I received an Advanced Reader Copy for this book in exchange for an honest review
I don't give five stars often...

If you liked the love hypothesis, this book is here to break it's neck, spit on it and bury it under every white cis male who has ever taken credit for a woman's groundbreaking discovery in the history of human kind.

I read this is one sitting and I am so pleasantly surprised.

Ali has taken her writing to another level, the feminist way she approaches women is STEM is adorably funny. This book is brainy and grindy and I that is why I love it so much. It is SO MUCH more than just a quirky FMC with a brooding male main character, it's a women's science history book. It's a call out to sexist work environments, it's a call out to standardized tests, it's a SAFE PLACE.

I have always been a nerdy kid, liking and wanting to be places women were not supposed to be a part of, video games, sports, dinosaur/archeology/science camps...It is so refreshing to see that someone out there is doing MORE with their romcoms than sticking to the cookie cutter recipe.

I am sick and tired of reading the same stories behind different cartoon covers. Ali DELIVERED.

There are so many reasons I loved this so much but I have to remain spoiler free, but I will say: this is the first time Ali writes a female main character whose voice and personality I absolutely adore.

The side characters in this? Unbelievable.

The amount of times she made me laugh out loud? Uncountable.

How hard I swooned? Way too hard.

Am I desperately in love with this book and Levi? Undoubtedly.



A masterpiece.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST: The same way I knew People We Meet on Vacation was going to win (and I was right) This book is the new winner of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards in the romance category.



I have no words to describe how much I enjoyed every single page of this book. I'll dare say this is possibly one of my favorite books of 2022 so far.

Ali Hazelwood has done it again! I've really appreciated how her books take place in academic settings and show the trials of PhD/researcher life in terms of time, stress, and relationships (not just romantic) with other people. Love on the Brain was a hilarious story of the crossed signals of two researchers. Inter-personal communication skills are definitely highlighted here. In addition to the love story, there were themes of ethics in research and gatekeeping in academia, which were nice to see in addition to the more fun side of the work. If you enjoy Ali's other works or work by Talia Hibbert, definitely give this book a try!

Unfortunately, I had a lot of the same problems with this book that I had with the first one. The story is funny, the character banter has its moments, but honestly it's really stereotyped, The characters aren't much different than the ones in Love Hypothesis, and it seems like Ali Hazelwood does a kind of copy paste with her stories.

LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS BOOK!

Levi Ward might be my favorite Hazelwood man yet. He’s the biggest simp you’ll ever read lol. And I loved how flustered he would get every time Bee simply walked by. Two massive, cute nerds.

I wish we got a bit more on how the whole Twitter thing played out cuz I felt like that was very open-ended. But I need MORE of these two now

Here is a compilation of my thoughts, feelings, and viewpoints on Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood…also known as a “review.”

*insert gif of Jake Peralta screaming while strumming (poorly) on a guitar*

AHHHHHHHH. I want to give this book somewhere between 4 and a million stars.

I went on a journey with this book.

Here’s the deal: I ADORED The Love Hypothesis. So going into Ali’s sophomore book, I had high hopes, yet, at the same time, I found myself hesitant. TLH made my heart soar. It was like a breath of fresh air and a high that I rode for months and months. One does not simply move on from the glorious wonder that is Adam Driver, *ahem* I mean Adam Carlsen 😉

Like our female MC, Bee Königswasser, I spent nearly half of this book in denial. In denial about enjoying the book. In detail about falling for these characters. In denial about enjoying this book as much as TLH. And in denial about how much I identify with Bee. But the truth is…

I have never seen myself in a character more than in Bee Königswasser.

Sure, I may have a fewer number of tattoos and piercings than Bee (2 tattoos and just the ears pierced, but I used to have a Monroe. Does that earn me any cool and edgy points?) and I’ve never dyed my hair a vibrant color, but the inner workings of Bee’s mind and sense of self is like a mirror of my own. We both overthink and overanalyze the actions of others which often leads us to make assumptions and operate out of those assumptions. Are those assumptions ever right? Not always, but sometimes. Okay…mostly never.

