The Sizzle Paradox is a funny friends-to-lovers romance with our heroine being a woman on STEM.
Overall, this book felt like I was reading friends-to-lovers version of the Kiss Quotient that was a bit watered down and wasn't the story I hoped it would have been.
Thank you so much to Net Galley & MacMillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review of content.

Is it just me or did this book give you serious Love Hypothesis vibes but not as good? I think it might have just been the setting but I think i wanted it to be more like the Love Hypothesis? Instead we got a long drawn out would they won’t they between two best friends/roommates. This one was very predictable but not in the fun way. I really liked Kian - the male lead, throughout the book. He seemed like a great guy just hanging out in front of Lyric waiting to be noticed. I had to keep reminding myself that Lyric is younger even though she is completing grad school throughout the book. She entered college at a young age and acts less mature than I would have like. While I wanted to like it this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the opportunity t o read this book in return for an honest review!

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5/5

I was hoping I would love this, but didn't. Sadly, it wasn't a romance that I was thinking about while waiting to have time to read.

I loved this cute little friends to lovers story. It was relatively predictable but a fun adventure to get there. I do love when characters won't really admit to themselves that their feelings are real. It was a cute rom-com I'd definitely recommend. I was lucky enough to read the eARC alongside listening to the audiobook and it really helped set a tone.

the sizzle paradox seems to fall along the lines of the love hypothesis and the kiss quotient in subject matter, with women of stem being main characters and their minds being as important in development as the romance. the problem i found with the sizzle paradox is that it doesn't feel as if a scientific mind is at use with lyric.

while the character is presented as someone who is very smart and capable, there are numerous moments throughout the book that it feels as if lyric is more a caricature than fully formed. her actions with kian don't feel like those between two people who are best friends and when they finally do give into their feelings, it doesn't feel like a natural progression— as she spends much of the beginning trying to pair him with another friend.

between that, the lacking info on her thesis that she's supposedly spent ages on, but doesn't seem to hold much of a scientific basis or importance, and a romance that doesn't hold much heat, this read ultimately fizzled rather than sizzled for me.

3.5 stars!

THE SIZZLE PARADOX by Lily Menon, compared to The Kiss Quotient, featuring a woman in STEM was all I needed to know.

Overall it was a lighthearted romance with a friends-to-lovers trope, and a side of fake dating. Two of my current favorite tropes, and I love when friends don’t realize they have hot feelings for each other.

Playboy Kian has no trouble with attracting women and offers to give roomate and bestie Lyric practice dating, and test the sizzle in her field of study. I actually preferred the audio format, which was narrated by Brittany Pressley and Abhay Ahulwalia, and their cute banter and chemistry was what really made the story.

*many thanks to St Martin’s Press/Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy + audiobook

I wanted to like The Sizzle Paradox! I really did.

I liked the premise a ton. But ultimately I DNF’d as Lyric seemed a bit too unrealistic. As someone who went through higher academia, I definitely encountered very intelligent people who had varying levels of anxiety and social skills. But Lyric felt just a bit too unrealistic.

I think fans of The Love Hypothesis would like this book, I feel like fans of The Soulmate Equation would not like this book.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While I generally am a huge fan of Lily Menon’s romances, The Sizzle Paradox, unfortunately, fell a little flat for me. I wanted to enjoy the characters and the plot as much as I did in her previous books, but I struggled to get into the narrative. The Sizzle Paradox did have some really fun RomCom elements, though, which were definitely my favorite part of the story! I loved the use of the Best-Friends to Lovers trope, which did lend a spark to Lyric and Kian’s romance in a nice way. Lyric was also a delightfully intelligent leading lady, which is something I look for in romance novels.

Another thing I particularly struggled with was the audio narration style for the voice of Kian, Abhay Ahluwalia. I usually love audiobook romance novels, but the pacing of his voice was off for me. There were several chapters where I became convinced that the book was being narrated by an AI program. Ahluwalia’s pauses and inflection just didn’t work for me as a listener, unfortunately. Brittany Pressley, the voice of Lyric’s perspective, was much easier to listen to. If you’re someone who is picky about their narrators, this audiobook might be one you choose to skip in favor of a physical copy.

My Recommendation-
Though The Sizzle Paradox wasn’t my favorite read, I still quite enjoyed parts of it! If you love a good RomCom with a Best-Friends to Lovers twist, you might want to grab a copy! I would especially recommend this book to fans of STEM-based RomComs like The Love Hypothesis!

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Lily Menon for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute friends to lovers romance. I would give the story and plot a solid 3.5 stars but I rounded it down to 3 stars because there were a lot of slower parts and the male narrator, Abhay Ahluwalia, fell flat. I felt a lot of the narration for Kian was just reading and not storytelling. I felt emotion lacking a lot and sometimes it was just monotone reading for me. I would also note that there are a lot of times during Abhay's narration that I can hear loud breath intakes. I did enjoy Brittany Pressley's narration for Lyric, however.

