I took away a few major issues with this book.

A) This is just The Love Hypothesis (which I LOVED) with different character names and a new setting. Nothing surprised me. Same bitch, new font.

B) I'm very weirded out by Ali's need to infantilize her female MC's. Like, you just described her body like a 12 y/o's and you want me to support the guy who is sexualizing her? Hard pass.

C) Why does Ali keep writing men in STEM who seem to only be able to support women in STEM if they're in love with them.

Between this and the novella's, I'm not sure if I'll pick anything else up by this author. The stories are mostly fine but it's just the same story over and over.

I read Ali Hazelwood's books and I'm like: I WANT TO BE HER FRIEND!! There's just something so intensely likeable about her and her writing. I couldn't love this more.

Read/Listen if you like:
🧪 Women in Stem
🧪 Steamy Books
🧪 Forced Proximity
🧪 Enemies to Lovers
🧪 Workplace Romances
🧪 He Falls First

I absolutely loved Ali Hazelwood’s first book The Love Hypothesis and actually read it in it’s entirety the day after I bought it, ignoring the rest of my TBR, and wish I would have done the same with this one and read it immediately after getting approved for it on netgalley from Berkley, but much like I was late to the game with TLH, I was late to the game with this one too… but I am so in love and feeling swoony after reading this one!

I love how Ali writes imperfect highly educated women in her books as a highly educated woman, I feel like she does these characters so well!

This one definitely has more spice than TLH and the spice was so well done in this one that I was definitely blushing at a few points!

If you haven’t checked out Ali’s books, I highly recommend it as this and TLH were both 5⭐️ Reads for me!

I enjoyed The Love Hypothesis and all it clichés, but I didn’t expect to basically read it again when I started this book. The plot and characters are just too similar.

Okay so you know when a book is so hyped that everyone is talking about it, posting photos of it and making fan videos saying they're so in love with it? Suddenly you see it EVERYWHERE and then you fall in love with the book you didn't even read yet and it's so silly and wait you gotta read it bc this must be the greatest book of all time so when you finally buy it and read it and you're just confused, looking at the pages and thinking..... That's it?

Yup, that's the feeling I got after reading Love On The Brain.

📝REVIEW TIME 📝
𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝙾𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 by 𝑨𝒍𝒊 𝑯𝒂𝒛𝒆𝒍𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅

⭐⭐⭐💫 (3.5 stars)

So here is my honest and short review. The book was cute, but that's it. Only cute. I'm feel bad for not giving it more stars, but I couldn't. Not when there are 4 star books that made me feel a lot more then this book did.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝: It made me forget about the world because it was a light and quick read

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
- I'm not a fan of first-person writing where the main character addresses the reader. Sorry, but no.
- Bee was annoying. (I mean, how many obvious hints can a person make that just flew above your head, girl? Jeez.)
- The plot was sorta predictable
-There is a magical thing called CONVERSATION and it's basically the only thing that helps you from making wrong assumption about something and/or someone

This was my first book by Ali Hazelwood so I'll be sure to read The Love Hypothesis next.

Thank you for the free book PRH International.

4.5 stars
- I loved it, but not quite as much as The Love Hypothesis.
- Was slightly annoyed by the miscommunication trope so heavily relied on, but the chemistry between the two MCs well than made up for it.
- I never thought I would love a book set at NASA, but Hazelwood makes complex science fun and interesting and now I may be able to work in the field. Okay, fine, there is no way, but I could definitely handle a tour of a space sciencey place.
- I’m ready for a different looking hero now, but I love the pink hair on our heroine.
- The side characters In this one were SO MUCH BETTER than TLH.
- I love a pining hero. And a quiet grump too….sigh.
- I will read all of Hazelwood’s books.
-love the slow burn aspect of her books and the steam is well deserved by the time we get to it.

I was really hoping this book would do more for me than it did. I was entertained and engaged but it fell a little flat for me. The author's books seem to all fit the same pattern. It's getting a little repetitive with the conflict/enemies/frenimies to lovers tropes. The spicy scenes were good though and I liked the characters.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a community of women trying to mind their own business must be in want of a random man’s opinion.”

HEAR ME OUT 🗣️ I wasn’t a big fan of TLH, I think I originally rated it 3 stars but the more I thought about it the more I was eh on it. But this one is MUCH BETTER!!

