This was another romcom with the miscommunication as the main plot point, and I just have a hard time with that. These two were best friends for years, but when they finally start to realize they've developed actual romantic feelings for the other, even after several instances of physical expression, they STILL think the other couldn't possibly be interested and run away rather than express how they feel. And Lyric continued to push Kian to Zoe, even after they both showed a lack of interest. There's something about the "I can't see past my own nose" that just really bothers me in a romance.

The audio was ok, but it was really hard to listen to the male narrator. For most of the female characters, he just made them sound nasally and whiny in what I believe was an attempt to give them distinguishable voices. And the intonation just felt flat for most of the book. That said, the female narrator was fantastic and I really enjoyed listening to her chapters.

Overall, the story had a little less Sizzle than I hoped. I'm not sure if the connection just wasn't there or if it was the male narrator that sort of took me out of the story.

Lily Menon's books have the same bright, fun, light-hearted tone as her YA (written as Sandhya Menon) but with more steam! This is an adorable friends-to-lovers romance. Lyric and Kian are clueless about how much they belong together, but eventually they figure it out.

The audiobook narration did a great job of capturing the voice of the characters.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I'm going to have to DNF this book at 10.3%, which I know really isn't fair so I won't be rating it on goodreads, I love friends to lovers and was really excited for this title, but unfortunately it's just a little too awkward for me. One of the fun things about friends to lovers is that it's either them both secretly pining for one another, or both parties being clueless to the other's feelings, when it is clearly obvious to everyone else, this book utilizes the latter. I got through one chapter of Kian's point of view, but I think he has the right amount of oblivious. Liberty on the other hand, makes me want to absolutely scream. She's doing her research on sexual chemistry and doesn't even think to maybe give things a chance with Kian in all the years she's been working on this. She compares every single guy to Kian, and not only that but all of their actions. It's like Kian is her control group and she doesn't even realize it. You're a psych grad student girl! Get it together! Also you're choosing to study sexual chemistry even though you're a self proclaimed "awkward potato."
I'm sure this book is really sweet but it is just not for me. The second hand embarrassment just hurts.

3.5/5 stars!

i loved this story and thought it was cute. loved the dynamic between the two characters -- i will say i'm bummed i didn't get the pdf arc because the audiobook kinda threw me off. i didn't really like the pacing of the male narrator's voice and it kept taking me out of the book :(

would definitely recommend and grab another book from this author though!

synopsis:

Lyric Bishop feels like a fraud—she’s studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for a successful long-term relationship, only she can’t seem to figure it out in her own dating life. The science is sound, but how can she give her expert opinion with no real-world experience? In order to complete her doctoral thesis, she must crack the Sizzle Paradox—it seems the more sexually attractive she finds a guy, the less likely it is to come with an emotional connection; but why?—and to do that she must get the help she desperately needs.

Kian Montgomery, her best friend, roommate, and fellow grad student, has no trouble bringing both romance and sizzle to his own relationships. When he offers to tutor Lyric on dating tactics to find a good match, she’s certain it will solve her problems, and in exchange she agrees to set long-term-commitment-averse Kian up with someone different to give his romantic life a much-needed shakeup.

But once the two progress with their "tutoring sessions," they start to feel less like the academic exercise they were supposed to be as real feelings develop. Which is a problem, because Lyric and Kian are best friends and absolutely, irrefutably nothing else... Right?

I originally signed up for this because of it’s Love Hypothesis type vibes and the cover art grabbed my attention. I’ve heard good things about Lily Menon so this was the perfect opportunity to give her a try.

Unfortunately, The Sizzle Paradox just didn’t do it for me. I don’t mind a little miscommunication in my rom-coms but this one was dragged out for way too long. Lyric and Kian are best friends who have been living in the friend zone with each other the last 6-7 years of their lives and they are perfectly fine with that even when their friends and family members constantly tell them how perfect they are together. They constantly are “omg ew no way” with even the idea of dating one another. Until Lyric needs help with her thesis on sexual chemistry. Kian offers to “tutor” Lyric on her dating habits and things take off from there. Feelings are developed and THINGS happen. But each one thinks it’s totally unfathomable that the other could return the obvious growing feelings between them and this goes on foreverrrrrrrr. I was highly annoyed with them and even commented to my friend that I’d like to bang their heads together.

