
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 6/28/22
Author: Lily Menon and Sandhya Menon
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 304
Goodreads Rating:3.31

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Lyric Bishop feels like a fraud – she’s studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for a successful long-term relationship, only she can’t seem to figure it out in her own dating life. Kian Montgomery, her best friend, roommate, and fellow grad student, has no trouble bringing both romance and sizzle to his own relationships. When he offers to tutor Lyric on dating tactics to find a good match, she’s certain it will solve her problems, and in exchange she agrees to set long-term-commitment-averse Kian up with someone different to give his romantic life a much-needed shakeup.

My Thoughts: I have seen mixed reviews on this book and the rating is lower than I expected. I, however, loved this book and thought it was the perfect light romantic story. The besties and fake dating trope worked so well for this book. The story is narrated in dual perspectives from Lyric and Kian, from their perspectives. They are both getting their doctorate degrees in different fields. For me, the characters were developed well, they had undeniable chemistry, they had some growth, the witty banter between them was amazing, and I think they just worked well for this book. The authors’ writing style was complex, creative for the concept of this story, and I was never bored, kept me engaged from cover to cover. I did get a little frustrated right before the end, I will not say why to spoil it, but I believe that was the concept. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend giving it a try. I would definitely read more by these authors.

The Kiss Quotient meets Love Potion No. 9 in The Sizzle Paradox.
📈
Lyric Bishop isn’t having much luck in the dating department, which wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t basing her dissertation on it for doctoral program. In order to graduate next spring she’s going to have to figure out how to turn her awkwardness with guys into a successful relationship. Enter her BFF and roommate: Kian Montgomery. He’s as dedicated to helping Lyric figure out her Sizzle Paradox since he’s been her friend at the beginning of college. In an effort to help, he offers to tutor Lyric on dating and in return Lyric will set Kian up with someone different to change his romantic future, instead of him dating the same type of woman over and over. What happens next defies logic and science.
📈
This was a cute friends to lovers trope (also opposites attract trope) that was short and sweet for anyone in the mood for an adult romance with women in STEM!

3⭐️ wanted more like The Love Hypothesis or The Soulmate Equation. This was rushed, short and didn’t grip me.

If you like friends to lovers where neither one was actually harboring feelings on the front end until some fake dating and physical closeness came into play, then this is the romance for you!! I really liked the fact that neither one of them had actively considered the thought of the other as a romantic partner before, and the events that led up to them realizing those thoughts and feelings changed.

This book was okay. The main characters were mostly likeable, although pretty immature (especially Lyric). I rooted for them to get together for the first part of the book, but towards the end I just didn’t really care that much anymore and found myself almost skimming the book. The dating “tutoring” that was mentioned barely happened and could have been much more interesting. I also didn’t understand the problem the main characters were having about getting together. It just didn’t feel realistic in that sense.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me access to this eARC!

Ok, it was pitched as a cross between The Love Hypotheses and The Kiss Quotient… and while I could see the comparisons, this pales in comparison. It was an easy, quick read but I didn’t find it particularly satisfying or memorable.

This was a good book! I liked the setting, and the graduate student life (I can relate!). It took me way too long to get into this book (almost half). But then I loved the second half of this book. I liked Kian’s POV much more than Lyric’s, she seemed too immature and I got a bit annoyed with the repeating thoughts and sentiments. This is a fun and easy read!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this book! Overall, this is a very cute story with a best friend to lover trope which I can appreciate. However, there was nothing that really stuck out to me in this contemporary romance. I really enjoyed the narrators in the audiobook, but I was hoping for something more throughout the book. I would recommend if you are looking for a quick, light read.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Menon is on my auto-buy/auto-read author list for a reason: her books never fail to make me happy. The Sizzle Paradox was no exception. While this was not my favorite of her works, I enjoyed it from start to finish and it met my every expectation. As always, we got an absolute swoonworthy male lead in Kian. Not only is he gorg, hes also sweet and about as opposite as toxic-masc as you can get in a cis-het man. Lyric was funny and quirky and a tad bit naïve. I did want to shake her soundly at times - especially when she would decide/assume other people's feelings without actually asking them - but I was still rooting for her.

This one is going right up on the shelf and I will undoubtedly visit it again!

I actually missed the download period for this book, but my library copy came in right away and saved the day! A good read from Lily Menon!

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

Lyric and Kian's deal to help her understand relationships in order to save her thesis is the foundation of this friends-to-something-more story. Though their science life is unrelatable I can appreciate their unusual friendship but her pushing her "friend" on him seemed odd but not more than him agreeing to it. Cute and awkwardly funny moments really helped us with the wait for the inevitable.
Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity for my honest opinion.

I picked this up hoping for something like The Kiss Quotient and The Love Hypothesis. I did not get that, and it was definitely a disappointment. There are laugh aloud funny moments, but so far they aren’t enough to win me over on the book as a whole.