At the end of the day, Bee just wants to prove that she’s worth her salt. She’s a brilliant neuroscientist, she’s capable, and she cares about what she does. She wants to elevate those marginalized in her field and make a difference. She’s humorous, desires stability, and relies on facts and logic. I love all those things about her. I relate to all those things about her (well, except for the “brilliant neuroscientist” part. God, I wish.)

There’s one thing Bee is convinced she can’t rely on: love.

“The intrinsic transience of human relationships. The real villain is love: an unstable isotope, constantly undergoing spontaneous nuclear decay.”

When Bee gets a call from NASA (freaking NASA!) to head up a once-in-a-lifetime, career-altering project, the last thing on Bee’s mind is love. Especially when she learns she’ll be co-leading this project with her arch nemesis from grad school: Levi Ward.

Levi is offensively handsome, so tall and broad he occupies every room he’s in, he loves The Empire Strikes Back, and he despises Bee. Of this, she is certain. But after spending time in close quarters, layers behind the cold and obstinate exterior begin to peel back. And Bee learns that maybe not every thing you believe about a person is always true.

“I want to reach out to Levi. I need to reach out. But I’m locked inside my head, paralyzed, finally making connections and understanding things.”

To say that I adored this book, would be a severe understatement. This book turned my insides into fluffy and sickly sweet cotton candy. I want to be as cool, funny, and smart as Bee, and I want to fall in love with a sure and steady Levi Ward. (I would share more about Levi but we would be here for daysss. Also, I want everyone to experience him in the most pure, unadulterated way, without any teasers from me. All I will say is…Adam Carlsen who?)

Was everything about this book perfect? No, nor does it need to be. There were definitely things that are not my personal preference. To be transparent, I wrestled with Bee’s character and her stubbornness A LOT. Miscommunications/misunderstandings drive me crazy. Especially when people are not forthcoming or proactive in seeking clarity. But at the end of the day, those details pale in comparison to the ultimate outcome of this book and the pure elation my heart is in.

Love on the Brain.. It really was on my mind every time I put this book down. If I haven't become so busy in my life, I probably would have finished this book in a couple of days instead of a week.

This book was new and refreshing. I love how Ali brings love stories alive into the field of STEM.

Bee is such down to earth character and really brings forth what women in STEM face. She's the only women (minus her RA who is a treat in this book! and the one girl on Levi's team) who is on this groundbreaking project between NASA and NIL. The guys on the team don't listen to her because, surprise, she's a girl. Bee does a great job, through sarcasm, talking about how the guys don't trust her because she's a girl a tends to talk over her and won't listen to her unless Levi says the same thing. Bee also faces some hard obstacles as the book goes on (her marriage that failed, cheating, friends who backstabbed her, etc). She was well-rounded and I could read about her all day because of her sarcasm and how brilliant of a neuroscientist she is!

Levi... Probably one of my favorite tropes, so... it was easy for me to fall for him. He was the one who fell in love first. He talked about how he had feelings for her since the first time he saw Bee in Grad school. He is super protective to the point of, if you touch her you die (in the best way contemporary novels show it :) ). Levi has always had trouble showing his affection to Bee and Bee has taken it that he hates her. Levi does everything he can to show that he respects her and tells the team over and over again, that Bee has just as much sway as he does and that they are co-leaders. On his end, he does what he can to minimize the stigma of women in STEM.

Bee and Levi, I will forever love their dynamic and it's kind of like they compliment each other. I don't want to spoil a lot of the book, but you need to go read it as there is never a slow point and you just want to find out when the slow burn ends. I'll say it again, I love Ali Hazelwood and the worlds that come alive from her. I wish I could go to Texas to meet both of them and see them in real life.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for providing an ARC for an honest review.

