4.5 stars

I was a little worried at the beginning of the book as I didn't like Anna a lot at first. I thought a little too unobservant and immature, but honestly she grew on me quite a bit as I read. I came to understand her better and ended up seeing some growth as the story progressed.

This was a charming, fun, and sweet romance. It often reminded me of my favorite rom com movies with plenty of laughs, lots of pining, and fake dating that turns real. It's single POV and I do wish we had gotten at least a chapter or two from Marco's perspective, but I still really enjoyed it. This is my favorite book from Sariah Wilson yet!

Unrequited love. Lipstick. Star Wars. Lord of the Rings. A fake relationship. Need I say more? I was hooked from the very first page and could have died over Anna's most embarrassing moment ever (probably), which just happened to be the first time she met Marco.

Growing up, I was fascinated by and loved chemistry, and not just the romantic kind. I never took it as far as Anna and Marco, but even so, I found myself captivated by this story line, but the double meaning of the title gave my nerdy heart a little thrill.

I loved all the things about this story, but especially the juiciness that resulted from one of my most favorite tropes--the fakest of fake relationships. I can always count on laughs out loud and swoon galore from Wilson and this story was no exception. I savored every page and basked in all the nerdfest glory. This one left a mark on my heart! And PS--where can I get me some of this lipstick?!

Content: mild+ romance (kissing/making out, some innuendo)

*I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given.*

This is a fun, sizzling, sweet romance full of pop culture references. If you have read other books by Sariah Wilson, you will find quite a few references to characters in other books too, which was something I really enjoyed. This is a standalone, so you don't need to have read any of the other books. But I recommend after you've read this one starting on the rest. You deserve to treat yourself.

This is a sweet romance, but there is sizzling sexual tension between the main characters throughout. Delicious. 5 stars. 5 flame emoji too.

Thank you to Sariah Wilson, the author, who granted my request for an ARC for this book. The review below is entirely my own opinion.

Disclaimer: I have been a long time fan of Sariah Wilson. I love her style of story telling. I love how her romances are always swoony and funny. I love that the banter is smart and witty. Her main characters are people I’d love to hang out with in real life. Anna and Marco are no exception.

Their romance starts off slow. In fact, we don’t meet Marco until after the first few chapters. Also, there’s a lot of nerd/STEM references. Like a lot, A LOT. While I happen to love all that stuff, it might not be other people’s cup of tea and might be too much. BUT I would urge readers to push through the slow start and the geek talk because the heart of this story is a swoony romance that is akin to your most favorite movie rom-coms.

Anna and Marco are a great match and I loved seeing how their relationship evolved. I am so glad they have each other. My romance reader, HEA-loving heart is so happy. ❤️🥰

Thank you also Sariah for all the Easter Eggs and little references in this book. If you have read Sariah’s older books and follow Sariah on FB (like I do) — I think the cameos, Easter Eggs and BenSolo talk will also make you smile.

This story was an absolute delight! I was hooked from the first chapter, and then it just kept getting better and better. Once again, Sariah Wilson has created characters that are human, flawed and complex, while still being so relatable and lovable. I always adore the witty and flirty banter that is a trademark of her books, and The Chemistry of Love abounds with it. Between that, the clean with steam romance, and an engaging storyline, this book was truly a fun and entertaining read.
Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.

I read this with all the happy chemistry my brain could take! I loved it! I enjoyed the premise, the characters and all the swoon! It was fun to read about all the science fiction nerdiness come through with so much joy! Sariah is awesome! She knows how to write ROM-COM! People! Read this book!

I won’t lie; I started reading this book having no idea what it was about because I love Sariah Wilson’s storytelling so much. This book is a delight. It’s 1st person, single POV. Clean. Fake dating. STEM FMC. Rich MMC, poor FMC. TW for death of parents, both for FMC and mom for MMC.

If you’ve read anything else by Ms. Wilson, you’ve come to know her for witty banter, corny jokes as dialogue, great kissing scenes, swoon-worthy MMC, and all around great storytelling. (And if this is your first, you are in for a treat! Check out her back catalog next!) This story is no exception. Another stellar job done by an author could write a cookbook, and I’d most likely read it.