Is it similar in plot and characters to TLH? Yes. Is it heavy on miscommunication? Yes. Is it predictable? Also, yes. BUT!! I enjoyed the ride!! I liked the NASA setting, the twitter account, the steamy scenes were better, and I loved the inclusivity in admissions plot line! But my favorite part was the Penny storyline. It clearly wasn’t a main feature of the book, but Penny is a young girl with epilepsy whose mom is a single mother (widow of Levi’s best friend). She struggling as she’s growing because her meds need to be constantly readjusted and Levi helps her and her mother out. My sister is a single mother and my nephew has epilepsy and it’s a constant battle as he’s growing so personally I connected here big time! 🥹

Overall I rated it 4⭐️s - I really liked it!! I didn’t love the overly dramatic ending, sometimes Bee drove me nuts, and while I didn’t read the novellas I’m told this is the same story for a 5th time. But for me it worked! I laughed and I swooned and if you weren’t (or were) a fan of TLH I do recommend this one!
M

Did I see a lot of the plot points coming before they happened? Yes. Did that make me enjoy it any less, definitely not! This was a delight every step of the way and nothing unfolded like I thought it would. I loved the serious discussions of women in stem and standardized testing sprinkled thoughout. As always Hazelwood does a great job of developing her side characters so the whole ride was amazing and entertaining.

I liked, not loved this book. There was a moment at like page 45 where I contemplated DNFing this book, but I pushed through. And while I'm glad I did, this book really wasn't doing it for me.

My favorite thing about Ali Hazelwood is she knows how to write a fun, fiercely intelligent FMC and the other thing, is how well she can write angst and yearning. This book was no exception to that, both characters were well developed and Levi was another fantastic book boyfriend addition. I mean can Hazelwood write a bad MMC? I think not. Not gonna lie, I didn't like the way the ending wrapped up neatly in a bow but loved this book anyway.

I received the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this through NetGally (thank you!), so I recognize that there might be a few changes to the final print edition that went out. I also read this fairly shortly after finishing The Love Hypothesis, so here we go with the review...

Starting with good things first:

- Strong, round, interesting characters that all make an impression
- Unlike The Love Hypothesis, this one had more smut!!! Not just one scene, but a couple!
- Absolutely love the STEM vocab and STEM story in general
- Story line was constantly moving and kept me saying "just one more chapter...or five"
- Did I mention better smut? Yeah, Ali definitely improved this aspect of her writing

Bad / Not-so-great things:

- Plot line was pretty predictable. Do not read if you love surprises and plot twists
- The "bad" character was a carbon copy of the one in The Love Hypothesis. I knew what was up right from the get go
- Main character did lots of badly-timed interrupting and when the other main character tried to correct the main character, THEY always got interrupted. For two strong characters, this seems out of character (get it? Lol)

All in all, I am excited for what Ali Hazelwood brings us next! Definitely recommend if you liked or disliked The Love Hypothesis. Read with you later, y'all!

NASA, cats, enemy to lovers, women in STEM. The romance was believable, I did really like the two MCs and their relationship was sweet. But there was a lot of talk about how BIGGGGG he is and how she is sooooo tinyyyy 🥺🥺🥺 which, we get it, you don’t have to tell me every chapter. Also, the ending was very quick. The climax came like a slap in the face and then it was all neatly wrapped up. I wish we could have spent more time in the aftermath.

But overall, better than The Love Hypothesis!

This was a cute romance! Bee was a great female protagonist - strong and smart! Levi was a fantastic love interest. I really enjoyed their story and the science aspects of it. I laughed and swooned, this was another great story by Ali Hazelwood.

...Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood is a bit like The Martian meets You’ve Got Mail, complete with complicated science jargon, and an anonymous Twitter correspondence.  
  
Love on the Brain follows Bee Königswasser, a bubbly, intelligent neuroscientist tapped to co-lead a prestigious neuroengineering research project at NASA. Moving to Houston would hopefully provide a fresh start to help Bee forget the fact that her fiancé cheated on her with her best friend…if only her college nemesis, Levi Ward, wasn’t her co-lead on the project. 😬 The brusque, infuriatingly handsome scientist has long heldk an apparent dislike for Bee, but the tension between them has increased tenfold as they work together in close quarters. But Bee soon discovers that there may be more to Levi than she ever could’ve imagined. 😏  
  
Whether you love enemies-to-lovers romances, women in STEM stories, or you’re in the mood for a rom-com with whip-smart banter, a swoon-worthy love story, and a thought-provoking narrative, Love on the Brain is another must-read romance from Ali Hazelwood! With several laughs, a lot of heart, and a few surprises along the way, Love on the Brain had me hooked from start to finish. I definitely recommend adding this one to your TBR list!

It’s all love/hate between Bee, a neuroscientist, and Levi, an engineer. As in: Bee hates Levi but Levi is in love with Bee. When they end up working together at NASA on a brain stimulator project, Bee is convinced Levi is out to sabotage her career, but soon discovers he’s really in her corner. So what happens when catastrophe strikes? Will Bee be thrown off the project and out of NASA? Or can Bee and Levi figure out what is really going on and who is out to undermine their progress?

I am really enjoying Ali Hazelwood's books. Quirky, fun characters that give you a glimpse into the STEM-world. This one is fast-paced and especially well worth the read.