Ali Hazelwood does it again! I absolutely devoured this book! Bee is such a fun character with her love of cats, tattoos, piercings and all things Marie Curie. She is true to herself and has a capacity for love that is genuinely heartwarming(despite her belief that love eventually leaves you). I cannot tell you how many times I sat the book down, laughing at a scene in the book or a comment Bee made, saying to myself "This is me!" And Levi is just everything! I am a sucker for a tall, dark and handsome, broody nerd. Levi is right up there with Adam from the Love Hypothesis, maybe a bit less broody but no less potent.

The cast of side characters are amazing! They are so supportive and dynamic and they are not just props to further Bee and Levi's story but integral pieces of the book. Also this continued narrative of Women in STEM and what it is like to navigate that in a professional setting is absolutely amazing.

So do yourself a favor and read this book!

Love on the Brain definitely lived up to my expectations. I could not put it down. The romance was *chefs kiss* and dare I say it was nerdier than love hypothesis.

We follow Dr. Bee Königswasser as she gets the job offer of her life to work at NASA leading a neuroengineering project. Bee shortly discovers that she will be co-leading with her grad school archenemy, Levi Ward. Immediately the project is a disaster of missing equipment and obstacles working against her, until Bee makes an alliance with Levi to get the project off the ground.

Why I loved this book:

• Levi Ward… Tall, dark, intelligent. He’s seemingly icy and shut off, but in reality he’s a kind of a softy. I am obsessed with him.

• The side characters! Specifically Rocio, Bee’s RA. She’s a Gen Z with dark humor that I absolutely loved. If you love April from Parks and Rec you will love Rocio. I caught myself laughing frequently when she showed up in scenes.

•This has even more science than Love Hypothesis. I loved Bees Twitter account supporting women in STEM and watching her navigate through this job being one of very few women there.

Overall I loved this book! It was a fun quick read and I will definitely continue to read anything Ali Hazelwood writes.

Snappy dialogue with witty zingers make this tender enemies-to-lovers story, set at NASA in Houston, an unforgettable follow-up to neuroscientist Hazelwood’s popular The Love Hypothesis (2021).

Starred Review for Booklist: https://www.booklistonline.com/Love-on-the-Brain-/pid=9764677

This book was basically a shadow of The Love Hypothesis with about 1/100th of the charm. Bee and Levi were just Olive and Adam 2.0 with less personality. And the quirkiness factor was dialed up to 10,000 which made me cringe the whole book. I also found so much of the plot ridiculous or far fetched, which I know romance novels are often wild. But I couldn’t get it around it, I just couldn’t, the ending was way too over the top.

And look that’s all personal taste, Hazelwood and I might not be the best mix anymore. HOWEVER for a book that loudly claims it is feminist, there was a lot of references to how men and penis are the same which is boring and tired and frankly bordering TERFy white feminism. Trans people exist, this writing is lazy do better!!!!!!!!!

I AM SMITTEN.

Absolutely smitten with every single thing about this book.

Every single thing.

The writing. ✔️
The storytelling. ✔️
These characters? ✔️
LEVI FREAKING WARD. ✔️✔️✔️

GAH! I loved this SO MUCH!

I was a little worried. I loved The Love Hypothesis a lot. There's something magic about picking up a book by a new author and striking gold. But so much of reading is subjective and I wasn't sure if Love on the Brain would hit the same.

And then it did.

I think in part because Ali Hazelwood has this irresistible way of telling a story. She somehow manages to make her characters so extraordinary and yet somehow also completely relatable. She weaves sweet tender emotion is with smart snappy humor in way that causes my heart to clench even as I am laughing out loud. The end result is this sort of masterpiece that is interesting and fun, swoony and sexy (**fans self** boy howdy, was it ever) and layered with complexity, quirky secondary characters, and good old-fashioned nerdiness.

I'm so completely in love. I mean, with Bee and Levi of course. But also maybe a little bit with Ali Hazelwood too.

