Another fabulous book by Ali Hazelwood, featuring smart women in STEM. This was an easy book to go through and read with an interesting plot and a little unrequited/you've got mail/enemies to lovers trope. I really enjoyed seeing how projects in the science world come to fruition and the different roles people play. Levi was a great love interest and I liked getting to know him through Bee's real life and her social media life. Fans of TLH are going to like this one too.

Read. This. Book. It's The Love Hypothesis redux, and I am so here for it. Same beloved tropes (enemies-to-lovers, quirky manic pixie, aloof but in fact misjudged hero) only now set at NASA. (I mean how badass is that??)

The stakes feel waaay higher in this one, as Bee and Levi team up to create astronaut helmets and are caught up in the politics between government agencies AND have to deal with nefarious forces highjacking their project from the inside AND have to deal with their mistaken impressions of each other from grad school.

Ali Hazelwood just keeps on honing her craft. There’s a discernible character arc, witty dialogue, sexual tension, geeky Star Wars references, and science. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but science is cool. Hazelwood does that, and she does that really well.

Love on the Brain is everything you could want in a STEMinist novel and more. Did I stay up all night reading it? Yep. Did I almost fall asleep in class the next day while my professor gave me the side-eye? Yep. I regret nothing.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I knew I was giving this book 4-5 stars before I even reached 50% of the way through. I will read anything this author writes from here on out. My big old science nerd heart could not wait to pick up LOVE ON THE BRAIN when I saw this involved a NASA scientist!

What I liked about this one:
🚀: Houston setting — I could visualize the NASA campus after visiting Space City twice so far!
™️: trademarked words of WurstFest & Cockcluster, and more
😝: The fun banter between Levi and Bee
📝: The #FairGraduateAdmissions movement created in the story — if you took the GRE for your graduate degree you know how miserable they are!
🐈: Félicette and Schrödiner the cats found in the story
🔬: All the science involved in the plot

My only qualm? Bee’s constant thought process that Levi was only into her years ago and they’re just making up for lost time. Have more confidence in yourself that he wants to be with you!

I think Ali’s sophomore novel is going to give THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS a run for its money. This was so good and I immediately pressed “Want to Read” on everything I could find on Ali’s Author Profile on Goodreads. I need more nerdy romances asap! Special thank you to Berkley Romance and Netgalley for an advanced copy of LOVE ON THE BRAIN!

Rating: 4.5-5 Stars

I really am not sure what to say about this book other than: HOLY SHIT ALI DID IT AGAIN!
She did it agin ya'll, she wrote THE BEST GUY CHARACTER EVER! Those who read The Love Hypothesis might be like, psssh, girl stop lying....but YA'LL, like I'm not, I promise!
In LOTB we are back in the world of academia, and with Bee, who is a neuroscientist and has just been tapped by NASA for a super cool project. The only problem is, her co-partner happens to be Levi Ward, the person who hates her the most since their grad school days for reasons unbeknownst to Bee. Bee is going to do what any rational person would do in her position, ask the universe what Marie Curie would do. Bee is smart, funny, cool and edgy with her, tattoos and septum piercing and ever changing hair color. Can you tell I have a serious girl crush on her? She also has an obsession with Marie Curie, yes, the Polish-French physicist and noble prize winner Marie Curie and its evident in everything she does and says. When Levi and Bee reunite its a whole lot of not-what-it-seems-laugh-out-loud moments that are mixed with cute-sweet and HOLY GUACAMOLE sexy moments. There is nothing that I didn't love about this book! from Bee randomly fainting at almost anything, to science-y and engineering talk to the oh so sweet melt your heart moments. This book is 5 star perfection!

I didn't think it would be possible, but I love Love on the Brain even more than I loved The Love Hypothesis! The character development, the humor in the narrative, and THE STEAM were fantastic! This one is definitely steamier than The Love Hypothesis. I am such a fan of these STEM-inist RomComs!!