I also found some of the lines and plots of the book quite icky. Zoey was pretty adamant about getting Zoey and Kian together and even after several times of Kian telling her that he doesn’t think Zoey is interested she still is like “no keep trying” it was really off putting and poor Zoey being used in this way was gross. Also, Kian realizing that “this is a totally different Lyric, not my Lyric” when Lyric is dressing up and putting effort into herself and all of a sudden she becomes much more attractive to Kian. It just didn’t sit right.

I did get a chance to listen to most of this book on audio and I have to say that I was really pleased to see there would be dual narration. I always look forward to having both sides of the story. I thought the female narrator, Brittany Pressley did a great job of voicing Lyric. Her inflections and tone were spot on in projecting Lyric’s feelings and emotions. I’m really sorry but the male narrator, Abhay Ahluwalia, was quite bad. It took me a while to get past every line he ended sounding like a question and he hardly ever changed the tone of his voice to match what was going on in the book. This looks like to be his first audiobook on Audible so hopefully he learned some things and improves for next time. I thought Brittany did a fine job of Kian’s voice when she would imitate him so this might be the one time I wish there wasn’t dual narration. But the pacing was fine and I didn’t need to speed up the narration beyond 1.15x which is my normal listening speed.

Overall, The Sizzle Paradox was a so-so book. I will never read it again due to the annoyingness of the miscommunication…but the spice was hot so if that’s all you care about you’ll love it. Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and MacMillan Audio for providing me with arcs via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First off, Thank you to St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for allow me to read the digital ARC of The Sizzle Paradox

The cover caught my attention and who doesn't love a good Rom-Com -it was colorful, comic-y and cute. Plus the description also peaked my interest! I do like books that are superficial (sometimes you just need a no brainer type read). I loved the premise behind the MC, Lyric's, study - and I Mean who wouldn't want to fall in love with their bestie. Sure was it predictable, but it didn't take away from being a cute story. Fun and fast read!

I really, really enjoyed this audiobook! It was a super cute and light read, and it was adorably romantic.

I really really wanted to love this one. The title, the premise, the cover--all of it lined up to be a solid read, but it just didn't do it for me. I listened to the audio and while I did like that their were multiple narrators, both narrators almost made the characters seem more immature than they should have been? The two MCs are grad students yet they gave me early high school vibes with their words and actions. It was very much "Kian?! EW he's my friend" for the majority of the book and I couldn't get past it.

The Sizzle Paradox is my favorite trope- friends to lovers, so I knew I had to get my ears on this audiobook. Lyric and Kian are best friends and roommates who both happen to have hit a snag in their dating lives. For Lyric, this means she's having a problem completing her doctoral thesis since her focus is on the Sizzle Paradox. Kian, who usually has no trouble bringing the sizzle into a relationship offers to tutor Lyric so that she can learn to crack the code on the Sizzle Paradox. Of course, this leads to both of them re-evaluating their friendship.
I thought that that both Lyric and Kian were nice enough, but I didn't feel any sort of attachment to either of them. I wasn't really invested in their story. To me, it was obvious from the beginning that there were feelings between them beyond friendship, but it took the main characters longer to get there. As feelings became more complicated, it was frustrating as the listener because I just wanted to yell at them to talk to each other. The miscommunications and avoided conversations made the second half of this book feel a bit long. Overall, I thought it was a cute story.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a friends to lovers romance!!!! I listened to this one real quick I couldn’t put it down. Thanks so much

Interesting read. The audiobook was a quick listen for me! Lyric and her family were absolutely hilarious. I found it frustrating at times when Kian and Lyric couldn’t bring themselves to communicate. It was like they weren’t even best friends to begin with. I wish they would’ve just been straightforward with each other. It was so apparent they were into each other. The ending was expected, but was a nice resolution to a solid book. I’m definitely open to reading future books by the author.

Nothing really stood out to me in this. It’s pretty much your typical “we’re best friends who are attracted to each other, so lets just bang and get it out of our systems, but OH NO I ACTUALLY LOVE YOU” story. There were definitely some cute parts, a little bit of spice, and a lot of cringy bits. It definitely gave off The Love Hypothesis vibes, and if I hadn’t read that already, I think I may have liked this a little more. I also did not like the guy narrator. He had a nice voice but a REALLY weird inflection or something.
Overall, it was fine. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either.

