This was a cute and fun read! Similar to the Love Hypothesis, this was filled with a pining love interest down BAD for the main character, science nerdiness, and representation of women in stem. All the chapter titles were playful puns/references to neuroscience, which has me wondering why don't authors do stuff like that anymore?? Chapter titles for the win.

But, as fun as it was, I still had to look past some parts that irritated me. I felt it had a very slow start and it didn't help that Bee was a bit too caricature-like and too immature for my liking. There was so much intentional miscommunication between Bee and Levi, where Bee just completely shuts down a potentially productive conversation or completely changed the subject to avoid any potential awkward feelings between the two of them. And I don’t even really find the miscommunication trope to be a deal-breaker, but Bee ends up misconstruing a lot that could've been avoided if they both just talked to each other! And another thing is that I was getting really tired of all the self-depreciation from the main character. All the times she doubts and pities herself made me like her less. Would’ve loved to see a heroine from Ali Hazelwood who is both brave enough to confront her feelings and has some self-confidence. And another thing! that conflict in the last 10% felt so ridiculous and completely out of place. I fear Hazelwood may be taking the protective man trope (or whatever it's called? you know what I mean.) a bit too far.

So overall, it was fun, had good tension and pining, but definitely not my favorite romance. 3.5/5 stars!
The Love Hypothesis supremacy remains to be true.

I loved this book so much! I was beyond frustrated at the beginning when it seemed like Bee was intentionally being snubbed on the project for being a woman in STEM and was happy when she stood up for herself. It was so obvious to me that Levi had always had a crush on Bee but this was not obvious to her. She thought Levi hated her and it was a lot of fun to watch Bee uncover the truth and learn the real reasons behind his behavior. The sabotage plotline was also engaging and the twist at the end was great.

Let me start off by saying that The Love Hypothesis was my first Ali Hazelwood book (as I'm sure it was for many others as well) and I quickly fell in love with academia rom-com! So I am so thankful to have had the chance to read an eARC of Love on the Brain! It did not disappoint! I love strong, badass, intelligent women, and Bee definitely delivered. It was so neat learning all about Bee and her love of all things brain. With an outstanding cast of quirky and fun characters, this book was never dull! I also loved the dynamic between Bee and Levi and the CHEMISTRY..... whew! This book was *spicy* in the best way! There was also a bit of a twist at the end to add a little adrenaline and I did not see it coming! Such a fun read from Hazelwood!

5/5 ⭐️

thank you netgalley and berkley publishing for this arc!! it will be release on august 23, 2022!

i absolutely adored this novella!! i loved the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood, so i was ecstatic to receive this as an arc! there were so many things to love about this book. i loved the plot, especially because it was so smart and well thought out. i loved that bee was a neuroscientist because i am such a nerd with anything about the brain, so this was right up my alley! the romance was perfection. levi is a broody male with communication issues and bee is a witty neuroscientist with a tendency to faint and a who lacks of feeling of belonging. their chemistry was off the charts and so dang perfect. and the spice??? ali never misses! 🤌🏻🤌🏻i also really related to bee in terms of never truly feeling like you fit in anywhere. in addition to awesome MCs, the side characters were equally awesome! i loved rocio, kaylee, penny, and all of the other amazing characters that ali hazelwood created. obviously the women STEM idea is still awesome and i love how much it was covered in this book as well. the biggest thing that i loved about this novel was that it was funny (star wars references are my kryptonite), romantic, and had a really great plot. i liked that i was surprised by the ending and the “who did it”. overall, this was such an awesome rom com read and i would highly recommend it for anyone who loved the love hypothesis!!

“you want to belong. you want someone who won’t let go. i’m it. i didn’t let go of you for years, and i didn’t even have you. but you need to let me.”

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood ARC Review

(Thank you to Netgalley and Berkeley for the Arc!)

What can I say about 'Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood', besides how much I loved this book. It was an adorable, funny and swoon-worthy read.

Bee captured me from the very first chapter with her love for neuroscience, Marie Curie (female physicist and chemist of the 1900's.) and her quirky personality! Bee is given the job of a lifetime in working for NASA on BLINK, but to do that she'll have to work as co-lead with Levi who is her nemesis from grad school who everyone knew hated her for reasons not known to Bee. Bee will have to put her past aside with Levi and work towards her future. I myself love anything to do with the complexities of brains and all the science still being discovered about it, so the neuroscience in this book was right up my alley.

Now onto the romance: Levi is the epitome of a great love interest. He's an amazingly funny, caring and smart engineer. The dynamic between him and Bee was an amazing read and they are an heart stopping couple that I definitely won't forget about.

The other character I'd like to mention is the awesome RA named Rocio she is quirky, macabre and just iconic in every scene of the book she was in. I loved her personality and feel like her stories through out the book are things I've talked about with my brother and sister also, so it drew me to her character along with Bee and Levi.