The narrator, Lyric Bishop, has developed a scale to rate her romantic/sexual partners: the Sizzle Paradox Scale. She’s also a snob who looks down on MFAs because she’s a psychology grad student doing her Ph. D. on sexual chemistry. Kian Montgomery is about to defend his thesis in environmental chemistry in two months. He’s in a dating rut. He is the narrator’s housemate and best friend. They are both in a dating rut, and Lyric feels she can’t begin to write her thesis until she finds someone who fits into her Sizzle Paradox Scale, which is a ridiculous attitude to take even for someone who isn’t as in love with her field as she thought she was and who ends up changing departments a year from the end of her program as part of a romantic crisis and then comes to her senses and switches back. As is her out-of-the-blue obsession with getting Kian together with her lab mate Zoey when it’s obvious neither is at all interested in the other.

A few other things that bothered me about this book:
First person present in alternating points of view between Lyric and Kian. It’s just weird.
Why did Lyric’s sister name her daughter Lapiz? It’s the Spanish word for pencil. Couldn’t she have just spelled it “lapis” like the actual stone she probably intended to name the kid for?
Lily and Sandhya Menon are apparently the same person. Why use both names?

Ultimately it’s…okay? If I hadn’t been taking notes as I read I wouldn’t remember anything about it at all less than a month later.

Fake date tropes are one of my fave when it comes to romance novels. I knew this book would not disappoint seeing how funny Lyric was, how comfortable she is with herself and the topic of sex, especially when it comes to her thesis, and this crazy chemistry with Kian her best friend. They are both nerdy but sexy people, and I wish we got more steam but when we got the steam it was worth the wait. This book was hard to put down after I started to read it, it was just too much fun to read. I will leave it at that, haha.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

2.5 stars

Wow, I really didn’t enjoy this…. Like, I was able to finish it, it wasn’t so bad I had to DNF it, but it also just wasn’t that great.

I have really loved Sandhya Menon’s YA books (especially the Dimpleverse books), but idk if something just isn’t translating to her adult books (this is NA) or what, but I’m just not liking them.

There honestly isn’t much good that I can say about this book. It came across as aphobic, where the MC was obsessed with romantic and sexual attraction. She was doing this whole study on it, her doctoral research, yet there was no mention of folks who don’t experience romantic or sexual attraction. It was this whole ‘you have to score way off the charts on sexual and romantic attraction in order to be compatible’, which is really not true. I think this could have easily been remedied with a single sentence about aro/ace folks, but there wasn’t. It was a very allocentric view and I didn’t like it.

This had fake dating (sort of), which is basically my favourite romantic trope, but it just didn’t work for me in this instance. Like, it was almost painful how long it took the two MCs to actually talk about their feelings, to the point I almost didn’t want them to get together because I was getting annoyed.

Also, there was one sex scene and it was kind of… off? It just did not work for me, and maybe had some mild consent issues? It felt like they just had to get to the PIV, instead of doing other hot stuff that didn’t involve PIV. Honestly, I think that’s what ruined it for me.

The one thing I did like was that Lyric’s older sister is in a secret age gap relationship with a magician (he’s 10 years younger). Like, please, give me that story, I think it would have been better than the mess that this one was.

Overall, this wasn’t unreadable, but it also wasn’t good.

Lyric is a grad student looking for ways to support her thesis on The Sizzle Paradox. The premise is that sexual chemistry in a romantic relationship can make for a successful relationship. The problem is that Lyric has never experience this and her current dating life sucks. She enlists her roommate and best friend, Kian, to help her.

Kian agrees to tutor Lyric on relationships and chemistry.as the two spend more time together, they realize that their relationship may be more than just a friendship. The want to fight it but sometimes emotions outweigh logic.

The friends-to-lovers trope just fall short in this one. The connection between the main characters is there but more like friends. I don’t know if it is because they started off as friends or the rationale for them to dabble into a romantic relationship didn’t hold up for me. Either way, the romantic and sexual chemistry is lacking. Not to mention, they are constantly reminding everyone and themselves they are friends.

My biggest pet peeve that an author does is just throw in silly miscommunications. This one had it which is mind boggling since they are best friends. How can they not know how to communicate with each other? Yes, one can argue that once they cross over to lovers the dynamics can change. However, the type of friendship, they had leaves little to no room for that argument.

Overall, this is cute at times, but it leaves no memorable moments. Fans of STEM romance or the friends-to-lovers trope may want to give this a chance.

~ Samantha

This was such a fun read, even though I hate using the word “fun” to describe a book. With it’s quirky characters and endless supply of dating conundrums, this is a friends to lovers romcom about the psych grad student falling for her best friend/roommate who can’t commit. Lyric and Kian’s friendship is perfection and I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched the sexual chemistry blow up in their faces. A charming read with lots of pining!

Lyric and Kian have been friends since Lyric’s first year of college and when she confesses her frustration with “The Sizzle Paradox,” a study on attraction and chemistry, Kian offers to fake date Lyric in hopes of helping her with the data and her dating life. The two don’t anticipate the heavy feelings that come with experimental dating.

There’s just something smooth and effortless about the way Menon writes. I found myself loving even the small details throughout the story, such as Opal, Lyric’s older sister, falling for a much younger man named Arthur.

I got really wrapped up in the storyline and there was even more steam than I anticipated. I could really feel the emotional turmoil in the end and it was just a really easy read for me with lots of movie magic moments.