After 4 years of scrutiny from her PHD assessor, Elizabeth thinks she's free of him, until he turns up in her lab after his undergrads set fire to his lab. For 3 months they have to share a work space, and when his mum and Liz's dad announce their marriage, everything couldn't get worse.
Is Tom's attitude hiding his true feelings? Or are they truly just enemies?

I really did want to enjoy the story but I found it weird that step siblings were getting together, and the story felt so stuck on the hatred of the main characters that everything else didn't truly feel completed throughout the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I had to DNF this book. I just could not read it anymore and it couldn't keep my attention. Especially after the whole step siblings setting was introduced.

This book gave me The love hypothesis vibes and I just knew I would love it but I just couldn't do it any longer. I also don't think I love grumpy women that's just a personal preference. I couldn't tolerate the grumpy man/grumpy woman aspect of the book anymore.

I am loving all these academia books!

This one is well done. I really loved Liz, and even if Tom needed a solid slap on the back of the head occasionally, I also (grudgingly) liked him.

There are several tropes in this book: enemies to lovers, May and December, forced proximity, etc.

There is really great tension and the dialogue/banter is enjoyable.

My one dislike: why on earth did their parents need to be in this book? That seemed - to me - to undermine the age and independence of the MCs.

Overall, a fun read.

I enjoyed this book as a simple quick read rom com. There were aspects that I didn’t enjoy and I found the scientist environment less engaging than others set in similar locations. Over all I enjoyed the book, would recommend to someone looking for a fun read.

This one was a DNF for me. I will not be posting a review of it but thank you for sending I think people would like this one it just wasn't for me.

I found both Tom and Liz to be pretty unlikeable and had a hard time making it through the entire book.

3/5⭐️

Didn’t grab my attention and I wasn’t reaching to grab the book but overall was a lovely story

Thank you so much for the ARC of this fun book. I really enjoyed the setting of this book and the STEM representation. I struggled a bit with the miscommunication issues and found it frustrating but of course this is a common trope in romcoms. I enjoyed the book overall and would recommend to fans of books like The Love Hypothesis.

“demonstrated day in and day out that you can fall in love in the most unexpected of places.. you might not be looking for it - might be in complete denial, in fact, because it would inconvenience your life to be in love - but it happens all the time”

3 stars for me. I enjoyed it and it was fun for sure! the plot was slightly chaotic but I liked the multiple turns it took 😌 liz was very badass and I really enjoyed her character. To be completely, honest I couldn't think of many pros but I did enjoy it :)
there were a few cons.. Tom was insufferable at times - how many times can he screw up in one book?! he wasn’t my fave character, which I think was a big factor for me..
it also took me quite a while to get into the book..
also major point - the miscommunication was extremely frustrating and is one of, if not my least fave trope - it’s just messy and annoying!

but overall, very sweet and cute and I did enjoy it! I would probably recommend for my biology or science friends as there was lots of technical stuff that I did not get at all!!

This book was meh. I just didn’t vibe with it. I found it a little cringey in places and was super hard to get through.

I love a good enemies to lovers trope and The Unbalanced Equation did not disappoint. Liz and Thomas were really fun characters with great chemistry.

I really enjoyed this book.
The plots was good and well thought out. It was a little predictable however it was a good enemies to lovers story.
It had all the tropes I enjoy and the spice was spicy! Living in Glasgow I enjoyed reading a story set in a location I love in.

The book was so cute. The romance was so fun and raw, you know?

When I was reading this book I had the feeling that I was in this universe where everything is possible.

I loved the sweetness that was handled and also those moments where you didn't know if everything was going to explode in your face or if they were going to continue dancing with each other hahaha

I really liked the science theme, there are so few books that are so well written around these topics without being completely forced into feminism or lack thereof.

I feel like it was a proper and balanced touch.

3.5⭐️

They have a past. Now they can’t get away from each other. It started with having to share a lab and gets progressively worse when their single parents announce their engagement. They couldn’t get along before, how are they supposed to now?

This was super cute and sucked me in. So much happens! Maybe a bit too much but it was entertaining nonetheless. Crazy how their paths continue to cross and how they handled it. I couldn’t imagine being in this position!

I loved Lizzie’s friends and how supportive they were of whatever she chose. Same with Tom’s best friend - he cracked me up.

*I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review with my honest opinion.*

I am literally obsessed with stem books. I especially love if they involve some spice! This is the prefect combination! Love that the author gives you multiple point of views. If you love banter and flirting between characters you will really enjoy this one. Pretty sure everyone who reads is swooning over the male main character. This is similar to The Love Hypothesis but not enough to not enjoy them both separately. Really great read!


Stem romance
Multiple Pov's
Forced Proximity


4 stars

This was great and had so many of my favorite rom-com tropes: enemies to lovers, age gap, and forced proximity. I also really enjoyed the STEM aspect and I think it is important to see more of that in books.

Enemies to lovers
Age gap
Forced proximity
STEM workplace

This was a cute fun romance. It wasn’t anything super special, but it’ll warm your heart and keep you entertained!

Enemies to lovers? STEM?

I liked the idea, but not the novel. There was a lot of over the top miscommunication, lots of clichés, and somehow there is not much going on in the middle of the book other than Tom and Liz being sexually attracted to each other.

I love this book so much! Such an engaging storyline that got me hooked from the beginning till the end! A literal page turner. Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review. The unbalanced equation was an enjoyable romcom which kind of reminded me of the love hypothesis but I wasn’t a big fan of Tom and the way his character was set up which made me lose interest towards the end I kinda felt like Liz and Tom didn’t have as much chemistry but overall it was fun to read.