I generally like to meet the MMC earlier on (We meet the MMC at the end of chapter 3. Around 13%) but this story really needed the slice of life set up. Which means readers get a LOT of FMC, and that will turn off some readers. Because the FMC is insecure, immature, and a little weird—but she’s also a female in STEM, so… And she’s in love with Craig, with whom she’s never had a conversation lasting more than 10 minutes. But she’s in love with him. And she mentions it quite a few times. And she keeps trying to justify why he isn’t that bad... I think she gets better as the story progresses, but I also love Ms. Wilson’s writing enough to stick it out.

MMC is 29 and is the CEO? Hashtag, I think I know why your cosmetics company isn’t doing well. Anyway. He’s wonderful. Attentive, smart, witty, and—objectively, of course—hot. I love a Sariah Wilson MMC who can read his FMC so well and goes at her pace (obviously to everyone but the FMC) to not scare her off. I'm glad it was revealed that he had a secondary ulterior motive for fake dating FMC, but I kind of hated how it was just casually dropped in there and she just accepted it. I wanted that to be developed more.

I don’t judge a book by it being clean or steamy, and Ms. Wilson’s writing is why. Holy make-out sessions. They always deliver. Always. She has an incredible way to build up the tensions through the story, but especially in the scene leading up to locking lips.

There is a lot of STEM talk. Like, a LOT a lot. I now know, scientifically, what happens when I drink alcohol, for example. There’s also So many LOTR and Star Wars references. If you don’t know or don’t like SW or LOTR, you won’t get a good chunk of FMC’s personality. And while I appreciate the author’s passion for Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and why he shouldn’t have died… it was a bit much and I didn’t care. But I did learn a lot about a lot of topics I’m not familiar with, and that was fun.

The third act conflict was just… not communicating? Not even miscommunication. Just straight up assumptions and just shutting down. Which felt out of character for at minimum the MMC. That was frustrating. And didn’t give me faith in their communication in the face of adversity later on. Honestly, it made me want to deduct a star on my rating. But the rest of the book was so fantastic that it just made me irritated instead.

I’m sad there was no comeuppance for Jerry. Everyone else who needed it got theirs, except him. I love that Leighton turned out to not be a stereotypical gold digger. Her ending made me happy. There were a couple of inconsistencies in dialogue/storytelling, but it was nothing important to the actual story. I’m honestly just surprised because I’ve never seen a Ms. Wilson novel have that.

Overall, should you read this? Insert some nerdy joke that ultimately says yes. 5 star read. Great way to end my reading year!

Thank you to Ms. Wilson for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is the fake dating book of my dreams. I really enjoyed this story. The characters of Marco and Anna were fun. I loved how adorably dorky Anna was especially with all of her references. Her ramblings were entertaining. And Marco. Oh Marco, what a sweet little human. I adored him. This made me laugh and swoon. As Marco and Anna fell in love while they were fake in love, I fell in love with them in return.

Like usual, I find myself not able to understand the science portions of STEM novels, but it didn't distract me from the book.

If you enjoyed Ali Hazelwood's work or The Unbalanced Equation, check this one out! I one hundred percent recommend it!

I’ve been waiting so long so Sariah’s next book to come out and it did not disappoint. This book is witty and with “geeky” humor. A fake relationship that would benefit them both turns real. I love reading along and seeing how great the characters are slowing falling in love with each other. Marco is so patient and caring from the start. It was a little hard to watch Anna fawn over a Craig who is completely wrong for her when the perfect guy is right in front is her.

Gave me all of the feels!!! Sariah hits it out of the park once again....full of witty dialogue, swoonworthy moments, and lots of escapism feel goods. Why can't there be more books this good????

Hilarious. flirty, and all the butterflies! Another excellent book by Sariah Wilson that everyone will want to read again and again!

I really enjoyed this book. It started out a bit like the movie Sabrina but then it took a very different storyline. I loved Marco’s quick wit. I also enjoyed how Anna usually had good comebacks to his comments. They were a fun pair. The birds names had me chuckling over and over. I couldn’t put the book down and pretty much read it in one sitting.

I loved this book! The story was west as sugar and I will highly recommend it to all my romance loving friends!!

