Highlights: women in STEM, nemeses-to-lovers, secret identities, pining, workplace romance, miscommunication trope.

A brilliant neuroscientist Dr. Bee Königwasser gets an offer to lead a prestigious neuro-engineering Nasa project, designing high-tech helmets for astronauts. But her excitement about the project is greatly diminished when she finds out that she will have to work with none other than Levi Ward, her nemesis from their grad-school days. The project's success can make Bee's career, and she has no choice but to be professional and work with he nemesis. While working with Levi, she realizes that maybe she misjudged him and his past behavior.

I liked Bee and Levi very much. I enjoyed watching their relationship change from animosity to friendship to love. Their relationship began with miscommunication, which is not my favorite trope, but it worked in this book. Leo is very closed-off in the beginning, but once he opens up to Bee, she starts to see him in a different light.

Like the previous book, Love on the Brain addresses topics of sexism, misogyny, and toxicity in STEM/academia. I really appreciate that Ali Hazelwood discusses these themes in her book. If you want to learn about trigger warnings, the author has a good guide on her website. After adoring The Love Hypothesis last year, I was looking forward to reading Love one Brain. I am happy to say it didn't disappoint! If you are looking for a feminist, thought-provoking, swoony romance, read Love on the Brain!

I can't get over how absolutely adorable book that is Love on the Brain. You will fall in love with Bee and Levi and root for them from start to finish.

3.5, rounded up. I'm just going to have to accept the fact that Ali Hazelwood is forever going to pair Small STEM Genius Ladies with Grumpy Tall Smart Dudes and that I'm going to eat that right up.

The chemistry is certainly there, as is the quippy dialogue and a heaping spoonful of Crush the Patriarchy. (Again, these are all concepts and plot points that absolutely cater to me--Hazelwood knows her audience.) Much like the first book, however, there are maddeningly obtuse communication issues, For me, they're much worse here because they manifest in a You've Got Mail situation that made me want to scream "LOOK. LOOK AT THE WORDS YOU ARE TYPING. THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS." (I don't think that's a spoiler, since it's quite apparent from the first exchange, but apologies if I've ruined the book for anyone.)

I'll still read any full-length novel Hazelwood writes (haven't read the novellas, as they've received more critical reviews), but I liked this one less than her debut.

4 stars

I think what I really like about Ali Hazelwood’s books, is the spotlight she put on women on stem. I appreciate that and even though her books could get super nerdy, she still manage to make them fun.

The story itself was quirky, nerdy, and such a fun read. In my opinion, Bee and Levi were kinda a replica of Olive and Adam. The story has kinda the same format, but still got its own thing? Idk, I still liked them tho. Their miscommunication was kinda getting on my nerves and some of their actions made me question how were they qualified to work with NASA, but yeah they were still adorable.

This got a good banter, a lot of nerdy talk, you’ve got mail vibes, women in stem and how hard it is for them, cats, and pinning!!

Huge Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this copy.

So good- better than the first, which I loved. There wasn’t any real awkwardness here, smart people were allowed to be smart people. So wonderful to have the setting in STEM and women play such a predominant role. I loved how so many misogynistic practices were called out in this very entertaining book!

🚀🐱🧠 Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood 💋🪐💗

H’s Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Genre: RomCom
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Workplace Romance, Miscommunication
TW: Seizures, mention of death of parents

👉🏼 Pub Date: August 23, 2022

📖 Read if you like 📖
👩🏻‍🔬 Women in STEM
🐱 Cats
🧠 Neuroscience/neuroanatomy references
⚔️ Enemies to Lovers
📱 Miscommunication
🧑🏻‍💻 Hot, feminist engineer
🔥 Slow Burn

H’s ARC Review:

Love on the Brain is The Love Hypothesis on steroids. It’s nerdier, spicier, and a fresh twist on a typical enemies to lovers trope. Levi has a grumpy exterior, but internally he is a big softie! We love a man that falls first and 👏🏼 KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS 👏🏼

This one was a slow 🔥 burn 🔥, but it lit up after a little forced proximity 😈 - we love to see it! The epilogue tied the whole story off nicely in a pretty 🎀 bow, and I will be recommending this book come August!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVED The Love Hypothesis (read my review at the link above), so I was incredibly excited to see Love On the Brain pop up on Netgalley and then even more excited when I was quickly approved! I read this 7 months ago, so I literally had no chill about it. I dove in immediately and had so much fun reading this quirky, nerdy romance.

1. The first this you should know is that this is not in any shape or form a sequel to The Love Hypothesis. We’ve got completely different characters, a different setting, different science, same quirk. There’s no mention of anyone or anything from The Love Hypothesis so, while this is being marketed as part of the same series, it’s a standalone novel. Science and the author are the only two things that tie these books together.

