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.

Predictable but a sweet, easy read. I could have done with less self doubt and fainting spells, let the protagonist just be a strong NASA scientist! But, overall it was a fun light read.

My very first ARC read and it was everything!

I didn't think I'd like this more than the Love Hypothesis but Ms. Hazelwood delivered. She delivers the enemies-to-lovers trope with an elegance that is unmatched I tell you! The story follows Bee (long last name) and Levi as they are thrown together to work on a project that requires both their expertise.

They were enemies for years in college and now the pair are forced to confront their pasts and face some truths. I love the flow and the steam as well as the dialogue between the two leads. Levi is swoon-worthy and so devoted and Bee is quirky and intelligent. In my opinion, the best books have heroines that are smart, badass and unapologetic and Bee is all of this. My only critique would be that the ending was way more dramatic than was needed and it sort of threw me off as it was previously so grounded and realistic.

That being said 4/5 stars and highly recommend it!

(Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the ARC!)

This is a stand-alone STEM-themed, rivals to lovers romance. Bee is a neuroengineer and has been selected to co-lead a NASA- NIH project. She's doing the neuroengineering for a helmet for astronauts and she couldn't be more excited. Except she's co-leading with Levi. They went to the same graduate school and worked in the same lab. And it was commonly known that Levi hated Bee. And it seems the hate is still alive... or is it?

I loved so much about this book. Bee is a smart, accomplished woman in a male-dominated field. Her backstory really helped give her depth and helped me understand her reasoning for her decisions. Levi also had a backstory that helped flesh him out. I loved Bee and Levi together, their shared common interests, the wonderfully quirky side characters, the slight mystery in the story, and all of the science! It was the whole package. There is also some steamy scenes! I definitely recommend reading.

Love On the Brain is the newest romance by Ali Hazelwood. I was totally caught off guard by how much I enjoyed Hazelwood's book The Love Hypothesis so I was eagerly anticipating digging into this new novel. Bee is always leading her life by the principle of "What Would Marie Curie Do?" She's just begun leading up a new neuro-engineering project when an old acquaintance makes an appearance. This arrival disrupts Bee's life in a way she wasn't expecting. Read and enjoy!

I don't think ya'll understand how much I wanted to love this. TLH was one of my FAVORITE books from 2021 and was blown away that it was a debut novel.

I'm going to start with some positives. I really liked the subplot shining a light on the GRE and the @whatwouldmariecuriedo Twitter feed. The conversations that stemmed from those struggling in the science field were important and brought some light humor to the topic. I also found myself chuckling a few times at some of the dialogue (not sure if it was with the MC or at the MC, but nevertheless I giggled).

Unfortunately the rest of the book was a big miss for me. The story felt like a carbon copy of TLH, but with a few name and location changes. I couldn't tell you any defining characteristics about our male lead besides the fact he is SUPER tall, a scientist, and lacks communication skills. And if you hate the miscommunication trope, this may be a hard read for you. Also, there was a lot more science jargon than in TLH. This could be a positive for some readers, but didn't work for me, especially in a romance. And finally, the conflict at the end was absolutely ridiculous.

Thank you Berkeley and NetGalley for my review copy in exchange for an honest review

Love on the Brain Review 💕🧠

After Love Hypothesis, this was an auto buy for me. I led 22 women as eager for this one and while it got better day to day, sadly I didn’t love it as much as expected! 🤷🏼‍♀️ Though, we had a BLAST so bringing people together counts extra in my book 😉 Thank you ladies!!

This STEMinist rom-com has a female scientist working on a special project at NASA with her male nemesis from grad school.

Now for Sam's "Scientific" Facts:

🧠Knowledge- Bee’s a smart Neuroscientist, but lacks common sense. So oblivious & kept ignoring things told to her…it hurt to observe!
🧠Organization- FMC's thoughts were all over the place! She rambled on and on and on…see what I did there?😜 Sometimes the dialogue was funny, but others not so much
🧠Explanation- A book celebrating women in STEM, but FMC needs MMC to be taken seriously by male colleagues...whyyyy!?!
🧠Predictions- Science involves hypothesizing outcomes & as a group we nailed it! Not what I want when reading a book though😬We foresaw it ALL except the final conflict which felt thrown out of nowhere & over the top🤨
🧠Evidence- Science is based on verification; however, the FMC has an illness that was poorly misrepresented😞
🧠Reasoning- lots of trademarked terms which I’m unsure purpose & found distracting
🧠Logic- great to have role models, but the FMC is portrayed obsessive over hers to the point it’s like “Live Your Own Life!”

