“Love on the Brain” gives us a nerdy STEM love story, full of pinning, that’s enemies to lovers with a side of Marie Curie history. From the start, I loved the banter, the chemistry, the entire story was completely binge-worthy.

This ended up being a fantastic second novel. I love that Hazelwood focuses her stories on women working in a man's field. The romance plot doesn't hurt either. She mixes it in well with the STEM chatter and awkward moments.

I'd say I'm pleased with this book, given the fact that I enjoyed some of the book's parts.

The writing here is better than in the novellas and The Love Hypothesis because I liked Dr. Bee's character but not her name and her whole Marie Curie addiction, which I found interesting and fun at first but became quite irksome as the story progressed.

I also admit that, along the way, I found the writing, or should I say the pacing and execution, a little tedious at times, similar to how I felt about The Love Hypothesis, but there were also times when it was engaging and fun, particularly the STEM topics here; NASA, the BLINK project, which I really enjoyed.

As I previously stated, the characters in this book are much more likable; Dr. Bee was likable, as were her friends, and I'd like to see more of them.

I'm still not sure about Levi because I believe he lacks personality most of the time (once again an issue I had with The Love Hypothesis). But the chemistry is there, and the romance is much more appealing here, in my opinion than in the author's previous works.

The miscommunication trope is probably my biggest issue with this book. Levi's personality, Bee's addiction to Marie, and the male's repetitive HUGENESS are the only main traits of the males in this author's works, which is quite bothersome to me. Also, why is the ending twist so unconvincing for a twist?

Overall, I believe this could have been improved, particularly the romance. I hope the author will improve their male personality/traits in the next installment.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑷𝑹𝑯 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍.

https://www.tiktok.com/@bettysbooklist/video/7069473978875645230?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en

So much fun. Another Hazelwood winner! I wasn’t sure if her second book would live up to the first (The Love Hypothesis) but it did and I loved it.

I love Ali Hazelwood’s women of STEM romance novels. She is the queen of awesome dialog and heated chemistry and Love on the Brain delivers in both of those areas. Bee is not only brilliantly smart, she also has a very smart mouth. She stands up for women and doesn’t let mansplaining dissuade her from her purpose on this project to create the best model for NASA and somehow get along with Levi. Despite having heated dreams of Levi breaking her concentration. Love on the Brain is a slow burn story, but Ali Hazelwood heats up the pages when it’s time for her characters to get together.

I loved all of the Marie Curie references as well as the science speak. Smart chicks are cool, and Bee is one of the coolest leading smart chicks that I’ve read to date. She’s colorful in character and brilliant of mind, but most of all, she’s a great person and an easy character to like. She has one foible, she wants stability and a home. She was brought up by various relatives around the world and wants to find her person, but she’s not quick to trust because of her past. Levi has a lot of work ahead of him! Yeah, Levi doesn’t really hate her, he’s just socially awkward and doesn’t know how to show his feelings.

Love on the Brain was smart, cute, funny, and at times brilliant. It was the perfect vacation read and I loved the feelings that it evoked in me. I know I’ll be picking up the audiobook as soon as it comes out so I can enjoy it again in a different way. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this ARC for my honest review and it was honest!

First, I want to thank PRH International for giving me a free copy of this book.

A fun fact about me is that I have a certain fascination with space centers. So, when I heard that Ali Hazelwood, author of The Love Hypothesis, is releasing her second romance book that involves a space center, best believe that I literally went feral. And thankfully, I got the honor of being able to read it ahead of its release (Thank you, PRH International) in exchange for an honest review, and all I can say is that: THE ROMANCE BOOK GIRLIES are in for a treat.

The book is about a neuroscientist who finds herself having to co-lead a very important NASA project with an engineer who also happens to be her grad school nemesis. I know! This book has enemies?-to-lovers, cats! (Just cats in general), and the spice level for this book is definitely higher.

If you think that Dr. Adam Carlsen was hot? Bestie, strap your seatbelts because you are not ready for Dr. Levi Ward. Like, seriously. This man is charming, smart, AND loves cats! He made me swoon, laugh, and fan. Basically the whole package. Oh! And did I mention that the protagonist is badass? Yes, Dr. Bee Königswasseris is smart, funny, witty, and is ready to take down the systemic sexism and misogyny in STEM. The side characters in this book are also lovable! I’m still not sure if I want to be Rocío or if I want to date Rocío. So, yes, this book is AMAZING.

Neuroscientist Bee Königswasser lands her dream project designing helmets at NASA, but the dream gets a little more nightmarish when she finds out the lead is her grad school nemesis Levi Ward. Or rather she was his nemesis. He seemed to hate her for no reason and even told her boyfriend he could do better. When she arrives for work, he seems to be the same pain she remembered, reminding her about dress codes he’s not following and being a giant roadblock keeping her from getting the equipment she needs. But maybe there’s another reason for his strange behavior…

I think after Hazelwood’s debut and novellas, you know what to expect going in and readers won’t be disappointed. There’s fabulous women in STEM representation, a great, pining love story, a bit of a mystery, cute cats, and some very steamy scenes that will leave an impression. There’s also a lot of emotional resonance in this story. Bee’s parents died when she was young, and she longs for the stability of a family without really believing she’ll be able to have it. The book strikes a perfect mix of being incredibly funny and a little heartbreaking. I especially loved the “What Would Marie Curie Do” theme that runs throughout the book.

I would absolutely and whole-heartedly recommend this one to romance lovers and the audio is fabulous. If you loved The Love Hypothesis, you’ll love this one. I might warn against reading the books too close together because there are a lot of similar themes, but the volume is turned up on many elements in Love on the Brain including the steam and the nefarious happenings.

I love love loved this books so much!

Love on the brain is proof for me that Ali Hazelwood has a special spark that she weaves into her stories!

The Love Hypothesis was a top romance read for me last year and this one definitely topped it! Bee is a protagonist you can root for. She’s relatable, she’s spunky, she’s so freaking funny, and her cat obsession and puns are my favorite quirk!

If you enjoy “hate to love” and “he falls first” then this book is for you! The pining, and angst, the tension, the tenderness of it all was just so dang good!

Add in the forced proximity, the banter, the steam, and Bee constantly angry daydreaming about painful ways to hurt people had me a puddle for this love story!

Highly recommend, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love on the Brain is a fun dive into the science research world with spunky characters and quirky scenarios.

Love on the Brain is Ali Hazelwood’s second stand alone novel. If you enjoyed The Love Hypothesis then you will love Love on the Brain. It takes her tried and true aspects: quirky little female STEM researcher, big but cinnamon roll manly researcher, add in some friction and tensions and combine for a bright contemporary romance.

Bee and Levi are our two main love interests. They knew each other in grad school and for all appearances hated each other. Flash forward a few years, and they both are working on some big research that brings them to co-lead a project at NASA. And that friction they felt in school is even more heightened now. Folks, this is a slow burn relationship for the books. Bee and Levi are two of the most awkward colleagues forced to work together for a good chunk of this story. Like I was very convinced that there would be no HEA with these two. The book is told only from Bee’s perspective so we have no insight to how Levi is actually feeling – although I think readers will probably pick up on some clues faster than Bee did. This is a great contemporary unrequited love story. I can’t think of many books in modern settings that do this well. For some reason I always think of historical romances for the unrequited pining, but beware this is a lot of pining in this book. And it’s great.

Hazelwood has also amped up the steam in this book. There are a few sexy time scenes in Love on the Brain between Levi and Bee. Bee did, at times, grate on my nerves. She’s so small (her tiny stature is commented on a lot) and tries so hard to be different and act differently than all the other researchers. It comes off a little immature – if she was an undergrad rather than a full-blooded PhD who’s almost 30 then I feel like her actions would make sense. Levi feels like the stereotypical Hazelwood hero – he’s huge and hulking but also soft and secretly a cinnamon roll. He also has a very big manhood. Seriously. The gigantic size of it is mentioned. A lot.

I loved a lot of the side plots of Love on the Brain. Both Bee and Levi like cats. There’s lots of cat time in this book. And some interesting scientific history focused on Marie Curie, thanks to Bee’s obsession with her. In all seriousness, the book also dives into a fantastic overview of STEM research, gender dynamics and the challenges of standardized tests gatekeeping higher education. These parts of the book were smart and relevant to today’s academic world. I also really loved Rocio, Bee’s research assistant and all around badass goth scientist. She was funny and complemented Bee so well.

Both Levi and Bee have some serious baggage with family. And, accordingly, they have built a strong foundation of a found family (which includes Bee’s twin sisters). I loved the found family of quirky researchers. Grad school is a lonely place – you’re often doing research that most people don’t understand, working long hours and are fairly isolated. Hazelwood was able to use some of these dynamics to explore some of the unconscious biases that exist in academia in subtle but powerful ways.

Finally, there were some You’ve Got Mail vibes throughout the secondary plotline of the book that I found delightful. This is one of those books that would make a very enjoyable movie to watch.

Love on the Brain is a fun dive into STEM, graduate school struggles and look behind the scenes into the scientific research world. Thank you Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. Love on the Brain is funny, sweet, hot, and occasionally terrifying. (I'm not in stem, but I am a woman in an academic environment, so some of this book is horrifyingly familiar.)
This is the first time I've read Ali Hazelwood, and I was pretty darn happy that I tried this. Even though I wanted to shake Bee for being so oblivious for half of the book, I also really enjoyed her sense of humor. Levi is also a huge dummy on a regular basis, but the two of them together were slightly dysfunctional fire. My only real quibble is that I wanted Bee's backstory about 25% sooner than we get it, but that's probably a me thing. Overall, this book was fun, smart, funny, and I will be returning to this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this, however, I did not like this as much as The Love Hypothesis. I felt like this book was a little bit too science heavy. Ali Hazelwood does a good job of explaining the science but I still found that it was a bit much. I really liked the relationship between the characters and really appreciated the way Levi looked after Bee without her knowing. The 3rd act conflict had me on the edge of my seat and a little stressed out but i really like the way it was done. Some parts of the book were a little wordy and seemed to just be ramblings and I feel like that is something we didn’t really get in The Love Hypothesis and why I think I like this one a little less. Overall, it was still good and I would recommend it!

I don’t think I’ve ever LOLed so many times while reading a book 😂. The puns, hilarious dad jokes, and snappy writing style all had me snort laughing. Hazelwood’s wit and snark on the page are simply unmatched.

Love on the Brain is enemies-to-lovers, and when I say enemies, I mean E-N-E-M-I-E-S. Dr. Bee Königswasser has loathed Levi Ward (AKA: Dr. Wardass) ever since he dissed her in grad school. Now, she’s been offered the opportunity of a lifetime as co-lead on a groundbreaking neuroengineering project at NASA. The only catch is that Wardass is the other half of that co-lead. She resolves to suck it up despite her rivalry, but it seems like someone is sabotaging her at every turn. Is it Levi? Or could it be that the chiseled🔥, broody, emerald-eyed Dr. Wardass isn’t as terrible as Bee once believed?

Ok, I loved watching Hazelwood, a PhD in neuroscience, write a MC with a PhD in neuroscience💗🧬. She is not afraid to call out misogyny and sexism in the field as she advocates for women in STEM. My nerdy heart squealed at the references to Star Wars, 90s music, and the life and labors of Marie Curie. There were also these sweet, subtle, beautiful moments that made me tear up🥹. ALSO, this one is definitely spicier than The Love Hypothesis. And I’m here for it 🌶🌶🌶!

Thank you to @berkleypub and @netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love on the Brain - Ali Hazelwood
4.5/5⭐️
Pub Day: 🎉Today!🎉

This series can be classified as romance novels for gigantic nerds, which is a compliment, obviously. I found it super iteresting how this love story takes place in the labs of a completley different scientific field. As the aforementioned 'gogantic nerd' I really liked all the science detail, but will not be doing any fact checking so hopefully I learned stuff and enjoyed this story. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Although it's a series, you absolutely don't have to read the Love Hypothesis to 'get' it (you might be a lazy reader like me who needs to know that!) This is another grumpy sunshine academia novel. There is quite a lot of pining, Twitter fame and cool classified NASA stuff. FYI, this one is definitley less PG-13 than the first book of the series. This book is really predictable, but in the good way of romance novels. The guy is nice online, kind of an asshole in person.

