This book was a brilliant next step from The Love Hypothesis, making Love on the Brain even nerdier and hotter. In addition to classic romance tropes, Hazelwood continues to absolutely nail how it feels to be anyone not cis-het-white-male in STEM, like to the point that I had stress hives from remembering what it was like in the odd nether realm where academia meets civil service and industry. The Curie biography, the hilarious descriptions of all-male meetings, and the subplot of the social media campaign make this book feel so well rounded. As a contemporary romance that gets in the weeds on that geeky life, this is a five-star read.

However, I do have to note for potential readers that there may be some aspects that tweak a few pet-peeves. This is a self-insert fic through and through. I mean, so were the Bond novels, but I know that can be a non-starter for many. Our fair protagonist treads really close to the “not like other girls/not like other geeks” line in ways that didn't feel necessary to the story. Lastly, the final conflict (which I will not spoil) is a little over the top when the plot could have played out in ways that more accurately reflect the actual, non-stop, attacks on women in STEM fields. These are only a bummer since in so many ways this book shows Hazelwood really blossoming as a contemporary romance writer, but they don't overshadow what a great read the book is overall.

** Thanks to NetGalley, Ali Hazelwood, and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC**

I have found the only thing that can compete with my love of fantasy romance novels - romance novels about badass women in STEM. An enemies-to-lovers where the guy was always obsessed with her?? At NASA???? Are you kidding me?? I literally got a NetGalley account because it was my DREAM to read this before August and I was so excited that I texted multiple people when I got approved. I adored The Love Hypothesis and I think I might even have liked Love on the Brain more. I will be reading everything Ali Hazelwood writes for the rest of her career. God bless hot men who are obsessed with smart, amazing women.

An unequivocal 5 stars.

Love on the brain was just as fun and adorable as her last book, The Love Hypothesis! Loved it and all the characters.

To say I was excited to read Love on the Brain would be an understatement. Ever since I read The Love Hypothesis I have been devouring the novellas Hazelwood has released and now this book. There was so much to love about it! Without getting too in depth and ruining things for you, let me give you a list of what made this book one you need to pick up.

*Ali Hazelwood's writing has only gotten better, which is a tough thing to do since it was already fabulous.
*Bee was a great combination of geeky and quirky. She had some big feelings over basically everything going on in her life and I loved how she took strength from Marie Curie and other female scientists to get her through it. I also loved Bee's relationship with her sister. Bee's backstory was great and pulled me in emotionally. 
*Levi. Oh, man. He was this quiet surprise. I adored his awkwardness. This book didn't have or need his POV, but what I wouldn't have given to know what he was thinking at times.
*I adored Bee and Levi together. They were so sweet, but also had amazing chemistry. WARNING: This book is steamier than the first one by far. 
*The STEM was strong in this book. Stronger than The Love Hypothesis. I learned so much. Marie Curie is a famous scientific name, but I learned so much more about her through this book. The project Bee and Levi were working on also taught me some stuff. Oh, and the whole women in STEM stuff was very good.
*There's a whole You Got Mail vibe going on. AND Star Wars talk. 

I could probably go on and on, but I'm going to stop here and let you enjoy Love on the Brain for yourself. It was a fabulous, smart, and emotionally engaging romance.

Physically could not put this book down. Eyes glued to the page. PRE-ORDER NOW !!!! Thank you NetGalley & Berkley for the arc ♥️

This was a supremely geeky, witty, and swoon-worthy read. Love on the Brain follows Dr. Bee Königswasser, an accomplished neuroscientist and devoted admirer of Marie Curie, who is selected to lead a groundbreaking neuroengineering project for NASA. What is the catch for her dream coming true? -- her co-lead is the man who she KNOWS detested her during grad school, her self-proclaimed college nemesis, engineer Levi Ward.

This book was a stellar follow up to Ali Hazelwood's popular debut, The Love Hypothesis. It addressed misogyny and systemic barriers faced by women in stem, and the many ways it manifests. I loved that Bee was prominent in a twitter community to bring women in stem together to address their frustration with the discrimination they face in the field and to support one another. Hazelwood did a great job of highlighting the need for changes in the scientific community at large!

I loved the romance in this book. The chemistry between Bee and Levi was off the charts and I loved the subtle "You've Got Mail" trope that came together and only elevated their relationship. It also (of course) features the rivals to lovers trope which was very very well done. Their relationship progression was SO cute and their banter was *chefs kiss.*

This book kept me interested from start to finish and I think that they different storylines at play all complemented each other and came together in a surprising but satisfying way! This book was also one for the cat lovers (which I am) and I loved it. I am envious of everyone who gets to read this for the first time!

Ali Hazelwood has done it again! Her debut, THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS has a fabulous book sibling in LOVE ON THE BRAIN. Bee and Levi’s journey from enemies to lovers is captivating from the first page. Ms. Hazelwood’s sense of humor, scientific knowledge and overall storytelling skills shine in this novel. Highly recommended.

