Hazelwood does it again! I love how developed and dimensional her characters feels. I like it when I feel like I can take a character out of a story and would be able to predict how they would act/behave in different "real world" scenarios. I liked that a lot of the conflict was external instead of miscommunication.

The only reason this isn't a five star read for me is I am getting a little tired of the (kinda spoiler not really but warning) trope of: Guy was in love with Girl for a long time and Girl was clueless. It was still very sweet

I can’t say how much I loved this book but I’ll try. I loved loved loved it so much! I love how the writing is so effortless, I love the personality all the characters have, I love the power this writer gives to women! And the classic enemy to lovers trope?! Ugh I can’t get enough. This was my second 5 star read from this author and I can’t wait to see what else is to come!

Hazelwood’s book just keeps getting better and better. I can't get over how much I loved the protagonist and her obsession with Marie Currie. Ali just seems to get more comfortable in writing STEM romance’s where the reader can find their curiosity and love of science embodied in a five-foot purple-haired fem just trying to make some science, and ending up in love. The supporting characters were fantastic and had enough depth to be engaging and so flipping funny, overall five stars, I loved it.

My largest critique is that again we didn’t have enough diversity. I love that there are LGBTQ+ characters in this book, but the lack of POC fems made me super uncomfortable. Especially because a huge theme in this book was about how hard it is for Fems in Science. I thought the book could have really benefited from the clear representation of POC fems in the field, and what their struggles looked like, at least more so than what was accomplished.

And let me just say I love Levi. Love him. But I also think that he was a bit one-dimensional. I fell in love with his patience, supportive, marathon running butt, but I also thought that we only learned about him through the lens of Bee’s discoveries and he didn’t really have any conflict to develop from. I think the story would have been stronger if he had his own story arc and narrative (but I always love to hear both sides of the story so im a touch biased) rather than just playing the supportive love interest who we couldn’t help but adore at the end. That being said I loved the dynamic that Bee and Levi had and thought that they held my heart more than Olive and Adam did, which is saying a lot

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a great intellectual and romantic romp. I loved the main character of Bee, the driven, quirky neuroscientist chosen to help NASA with a space project. I also grew right away to enjoy her love interest, Levi, the NASA engineer who apparently hates her. The reader can assume the truth all along, that his hatred is truly avoidance because he loves her. It's that old trope that I hate to love! I certainly enjoyed the book and will definitely pick up this author again.

Let me start by saying: I LOVED this book.

I read a lot of books and the troupes and plots can get repetitive in a lot of books. But let's just say I sat down to start this book and read it in one sitting.

I love how Ali Hazlewood takes this slow burner( for Bee at least) enemies to lovers and made it new. I loved that we had nerdy, smart, relatable characters with lots of chemistry and steamy ( READ HOT) moments.

My only gripe is I wished the Twitter Plot had been developed just a little more? BUT, it served its purpose of giving us insight into how Levi really feels about Bee before she realizes it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for an advance ebook copy to review. All opinions are my own

NASA had offered Bee the lead position on a neuroengineering project - her dream come true - but as co-lead with her archenemy from the past.

Another great STEM book by Ali Hazelwood.

I love and devoured The Love Hypothesis, and this was no different. I didn't want to put this story down and was sad when it was over. I just wanted to keep reading about Bee and Levi.

While the plot was a fun twist on Enemy to Lovers, I didn't find the twitter-esque You Got Mail aspect that successful. It honestly felt like the author had an idea for the plot and then when the book developed away from that original idea she tried to just force it. While the plot aspect was a little annoying, it wasn't enough to prevent me from getting into the story. I still love Bee and Levi, and I still want to know more about their future. And still highly recommend this book!

I wanted to love this due to it being a book about a woman in STEM, we need more of those, but I found the plot to be repetitive and slow. I think it was a cute, fast read that I would bring along with me on a camping trip. But not something that would be too significant to me in the long run.

I absolutely loved this one… way more than the first book in this series and I am excited to add a copy to my bookshelves!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me an e-copy of LOVE ON THE BRAIN by Ali Hazelwood to review. Unfortunately, this will not be a great review and will include spoilers.

The book spent a LOT of time using science jargon that honestly, I'm just not smart enough to understand. I admit, I'm not that intelligent with math and science. I love the STEM aspect, but it was hard to follow and confusing if you aren't into science or engineering. I ended up skimming over a lot of those paragraphs and pages, and believe me, that killed me.

Ali writes amazing love scenes. I was so ON BOARD with Levi. He was perfect for Bee. His twitter message about her (before knowing who she was) made me tear-up because it was perfectly written, sweet and heart-wrenching. But Bee spent the entire time they were together seeing themselves as friends with benefits when it was clear he saw it as more.

I loved The Love Hypothesis and the STEM storyline. There were some parts of the book that made clear the character was leery of men. Rightfully so. Things made sense in that plot. There were specific incidents that made her super careful with men.

But for LOVE ON THE BRAIN I spent most of the book wondering if the main character even liked men. And if she didn't - that's okay!! - but the love interest is a man and the plot revolves around her falling in love with a man. The character made many general blanket statements about men in a negative way. This is a romance book and the character's disdain for ALL men was off-putting.

There were only two men Bee liked - Levi (it took years for that to happen) and a co-worker who was, seemingly a very nice guy. So the entire time I'm thinking okay, at least Bee likes two men in this story … then the ending takes a shocking twist for a romance book. The only other male character with any redeeming qualities does something completely uncharacteristic and frankly, unbelievable, for a romance plot.

By this point I was over the entire plot.

I rate LOVE ON THE BRAIN two stars out of five.

I loved this book even more than The Love Hypothesis. It follows almost the exact same formula, but that really worked for me. Ali Hazelwood excels at building tension and relationships, and then providing a good pay off with her smut scenes. My only real issue is the tweet snippets drew me out of the story because some were too many characters to actually be accepted as tweets. But that's just a little pet peeve of mine. I thought this was fun and engaging and I blew through it. If you are a fan of Hazelwood, I think you will enjoy this. If you didn't like her first book and are looking for something different, I don't think this will work for you. I'm so excited to continue to read more from this author!

Total adoration is what I'm feeling for this novel. The intelligent and witty story telling of Ali Hazelwood perfectly exudes why she's a force in the contemporary romance world. She moves so flawlessly from the beginning of her story, which catches you immediately, to the end, where you feel as though you're an intimate part of her amazing characters lives. And these characters are adoringly quirky and perfectly charming that you can't help just smiling at their antics. They both have the perfect combination of drama and intrigue coupled with hilarity and love. Their story just works. The world of Academia and STEM are very far removed from my actual life but Hazelwood's writing makes me feel as though I'm a big part of it anyway, enveloped in a big, brainy, hilarious hug. I loved this book and truly believe everyone else will too.

crying in the club rn. don’t call. don’t text.

one of my auto buy author queens came with all the feels in Love On The Brain and like, are we surprised? No.

Levi and Bee. LEVI AND BEE!! stfu immediately. my sweet honeys. my stubborn angels. my sensitive nuggets. okay okay i’m done.

But really, I devoured this beauty in no time and I’m both happy to have read it while also kind of sad…??

Bee, my purple hair TWIN!!!!! legends only.

thank you thank you THANK YOU berkley and netgalley for this free review
copy 💜🧜🏼‍♀️

After my obsession with The Love Hypothesis last year and my continued adoration of Dr. Daddy Adam Carlsen, Love on the Brain was one of my MOST anticipated releases of 2022 and it did not disappoint!!

Okay so my fav part was Rocío. Ali, bestie, can we pls get a whole Ro book because 😘🤌🏻

I loved the “I am a woman in STEM, hear me roar” energy of this book. Y’all have to put up with some patriarchal BS and every single one of you is a rockstar. (It did get fairly science-y at times and I was a little bit confused)

Levi. You absolute hunk. We stan a 6’4” grumpy dark haired man that believes in science and sees the potential fun of a wall.

Bee was SO relatable? Like…I highlighted a LOOOT of her inner monologue. Here’s a particular fav:

“Disappointingly, sitting on the couch thinking about working out has not improved my aerobic fitness…I’m not meant for this. And by “this” I mean using my body for anything more strenuous than reaching for my treat cupboard.”