I loved kiss quotient and love hypothesis but I didn’t see that vibe in this book unfortunately so maybe that was on me expecting it to be more like that.

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Audio note: Mixed feelings on the audio! I enjoyed the female narrator; her voice was easy to listen to, and she performed well. The male narrator... not so much. I liked his voice, but his performance was stilted and awkward. Some parts were fine, and then he would take an extended pause or his inflection would be off. It took me out of the story, and that wasn't great. Perhaps with more experience, the male narrator will get better, I don't know. So I'd recommend this audiobook only to those who prefer the format - it's not going to win any new listeners over, but it wasn't bad overall. 3 out of 5 stars.

Book review: Unfortunately, I had to DNF. After starting and stopping several times, I realized that I dreaded the reading experience every time I picked up the book. I loved The Love Hypothesis, Kiss Quotient, etc, but that didn't translate into love for this story. I also didn't like the relationship development between these two friends - the whole thing felt off. Ultimately, I set the book aside and felt no desire to see how it all turned out. 2 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio version of this book. I enjoyed reading/listening to this book. I was a fun sweet romance about two collage students who obviously have formed an attraction and love for one another throughout the years. One is doing a project of the scientific details of finding and falling in love. She is blind to see what is right in front of her as true love. That she has really found the perfect love match and the scientific evidence to back it. she doents realise she loves him until he up and moves out. THis was a fun classic love story.

I have mixed feelings on books that mix science with love. I thought this one was interesting. I didn’t have to suspend too much disbelief to get into the story, but that’s not to say that the plot line wasn’t predictable, because it was. It definitely brought the steam though!

Thank you NetGalley for a pre-release of the Sizzle Paradox.

This was a fun, quick read. Although the plot line was semi-predictable, it was an endearing story. I absolutely loved the characters and their development. They felt like my friends, and I was there rooting for them until the very end. If you love Hallmark movies, you'll enjoy this book. :-)

Overall, this was super cute. It reminded me a little about The Love Hypothesis because it has the whole academia setting, but this is the typical best friends falling for each other but beating oblivious to it trope. I did like both characters. The audiobook narration was also pretty good.

I rarely ever do this, but I had to DNF this audiobook after about 20%.

The narration, both male and female, was very grating and the edits felt choppy. I could sense when they happened and it did not make for a seamless listening experience.

I will.hold off on listening to more in favor of reading the paperback so the story isn't completely ruined for me.

This gave me all the butterflies! This was a great read and I am so happy that the publishers allowed me to have a galley of the audiobook. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Lyric Bishop was an incredibly relatable protagonist. She is trying to crack what she deems the "Sizzle Paradox" as her doctorate thesis. She can never seem to find someone who checks all her boxes.

As this story progresses, we see Lyric's relationship with her roommate and best friend, Kian, change. I absolutely love friends-to-lovers tropes so this book was great for me. The author gave them amazing chemistry and I was so invested the entire time. I would compare this book to Emily Henry or The Love Hypothesis. I love finding books that embrace this niche.

As an audiobook, I enjoyed the dual perspectives. I thought that it gave a good dimension to the characters and allowed us to see how each of their feelings was developing. My only complaint was that I could hear the guy narrator inhaling between lines and I cringed a little each time. Other than that, it was amazing!

I unfortunately did not like this story. I felt awkward a lot of the time and something just didn’t click with me. I did really like the concept. The narrator did a good job. I’m a sucker for friends to lovers so I did read all the way through to see if it would get better, but it fell flat for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this read in exchange for a review.

** spoiler alert ** I love romance books but the last couple including the sizzle paradox theme has been the same, technically. The plot of vest friends or enemies falling in love. The book was easy to listen to since I had the audio and was quite entertaining but the trope where the girl is oblivious to being wanted by her best friend is a bit tired. The way lyric was so confused to see that kyian would be in love with her was a bit over the top when it was obvious. I fid like the representation of POC color and south Asian love interests. The book wasn't bad it was just not that interesting so because I felt like I read it before and it took me a long time to finish.

Lyric Bishop isa grad student doing a study in sexual chemistry. She found a formula to rate how successful relationships will be based on the "Sizzle Paradox." The only issue is that she can not seem to find a suitable partner who meets her sizzle paradox criteria. Either they have tons of sexual chemistry and have terrible conversational skills or vise versa. She has been having a difficult time completing her case study because she feels like a fraud. Lyric lives with her best friend a fellow grad student Kian who agrees to tutor her on dating and how to be successful. However while fake dating they end up secretly falling for one another. They are both too scared to tell one another because they don't want to ruin the friendship.

This was such a cute friends to lovers story! I really liked the characters and storyline