This book was hands down an amazing read and I can't wait to read more by Ali Hazelwood. Thank you for giving us Bee, Levi  and Rocio.

I recommend this to anyone who loves a quirky, rom-com that has all the feels and is swoon-worthy!

Neuroscientist Bee Königswasser must co-lead a NASA project with her nemesis, Levi Ward, in this cute and fun contemporary romance.

Love on the Brain felt very similar to reading The Love Hypothesis - they are both quick and fun reads with just the right amounts of angst and miscommunication. Quirky Bee is the perfect foil to stoic Levi. The two have loads of chemistry, particularly when they are working on (as I like to call it) Big Damn Science. Speaking of the science aspect of the book, it does a great job of explaining their NASA project without it ever feeling watered down. This books isn't without its flaws. The antagonist, much like the antagonist in TLH, is one dimensional. The reasons behind the sabotage felt forced and unrealistic. I will also admit to being a bit tired of the "super quirky girl" architype featured in many romances these days. If you've loved Hazelwood's previous book, you're bound to enjoy this one too.

I love an awkward bumbling soft STEM guy, there was a bit too much miscommunication for me, they could have had one single conversation and fixed it all. but still very much enjoyed.

4.5/5 for Love on the Brain

@alihazelwood does it again and August 23rd cannot come soon enough because I need everyone to read Love on the Brain! If you liked The Love Hypothesis then you'll definitely want to add this one to your TBR.

Bea Konigswasser's dreams literally come true when she gets the chance to work with NASA on a neuroengineering project...that is, until she finds out that her co-lead on the project is none other than Levi Ward - her grad school nemesis. But when problems start popping up on the project she finds that Levi may not be the enemy she thought him to be all these years. And could he possibly even turn out to be the man of her dreams?

Things I loved:
🧠 Women in STEM
🧠 Bea's relationship with her sister
🧠 Watching Bea become more confident and assertive
🧠 The chemistry between Bea and Levi was 😍🥵
🧠 The snappy dialogue
🧠 the cats (and this coming from a non-cat person!)
🧠 Levi Ward, Levi Ward, Levi Ward

Also, I am usually not a fan of the miscommunication trope but I thought it was so well done here. Author Hazelwood did such a great job of giving a really authentic look into how our perceptions and insecurities play into miscommunication - how we put up walls to protect ourselves and how those walls prevent us from both saying things and hearing things that need to be aired out.

So, to sum it up - read Love on the Brain and then report back to me so we can discuss! 😘😘😘

Ali Hazelwood really knows how to cater to people who love reading STEM women getting railed by Adam Driver-esque scientists. I'm not complaining. Love on the Brain is a veritable goldmine of science talk, spice, and fighting the patriarchal structures and misogyny that's rampant in academia/STEM. Oh, and Marie Curie facts. So many Marie Curie facts. This book is loooong and it has a lot of plot. If that's how you like your romance, go for it.

I was charmed by The Love Hypothesis, but Love on the Brain took my Ali Hazelwood love to the next level. This book had all of the things you loved about her first one (a swoon-worthy MMC, an awkward yet lovable FMC, and lots of female stem Stan-ing) and amplified it by ten!

Bee’s internal monologue was hilarious. Levi’s adoration gave me butterflies. The spice was superb.

Is it a predictable RomCom? Yes, but in the best ways. You should most definitely give this book a read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i'm not a big fan of romance novels but this year i decided to take a chance on this genre a little more than i usually do. this book was one of my choices since "the love hypothesis" was a big surprise when i read it (positively), but this time it didn't work out so well.

i felt like this book was forgettable, and that's one of my biggest problems with the genre. it's not like i want to remember all the books i've read for the rest of my life, but i want them to convey at least something to me and yeah, it didn't. the next day i didn't even remember its existence.

and worst of all, i didn't feel like the facts were connected to each other. to me, many things seemed thrown in there to try to form a web of events and connect everything that happened in the book but with no success. especially the plot twist at the end, which tried to look well planned, but for me it wasn't a twist at all, it didn't cause me any commotion and it seemed kind of silly to me.

Alot of science in this- however i liked the feminist slant.
Fun, and enjoyable read. The chemistry (excuse the pun) seemed electric.