This book was so good!!! I’m now convinced Ali Hazelwood can do no wrong. I love how she creates such strong female characters, and shows their battles in the STEM field. And LEVIII. I love him so much. He is so amazing, kind, and attractive omg. I did find a few parts of this book really unbelievable (mainly regarding Bee being completely oblivious to Levi’s feelings), but overall this book was phenomenal.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Romance for providing me with an e-ARC to review. All opinions are honest and my own.

Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars
Rep: epilepsy/seizures, twins, orphans (ish), side sapphic couple, fainting spells
TW: death of a parent (past), car accident (past), black sheep (ostracized by family), familial emotional neglect, cheating (past), sex, guns and gun violence, sexism, assualt, doxxing

When I read The Love Hypothesis I was in a trance of warmth and happiness and I left the book immediately ready to devour it again. Thankfully, I can say that if you loved The Love Hypothesis you’re most likely going to love this one as well. I know a lot of people did not like the professor x student relationship in the last book, so, know that in Love on the Brain they are colleagues. Also, there is no sexual assualt in this books, there are general discussion of sexual assualt/harassment in the academic world, but none take place.

I really tried to keep the comparison out of my mind when I read Love on the Brain, because I wanted to embrace it as its own separate entity and honestly, I had a blast! Ali Hazelwood has the perfect blend of humor, banter, but also relevant conversations to the inequalities and prejudices present in STEM. I find her specific brand of humor to make me physically laugh out loud and grin from ear to ear. She does love to describe the height, muscular physique, and general differences between Bee and Levi, but that honestly didn’t bother me in the slightest. I still wish this book was written in dual POV because I am desperate to be in the beautiful minds of Ali’s male love interest, but I will say due to a certain dynamic in the story we get a little more insight into what he’s thinking then we normally would.

Overall, this story was fun. It takes place in Houston, the city I’m from and we get to see the struggles and triumphs of Bee’s journey at NASA, as she realizes she’s going to have to work alongside her nemesis. The relationships in this book were also different, because Bee has a twin sister and a sassy assistant, but otherwise she doesn’t seem to directly have a lot of friends she communicates with. The insight into her days as a Ph.D candidate are also really insightful and I like seeing how the past and present all culminate throughout the book. It has more sex than The Love Hypothesis, but I would still consider this on the sweet rom-com side, as it is not a full fledged smut novel (obviously, opinions can differ on this. I am an Ali Hazelwood fan girl and while there are similarities between the two books, they are both very different and stand well on their own. I love them both dearly and I believe that Ali Hazelwood will be one of my favorite authors for years to come.

Hazelwood has another home run on her hands with this one. Everyone who enjoyed The Love Hypothesis is going to feel the same way about this book. The characters are incredibly appealing and the STEM setting is so interesting. The dialogue was great. The spicy scenes were very steamy and really well written. And the main character is wonderful--her voice is simply hilarious. I really cared about her and I was thoroughly invested in seeing our couple get a happily ever after.

One of my favorite lines: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a community of women trying to mind their own business must be in want of a random man's opinion."

A STEMinist romance that references Pride & Prejudice? I can't wait for what Hazelwood does next.
4.5 stars for me.

I genuinely felt like I might've been having a panic attack for the first few chapters, I was so anxious and nervous for Bee, the leading lady. I came in expecting similar characters as were in The Love Hypothesis, but was very pleasantly surprised by how different this story turned out. Bee does unfortunately have a serious lack of self awareness that we've seen many times in Hazelwood's books, but once you get past that character flaw, the story is fantastic, the love interest feels real and lovable, and all of the side characters are well fleshed out and fun. I can't wait to read more by this author. A smart, fun, sexy, silly read. (NetGalley Advanced Reader Edition)

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me an arc copy of this book.

Bee is a neuroscientist who finds work at NASA with someone from her past who hates her. She comes to find out that there is much more going on than meets the eye.

I loved it! I liked Bee and her trade marked terminology. It made me laugh. Her wild hair and body art made her unique in a good way. She also has a lot of emotional baggage that causes strife in her life.

I liked Levi too. He was such a sweet guy. The surrounding characters were all different and quirky. Characters like Roccio made the book. And I wanted to hurt Levi's dad for being such an @$$&*#^& to him.