I loved Bee so much. It was impossible not to adore the pint sized, spit-fired heroine. But Levi. Ohmygosh you guys.

Levi.

I am deceased. He was everything. He was the kind of strong, stoic, deliciously nerdy hero that I will never get enough of. I adored how he cared for Bee. I loved how patient and supportive he was of her. I loved how he low key worshipped her in a way that never felt too earnest or too overplayed. He was an absolute dream and I don't know what I'm going to do without him in my daily world anymore.

Good gravy, I cannot fangirl over this book enough. I loved every single moment spent between these pages and I cannot wait to see what this fabulous author has in store next! ~ Shelly, 5 Stars

Book: Love on the Brain

Author: @alihazelwood 💖

Release date: August 23, 2022

GOOD THINGS CHECKLIST:

✔️ Women in STEM. enough said.

✔️ misunderstood enemies to lovers 🤌 AND THEY'RE FORCED TO WORK TOGETHER 😈

✔️ literally even just the fact that this book has chapter titles gave me life.

✔️ SO MANY NEUROSCIENCE REFERENCES my little geeky heart is soaring.

✔️ ya man went to THERAPY. what more can a woman ask for?? oh wait... we can also ask for a tall (👀), smart, swoony man who just so happens to be the perfect mix of sexy, cute, and handsome 😩

✔️ a female MC that is the equivalent of a fainting goat in stressful situations (because honestly, same) but is also a little quirky genius.

✔️ didn't know I needed a NASA romance in my life but also.... I absolutely did??

✔️ LOVE when opposites attract. top tier romance trope.

✔️ honestly cannot even count how many passages I highlighted simply because they made me laugh my lil booty off.

Well folks, if you ADORED The Love Hypothesis like I did, look no further than Love on the Brain for your next romance read. 💓 this cutie pie of a book belongs on your shelf ASAP!!!

thanks to @netgalley and @berkleypub for the advanced e-book copy! 💛

This was an easy read and I enjoyed the banter that Levi and Bee engage in and that the side couple are lesbians that are the classic scary goth/bubblegum pink girlfriend which I thoroughly enjoyed. The plot was a little convoluted with all the moving parts of the NASA-NIH collab, the miscommunications between Levi and Bee, the fact that Bee faints all the time with Levi there to catch her all the time like a damsel and then that plot twist at the end which really came out of nowhere and that might be my fault maybe I missed that there was a mystery subplot that would culminate in the plot twist. I think I just don’t like enemies to lovers since they usually become enemies by virtue of a miscommunication which really irritates me since I always end up yelling at my book to just freaking talk already and quit taking everything the wrong way. I did like how they interact on twitter and the you got mail of it all with them complaining about each other to each other. So all in all I liked it but didn’t love it.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

I am speechless! I don't think I've loved the second book more than the first from an author in a long time. Love on the Brain is everything and so much more than The Love Hypothesis, and that is saying something because The Love Hypothesis is brilliant. I ADORE BEE! Bee has such a wonderful voice and background. She is so fleshed out and real and vulnerable at times that it hurts. And then there is Levi. And listen, I wasn't sure how Levi could lap Adam Carlsen in terms of sexiness, but holy cow did he ever. Levi is also incredibly fleshed out and I love everything about the way the story unfolds. This plot was written so beautifully and while I saw many of the plot points coming while reading it, it was deliciously captivating. I'm deeply sad I won't be able to read this book for the first time ever again because it was truly wonderful and I can not wait for it to be out in the world.

after reading Ali Hazelwood's last book I had high expectations for this release and oh boy I was not let down

Ali Hazlewood's best work, hands down. Is there even anything else to say? Ali's the queen of spicy, thoughtful, fun, smart romances.

First I want to say thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc of 'Love on the Brain'!
I tried to keep this as spoiler-free as I could so that people could read it without being spoiled for the book but there are still some slightly out-of-context spoilers so proceed with caution!