What I Loved:

💗Levi the MMC! Initially made out to be moody. He had his flaws, but I genuinely enjoyed getting to know his backstory and learn his true personality
💗Twitter subplot which was entertaining and added some depth
💗Amusing, quirky side characters
💗Great message on standardized testing for college and graduate admissions
💗Positive mention of therapy for mental health

If you enjoy enemies to lovers, don’t mind failed communication that almost never ends, & can overlook facts I shared then you may like this one! I do believe not every book is for everyone 😊

Thanks Netgalley, Ali, & Berkley Publishing for the chance to share my honest review!

4.5 STARS

THE 411...

*•.¸♡ 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐁𝐞𝐞. 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 - 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐝 ♡¸.•*

Bee Königswasser has been given the opportunity to work as the lead on a neuroengineering project with NASA to create a helmet for astronauts that would improve their focus. She’s excited up until she finds out Levi aka the guy who she believes hates her, will be the co-lead engineer on the project. She feels he made his feelings toward her known during grad school and the last thing she'd fathom is having to work in close proximity with someone who loathes her. She asks herself what would her idol the French Physicist Marie Curie do if she were in her shoes? readily acknowledging that Marie would accept this opportunity no questions asked, Bee decides to accept. Soon after she introduces herself to the team (all dude bros), all sorts of hijinks occur to prevent Bee from actually doing her job. We see Levi begin to back her up as she's presenting her ideas/suggestions and quickly turns into more of an ally than enemy. Bee is very aware of his presence and stolen glances so much so that she starts to enjoy their collaboration. All the while reminding herself that Levi still fundamentally hates her. 

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS...

I'll preface this part of my review by mentioning that I’ve seen many reviews since I finished my read and although I agree that there’s a specific formula to all of these “Steminist” books, I enjoyed this more than The Love Hypothesis. The biggest standout difference for me is that both leads/romantic love interests are thoroughly fleshed out making it easy to connect and root for this ship. I LOVED the insider look we get to the actual project and seeing Bee leave a lot of dude bros in awe as she strutted her knowledge in her area of expertise. I also loved seeing Levi go from silent bystander to someone in Bee's corner who can’t stand when his male colleagues make it difficult for her to work. I loved the fact that Bee hates that it takes Levi backing her in order for the team to give her the time of day. She draws parallels between her current situation and that of Marie Curie who had to fight for an ounce of respect/recognition as a female Physicist during the early 1900's. It’s not often that I end up LOVING the male lead but Levi has my whole heart simply because he's a feminist that genuinely wants to see change in their field of work. If you can get past the many mentions of Levi’s large manly frame 😂 and Bee being overly oblivious, there’s a lot to love:

🧪Empowered women in STEM
🧪Tropes: Hate to love (kinda)/Close proximity
🧪Twitter threads/wars for entertainment
🧪feisty invisible 🐈
🧪Vegan love
🧪🧠 talk as they race to perfect a helmet for NASA
🧪Male lead is a feminist
🧪The humor was 👌🏽if it can get me to laugh out loud, then and only then it gets placed on my rom-COM faves shelf 😉

I still enjoyed some of Hazlewood’s go-to tropes explored in this book but have grown a little tired of the same plot layout involving an adorable science girl being reintroduced to an academic rival, miscommunication and lots of presumptions, and a secondary character being totally two-faced. It’s not a bad concept but after exploring more of her work I feel like it’s all Hazlewood is going to write about, even though it feels like she could delve into so much more than that.

I do love her continued rep of women in STEM, her broody and grumpy dark-haired male leads (what can I say? It’s repetitive but I’m still a sucker for it), lgbtq+ rep, and the humor/banter throughout the book.

