𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺, 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭!

This was a really entertaining read, I loved the banter, enemies to lovers trope, charming and likeable characters, fast-paced and full of laugh out loud moments. Another great read from this author.

Thank you Berkley Romance for this gifted copy.

𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 by Ali Hazelwood released August 23, 2022.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

Did I miss something? Is it normal now that all romance novels must have political statements attached to the main protagonist?

Love on the Brain is the second romance I read in a week where there were so many political comments thrown at the reader that I had whiplash. I understand having a stance but does it really have to come out as verborrhea from the female character?

I don't know about you, but it was a turn-off for this reader.

Love on the Brain had the potential to be quite a cute story. I liked the main characters as well as the secondary ones. There were cute cats, a smart precious little girl, miscommunications that caused the heroine to believe the hero didn't like her, details about Madame Curie that were quite interesting, and talks about NASA helmets with neurostimulation that were exciting to learn.

What was lacking? Admission of love by one of the characters. The thought was there but was never spoken out loud. I think that was a big miss.

One last thing, if you are an "open door" romance reader, this one qualifies as one.

Cliffhanger: No

2.5/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Berkley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book gave me similar vibes to The Love Hypothesis, but I still enjoyed it. While I liked it, this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I was a little disappointed. I do hope to see something a little different from Ali in the future because between TLH and the novellas, I am getting a little burnt out on the same MC used over and over again and the same love interest being *unrealistically* tall and handsome. I love the STEM rep though!

Thank you #netgalley for an early read of #LoveOnTheBrain

This book follows Bee, who is given the chance to lead a project for NASA. The catch is, she'll be co-leading with her nemesis from grad school, Levi. Bee is certain Levi is set on getting her off the project, but after some time, she begins to think he's got a soft spot for her. She's making it up, right?

I loved Hazelwood's first novel, and I think I might like this one more. I feel as though her writing has improved with this one. One thing I'm not a huge fan of is her tendency to write the female MC in an aloof, air-headed kind of way, while the male MC always seem to be smooth and 'with it'.

Loved it!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Bee is a neuroscientist which is really cool. But besides that, she runs a what would Marie curie do Twitter account. Also very cool.

Something else about Bee she has an archnemesis named Levi. Levi is an engineer and the head of a new project...that Bee is working on.

I totally called multiple parts of this book but I didn't mind it one bit. I need a some adult romance books in my life and this delivered.

okay, i didn’t love it. i’ve been holding off a review because. i am always left either mad or frustrated with everything. i wanted to enjoy it since i did enjoy The Love Hypothesis but this one seemed more annoying. The characters seemed absolutely so immature for their age and their careers, and there was SO MUCH MAN HATING! like i understand you have to fight in STEM but girl cut it out, give some men a chance for once in your life. the author wrote nearly every man as an awful person and i hated it. It was kinda the same in TLH except the men/guys that she didn’t hate were gay… except the love interest who was always broody and moody and hard to figure out blah blah blah. I can’t deal with the author tbh, this one just seemed to irk me even more!! for now 3 stars, i do like the nasa idea, just wish the author didn’t write the same characters over and over and the same tropes and side characters. it’s annoying

I’ve seen mixed reviews for this everywhere. I haven’t read The Love Hypothesis, so I can’t say how this compares, but word on the street is they are super similar.

I loved the women in STEM aspect and the conversations about the GRE, but the rest of it just kind of fell flat.

I felt like Levi & Bee did have good banter, but also how many times can they have a conversation about how he hates her, but never actually talk about it. 🫠 I also didn’t love the constant descriptions of Levi. He’s tall. He has broad shoulders. Be prepared to hear it at least 100 times.

Overall, I thought it was cute, but there were definitely parts that I didn’t love. I’m trying to decide if I want to give The Love Hypothesis a chance since it was so LOVED last year!

3 ⭐️

This book was so cute! I love a good enemies to lovers trope and this one didn’t disappoint! Bee’s character was so spunky, witty and smart. I love how even when she got a job for NASA she still didn’t take herself too seriously. And Levi was 100% book boyfriend material. He was so patient and cute with Bee.
The science aspect of this book was so interesting to me. Sometimes it was a bit over my head, but still easy enough to follow along. The strong female vibes in this book were phenomenal. Between Bee and Rocio, we had two independent and bad ass female characters and they had the best friendship. Overall, this book has everything you would want in a RomCom and I definitely recommend!

WOW. Just... WOW.

After The Love Hypothesis, I didn't think I could love an Ali Hazelwood book more. But boy was I wrong!