Honestly, I really don't like our MCs in this one, which made this story hard for me to immerse myself in.I love Rocio...but I feel as if I have been robbed. I need MORE of her! And just more of a world outside our main couple. It just fell a little short for me there.

Overall, I liked Love On The Brain and will definitely be reading more romance novels for gigantic nerds.

Love On The Brain
By: Ali Hazelwood
Pub day: Today! Available Now :)

"I want to tell her that she's luminous, she's so bright in my mind, sometimes I can't focus."

Female neuroscientist meets NASA engineer in this new STEM enemies to lovers romcom by Ali Hazelwood!

Read if you like:
🌸 Enemies to lovers
🌸 Forced Proximity
🌸 Workplace romance
🌸 STEM, academia
🌸 Kittens
🌸 Brainy romance and humor

What I loved:

I love that Ali Hazelwood chooses to feature women in science in her writing. She places an emphasis on women with intelligence, drive, ambition and female empowerment in the workplace, and I appreciate that representation in her works as an author. I also really adore the comedic tendencies of her characters - writing the love interests with a hint of nerdy/brainy humor and quirkiness. Her characters are very loveable, and I couldn't help but root for Levi and Bee.

What wasn't my favorite:

I will say this novel relied heavily on misunderstandings, and personally miscommunication isn't my favorite trope.

Overall thoughts:

Love On The Brain was a fun combination of cleverness, sweetness and funny moments. With unexpected elements of mystery, this romance surprised me with a plot twist I didn't predict. An overall cute and entertaining read, this workplace romance was another enjoyable edition to the STEM Hazelwood family.

Thank you Berkley Pub and Netgalley for my gifted copy!

Bee is a neuroscientist at NIH. She’s contracted by NASA. Her goal is to create a revolutionary helmet for astronauts at NASA. However, Levi, her arch nemesis from grad school, makes sure things aren’t so easy for her to achieve her goals. She has three months to create the most amazing project NASA and NIH has ever developed or she’s going home. But how can she do that when Levi has all the equipment and the access to her project? And what did she do to cause Levi to hate her so much that he would stand in the way of her work, dreams and passions?

If you enjoy romance, you’ve likely heard about or read The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood’s debut romcom. But, have you read her lasted STEM-centric masterpiece? Yup, I did use the word “masterpiece” in an attempt to even begin describing the literary genius that is Love on The Brain. This book is my newest obsession.

I HIGHLY recommend Love on Brain!

I thought I loved Adam. Well, Levi embodies everything. He is drool worthy! He’s so perfect that he doesn’t understand how amazing he is. He’s my newest book boyfriend/crush. *Don’t tell my hubby*

Ali’s writing is amazing! It’s so easy to get lost in the story. The main character Bee is emotional and cries a lot. My personality is polar opposite. BUT, I felt so connected with Bee and cared so much for her.

Thank you Ali for including the disability rep and really exploring a “misfiring of neurons” and characters that have seizures/epilepsy. Like Penny, I have neurons that rapid fire some days, always at inconvenient times. And, I have tried the Keto diet . So, I feel her pain. The brain is such a mystery. {also childhood seizures/epileptic episodes is a content warning. Please check all CW’s}.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

🔥🔥🔥 3/5 Steam Rating
📝 1st Person POV, Women in STEM, Sapphic side plot
💖 Enemies-to-Lovers, Workplace Romance

I have to be really honest, I didn’t care for The Love Hypothesis. I went into this book as my last chance for this author, and I ended up enjoying it! I also want to note that this book has more steamy than her previous book, so know that going in.

I adored how quirky & fun Bee was as a character. She was a breath of fresh air. I also enjoyed how steadfast and understanding Levi was, even though he was a bit awkward at times. There were a lot of Marie Curie references within this book, but I actually enjoyed them. I thought the author did a good job of weaving the references into the story in a way that was informative, without being annoying. I know this might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

I also LOVED Rocío and her sub-plot. Talk about an interesting and unexpected character! I would love to see her get her own book one day!

There were a few things that didn’t work for me. First, the use of the ™️ and the “titles” associated with it was excessive and felt a bit childish. I also thought that there were a few cliché romance themes that this story could have done without, like the tiny woman always needing help from the giant man. 🙄 I also wasn’t a fan of how Bee took everything with Levi to the extreme; no one would interpret “change your dress” to “I think you’re ugly and hate everything about you” but Bee seemed to.

Overall, I thought that this was a fun quirky read. If you’re like me and didn’t love this authors debut novel, maybe give this one a try.

Read if you like: enemies to lovers
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This book was so cute! When Bee gets the opportunity to work for NASA, she is ecstatic, but then she learns that the co-lead of the project is Levi, who used to hate her back in grad school! She refuses to let this dampen her spirits, but when she gets to Texas, not everything is as it seems!
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I really loved Bee and Levi. Bee was quirky with her love for Marie Curie, and Levi matched her energy quite well. They were both smart and fun characters and I loved their chemistry. I also appreciated Bee’s discussions of sexism in STEM. I couldn’t stop reading and I didn’t want the story to end!
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CW: sexual content, sexism, misogyny, violence, death of parents, gun violence, toxic relationships, infidelity.

Eu aproveitei cada momento da leitura, uma leitura rápida e fluída em um livro com uma escrita envolvente e cativante que faz o leitor nem perceba o tempo passar. Dito isso, se ainda não leu nada da autora e até mesmo já leu, "Love on the Brain" é uma leitura que indico muito.
Resenha completa no blog.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sphere, and Ms. Hazelwood for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

I loved The Love Hypothesis and honestly, I *liked* Love on the Brain, just not as much. I think I was looking for more magic, but *different* magic, if you know what I mean, whereas Love on the Brain was more than a little reminiscent of its predecessor. I don’t mind that the male MCs were quite similar. GF has a type; I get it; I do too. I think perhaps I was struck by the fact that Olive was quirky and charming but Bee was, how do I say this, the Galactic Overlord of all Manic Pixie Dream Girls. MPDGs™ are my absolute least favorite trope. It’s a fine line between quirky and TOO quirky and Bee crossed that line years ago. This is a personal preference so, as always, YMMV.

What I liked? Well, I liked the enemies portion of the enemies-->friends-->lovers. I wished it had lasted longer. It’s always satisfying (to me.) when MPDGs™ are absolutely mystified by someone not liking them (gasp!). I lOOOOOOOOOOOved Bee’s snarky, goth research assistant Rocio and Bee’s world-traveling twin sister Reike. I liked Levi fine (he was unobjectionable). I loved the science parts and the interwoven politics – how absolutely shocking that two feuding government agencies would rather scuttle a multi-million dollar project than share credit (spoiler: that was sarcasm) – and I loved that it involved NASA (a childhood dream employer of mine). I kind of half-expected Howard Wolowicz to jump out from the lab, lol.

I wished Bee and Levi had gotten to date more; I wish Bee had gotten out of her head more; I wish Bee hadn’t been so gosh-darned precious all the time. If she had stood up for herself earlier instead of navel-gazing about Marie Curie for a week straight, she would never have been so far behind. I mean: who goes to a new job and just SITS on their butt, for five days straight, just waiting? Is that allowed in the scientific community? I can’t even conceive of twiddling my thumbs for an entire day let alone a week.

Anyways. I ENJOYED the book, I did, it was good. It just couldn’t outshine <i>The Love Hypothesis</i>, which did everything first, and better. (And if I’m being completely honest, I could never love a book featuring the Galactic Overlord of all MPDGs™ the best.)

Another absolutely delightful romance from Ali Hazelwood in the books! This was a blast from start to finish and I am so happy to report that this has now easily cemented her as an all-time favorite author for me. I love how clear she makes it on every page that her heroes would do literally anything/everything for their heroines and I am ALL ABOUT IT. I mean, the sexual tension between Bee and Levi?????? I die!!!! I will say, one thing about this book that didn't really work for me (and what took this from a 5 star down to a 4) was that completely out of the blue, cheesy action movie ending. That was just asking for a liiiiitle (okay, A LOT) too much suspension of disbelief for my taste, lol. But other than that this was so!!! much fun and I cannot wait to read whatever Ali Hazelwood has next up her sleeves!!

CW: death of a loved one, cheating