Bee was an OK main character. I enjoyed her sense of humor and love of Marie Curie but didn’t like her assumptive nature and her obliviousness in some situations. I feel similarly about Levi- he was OK but I wasn’t head over heels for him. He felt a little passive throughout the book and I feel like much of the “conflict” in the beginning of the book could have been avoided if he’d said a couple clear sentences to Bee.

The plot was generally predictable and I wasn’t thrown by the big twist at the end except for how serious the implications would have been if the antagonist had gotten their way. The book had cute parts throughout and I did like the pieces about standardized tests/academic admissions processes needing to change. I felt more interested I think in subplots like the design of the helmet and the Twitter drama than the romance itself.

I would recommend this book to folks who aren’t sick to death of miscommunication/lack of communication tropes in their romance reads. I for one am sick of them, and I’m a little tired of Hazlewood’s overused plots, so this wasn’t the book for me. On principle I like what it tries to do in regard to women in STEM and changing standardized testing but the romance wasn’t my fave. I might read more of Hazlewood’s work after I get a good long break from her but I don’t know, we’ll just have to see.

I love women in STEM! Predictable but fun. Sexy but sweet. Another great entry into Ali Hazelwood’s romantic world. Almost makes me wish I had become a scientist.

This was a cute but different Ali Hazelwood that gave us the same things we loved from the TLH but gave us more. I enjoyed the workplace setting, but ultimately felt that both main characters were a little too clueless for me. Also the third act conflict was a bit much.

Still a solid read and can't wait to see what AH does next!

3.5/5 Stars

I've read the love hypothesis as I got an arc through net galley and truly enjoyed it. Now reading this book I was slightly disappointed. This wasn't a bad book but in my opinion, it was just too similar to Ali's previous book. Don't get me wrong, the book was still enjoyable and had not read Ali's first book I may have had a slightly different opinion. I also did find that there were a lot of unnecessary bits that could have been taken out. For example, the conflict at the end felt very superficial and not realistic. There were also some things that I wish were explored more like the treatment of Bee by levi in grad school which I've seen other reviewers mention

I love Ali Hazelwood. She writes the best grumpy vs sunshine books! This one is very similar to The Love Hypothesis, so if you are looking for something different this is not the one for you. I really loved this book, the characters are quintessentially Ali Hazelwood characters. She writes quirky well! It is not that sometimes over the top annoying quirkiness, it is a realistic level.

The twist I did not see coming, like I was shocked which does not usually happen in a romance.

Cannot wait to read more!

If you like Steamy Rom-Coms, this one is for you!

This was a buddy read with Kaceey and she loved it! Sadly, I prefer romance novels where the lead characters kiss and the “romance” fades to black, thus, this one was not for me.

In Love on the Brain, we have cute, fun, and quirky Neuroscientist Bee, who will be working alongside Nasa engineers and her former nemesis, the brilliant, gorgeous, and intriguing, Levi Ward, on a Neuroengineering project. It would be her dream come true if Levi wasn’t involved.

The banter between these two is spectacular and is what made this book readable for me. If only I understood Neuroscience. So much of the story went way over my head due to the detail and care the author included about Neuroscience, Neuroengineering, and STEM, that I lost interest quickly.

Seeing as I skimmed so much of the book to get through the chapters with Neuroengineering and the steamy sex, it was immediately clear that this book simply wasn’t for me. What is clear to me is that Ali Hazelwood is a great writer and is really good at writing rom-coms, sadly her writing style just isn’t for me.
2.75 Stars

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for the alc via NetGalley.

Simply put, this book is fun. It made me full blown laugh on several different occasions (Rocio's character is absolute gold) and the banter is top-notch. As someone who usually wouldn't touch science with a ten-foot pole, the way this book handles STEM is compelling and accessible. The pace moved quickly, the romance was cute, and it had all the necessary parts of an incredible rom-com. However...
Do not read this book if you loved The Love Hypothesis and are excited to read something new by the same author. Yes, it is technically a new book, but it literally feels like she changed the names of the two main characters and copied and pasted all of their personality traits and physical descriptors (minus the newly added colorful hair) into this book. The grumpy x sunshine trope worked super well before, but it feels derivative here.
So while I definitely enjoyed my time reading this book, it comes with the giant caveat that it sorta felt like I was reading the exact same romance all over again.