Rating: 3

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. I’m already not the biggest fan of the best friend to lovers trope but this one was recommended if you enjoyed The Kiss Quotient. I loved that book and honestly I only see one similarity between these two books which is the characters helping one another with their romantic life. I went into this one totally opened minded and even excited but it was just okay. The problem was the relationship between the characters. I feel like they made great best friends and even had more of a brother/sister relationship than they did a romantic one. When they finally started to develop feelings for one another it felt too forced. I’m not sure if it’s because the book was slower paced and more of a slow burn. Maybe if they found out their feelings sooner and started acting on them sooner I wouldn’t have been caught up on their brother/sister dynamic.

Even though I didn’t enjoy this one I would still recommend it for people who enjoy new adult romance. I listened to the audiobook version while at work and the narrator did a good job. It’s a great book to listen to while working because you can zone out and not miss anything.

Thank you so much @stmartinspress & @macmillan.audio for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a very sweet friends/roommates to lovers romance with the representation of women in STEM and academia.

I started off really enjoying this book, especially when it reminded me so much of The Kiss Quotient, a book I absolutely loved. Lyric Bishop is struggling with her doctoral program. She is studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners, she is having trouble connecting and focusing on her research when she has never felt both sexual and romantic feelings for any of her partners. Her best friend and roommate Kian Montgomery, who is a fellow grad student, offers to help her with dating tips so that she can find a good match and solve the Sizzle Paradox.

I loved Lyric. I empathize with her struggles as a grad student, and the imposter syndrome and dread she felt towards her research; it felt all too real to me and I appreciate that the author included this part of academia and research in the book. I also loved Kian and how he felt very real and approachable, not like some of the other male-leads you get in romcoms. I loved all the side characters, the friends and the families were well developed and I loved seeing Lyric and Kian fit in so well in each others lives.

Something I didn't like about the book was the amount of miscommunication happening, especially towards the end of the book. It was starting to feel unrealistic and I felt that it was dragging on for too long. I was also confused by the part in the book where they went on a trip, which didn't specifically add to the story (they could have just stayed in town in the end). I wish the trip had been more developed for it to feel like it belong in the story.

Audio book review: this was a dual POV and I found that both narrators, Abhay Ahluwalia and Brittany Pressley, did a fantastic job bringing the characters and the story to life. You could hear the emotion in their voices and as they read. I listened to this book in one day because I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the audio ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was lucky enough to receive an audio book copy of The Sizzle Paradox via netgalley.

The Sizzle Paradox is a best friends to lovers novel that is extremly predictable but also enjoyable. It was a wonderful light and fluffy read that left me feeling happy. It relied heavily on the miscommunication trope and was a bit of a slow burn at first but picked up and was overall am enjoyable read.

While the book had a cute premise, it was a miss for me. I didn’t find myself connecting with the characters and a lot of the descriptions (particularly at the beginning) were awkward and repetitive. The timeline and pacing of the story were also a bit sporadic. The story did have some cute rom com moments and I love the fake dating trope! Thanks NetGalley & publisher for the arc!

Well, I am obsessed. This was my first audiobook and I wasn't so sure initially. But wow, wow, wow. I am utterly obsessed with Lyric and Keane. This book is everything. Just read or listen to it, you will not regret it.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of The Sizzle Paradox by Lily Menon. I usually don't like the Friends-To-lovers trope. But this book has changed me. I loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

These two morons would not last 1 week in a real doctorate program.

Loved the concepts of trying to understand the boundaries of emotional and physical love but this premise was undermined by the two best friends/love interests, both scientists, who have an alarming lack of emotional maturity for people in their mid-20s. Got 30% in before giving up entirely.

*Fake dating
*Friends to lovers
*Romcom
Story rating 4/5
Spice level 2/5
Lyric and Kian have been best friends for 6 years and live in the same apartment while finishing grad school. Lyric is doing a project of sexual chemistry in couples and is hitting a lull in her project. Kian decides to “fake date” and “experiment” with her to see if that will help Lyric with her thesis when in reality both Lyric and Kian realize they both love each other but are too afraid to communicate those feelings for each other.
This is a classic friends to lovers/ fake dating trope and I absolutely love these types of stories. The story itself was good and had some funny parts and some steam which also makes for a great story. I think the reason I did not rate the story higher was due to the narration. The female narrator- Brittany Presley did amazing and I could listen to her read a million stories. Unfortunately the male narrator- Abhay Ahluwalia- was very difficult to listen to. He would take long pauses almost every sentence and he mispronounced a few things. (Houma, Louisiana). I do believe he would be an amazing narrator for childrens books with the tone he uses and the pausing but for this particular story he was not the best choice.
I did enjoy the story and will recommend the book.