I enjoyed the book. It was a fast and fun read with a memorable climax.

If you liked Love Hypothesis, then you will like this book as well.

Thank you again NetGalley and Berkley for

Most readers will be picking up "Love on the Brain" because they liked Ali Hazelwood's first book "The Love Hypothesis," and I have great news - this book is similar! It's fun, it's cute, it's witty! It's also science-y and has CATS! Has this caught your attention yet? I’ll say it again: brain stimulation science and multiple cats!

"Love on the Brain" centers on Bee Konigswasser and Levi Ward, two scientists who were each other's nemesis in grad school and have now been chosen to co-lead a project together at NASA. Bee contains multitudes: she is a gifted neuroscientist, a Marie Curie superfan, a woman committed to staying single after her fiancé wronged her (Tim, you lying rat!), and she also has a secret identity - she anonymously runs the influential Twitter account "What Would Marie Do," a platform that highlights the struggles and inequalities women in STEM deal with. She has no time for men, only science!

Levi is, as far as Bee remembers, a closed-off, hostile jerk who constantly gave her the cold shoulder while they were classmates. Her thrill at being chosen to help run NASA's new project, BLINK, could only be eclipsed by the news that, of all people, LEVI is chosen as her co-lead. Bee is *sad trombone noise* about it. But then, on her first day exploring the new lab workspace, Levi rescues her from some falling equipment. He saved her life?? That doesn’t align with Bee’s previously held belief that Levi would prefer to see her crushed under heavy machinery. How very intriguing! From that dramatic moment onward, Bee has to reevaluate their relationship. Is he the one behind the sly attempts to sabotage the project (missing files, missing emails, canceled equipment orders) or is he being unexpectedly supportive and kind?

LOTB gets a lot of things right, but there are a couple of small things to point out. Much of the plot of the book revolves around a misunderstanding/miscommunication, which might get irritating for some readers – why can’t this brilliant scientist who can decode brain impulses not read the people around her? And while I enjoyed the mystery element of the story, the villain was fairly obvious. The familiar beats of the story – longstanding crush on the part of the big man along with complete misreading of it by the slim, smart-but-clueless-in-love woman – definitely worked for me, but may turn some people off for being too similar to the first book. I think it just means the author has a winning scientific formula for romance that she has perfected in her lab!

If you enjoy a cute love story with an enemies to lovers trope at the center of it, LOTB is definitely for you! There’s also a small secondary LGBTQ+ love story as a bonus! And who doesn’t want extra love?

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC to review!

4.5 stars! As a big fan of Marie Curie, I was in love with this title. The perfect amount of slow burn, emotion, and comedy. I do wish the next will have less of the misunderstanding trope, which felt too similar to her other works. And while I loved the character of Rocio, I do feel she was very immature, which seemed unrealistic to the plot (how did she not get fired????).

Aaaaaah! I'm so happy to receive another Ali Hazelwood ARC from Berkley (& NetGalley)!! I'm now obsessed with STEMinist romances, and I will never stop requesting Hazelwood books.
Anyways, back to business. Bee Königswasser is a emotionally unavailable neuroscientist who gets a job offer as a co-lead for the NASA project BLINK. The other co-lead? A neuro-engineer that has hated her since grad school (or so she thinks) named Levi Ward. When everything starts going wrong on her end of the project and personal life, she looks to Levi as an ally. He reluctantly agrees to her partnership terms, and the rest is history.
I will say this immediately: If you did not like The Love Hypothesis, you won't like this one either. Love on the Brain has the same writing style and miscommunication trope as Hazelwood's previous book. However, I do think the characters are more fleshed out and more entertaining than in The Love Hypothesis. For example, Bee's research assistant Rocio is one of my favorite secondary characters, maybe ever? She's moody and extraordinarily Gen-Z, which makes the book more fun.
I also really enjoyed the pacing in this story. The miscommunication trope is there and inevitablely frustrating, but we get more time with Bee and Levi as a couple. It makes the ending all the more satisfying, and their cutesy scenes gave me much-needed seratonin.
Again, if you loved The Love Hypothesis, don't skip this! Definitely recommend.