I knew this book was going to give me some conflicted feelings. And I was 100% correct. Did I like this one better than her debut? Yes. But also why did this feel so familiar? Because like her novellas they all read the same. I liked it, but it still was just not what I wanted.

First things first, this book is one of the reasons why I don’t like people trying to convince you to read a book only by listing off the tropes. Because yes this is academic enemies to lovers, but all her books are also academic enemies to lovers and it makes them seem all the same. I really don’t think I would have minded it as much had all that attention had been called to it. Plus since I’m not an enemies to lovers fan, it just gets kind of exhausting that this seems to be the only thing she’s written. BUT I DO love the women in STEM angle, and I know that the things she’s going through (stereotypes and misogyny) are very much something she would run into. And then the whole plot of talking to someone but she didn’t know who it was…. That was in one of the novellas too. But I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me? Or maybe I’m not explaining it right? I don’t know. But I do know that it’s all starting to sound the same.

The actual plot of the story was really wild tho. But as someone that is not sciencey at all, it was definitely some interesting work. And even if they do all read the same, I DO like that they’re all about different types of sciences. And this one is about one that’s actually interesting to me because I know someone who is actually in this field of science. They’re not at NASA, but they work with people’s brains and things like that. It was really cool that I got to ask them questions and see was the info accurate. The ending that resulted from this plot was like 0 to 60 lol I was not expecting that. I did get the villain wrong, so that was another reason I thought it was ok. But it wasn’t exactly something that made me be like OMG because it was only the ending that had me glued to the pages. (To my headphones)

The romance was cute tho. I’m sure we all knew the twist at the end, but I really loved that part. *SPOILER IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THE TWIST THEY HAD* I am a SUCKER for social media in romances so the DMs were cuteeeee *END SPOILER* But other than that, it wasn’t something that I’d write home about. Does that make sense? Like it was average. But I guess if you didn’t guess the thing, you could have been surprised and loved it? I know I’m not making sense if you haven’t read this, so I’ll stop lol

Another reviewer (a Bestie of mine, Amber at Du Livre) pointed out the narrator was new to her and they are to me as well. But I thought she did a really great job in talking about books and not mixing up or sounding weird on the sciencey talk. (That would be a real issue for me that I would actively worry about lol) She did a great job at keeping me interested and in the way she switched up for the characters.

This wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t bad. I liked it more than I thought I would tho. It’s not something I would tell anyone to read, but it’s also not something I would tell them not to read it either. It’s not a favorite, unless you mean out of the books that she did. Basically, this was just ok for me.

I had a little trouble getting in to this book, but once I did I couldn’t wait to keep reading. However, it did feel very similar to The Love Hypothesis. I also felt at times that the writing was so descriptive that it was hard to follow/understand and it made the book longer than it needed to be. I loved the quirkiness of the characters and overall enjoyed this story!

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

Bee and Levi met each other in grad school. Bee knew that he hated her so she was relieved when he graduated and she never had to see him again. Now, several years later, Bee is about to start a job at NASA as the leader of a neuroengineering project. When she has everything prepared to leave, she learns that the project will be co-lead by none other than her nemesis, Levi Ward. So Bee does what she always does, she asks herself: What would Marie Curie do? The answer is simple, she packs her things and moves to Texas.

Bee tries to keep a professional work environment but as they work together and get to know and understand each other, their relationship transforms from enemies to allies to very much more than friends.

I adored Bee’s character and her love for neuroscience, cats, Marie Curie and her sister. I really liked how passionate they are about their job and that they both want to make the world a better place. It does share some elements with The Love Hypothesis but I enjoyed both of them very much.

Love in the Brain is a modern “You’ve Got Mail” story about two Star Wars-loving scientists who also love cats and are secretly in love with each other!

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for the review copy of this book.

If you enjoyed The Love Hypothesis then you'll enjoy this book...or you may feel like you're reading it again. The main characters felt the same to me just with different names. It was fun but didn't keep my attention very well.