Rating: 3.5 stars

I was very excited to read this because I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Love Hypothesis' and I would in no way say I did not enjoy 'Love on the Brain' but I did have some personal issues with it that stopped me from loving it.
I found that a lot of aspects of this book were too similar to 'The Love Hypothesis' and not in a 'this author has a distinct writing style' kind of way.

The most glaring to me is that Levi and Adam are almost the same people. Like if you gave me a quote from either of them that didn't have any identification markers I could not tell them apart. They're both these tall, handsome, brooding geniuses who don't know how to communicate and end up being huge softies and simps.
And while I don't hate that style of character in any way, I would have preferred if there was more of a difference between the two of them.

Olive and Bee also have very similar personalities and humour, with Bee's being more focused on neuroscience and Marie Curie. But I'll chalk that up to Ali Hazelwood being a millennial and obviously enjoying millennial-type humour. Which again is not a bad thing! But as someone who grew up on the cusp of millennials and Gen-Z, it is very glaring to me.

That being said I did enjoy the overall humour and snark of the book, Bee and Levi's dynamic was fun to read about for the most part (will get into that in the next part) and I enjoyed their banter. Was it strikingly similar to 'The Love Hypoethesis'? Yes, from this I can deduct that Hazelwood knows what she's good at writing and I respect that immensely.

I did enjoy that the huge commotion at the end was not centred on the relationship between Bee and Levi, even if I didn't enjoy the plot twist all the much overall. While I can see why (redacted) was the chosen 'bad guy' I think the way it was revealed and how it played out was super rushed and anti-climactic? Also when the gun got pulled out I did laugh because it felt like an Episode or Chapters story (which no hate, Chapters especially is my guilty pleasure app I will take no further comments).

Also, I liked the social media plot line, because obviously we as the readers are meant to put it together almost immediately even though Bee does not so I loved reading the messages between the two of them, I said to myself 'This is like 'You've Got Mail' and then when Bee through that reference out herself at the end I was ecstatic.

Now, these next critiques are more personal so keep that in mind.
The sheer amount of pop culture references was......concerning, to say the least. On average there's got to be at least one a page at some parts of the book it was overwhelming, and not in a good way. I'm also not a fan of when authors, specifically millennial authors talk about 'Gen-Z' characters and Tiktok and there were unfortunately too many references to both of those. In this case, it worked a little better because Bee was an 'oblivious millennial but overall I'm still not a fan of it at all. I'm pretty sure I also remembered reading a Harry Potter reference which like....come on now. Also the sheer amount of Star Wars references, now I love Star Wars with my whole heart but Jesus Christ. There were more Star Wars references in this book than there were in 'The Love Hypothesis', which is literally adapted Reylo fanfiction. I"m not sure if "Love on the Brain' was also Reylo fanfiction though.

Next, I was deeply uncomfortable with the emphasis that was put on how small and tiny Bee is in comparison to how large and tall Levi is. I don't know if this is something straight people themselves enjoy but it made me so uncomfortable because in my head I was just picturing Bee as a child's size while Levi is like this huge hunkering man. It did not help that a lot of these comparisons were made during sex scenes. I already skimmed most of the sex scenes and then seeing any of those 'my tiny hands' or "his huge d*ck' etc just made me skip until the scene was over.

Also Ali Hazelwood you will be paying me compensation for comparing Levi to a bull.
This book does get bonus points because the side couple was a sapphic couple whose dynamic I actually very much enjoyed for the most part. I love the 'scary goth sapphic w/ her bubblegum pink gf'. It is my one true weakness so Ali Hazelwood gets bonus points for giving me, Rocio & Kaylee.