Ali Hazelwood is back at it again with another phenomenal book. She somehow manages to always have the perfect romance-comedy-steamy slow burn ratio that I adore. Pre-ordered this one immediately as well and recommending it lots already!

Ali Hazelwood hit it out of the park with her debut The Love Hypothesis, and Love on the Brain is definitely another HOME RUN. Sweet, steamy, quirky-- this has all the ingredients for a feel good romance! Loved this one and happy to recommend it!

This book is ideal for romance lovers as, in addition to Bee’s primary love story, there is also a secondary LGBTQ+ love story featuring Bee’s co-worker Rocío. Furthermore, I highly recommend Love on the Brain to fans of Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur, The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang, Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert, The Astronaut and the Star by Jen Comfort, The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese, as well as Hazelwood’s debut novel, The Love Hypothesis.

Firstly, I thought that Love on the Brain was even better (and steamier) than The Love Hypothesis! Furthermore, Love on the Brain hooked me right from page 1 and I honestly did not want to put this book down. Like Olive in The Love Hypothesis, Bee in Love on the Brain is a nerdy yet fierce woman in STEM who isn’t afraid to smash the patriarchy. Additionally, I loved how Bee, with her Marie Curie twitter account, purple hair and piercings, aspiring cat lady vibes, and animal-friendly values, was very unique and cool. Bee’s “enemies to lovers” romance with Levi, whom I though was such a swoon-worthy cinnamon roll, was close to perfection and I was relieved that Bee’s story ended in a happily ever after. I found that the NASA, space, technological, and neuroscience elements present in this story were very unique and interesting; I felt like they were adequately explained without going into too many details that distracted from the romantic storyline.

There wasn’t much about this book that I didn’t like. One minor downside for me was that, even though it was still very enjoyable, the beginning of the story was a bit predictable; but, in contrast, I though that the twist towards the conclusion of the book was unexpected and kept me engaged until the very end. Also, I often mixed up the names Rocío and Reike as they looked very similar on the page; so, I was often puzzling whether Bee was talking too/ about her co-worker Rocío or her twin sister Reike. Lastly, like Gabriella in The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese, Bee took a frustratingly long time figuring out Levi’s true motives as well as the identity of her twitter friend/ confidant; both of these seemed obvious to me.

In conclusion, this steamy and unique romantic comedy was a highly enjoyable and engaging read that I would definitely consider rereading and recommending (or even gifting) to a friend.

I absolutely loved, Love on the Brain! This was my first time reading this author and now I need to go back and read her previous title. I know our customers will love this book! Thanks for giving me a chance to preview this for our store!

• love on the brain is like the love hypothesis on steroids: geekier and dare i say, hotter.

• hotter as in, the smut. it was good good so good.

• i love the STEM women representation in ali hazelwood's novels. and as a humanities girl, i loved the scientific explanations + backstory on marie curie (who was my role model when i was in fourth grade) laced between the romance.

• however, the humor also felt so much more millennial? there were some...parts that were cringey and it felt like the main character was trying a bit too hard to be quirky.

• but all in all, SUCH a solid romance book. ali hazelwood has become one of my auto buy authors.

If you enjoyed Hazelwood’s other books I’m sure you’ll like this one as well. Definitely a fast read.

I really enjoyed Bee’s character, I just wish she wasn’t so obtuse when it came to Levi’s feelings. I got a little annoyed with how many times she would state that Levi definitely hates her and is evil lmao

It's official, Ali Hazelwood can do no wrong. I can't even put into words how much I adored this. I immediately loved everyone who stepped on the page, side characters included. Bee is such a great protagonist - she's quirky, relatable, and had me cackling at 1am in my apartment. Levi was adorable and swoony, and their banter was laugh-out-loud funny. Plus, I love a good man-falls-first story. This one hit all the rights notes for me, and I'm so excited for everyone to read it in August. Thank you Berkley Romance for the e-arc!