1. Bee. When I think of Bee, I think of this little slice of puff pastry. She’s pretty adorable and quirky (I think I’m going to use this word to describe a lot about this book). Bee is a neuroscientist, who is on loan to NASA from NIH to collaborate on a project involving developing helmets for astronauts that offer transcranial magnetic stimulation. It sounds like it’s essentially a non-invasive way of stimulating the brain to help control mood? Who knows. The science was way over my head and, at times, made me glaze over and read the words but not actually know what I was reading. Anyway, Bee is very smart and sweet and spirited. she’s frequently underestimated and pushed to the side. She’s relatively fresh off a bad break-up (her ex cheated on her with her best friend), so there’s a lot of insecurity and issues with trust on her end. I felt for her and liked her a lot. Oh, she’s also obsessed with Marie Curie and I now know more about Marie than I ever needed to know. lol.

2. Levi is a major cinnamon roll. He’s the silent brooding type, who doesn’t always know how to process his feelings and act on them correctly and is just so sweet. I wanted to hug him and also give him a pep talk. I love how he treats Bee (he takes her seriously and really respects her), how he feels about her, and how he sticks up for what’s right and fair. Oh my gosh, there’s a scene where he has to go save her from a cemetery that she got locked into because she fell asleep after her run, and I was cracking up. And he loves cats. My goodness.

3. These two… oh my goodness. They are hilarious and frustrating at the same time. Their banter and flirtatious teasing of one another had me smiling a lot. Levi has been in love with Bee for years but has accidentally disguised that love as hate. She is convinced that he hates her, therefore she also hates him and he struggles to convince her otherwise! She jokes with him about it and brings it up all the time, and just when you think they’re turning a corner and she’s beginning to understand how he really feels, she says he hates her again and ahhhhhhhh!! LOL. Seriously, I relate to this part of Bee more than I’d like to admit.

4. There is some major heat in this book. Wow. And the swoons are there, too, OF COURSE. These two have some very sweet, romantic moments.

5. Bee’s co-worker… I cannot remember her name for the life of me. Oh my gosh, she is a dramatic hoot and really grew on me. I was rolling my eyes all over the place at first, but then I loved her. She also has an online friend named Schmac, and I loved her candid conversations with him about her life.

6. I’m not kidding when I say I glazed over the science bits and a lot of the info about Marie Curie’s life. Science and facts are abundant in this book, way more than I remember in The Love Hypothesis, and there were times when I feared I would not survive it.

7. Bee’s monologues include a lot of trademark symbols behind made-up phrases, which was annoying. I searched my eARC by “™” and got 42 results. It was excessive. We have WurstFest™ (aka Meatwave, aka a “dicksplosion in the testosteroven”); Cockcluster™ (meetings with only one woman in the room); Sausage Referencing™ (when a man vouches for a woman’s ideas, therefore making the rest of the men think it’s a better idea); The Cute Guy™, The Handsome Guy™, and The Sexy Guy™ (all of these “guys” are categories that Bee and her friend place guys in, and each category has different qualities); Hostile Companionable Silence™ (how Bee and Levi work), Levi Green™ (as opposed to an actual color), and Uh-Oh™. This was easily my least favorite part of the book. Every time I saw a ™ I wanted to throw my Kindle. I don’t like the use of trademark as a way to place emphasis on something or make it seem special. I see it on social media a lot, and it bugs me because that’s not how trademarks work! It’s like when people speak in hashtags (for example: “Hashtag best. summer. ever!”). Annoying. There’s a time and a place for hashtags, and there’s a time and a place for trademark symbols. This was not the time or the place for trademark symbols. Wow. That was a rant. Moving on.

8. There’s some major “You’ve Got Mail” vibes that I loved.

9. There’s also some drama and career scaries, a mysterious cat, and even a life or death situation and it all combined together to create quite the page-turner!

All in all, I really enjoyed Love On the Brain. The Love Hypothesis is still my favorite of the two stories, but Love On the Brain is filled with quirk, heart, nerdiness, and a heaping spoonful of swoons. If you like science, women in STEM, plucky heroines, and cinnamon roll heroes then I highly recommend this book.

A steamy (and STEAM-y, ha!) enemies to lovers, workplace romance that I loved! I think I enjoyed this even more than The Love Hypothesis, which was one of my top reads of last year! I loved the NASA talk, the witty banter, the TENSION and best of all it was a sort of remake of You've Got Mail which is probably one of my favorite movies. This had all the perfect ingredients to pull of a science experiment success!

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Many thanks to @netgalley for my advance copy! You all know I was obsessed with The Love Hypothesis so I knew I needed to read Love on the Brain.

Ali combines my favorite things in a Rom Com-wit, humor, the best banter and real life issues that most females face in the workplace, specifically in STEM. She has the ability to really make characters leap off the page and you cannot help falling in love with them. Much like Love Hypothesis, we have two individuals who are extremely likeable, nerdy in the best way and attractive. I would say that Levi is Adam 2.0 if I must so if you loved Adam, you will love Levi. Bee is quirky, cute and has moments of uncertainty we can all relate too.

I know I am not the most verse in Romance, but I will say I did enjoy the rivals to lover’s trope here and it was clever that she added a tad bit of mischief and mystery into the story as well. I did guess who the “bad guy” was but I enjoyed the motive behind it.

The only reason I did not rate this a 5 (her banter is just that good) is that this one had much more steam. I know, I know I am a prude. I just do not like it. In fact, I skip it when it is in a book. If steam is your thing-you will definitely find this one spicy.

Unpopular opinions are pretty rare for me - honestly I usually am ALL IN with the hyped books!

LOTB had Hazelwood’s smart, witty writing style that we all fell for last year with the “TikTok sensation” The Love Hypothesis. Her love for STEM topics comes through big time again! If you loved TLH as much as I did last year, I think you will enjoy this, but personally I had some issues.

The good:
•Levi. I actually really loved him - so sweet 💕
•I thought both characters had interesting and well developed back stories.
•The steam! Definitely steamier than TLH.
•I personally loved all the neuroscience talk (it took me back to my stroke/brain injury days as a nurse)

The neutral:
•This is very similar to TLH. Big deal? Not so much for me, but I can see some people taking issue.
•Marie Curie. If you didn’t know her before, prepare yourself!!

The not as good:
•The entire conflict wraps around miscommunication. And it goes on FOREVER. I wanted to shake Bee and say WAKE UP!! These are genius level people! Figure it out! I found myself annoyed. Ugh.
•Why do we need to make smart, genius, bad ass women tiny, weak, and needy?? There were multiple times that little Bee needed saved by giant Levi.
•There we’re a couple odd scenes for me. Particularly the ending action scene. What?? Not needed. Too much.

I could go on, but I don’t want to be spoilery. But, I felt a bit let down. Obviously, Hazelwood had incredible creative talent and I will still be excited for whatever comes next!

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2022/08/18/%f0%9f%8e%a7-love-on-the-brain-by-ali-hazelwood/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

I always enjoy the books by this author.  I realize now they have have some similarities. The characters are based in interesting science study or work.  The female is talented, smart and has not had good experiences with men.  She has focused on her intellectual life more than her emotional one.  Sometimes they have good family or friends but not always.   The men are also smart, usually totally fall for the woman, but like the woman, have focused intellectually rather than social relationships so they don't tell her.  The woman is insecure about relationships because they haven't gone well, and this guy is actually amazing in his kindness and support.  Although, he may be a typical male not realizing how other men ignore the woman's contributions, ideas or authority unless backstopped by a man.

Bee and Levi follow much of this pattern.  They crossed paths in grad school and Bee is sure Levi hates her.  They are smart, caring people and actual fit together well.  Others, maliciously, get in the way of their relationship, past and present.  The project they are working is so exciting and so frustrating.  The real problem is the politics of it.  Like me, Bee wants to do the work, and hates the politics.

I really loved how perfect Bee and Levi were together. They brought out the best of each other, encouraging and supporting growth.  They both have difficulties from their family history.   They thrived in spite of those problems.

I enjoyed their story and the project they developed. Things were more complex, and even dangerous, than they seemed.  The situation hit rock bottom before it was resolved.  I didn't figure anything out before it happened and was just along for the ride.   <strong>Love on the Brain</strong> was true to the author's style, sciencey, fun and with a bit of mystery.

Y’all know I’m a big Ali Hazelwood fan! The Love Hypothesis was one of my favorite romances of 2021. You better believe I had to pick up Love on The Brain out 8/23/22.

Bee is a fun quirky smart neuroscientist who has been hinted by her fiancé. So when a project at NASA moves her to Houston she is ready for a getaway. Then she realizes her grad school nemesis Levi is her co lead on the project. Will they be able to survive working in such close quarters?

Ali Hazelwood has the ability to write captivity stories…however this is true for the second half of this book. The first half was a slow start but once it got going it was good. I love the strong female protagonist Bee who is unapologetically herself. Pair Bee with a brooding hunky Levi and there is magic. The steam is also just right in my opinion!

Love on the Brain manages to deliver an entertaining romance story that I ended powering through in a few days. Not only does this feature a whole host of tropes like second chance romance, friends to lovers, workplace romance, and more, Love on the Brain has charming characters and depth. Bee is a main character I kind of instantly loved. Basically if you like Darcy Lewis from the Thor films, Love on the Brain gives me those vibes. In fact that's my fan cast! There's this signature snark and intelligent cleverness.

