So if you read my review of The Sizzle Paradox the other day you might know how I feel about these STEM romances.. they are a bit overdone after the hype from The Love Hypothesis and not usually done right!
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But…. Ali Hazelwood does know what she’s doing and Love on the Brain is one totally worth picking up!
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WWMCD? What would Marie Curie Do? That’s Bee’s motto and also her secret viral Twitter account that advocates for women in STEM. Bee is working at the NIH and is a neuroscientist, about to co-lead a project with NASA on some space tech. How cool?!
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Except the co-leader on NASA’s team is her handsome archenemy Levi.
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And she doesn’t have a computer. Equipment is going missing. The other team members are ignoring her…
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He has to be interfering! Except he’s rescuing her from a locked cemetery, making sure she eats, and is actually not that bad from time to time?
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Something isn’t adding up! Pun intended lol
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Love On The Brain was a bit cheesy, but it was also so cute! Bee and her assistant are a hilarious duo, Levi is dreamy, and the NASA project sounds like way too much fun to be work! Parts felt predictable absolutely, but we all read Beauty and the Beast retellings and know they are going to fall in love eventually!
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My six word review:
Handsome NASA guy, enemies to lovers

The writing wasn't too grabbing or entertaining; it tried for a conversational tone, but the cadence read choppily and didn't feel natural. I'm not sure how to describe this, but it felt as though the characters had too many idiosyncrasies/too many points of individuality to try and make them interesting and because of that they didn't seem believable. An okay book that I eventually ended up skimming.

Ali Hazelwood has a lock on shifting the Reylo fanfic power dynamic into tropey narratives, and I mean that as a compliment. I have a penchant for novels where the characters have misread the situation and chaos ensues, and this book delivers emotionally and thematically. Bee and Levi have great chemistry and sass as they seemingly battle to be enemies-to-lovers research scientists for a huge NASA project. Little do they know someone is sabotaging them behind the scenes.

I particularly enjoy how Ali Hazelwood situates her primary characters in their worlds and builds out their friends, family, and side characters by letting them show you who they are by their actions. This makes their fleeting appearances even more effective.

The sparks are there, the sex is good, and drama escalates in the last 50 pages. I was surprised by the turn things took so would have liked to see a little more buildup for an insidious interloper built out.

Fans of Christina Lauren's The Soulmate Equation or Talia Hibbert's Take A Hint, Dani Brown will likely enjoy this STEMinist book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced review copy.

After loving Ali Hazelwood’s first novel, The Love Hypothesis, I was super excited to read more from her. Having now finished Love on the Brain, I will say that I enjoyed it and thought it was a fun book, but it felt a bit lacking to me. I think it just felt too similar to The Love Hypothesis for me. The setting is obviously somewhat familiar given that they both are in STEM fields and deal with academia, but the characters also felt too similar for me. I also thought Levi’s excuses for why he seemed like such a jerk in the beginning were kind of annoying and didn’t really make sense. Also, the ending twist seemed a bit over the top based on how the rest of the book was. This just wasn’t really for me, but if you loved The Love Hypothesis and want more in that vein, then maybe give this a try.

4.25 stars

LIKES:
📝 quick, jaunty, fun writing
📑 features Twitter DM chats
👩‍🔬 Bee is a quirky, passionate, smart neuroscientist
🧔🏻‍♂️ Levi is a quiet & dedicated engineer
🐈 a cute cat!
🧑‍🚀 astronaut/NASA vibes
👩‍🏫 explores the female experience in academia
🧪 + all the STEM references
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 + family dynamics
🤫 + the impact of secrets
💼 workplace romance (4/5 steam level)
🤺 enemies-to-lovers
☀️ grumpy-sunshine
🧠 neuroscience vibes!
😳 a shocking twist!
😊 very cute & swoonworthy!
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DISCLAIMERS:
⚠️ dm me for TW!
🧀 very cheesy at times
👎 Bee’s negative self-talk can be a lot but makes sense as you learn about her past relationship
🧞‍♀️ that said, wanted more exploration of Bee’s past
⚖️ unbalanced plot - LOTS happens at the end!
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VERDICT: a swoonworthy, quirky, chaotic, quick, & fun workplace enemies-to-lovers grumpy-sunshine STEM romance with NASA & neuroscience vibes + a MAJOR twist! Could go deeper into characters pasts but gives enough depth to get their vibes! Read if you LOVE genre-bending and/or STEM romances!

Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjBU2XQrLjL/?igshid=ZjA0NjI3M2I=

I really enjoyed this book - there’s a bit of a epistolary element, a pining hero, an independent woman, a feisty coworker, a true villain. That’s not to say there weren’t flaws, but in general a fun read

This is my third Ali Hazelwood book, and my favorite so far. This is about enemies from grad school now becoming co-leads on a huge project at NASA. As soon as Bee (FMC), lands in Houston and walks into the Space Center a series of “unfortunate” events unfolds. It has astronauts and sassy cats and laugh out loud moments. Can Bee and Levi bury the hatchet and work together to make the project happen? What would Marie Curie do? IYKYK. It was heart flutteringly cute, with a nice slice of spice. Read it!

Ali Hazelwood's sophomore novel is definitely a reiteration of the exact same tropes as her first, but I literally can't get enough of it. The only downsides to this one were how utterly oblivious and annoying Bee could be at times and a quick resolution, but whatever. Keep writing women in STEM, keep highlighting issues in academia, and do both of those things in the context of a cute and steamy romance.

Such a sweet read. I loved both of the main characters and I loved the chemistry between them. It jumped off the page right from the start. I am not usually a fan of miscommunication trope but it worked pretty well in this one. I loved the nerdiness of the book and I adored the side characters as well. Overall its a great read and I highly recommend this one.

I loved the concept of this book. But the ending really threw me for a loop. Though this one wasn't my favorite, I continue to love Ali's writing style and have loved her other books, including her novellas! So I will definitely be looking for future releases from her!

Ali Hazelwood has done it again! This romantic comedy features two of my favorite tropes, grumpy sunshine and enemies to lovers. This STEM-inist rom-com is full of swoon worthy moments and laugh out loud dialog. I read it in two sittings because I couldn't get enough. Bee thinks she's getting the job of her dreams at NASA, but her dreams come to a crashing halt when she realizes she is going to have to team up with her sworn enemy, Levi Ward. Will they be able to get along to get the job finished? I recommend for fans of her first book, feminist women in STEM, and lovers of situational comedy.

I found the main character of this one to be a little bit annoying at times. A bit whiny in my opinion.

I did enjoy this, but it wasn't on the same level as The Love Hypothesis to me

I thought the ending was a bit much and took a turn I wasn't expecting and honestly didn't love it

I really enjoyed this enemies to lovers romance. Hazelwood writes the best brilliant but clueless female leads! I loved how sure Bea was of her work and her worth when it came to her scientific knowledge. It contrasted well with the vulnerability she felt around her worth when it came to love. I enjoyed how relatable she was, with her confusing feelings, self-pep talks, and conversations with her sister.

Levi’s brusque personality was so endearing but it did bother me a bit that he always felt like he had to help/save Bea. Otherwise he was a lovable character.

I loved the mix of romance and science in this one, just like in The Love Hypothesis. I plan to pick up Hazelwood’s STEMinist novellas next!

A really cute enemies to lovers story. I liked it nearly as much as Love Hypothesis - and actually found them very similar. There were a few character traits (fainting/crying a lot) that I didn't really like.

I strongly suspected I would love Love on the Brain before I even started reading it, but I had no idea how much I would before it was all said and done. I thoroughly enjoy Ali's writing, her STEM heroines and swoony, often grumpy, men. Enemies to lovers is my jam, especially when there's A+ banter like between Bee and Levi. And the male pining, oh the male pining! So, so good.

Another absolutely delightful romance from Ali Hazelwood. Love on the brain you get enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and work-place romance. Her humor, most of all the wit and banter between the characters fills me with joy and makes me smile throughout the book.

Let me just start off by saying that I absolutely LOVED this author's first book, The Love Hypothesis. That one was pure magic, so I was so excited to read this one. Sadly, the magic just wasn't there.

I did love Bee. She is so smart and I loved that she held onto her femininity in such a male-dominated field. I loved how much she loved cats and animals and her fainting episodes were so adorably quirky. Nevertheless, she was so incredibly clueless about Levi's feelings toward her. I didn't have an issue with the fact that she swore off relationships after the disaster that was her prior engagement. But she still assumed way too much and missed VERY obvious signs that were right in front of her face.\

I also thought the majority of the plot was super predictable and I HATED all the assumptions both Bee and Levi made about each other. I don't like that for the first half of the book, the main obstacle was them not talking to each other like adults.

I do like the author's writing style and I loved all the tidbits about Marie Curie. I just wasn't in love with this one.

Bee gets her dream job opportunity with NASA only to learn that her co-lead is her grad school nemesis Levi. As Bee figures out how to navigate her new position, she also tries to figure out Levi's obvious contempt towards her.
What I liked: the focus on how difficult it is for women in STEM, and science in general. Actually I loved this. Bee is also the secret author of a twitter account where women can discuss their experiences. What I didn't like: the actual romance between Bee and Levi.

Science + Romance = Yes, please! I loved "Love on the Brain" and Ali Hazelwood's strong, smart female characters are some of my favorites in all of literature. Excellent read!

Another fun and feminist STEAM romance from Ali Hazelwood- the new queen of slowburn romances between smart women and supportive men. Hazelwood has created another quirky, ambitious woman in LOVE ON THE BRAIN with a fully fleshed out back story who must solve a whole host of misunderstandings to finally find the supportive love she deserves.