I liked The Love Hypothesis well enough but didn't love it, so my expectations weren't high for Love on the Brain. But this book exceeded my expectations; I definitely liked this one better.
I found the characters to be very loveable,, especially Bee. I loved her obsession with Marie Curie, and even welcomed the interruption to the narrative that the Marie Curie facts brought. I also loved the plot line of her advocating for women in STEM and for grad school students, although I sometimes wished that there was more of a focus on that; sometimes it felt like we would go forever without hearing about it only to be shoved in the face with it randomly.
The romance was very cute, and while it fell into some predictable and overused tropes, that's what I found so likeable about it. A book doesn't have to shock me or surprise me to captivate me; I enjoyed predicting some of the things because it was still fun to read as things unfolded.
Speaking of surprising, I found the ending of the book to come out of nowhere. To avoid spoilers, I won't go into details, but I felt like it didn't match the tone of the rest of the book at all and was too high stakes. I would have enjoyed something a little less intense that matched the rest of the book, since the rest of it is relatively light and fluffy.
Overall, it was a very good book that made me smile and feel all warm inside!
(3.5 stars rounded down)

Loved The Love Hypothesis and was very excited to read Love on the Brain. Thank you for the free copy to review and all opinions are my own.

Hazelwood is clever and great with dialog and description. I loved the characters, they are easy to connect to and cheer on. Loved the trademarked funny descriptors (Cute Guy; Hostile Companionable Silence, etc.). Loved the Marie Curie parts. Loved the story..... even though it was eerily similar to The Love Hypothesis in many ways (taciturn, stoic male protagonist, quirky orphan female protagonist, misunderstandings that result in false beliefs for relationships, assumptions about relationship status, secretish crush for years). Certain aspects were too redundant. However, I still couldn't put this down, loved it, and was sad when it ended.

Love on the Brain shows an improvement in Hazelwood's writing from The Love Hypothesis - and I truly enjoyed The Love Hypothesis. Bee, Levi, and Rocio just come across as much more lived in characters with far fewer awkward set-up scenes, which is what consistently yanked me out of The Love Hypothesis.
A very cute read that is sure to draw more fans to Hazelwood's work.

Thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an arc for review.

In Love on the Brain, Bee Königswasser is stuck in a job she hates, so when she is asked to co-lead a neuroengineering project at NASA she leaps at the chance. Then she discovers who her co-lead is. Levi Ward is no stranger to Bee, after all they had gone to grad school together, where Levi made his contempt for Bee well known. While she is determined to do her best at her new job, Bee is deterred at every turn by miscommunication, missing equipment and misogyny. Bee finds an unexpected ally in Levi and the longer the two work together the closer they become.
After reading and loving The Love Hypothesis, I was eager to read more of Ali Hazelwood’s writing so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of the Love on the Brain. I started reading Love on the Brain looking for the same feeling that The Love Hypothesis gave me. While there are many similarities between the two—women in stem, BIG love interest— Love on the Brain was missing the reactive agent that made the Love Hypothesis so special to me.

Bee Königswasser is a gifted neuroscientist who’s personal life implosion a few years ago means her professional life is not where it ought to be. When she earns an opportunity to co-lead a huge project for NASA, she jumps at the chance. Doubt sets in when she learns that the other co-lead is her old grad school nemesis- hot, tall, smart Levi Ward. Levi has (ostensibly) loathed Bee since first setting eyes on her 6 years ago and has since vacillated between hostility and pretending she doesn’t exist. It doesn’t take long for Bee to begin to realize there’s more to Levi than meets the eye, but that hardly matters since she has sworn to never enter another serious relationship after her last one went down in flames and almost took the whole rest of her life with it.

Bee is a complex character full of believable contradictions. She’s outwardly unconventional (purple hair, tattoos, piercings), but craves a traditionally stable life. She’s hyper intelligent and works hard to get ahead in the closed door boys’ club that is STEM, but is also emotionally vulnerable and cries at the drop of a hat. I liked her relationships with her sister and her research assistant, and the underlying theme of the struggles women and other under represented groups face in STEM and higher ed in general. The author broaches the subject in natural, funny ways that are relatable to anyone who has ever been the “only” in a room. Levi gives some Mr. Darcy vibes (tall, brooding, stares a lot), whose cold exterior miiigghhht be a mask for his true cinnamon roll self. I liked that no matter how much he wanted from Bee, he respected her boundaries.

Speaking of respect and boundaries, Love on the Brain breezed right past steamy and into super sexy. It’s spicer and more explicit than some other contemporary romances (including Love Hypothesis). I thought the love scenes were well done and showed how much the characters trusted each other.

Overall, I liked this book a lot! There are certain story elements and characterizations that will feel familiar to anyone who read Love Hypothesis, but there were also a few twists I didn’t see coming. Love on the Brain is smart, sexy, and fun to read. I’d recommend it to fans of Christina Lauren, Tessa Bailey, and of course Ms. Hazlewood herself.

Awww! First of all, Levi is the SWEETEST lead and I just loved how he pined for her all those years. Ali does a great job at creating female characters in the science world and addressing issues of sexism in that field. The examples of how Levi is a modern man, supportive of women and in touch with his feelings are great - those men do exist! I liked this one just as much as her first book and would recommend it!

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.