Suffice it to say, I fell in love with Bee and the ways in which she's so terrified of love. Can you blame her? Love seems to have a way of hurting us when it's good and bad. The ways in which we are surrounded by (mis)conceptions of the people around us. Swirling around and trying to allow ourselves to let people surprise us. But where I really enjoyed Love on the Brain is the way Bee tackles sexism.

Well folks, I had fun! Love on the Brain is much science, much more science, much wow. To say I learned a lot about neuroscience and the brain is an understatement. But to have the twist of love in the equation?! 🧬 Brain signals = my sensory neurons. I swear when I read books on STEM I think I’m so witty and an astronaut overnight…off to SPACE. 🫡 🪐 🧠

Anyways, back to the wave signals (looooooool someone get me out of here). Love on the Brain had the banter, predictability of direction for plot yes SURE, but was cute. I have been intrigued by Levi and those damn green eyes for too long and the man gave! The way he has been pinning and wanting. His monologues?! Aye, I’d like a beaker of that. Bee was definitely a badass in her field and I always appreciate the way Ali embraces STEM for readers in her stories.

I got over the miscommunication and arch-nemesis bit QUICK like very quickly, was not having any part of it. Per usual, felt the same in The Love Hypothesis about that, and the rest of the book made up for it. The steam? YAY. The cat love? Also YAY.

I think what Ali gives in her books for readers, she delivers. I finished this book rather quickly and had happy neurotransmitters from it (whatever you’re reading a book about the brain so let me be dumb PUNNY with my words). And the authors note about academia at the end was chefs kiss.

Amazing. I flew through this book, I could not put it down. The writing is so fun, witty, sarcastic, and makes you feel all the things.

Bee, a neuroscientist, gets a project at NASA and finds out her archenemy from grad school is her co-lead. There are twists and turns, miscommunications set straight, and the way it is written you really understand and feel all the feelings of Bee.

I LOVED this book for the way it was written, the characters, the science.

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood is a lovely, enemies to lovers, STEM read. I will say it is very foreseeable but it is still complex and rich with the characters and how they develop and grow throughout the book. I think fans of the Hating Game by Sally Thorne will appreciate this book.

This was such an interesting and entertaining read that hooked me from the very beginning. Enemies to lovers is by far my favorite trope & I was instantly hooked. The quirky banter and chemistry were perfect, along with all of the laugh out loud moments & steamy romance. There’s miscommunication that takes place, but it’s part of what kept me intrigued and invested. I also love a good sexual tension between enemies & this one did not disappoint. It also gave me You Got Mail Vibes!

I loved the premise of academia archenemies (Bee & Levi) working together for NASA (a dream of a lifetime) with the downside of having to be close in contact with one another. & How dare Levi save Bee on her first day like the romance novel hero he is not. Will the time spent together finally bring them closer, or drive them apart for good?

If you enjoy enemies to lovers trope with great chemistry, banter & all the STEM rep, this one is for you !

You can expect:

* Enemies to Lovers
* STEM Rep
* Open Door Romance
* Forced Proximity / Sexual Tension
* Fun Banter
* Badass Feminist Neuroscientist
* Grumpy Hero Engineer
* Miscommunication Trope

I would like to start this with pointing out that I gave The Love Hypothesis 5 stars. I loved it and enjoyed the heck out of it. I was insanely excited for the novellas we were getting before this book, and I’ve been excited for this one since it was announced.

I wanted to love this. I expected to love this.

I did not love this.

For most of the book I was wondering if I was even going to like this.

The main character was so immature and wholly unlikable. It was infuriating. The first 25% I had to convince myself not to DNF the book. It did get better after that but it had some ups and downs.

I can see people loving this, especially because of the hype from the last book. But it fell short for me. Too much of it felt superficial and there wasn’t much honest personality in the characters.

I’m bummed.

At 40%, I declared this one a DNF for me and skimmed to the end. I am all for women in science, but I could not read (and/or listen - thank you @prhaudio) anymore of the female MC go weak in her knees over the Levi's biceps/height/physical appearance. I get it, she's attracted to him, but it was too much and too repetitive. The plot also became predictable and I found myself reading only for the Marie Curie tidbits and science facts.

The Love Hypothesis was one of my favorite books last year so Love on the Brain was one of my most anticipated reads of this year. I was nervous about reading it because I was so worried it would fall flat for me after how much I had it hyped up in my head.

Like The Love Hypothesis, it features women in STEM which I love. It also has witty/sarcastic banter that I gobble up in rom-com books.

I shouldn't have been worried about it not living up to the hype, because I thoroughly enjoyed it even though the ending got a littttttle out there wild.

This one has enemies to lovers and workplace romance tropes.

Triggers: cheating, misogyny, death of parents, swearing, open door romance, toxic workplace