This book. I've been so damn excited for this book, and it was everything I dreamed it would be. 😍 I absolutely adored The Love Hypothesis, and was over the moon to learn that Ali Hazelwood was churning out this book as well as THREE novellas this year! I have not read the novellas yet, but I will as soon as I get my hands on them! Dare I say, I loved this book just as much as (if not more)than The Love Hypothesis. This book was simply perfection. Ali Hazelwood is a gifted writer. Her writing is so witty and fun. Yes, I am quite aware that I am fan-girling right now, but this book is so worthy of gushing over. Love on the Brain will be published August 23, and I cannot recommend it enough! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

⅘ Stars

When I tell you I love everything about this book, I mean, I LOVE EVERYTHING… the characters, the plot, the dialog, Levi, oh and most important… LEVI !! From the moment you pick up the book you do not want to put it down, you just want to continue reading. It is so interesting and hilarious. It is a great book to just sit in a comfy place and read nonstop.
The only reason that I give it a ⅘ stars is that there were some parts that were a little repetitive, not enough to stop reading but just enough that it is a little noticeable if you are looking for it. The other reason is the idea is a little too fanfic for me, but it is honestly a classic trope that has been done many times, but the difference is that Ali Hazelwood does it in a way that is so much better and in an interesting way that it feels like you have never read anything like it before.
Overall, I think this is a book that everyone needs in their collection for when you feel sad or lonely and you need something to make you happy.

I will say overall I really enjoyed this book. However, I really didn't like the main character Bee. It was super frustrating that she wouldn't just listen to Levi and take what he was saying at face value instead of continuing with the narrative that he hated her. Thankfully Levi saved this book. He was a great character and I loved reading about him. I did enjoy the characters together. They had great chemistry and good banter. The plot was pretty good as well and the side characters really added to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am addicted to Ali Hazelwood's STEM series and Love on the Brain did not disappoint!

“Loneliness is not abstract and intangible [...] Loneliness is here. It molds our souls, but also our bodies.”

Remember how crazy I was (we were) for The Love Hypothesis and how excited I was (we were) for the Love on the Brain ever since we heard of it?! And how my expectations were (ours are) running wild with the prospect of another perfect STE(a)M(y) romance? Well, Ali Hazelwood took all my expectations (ours) tied them to a hummingbird and let them fly… higher and higher… beyond what I thought possible. And the honest truth is:

I love this book even more than The Love Hypothesis. 😱

And how can I not?! Let’s start with Bee, our main character. Or maybe not. Let’s start with me…
Here is something you probably don’t know about me: when I was younger, I had a brief - albeit intense - obsession with Marie Curie. So, when this books opens with… Marie Curie and an equally obsessed Bee, I’m game. She’s absolutely my person. 😎

Then you have the male counterpart. And of him I will say nothing. I will let you guys unwrap that present - of which I’m totally undeserving (we totally are) - all by yourselves.

And last but not least, the fact that this book is INSANELY FUNNY! The dialogue is deliciously hilarious with such a clever humor that from now on my entire personally will be based on Bee. I already love cats, hate running, am partial to 90s music and for all of my youth years… fainted in the most awkward and really unexpected places. Thanks a lot blood pressure.

Pre-order this book. Take the day off. Make sure you have a cozy spot and frigging enjoy this piece of pure delight. Adult. 5 stars ⭐️ Thank you NetGalley & Berkley Publishing for this ARC.

I wanted to love this book as much as I did the Love Hypothesis. I really did. I had such high hopes and was ready to fall in love with the characters in this book. That just never happened for me. While the book itself was good and enjoyable, it didn't elicit that same feeling as I got from Ali's previous book. That said, this book isn't bad at all. It was an enjoyable read and I finished it quickly. However, there were things that bothered me. I am someone that adores enemies to lovers tropes. I feel like this one lacked the slow burn that so many of them have. I also felt like they rushed into a marriage which made no sense. Like I said, I liked this book, but I wanted to love it and that let me down.

I'm not generally a person who picks up contemporary romance books, but everyone seems to love Ali Hazelwood's books, so I had to give one a try. I am so glad I did! This was an absolutely delightful read! I immediately found more of her books to consume as quickly as possible.
As a librarian at a busy branch, I'm constantly asked what I recommend as a good, light, beach read. I cannot wait to suggest this title to customers!
The characters were interesting and endearing, but I especially loved all their nerdy references (most of which I got). They aren't sappy or overly naïve, but sarcastic and quirky. I loved that this book is set in a NASA building! There is an added mystery/espionage element to the book that I thought was great!
I think this is an excellent book to hand to readers who might not think they will enjoy a romance story. Like me, they may be surprised.

I will continue to read all of Ali Hazelwood's books because I find her humor really engaging, and I think that she does sexual tension really well. This story threw me off the first 50% because of the lack of communication between the two MC's, and the heroine's lack of maturity and unwillingness to grasp basic concepts of attraction (ie: "He keeps looking at me longingly, I wonder why...must be that I am REPULSIVE"). THAT SAID, I did find the latter half more enjoyable, and some of the communication issues came out towards the end and made more sense. Also the steam was high impact! So if you want something that's a bitter slower burn but delivers on the spice, this one was *chefs kiss.* All in all I liked this one!