I LOVED Bee and Levi. I think they had even more chemistry than Olive and Adam, and I couldn't get enough of them. Every interaction they had either made me laugh or swoon. I was rooting for them to get together from page one and I couldn't be happier when it finally happened.

I was also very much interested in the plot of this one. I don't know much about STEM, but I thoroughly enjoyed the discussions the author brought up and the science-y part of things.

Overall, this was very entertaining and I cannot wait to read the next book Ali Hazelwood will come up with.

I absolutely adored this! So clever, hilarious, and sweet. I love Bee and Levi, and I loved following their story! Highly recommend!

Though enjoyable, this book did not have the same magic that The Love Hypothesis did. It was a bit predictable. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it felt almost too much like TLH. If you enjoyed TLH though, it's still enjoyable and worth the read.

I didn't think it was possible to like this one as much as The Love Hypothesis, BUT I DID!!! Seriously I don't know what she puts in her writing, but it is addictive. Yes it's corny, but in the absolutely perfect way. And the science thing is really unique and wonderful, and I just love her books, seriously, so much. Tha k you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

As much as I loved The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood’s debut novel, Love On The Brain was even better. The characters were more well rounded, the supporting characters more interesting, their history intriguing, and the build to their relationship enamoring. Smart, sweet, funny, sexy, and surprising; Love On The Brain was an absolute delight to read.

Bree lives and breathes neuroscience; she’s smart, sassy, quirky, and an expert on all things Marie Curie. Unfortunately her career is stalled because she turned down her dream job after getting her PHD because she found out her best friend was sleeping with her fiancé and she wasn’t the only one. She’s a bit stuck in her job, with a boss who isn’t the best, and she needs a career break. Finding out she won the placement for a special project at NASA is just what she needed until she finds out she is co-lead with Levi who made her first year of grad school miserable.

Levi is determined to make sure the BLINK project goes off without a hitch, it has to as it is his friend’s legacy and that is why he wanted Bree on the project no matter how hard it will be for him to see her again. He comes across as this uncommunicative jerk around Bree but around his team you see a completely different side and Bree sees it as well and it hurts. When it becomes evident she thinks he’s trying to sabotage her she confronts him and she soon finds out that he wants her on the project even though she believes he doesn’t want her around.

I loved that we were treated to Bree’s memories of grad school as she talked with her vagabond sister about her new job and Levi. I could certainly see why she would think Levi doesn’t like her and why she was worried about him trying to have her removed from the project especially since she arrived to an empty office and lab. But, we also treated to Levi’s longing looks, the way he censure’s himself around her, and the absolute distaste as he mentions her husband to a colleague who asks Bree out.

As this is going on we are treated to her assistant Reike who has a bit of a morbid personality and has a keen dislike turned affection for Levi’s assistant Kaylee, a bit of a Elle Woods type, and therefore Reike’s complete opposite. There were a lot of moving parts to this story; politics and funding of the project, Levi’s combative family, an ex-girlfriend and her child, Bree’s childhood trauma that has made her weary of relationships, Bree’s Twitter side project @whatwouldMariedo a place for women in STEM to share and support one another, the fight against GRE, not to mention the phantom cat, and a sinister plot to make the BLINK project fail. This book has so much more “meat” to it than its predecessor and yes that’s a bit of a play on words as both the main characters are vegan and because of the full and rich plot that’s why I loved it more. Despite everything else going on the relationship wasn’t lost in it; we see Bree begin to see the real Levi, we see Levi opening up more to Bree, and we see them become partners in every sense of the word.

With an interesting plot, characters that were flawed but likeable, a few obstacles to overcome, and a relationships years in the making; I found Love OnThe Brain to be a perfect romance.

I really enjoyed The Love Hypothesis and was super jazzed to read Love on the Brain, so thank you to @BerkleyPub for the NetGalley review copy. I am very divided on my feelings about this book. I love that Hazelwood writes about women in STEM fields getting some action, and I’m a fan of an enemies to lovers plot trope. BUT… this felt overall felt like a less funny repetition of a lot of TLH.

Things I Loved:

- The use of Sausage Referencing™ to describe how so many men (in STEM and really everywhere) require other men to validate women’s contributions and insights. See also: Cockcluster™ and WurstFest™ (LOL)
- The Goth + Glitter Girl romance between Rocío and Kaylee. I’d really like to read that book!
- The cats.
- Bee’s tattoos of all the places she’s lived. The last one she gets made me have an emotion.
- Bee’s @ whatwouldmariedo Twitter account and her Marie Curie super-fandom.