Overall I did enjoy this book and I had fun reading it. I think that if you enjoyed 'The Love Hypothesis' you're going to enjoy this because of how similar they are. And if you did not enjoy 'The Love Hypoethis' I would probably sit this one out unless you're thinking of giving Hazelwood's work another go because I don't think you're going to like it.

tw// sexism & misogyny (both in real life & in the workplace), cheating and emotional abuse & manipulation (in regards to an ex-fiance, all flashbacks or mentions), mentions of dead parents, depictions of seizures (both related to epilepsy and not), sexual content, harassment and violence, gun violence ( I could be forgetting some because of my walnut brain so I apologize)

I enjoyed this book! Bee and Levi give off the perfect enemies to lovers vibe which is my favorite. I did also enjoy how they were enemies, then friends and then lovers. I will say Levi is just 😍😍😍 and I loved Bee’s character as well but Bee’s RA was a little annoying to me. I also thought the same thing about Anh in The Love Hypothesis if that says anything🤣 OH, and the epilogue. “I love you, I think. And you are my home.” Overall, I liked this book and I will continue to read more by Ali Hazelwood!!!

**Thank you to Berkley Romance for the E-ARC!**

I read The Love Hypothesis the day it came out and it is a big reason why I read romance today. So when this book got announced I absolutely freaked out. I truly loved Love on the Brain and I am so beyond excited I got to read it as an ARC. I also love that even though I am not super knowledgeable about STEM I can still read and enjoy these books.

After reading The Love Hypothesis and the three The STEMinist Novellas I thought I had an idea how this book would go and I was surprised by how much different it is compared to the other books this author has published. This book has so many aspects that make it so unique which has me so excited to read future books by Ali Hazelwood. Between the anonymous messages, to unique situations Bee kept finding herself in, and even that thing that happens towards the end of the book that I never saw coming (I don't want to spoil anything but if you've read it you know what I am talking about). I feel like this was a step away from some of the tropes and things she used in her other books and it worked so well.

These characters are so much fun and likable. I am not going to lie I was a bit indifferent about Levi at first because I thought he was going to be unapproachable and "I hate everyone except the main character" so it was a massive surprise when he wasn't like that at all. I really liked that we got to see more of his personality and life outside of work. I also really enjoyed Bee and getting to read about how passionate she is about the project she was working on was so much fun. I also adored the Star Wars references and when Levi would bring in "large portions" of snacks just so he could share with Bee.

My only fault with the book and the reason is it a 4.5 star read for me and not a 5 is because I didn't love the multiple situations that had miscommunication. I am not a big fan of the trope to begin with but I really disliked when Bee would openly express how she thought Levi hated her and he never really fought to correct her on the matter. Especially after Levi started to clear the air about other things that happened, it was really hard for me to understand why he wouldn't also clear the air about what happened in the past and just come clean about how he feels. I understand that they thought the other was married but between both of those situations it just had a little too much frustration and miscommunication for me. Although the twitter messages were the absolute perfect way to break some of the frustration and I loved that aspect of the book so much. Definitely not something to deter me from rereading or recommending this book, just something that was personally a little frustrating while reading.

Bee has just landed a dream opportunity working on a project with NASA, but when her co-leader turns out to be her arch-nemesis from grad school, Levi, she doesn’t know how she’ll be able to spend the next three months working with the man she loathes.

I don’t know what it is about Ali Hazelwood’s books, but they become my entire existence after finishing them. I absolutely loved The Love Hypothesis, but Love on the Brain was even more spectacular. Levi was the PERFECT male main character, and his relationship with Bee was just amazing. Enemies to lovers is a favorite trope of mine, and Love on the Brain executed that trope in the best way. I was in my feels throughout almost the entire second half of this one, and I wasn’t ready for Bee and Levi’s story to end. Putting my feelings about this book into words is a bit challenging because my heart is still hurting from it, but ugh, add this one to your reading list! Everything about this book was perfect, in my opinion, from the plot to the side characters to the spice and more, and I cannot wait to see it on shelves in a few months.

CW for loss of loved ones, emotionally manipulative/abusive parents, emotionally abusive ex partner, cheating (in the past, not between mcs), violence, attempted murder.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC of Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood!