Another winner by Ali Hazelwood. I was so excited to get this and read it in one sitting. It was so cute and I will read it again. I will also be purchasing a copy for my library.

What a delight! Although this story hits a lot of the same beats as The Love Hypothesis, Hazelwood pull off another great slow burn, enemies to lovers story centered around two competing scientists. Our heroine Bee has finally gotten the opportunity to prove herself by getting appointed to lead a team of scientists in creating a helmet for astronauts. The only difficulty is that she has to work with her nemesis, Levi, who made her graduate school rough through his indifference and avoidance. It seems at first that it's going to be the same thing- Levi is going to ignore her and sink their project. But throw in an imaginary cat, a side goth/sunshine romance, and a Marie Curie, and Levi and Bee realize that maybe they've just misunderstood each other all this time.
The chemistry is, as usual scorching, and this is the type of book that you'll want to sit and read in one sitting because why can't they just kiss already? There's also a delightful You've Got Mail situation going on that will be very obvious to the reader, but I thought it served a great job to let us into Levi's inner workings.
If Ali Hazelwood writes it, we will read it!

It is a true tribute to the power of this book's plot that I read and loved it even though the author for some godforsaken reason decided to switch from 3rd to 1st person in the middle of a trilogy??? But the plot is COMPELLING. It's the perfect "wronged woman" revenge fantasy: your fiance cheated on you, your best friend was the person he cheated with, your boss is a sexist pig, you're being sabotaged at every turn at work... but a sweet, brilliant, handsome man (who is played by Adam Driver) has been hopelessly in love with you for years, supports you unquestioningly, makes all the sexist men at work listen to you, catches you when you swoon at the sight of your cheating ex and then CARRIES YOU out of the room? And then you make groundbreaking scientific discoveries and you get offered your sexist boss's job and then HIS boss's job and you turn it all down so you can live in sweet sweet scientific bliss with Adam Driver and your his-and-hers matching laboratories? Perfect, showstopping, no notes. Love that for all of us.

This is not a story where the heroine has to change to earn her happily-ever after. This book is that picture of Will Smith gesturing to Jada on the red carpet as if to say "here she is, the most perfect woman in the world, adore her" in textual form. And you know what? GOOD.

Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis was one of my favorite reads of 2021 - I have never clicked on a Netgalley linked faster than when I saw her follow-up, Love on the Brain, was available eight months ahead of its publication date. I sped through it in one day, but wanted to savor it - it's one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time. It was so swoony, so delightful, so smart, and so funny - perhaps even better than The Love Hypothesis. I love that Hazelwood is representing women in STEM in her romances - she knows her stuff, but it never feels overly academic for non-scientists to engage with (and I ended up learning a lot from this book about brain science). Can't wait for everyone else to discover this book, and I'm so excited to read more of Hazelwood's work!

OMFG.

This book was so damn cute and Levi Ward deserves a spot in my top book boyfriends list because WOW what a man. Love on the Brain brings so many tropes to the table that I love: enemies to lovers, yearning, online friends but at odds in real life, forced proximity, DID I SAY YEARNING (Levi is such a simp I adore it), PRAISE

Also, my sister works in neuroscience so I felt like this was an awesome little peek into her world.

The only reason I am docking a star is because some of the central angst surrounds miscommunication, and it just lasted a bit too long for my taste. Like girl just tell him you're not married?? I know you're embarrassed and assume he already knows, but SPEAK.

I always worry about an author's sophomore book. Sometimes they just can't keep the same magic they had in their first book. Ali Hazelwood not only kept the magic, but created a book so satisfying and heart warming, I just couldn't put it down. Levi and his absolute love for Bee, the unrequited and pining was so gut wrenching, the moment he realizes that he has a chance the sweet, subtle, gentle way he goes about it had me holding my breath. Bee's utter unwillingness to believe that he truly still loves her, her, just how she is, I just wanted to shake her and make her see the light.

I loved these characters and rooted for them throughout the whole book. I love the emphasis on Marie Curie and loved the factoids scattered throughout. I will literally read anything Ali Hazelwood writes, even if it's just a grocery list. I will recommend this book far and wide!

Ali did it again! Love on the Brain was an incredibly fun, sweet read that got me so absorbed I finished it in under 24 hours, I can't wait for it to come out to I can put my copy in its place next to The Love Hypothesis. Thank you for the early copy, I can't wait to read Ali's next book!

I was fine with it as is until chapter 24. I guess certain “twists” happen in Woody Allen movies, but he’s nuts, and his movies always contain wonky undercurrents, so basically anything goes. Here, I felt like I got a hiccup in the middle of a perfectly good hamburger. The story corrected itself immediately after chapter 24, so... nice.... but it detracted a bit from the total experience. Likable characters, an interesting examination of academic politics, the gender gap, and a modern sensibility that wasn’t overbearing lent authenticity to this and separated it from the pack. I’d recommend it, in spite of what I said.

Bee Königswasser, a scientist with NIH is given the chance of a lifetime to team up with NASA and it’s a dream come true for her! She’s so ecstatic…until she finds out that she will be working alongside Levi Ward - her archnemesis. Levi and Bee were in grad school together, but Levi was always so cool and reserved and hated Bee. She’s not sure anything’s changed in the past few years and is dreading working with him.

The project starts off immediately on the wrong foot. Being a woman in the STEM field, Bee should be used to it, but she was hopeful and excited. Soon, Bee’s not sure that she can put up with all the crap she’s having to deal with. Not to mention that Levi either ignores her or is trying to sabotage her every step of the way. But not everything is at is seems and soon Bee finds herself working alongside Levi. Will these two be able to work past their differences to work together?

<SPOILERS>

After reading The Love Hypothesis, I was highly anticipating Love on the Brain. And oh, how I loved Levi and Bee together. Their chemistry and banter was evident right from the beginning. This enemies-to-lovers, second chance romance was equally swoony and funny. I constantly had a grin on myself while reading it.

And while so many parts of Love on the Brain had me laughing out loud, there were also topics of grief and loneliness that I really resonated with. The grief of losing a best friend, the grief of losing parents, the grief and loneliness of having family members that never accept you for who you are. These topics were woven throughout this romance so perfectly.

Read Love on the Brain If you love Star Wars, cats, Marie Curie, texting ala You’ve Got Mail, steamy scenes, nerdy jokes and lots of puns…so yeah I could go and on and on, but please add this book to your TBR!

Funny, nerdy, sweet, and a perfect sophomore book!!

Like most other romance book lovers, as soon as I saw the newest Ali Hazelwood title, I squealed. I moved it to the top of my queue and then read it in a night. My god, is this a superb second novel in this series. This plot, the science, the women in STEM, the protagonists. All of it was just *chef's kiss*. Bee was one of my favorite characters. Levi! Ugh, I just adored Levi. You know when you're reading a book, and then you're halfway done and get preemptively sad that it'll be over? I felt it with this one. I wanted to be in this world after it ended, and was sad to leave these new pals. Ali Hazelwood writes perfectly nerdy characters with such refreshing plots.

Bee was a super relatable science nerd who has had so many people leave her in her life that she's promised herself to never put herself in a situation where she would be leave-able. No dating (they could die or leave you!), no cats (they'll die in 13-17 years!), and just focusing on her career will keep her safe. That changes when she's placed as a co-lead on a NASA project with her nemesis Levi. Levi has hated Bee since grad school (for reasons that were never clear to Bee), and now he's basically sabotaging any progress on this project. Toss in some incredible research assistants, coworkers and some super fun plot twists, and you get an incredible book. LOVED Love on the Brain!

This was absolutely EVERYTHING I was hoping for!! Bee is a strong woman in STEM lead that I adored! She is a hardcore Marie Curie fangirl with an anonymous twitter account which worked perfectly with the You've got mail storyline. All the Marie Curie facts sprinkled through the story were lovely biographical tidbits of an outstanding woman scientist.

The male lead, Levi was the best kind of book boyfriend (I only wished we got in his head more). Their story starts off as an enemies to lovers romance with a great dose of secret pining (my favorite trope!). Throw in some cute cats, a twin sister, a quirky research assistant, a great collaborative NASA science project and some deliciously steamy open door scenes.

There was nothing I didn't love about this book. For me it was even better than The love hypothesis. Highly recommended for fans of Susannah Nix's Applied Electromagnetism (another STEM/Engineering office enemies to lovers romance). HUGE thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Books for my advance review copy! Go pre-order your copy immediately, you will not be sorry!

Bee and Levi are just wonderful. I loved the story, the characters, even the science (and I am so unscientific lol)! It’s just a simply spectacular book!

This puts the STEM in Steamy, I love the steamy scenes. Hazel wood is great with steam, but this one got a tad formulaic when comparing to Love Hypothesis, the pacing and characters were almost a direct copy of her previous. Still super enjoyable!

this book was so cute. i loved the love hypothesis and i loved this one as well. i loved bee, she was cute and funny. also the cats were great!

It would be quite an understatement to say that, I absolutely loved it because not only I did and do, but also the romance, the writing, the angst, chemistry and most importantly the characters were so beautiful and loveable that I can’t ask for anything more.

Ugh this was very cute!! Throughout my entire reading, I was smiling like a loon with love emojis shining bright in my eyes. I really liked the MCs, Levi and Bee. Although, I’m not a big fan of miscommunication trope, I found that it gave the story an edge and overall played a bigger part in bringing the MCs closer and giving them an insight of them and their respective feelings. Along with that, I really liked the writing; it was witty, so damn engaging. I just loved it. However, I have a teeny tiny complaint, that I did with the Love hypothesis too, and it’s about the ending, I find it a tad bit rushed. As, I would love to see that epic meeting between Levi and Bee’s side of family.

Full review posted to links after embargo date.

I was lukewarm on The Love Hypothesis, and kind of expected to be lukewarm on this one too. Nope. Sucked me in and stole my heart. A lot of my issues with TLH are worked out here: it’s not (to my knowledge) Reylo fanfic where the hero shares the actor’s first name, we get a little more backstory on Levi, the sexism in academia is worked in better, and the spice level is upped. There’s also a fairly predictable (in a good way) little mystery woven in, which is super fun.

The whole thing hinges on a few miscommunications, which I think some readers will ding it for, but they seemed relatively believable to me. It was a very enjoyable four hours of watching one absolute brussel sprout realize another brussel sprout has been head over heels for her for years.

TW: Parent death, friend death, loss, mental health, sexism, weapons, mention of past cheating and seizures.

Hello, welcome to the Ali Hazelwood instant buy book club! I am here to tell you that she has done it again and this is a NEW FAVOURITE!

Madame, I don't know how you did it, but somehow you turned my most disliked trope, the miscommunication trope, into one of the most beloved this about this book!
We have two incredibly intelligent people who are so dense to realise that they are in love with each other. But, unfortunately, because they are so convinced the other is unavailable, they fall into every miscommunication trap there is. AND I loved every minute of it! It was done so well because we have the Twitter convo, which is the two of them don't know, and it shows how much they are alike and how much the two can be friends; it balances out the tension perfectly!

Ali Hazelwood kept the charm from her last book but kept it fresh with the love our main character has for Marie Currie, sharing her personal history with us that connected to the story and including her in present-day with the Twitter handle, which sparked a great movement. Ali always keeps the balance of love life and love of stem in their books, and the passion makes me love her stories and almost inspires me to go into STEM.

This book was full of awkward sweetness and much MORE spice than the last book and DAMN am I saying it was good! Like it was REALLY GOOD!
You are missing out if you haven't joined the ALI HAZELWOOD TRAIN yet!

❤️Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood for release August 23❤️

“From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.”

I read this in one sitting and I am alive. You are all going to love this one 😭❤️ Here are just a few things to look forward to:

🧠this one was written in first person which is MY JAM. I loved the voice so so much. Ali truly is a queen of banter and hilarious references
🧠Bee’s character is such a treat. I absolutely adored being inside of her head. I also really sympathized with her and her backstory. It really made for a satisfying character ARC.
🧠Levi- omg. What a perfect hero. The pining. Swoon.
🧠I freakin loved the nerdy, modern You’ve Got Mail aspect to this!!
🧠THE.STEAM (that is all)🔥
🧠thoughtful and smart commentary on the struggles of women in STEM

All in all, this book was everything and more. Ali truly delivered the perfect, swoony follow up to TLH and I cannot wait for everyone to read it ❤️ thank you so much Berkley for this ARC!

Lovable, charming, and steamy! Ali Hazelwood is killing the STEM romance world and Love On The Brain is sure to be another major hit.