Things I Did Not Love:

- Giant Man/Tiny Woman (again)
- Bee's confirmation bias that Levi "hated" her
- Bee needing Levi to stand up for her constantly and not handling stuff on her own.
- The repetition.

To sum up:

Did I love this book? No.
Did I hate this book? No.
Will I read another book by Hazelwood? Yes.
Will I lose my mind if the next book is about another Brooding Giant Man and Quirky Tiny Woman? Yes.

I enjoyed it but I couldn't believe that Bee was so unaware to what was going on with Levi. And the fiancee that treated her like trash? Why didn't she walk away! This novel was more frustration making for me.

Love love loved! The enemies to lovers trope is one of my favorites and this one did not disappoint. I thought it was just as good as (maybe even better??) than The Love Hypothesis!

Brilliant yet unconventional (see: purple hair) neuroscientist Bee Königswasser has not enjoyed the career success she anticipated. Instead, she’s working at the NIH for a troll of a misogynist. She’s able to cope through international calls with her itinerant twin sister as well as the Twitter account she secretly runs, @whatwouldmariedo, a place to commiserate about women’s experiences in STEM fields.

She just might get her own lab, though, now that NASA has offered her a dream position, leading BLINK, a neuro-engineering project building a helmet to enhance astronauts’ concentration in space. Bee’s overjoyed until she realizes that she’ll have a co-lead: Levi Ward. A few years ahead of her in graduate school, Levi was her archnemesis, refusing to work on projects with her, even cautioning her former fiancé about her.

But just like Marie would do, Bee, along with her caustic research assistant Rocío, heads to Houston with expecting the best, but preparing for the worst. Bee’s imagined worst, though, didn’t come close to the disaster that awaited her. Her equipment didn’t arrive, her keycard didn’t work, and Levi ignored her emails. It was graduate school all over again. Levi, though, isn’t the archnemesis she remembered. He even advocates for her, which give her the opportunity to muse on his handsome features and very tall frame. Yet even if these enemies can come together, their project will have them spinning in different orbits in a matter of months.

I loved a lot about the books: it’s another of Hazelwood’s STEMinist™ novels, with a fun, irreverent heroine, and a dreamy(x10) love interest. Not only is Bee vegan, so is Levi, In Texas! And not only does Bee love cats, Levi has a cat! The excerpts from @whatwouldmariedo illuminate the very real problems women face in the STEM fields, and a query about the GRE leads to a #fairgraduateadmissionsmovement. (Down with standardized tests!) The book also has a small mystery that leads to some adrenaline-filled scenes.

As smart as Bee is, though, she was frustratingly obtuse about the signals Levi was sending. Furthermore, like some of the LI’s in Hazelwood’s novellas, Levi has a big d*ck, a subject of much rumination on Bee’s part, especially in contrast to how very tiny she is inside and out. Finally, Levi and Bee had a dinner with his family that brought up issues, but these were never subsequently addressed much less resolved.
Hazelwood’s formula seems to be very successful for her, and this is a fun read if not that different from her previous work. If you enjoyed her prior novel and novellas, you’ll likely enjoy LOVE ON THE BRAIN. In the future, I hope she takes more risks and breaks out of her writing comfort zone.

ove on the brain? yeah... I loved it.

hazelwood's writing isn't for everyone but me? I'll eat it up!

bee and levi have to be my favorite characters she has written so far. I loved how oblivious bee was to levi's feelings. the way levi would describe bee? no men could compare. felt like I could relate to them so much and honestly it felt so enjoyable reading them.

when I say he FELL first... yeah that man fell over heels.

the background characters? loved them so much. they did not want me want to punch them like in the love hypothesis.

this is a little spicer than her first book and just the perfect amount.

her books seem to be the same sort of characters but in different fonts and I don't mind it. don't understand the unnecessary hate her and her books get.

For anyone who loved The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood’s second full-length romance is going to hit all of the same notes!
Not a professor and grad student this time, but colleagues who—as far as Bee knows—hate each other. This has one of the best microtropes ever: when she thinks he’s hated her but really he’s been pining for yeeeears. Ugh, so good.
There are a lot of the same dynamics here, the tall and smol, the sexism in STEM, the precariousness of grant-funded research. There’s also an interesting social media/You’ve Got Mail-ish piece that I found fun even if it nearly gave me Twitter-related stress hives.

Hot science romance. If that’s what you want then this is for you. The characters are quirky and likeable. The celebration of intelligence is appreciated and the best part of this book. The sexual humor and situations are cringy. The predictability is frustrating. If you’re looking for a sexually charged Hallmark movie then this is it. This book is just not for this reader though I really appreciate the setting and all of the STEM! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.