Thank you to #Berkley and #Netgalley for the AR

Bee is excited out of her mind to take part in a joint project between NIH and NASA to help stimulate the brains of astronauts, and also has a major obsession with Marie Curie, so much so that she runs an anonymous twitter account to help minorities in STEM. However, her dreams get squashed when she finds out that Levi Ward, her archnemesis from grad school, is collaborating with her on the project. Will they be able to push their differences aside and find something deeper than an answer to their project?

I absolutely loved The Love Hypothesis, especially since there was such a focus on inside of the world of academics and the impact that has on the characters. This story takes a step back into the working world, and I thought it was a really refreshing take on typical romance books that are out there.

I myself am in the STEM fields so seeing a character as nerdy as Bee really made me relate to her. She's scared of change, loves cats, and has a lot of similar reactions to how I would have acted in specific situations. She also made a lot of references to modern times that really grounded the dialogue in authenticity and made me hold onto this story like it was my life line. As emotional as she is, she is also headstrong and will fight for what she believes in. She honestly might be one of my favorite book protagonists of this year.

Now Levi Ward is an entirely different league of his own. He is beyond charming and has the softest heart in the world and I will lay down my own life for this man. While I wasn't the biggest fan of him at the beginning, and even now I think some of his actions were a tad unjustifiable, even with his explanations later in the story. It just felt a bit too harsh for him just to be covering up his feelings, but that's just me.

I thought the plot was a tad predictable, especially the sub plot between the twitter accounts of @WhatWouldMarieDo and Shmac. From the first line of texts I knew exactly who Shmac was, but still the way his texts are delivered packed an emotional punch straight to my gut in a good way. I, however, was not expecting a whole mystery at the tail end of the book. It was very powerfully done, and it was a twist that had me gasping and almost throwing my book across the room in shock. This was something that was not as existent in Love Hypothesis that I thought was a great addition to deviate from the stagnant predictable plot line.

I am also not someone who reads romance primarily for the spicy content, but I will admit that the spice in this book had me screaming into my pillow it was that good.

Love on the Brain is a fast-paced must read for any STEM book lover who just wants the perfect romance in their life.

I received a copy of this story as an ARC on NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh my goodness. I am so happy I found Ali Hazelwood's novels because they make me so happy! Her writing style is amazing and each one of her characters feels like they are coming alive on the page. The love story mixed with humor is so entertaining to read. I keep on recommending her books to everyone!

This was not great, pretty much the same plot as The Love Hypotheses, but make it a high school drama? I gave the TLH 5 stars, despite loathing the number of references to their sizes. We have the same issue in this book! She is the teeniest person in this world and he is the biggest boy in the land, stop it, that is old school mentality. My husband is a foot taller than me, should I just mention that to everyone and write it in every post? See how ridiculous that is!

Anyways, there are more issues than that in this book, for instance Mari Curie, this is overly referenced. There wasn’t anything unique in this book, same structure as her Novellas as well. And maybe this works for her career on basically the same enemies to lovers plot over and over.

Basically, what I am saying is that my review will make no difference since the author is very loved. However, I still feel a sense of responsibility to be honest.

I had a hard time getting into “Love on the Brain.” I really enjoyed “The Love Hypothesis” so I was hoping for something similar (but not identical). Overall it was an ok book; not the best but also not the worst. The first half of the book was really slow. Not too much happened except for a lot of miscommunication and whining. I was looking for more action and character development in the beginning.

My main issue with the book was the main female character, Bee. Bee is an intelligent, independent woman in a male dominated field but yet she seems pretty clueless at times. She’s a neuroscientist that can map the brain but can’t figure out when a guy likes her. I wanted to connect with Bee but I just couldn’t. I was often frustrated with her and annoyed by her behavior. I wanted her to stand up for herself! I will say that Bee has some great one liners and I loved her witty internal dialogue. Some of my favorites being “sweaty crotch of a trout” and calling someone a “walnut.”

I couldn’t get into the book because there were too many outrageous misunderstandings. It was obvious from the start what was really going on with Levi and it was frustrating that Bee refused to see it until the very end of the book. Anyone with eyes (and every other character in the book) could tell that Levi had feelings for her but she couldn’t see it. The plot was too predictable to be enjoyable and the ending was very rushed and over the top.

There were some aspects I really enjoyed. I loved the side character of Rocio, she was hilarious. I want to read a whole book about Rocio and Kaylee. I also didn’t guess the villain of the story in the beginning which is always nice. I felt like towards the middle it became more obvious what was really going on. I also loved that Bee has a secret popular Marie Curie twitter account.

For me this book was a solid 3 stars. I would recommend to anyone who likes lighter rom-coms, fans of Ali Hazelwood and people who enjoy an enemies to lovers troupe.