Dead.

Also uhhh can we talk about the STEAM?! Chapter 16 in The Love Hypothesis was cute. Ms. Ali H said hold my beer. Chapter 17?! And *then* some?! 🔥🥵 it’s a slow burn but OOF

My only meh and why I didn’t rate this one higher was I that couldn’t get past the “he hates me & thinks I’m so ugly”. Look, we as readers obvi KNOW we are reading a romance novel and that the grumpy hero doesn’t *actually* hate the MC. Maybe it’s the “if a boy is mean to you, it means he likes you” indoctrination of my formative years BUT I just couldn’t believe that she had noooo idea he didn’t loathe her. Then again, I literally think people hate me all the time so perhaps it’s a people in glass houses thing and I need to reevaluate…regardless, it had me rolling me eyes a liiiittle too often. 🫢

Don’t get me wrong. I still LOVED it and 1000% recommend. TOTES keep an eye out for this one in August 2022!!!

Thank you to @netgalley & @berkleypub for the eARC!!

I would love to interview Ali Hazelwood for Pop-Culturalist.com!! Ali’s books are incredible and Love on the Brain is one of my favorite 2022 books. If you’re into reading books about women in STEM and romance than this is FOR YOU!!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book!

Ali Hazelwood is slowly becoming one of my most enjoyable to read authors. This was a book I found hard to put down. If you enjoyed “The Love Hypothesis,” you will surely enjoy this novel, as well. If you thought “The Love Hypothesis” had a lot of the miscommunication trope, “Love on the Brain” takes it to a whole new level.

The novel is full of call outs for misogyny and sexist behaviour in science, along with the power of social media being used for positive change (but also how easily that platform can crumble headway). I particularly enjoyed the hard to describe aspect of resenting a woman “needing” a man to give you public approval so that OTHER men will believe you, but the relief of having it so that you can just get the job done without MORE emotional labour in proving your worth and expertise.

The dynamic between Bee and Levi begins as tepid, but once it picks up steam, boy does it pick up steam. I wouldn’t say this books is extremely steamy, to my memory there are only two or three explicit sex scenes, but those scenes are explicit. Levi is a man who spent a long thing thinking about what he wanted and boy howdy was he good at communicating what he wanted.

I figured out who the “antagonist” of the novel was about halfway through when they were on the page just a little too much to be a secondary character. My main criticism of this novel is that, while it does address sexism in STEM fields, it doesn’t really talk about racism as there is a predominantly white cast of characters. There is maybe one speech towards the middle of the novel where a white female character criticizes a particular test that is used as an administrative requirement for academia. This novel can come off a little white-feminist-y for that reason.

Overall, really enjoyed this novel! Looking forward to reading more Ali Hazelwood novels in the future!

As a lady in a male dominated field, Bee knows how to work around men who don't like her. But during a collaboration with NASA, Bee must work with a former Enemy, Levi Ward. Levi has hated her since day one, but Bee doesn't understand why. When things in their project start to go wrong or missing, Bee begins to suspect. Can Levi really hate her that much?

I loved this book. It was beautifully paced, delightfully steamy, and the mystery behind the project bumps was done so deliberately that I had trouble believing who had actually done it!

While learning more about Marie Curie’s life through Bee’s obsession with her was great and the characters seemed more professional than in The Love Hypothesis (key word being more, they both are so immature that it’s hard to believe that they are professionals), Bee and Levi felt so incredibly similar to Adam and Olive that it was hard to believe I was reading a different story. The banter was entertaining so people who enjoyed that from the last book will love this. One final note, I am tired of how often the characters' size differences are mentioned, even though it is a common trope in romance novels, it seems especially emphasized in Hazelwood's books.

Y’all, STOP IT.
Whyyyy am I loving these books so much?!

This could have been AH’s grocery list and I think my rating would be the same.
Levi is just so good, SO GOOD, and I can’t handle it.

Still didn’t feel like I needed to be a rocket scientist to follow what was going on here, and that was my favorite part, especially since I forgot the word cold today.

Super cute novel! I loved her first novel and the streak continues. I am looking forward to getting my hands on a physical copy!