This book was kicking with chemistry literally and figuratively! I was afraid when I first started this book because I am NOT knowledgeable in Chemistry and the main character scared me with her knowledge. However; Marco hit the stage and I was hooked!!! I love that he appreciated her brain and all her quirks. The references to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings clenched it for me along with the swoony chemistry that Marco and Anna shared. I enjoy all of Sariah's books and she has combined many elements to create a great story. I love the build up she creates in her characters and I always feel better when I finish her books.

I am a dedicated Sariah Wilson fan. Her heroes are the swooniest, and The Chemistry of Love's was no different. My geek loving heart ranks him as pretty perfect.

The banter and geek references/jokes were fabulous, and if you follow the author, you get even more Easter egg references.

My only qualms on this one were related to the MC. It is a very fine line to walk when making an intelligent heroine seem naive or unworldly when she is so smart in other areas. So some of her decisions seemed to belie her intellect and I suffered some pretty severe second-hand embarrassment for her a few times. Thank goodness the perfect hero was there to rescue her from herself.

As always with this author's books I stayed up far to late reading. Enjoy the swoon!

Anna Ellis has a serious crush on her boss, but getting him to look her way seems nearly impossible. That is until she enlists the help of his very handsome brother Marco. Marco knows that if he has something his brother will automatically want it, so he conspires with Anna, all they need to do is appear to be madly in love and his brother will take note. Which seems easy enough, until feelings start to take flight and suddenly Anna isn't so sure which brother she wants now!

The Chemistry of Love is a perfectly constructed romantic comedy that will captivate you completely, have you smiling throughout and touch your nerdy lovin' heart! Never has science been so intriguing to me!! It didn't take long to see that Marco and Anna's plan was going to backfire on them, their chemistry was white hot and the more time they spent together the hotter it became! But I played along, entertained the idea that she might end up with Craig, and then as I predicted watched them fail miserably and find that once in a lifetime kind of love.

I loved watching this one unfold, it was wickedly entertaining. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much reading a book, it was definitely a refreshing change of pace for me. My heart felt lighter, my face hurt from smiling and laughing so much, and my head was filled with joyful memories! Highly recommend you take a chance on this one, when the last page comes your heart will definitely be left happy!!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.

This book was written personally for me. By that I mean I am a huge fandom nerd, and this hit some of my favorite IPs - Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, the Muppets, gaming, D&D, etc. I enjoyed the STEM heroine and the fake dating trope, and did I ever fall head over heels for Marco! (I officially have a new book boyfriend.). This book is funny, sweet, full of chemistry between the leads without being explicit (it is a sweet read, but there is some palpable heat between Anna and Marco! I did swoon, just a bit). It also has laugh out loud funny parts and a whole lot of romance. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up. This author is always a guaranteed fun time. I was given a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so deliciously nerdy. I have an extremely dorky husband and it made me want to hug me and just be next to him. Fake relationships are equally compelling and frustrating and there were a few times where I was sure they'd never get their act together. But the ending was beautiful. The side characters were lovely- Catalina, Lindy, Zhen, Marie Angelique. There were a lot of words that I have no idea how to pronounce but it didn't detract at all.
So, February. Take the day off work. Preorder and just fall in love with Marco and Anna.

This was such a fun book. I couldn’t put it down. It starts out so outrageously unbelievably funny with Anna’s meltdown at the company party. Sariah’s descriptions are hilarious!

“I was a mess of snot and mascara and tears. I blew my nose several times and then used some dry toilet paper to wipe the mascara off my eyes. I probably looked ridiculously bad. He sat down on the floor next to me…And it suddenly occurred to me to care about who he was. I hoped he was a kindly old grandpa. As I continued to wipe my mascara off, I internally chanted, Please be a sixty-year-old man… It took a second for my eyes to focus. He was not a sixty-year-old man. He was young and hot…this was bad.”

This story kept me hooked and laughing all the way. I’ve read several books by this author. I think this is one of my favorites.

I loved:

Grandpa’s celebrity names for his birds

Her car “Betty”

Catalina, who talked her “off the ledge” so many times.

Anna’s ramblings.

Marco’s sweet and caring personality. He is the best kind of book boyfriend!

Self-tanner/facial mask mixup

Too many others to count.

Content:

Kisses only. Some innuendo.

I highly recommend this if you like a good RomCom with lots of heart.