Books,  Books, WIPs, + Sips,  Reviews

Love on the Brain

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Love on the Brain

by Ali Hazelwood
Published by: Berkley
Publish Date: 2022
Genre(s): Contemporary Fiction, Romcom, Romance, STEM
HB&W Rating: 4
View on Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Synopsis

Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project – a literal dream come true – Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school – archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas… devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.

But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?

Synopsis source: Goodreads

This title is a Books, WIPs, and Sips Book Club Pick

For details about Books, WIPs, + Sips Book Club, click here.
To join the discussion for this title, scroll down for details.

Review

There have been some mixed reviews and some downright negative reviews of this book. The buzz is that it’s pretty much the same thing as her previous work, The Love Hypothesis. I haven’t read that book, so my review is based solely on the merits of this book alone, but I will say that the dudes on the covers look suspiciously similar…. Still, some people don’t mind authors using the same formula.

The first thing I have to say about this book that isn’t really about this book at all is that I have had that Rhianna song stuck in my head since reading the title of this one. Weeks, friends. Weeks. It’s a good song, but I’m ready for something else LOL.

This romcom follows the enemies to lovers trope, with a STEM spin. I love how Hazelwood writes stories where the main character is a woman in STEM. Having been one of those myself, I could relate to so much in this book. She highlights the situations and obstacles facing women in STEM in a humorous way that is extremely relatable. Her trademark names for various things throughout the book was both hilarious and accurate.

There was a bit of eye-rolling, I won’t lie, especially at the whole big dude/teeny girl schtick, but I recognize that while it’s not really my thing, others will like it. So to each their own. I will say that there were several sex scenes and they were pretty hot, if also at times a little cringy due mostly to the big dude/teeny girl thing.

As a geek, myself, I would liked to have seen a bit more science included, instead of just breezing over it. If representation is what she’s going for writing about women in STEM, so that those women can see themselves in this book, I don’t think I’d be the only one more curious for more information on how they were doing what they were doing. But maybe that’s just me.

There’s nothing opaque about this plot. It’s not complex and you’ll predict the villain. Some reviews stated that the reveal of the villain was out of nowhere, but I disagree. There was foreshadowing and the motives are believable, even if the actions were a bit far-fetched in my opinion. But this is brain candy romance, so it’s supposed to be a bit out there, isn’t it? You just gotta go with it.

This was a funny, punny (loved all the Marie Curie puns) book with a lovable quirky MC and swoon-worthy book boyfriend that was a light-hearted and easy read. I really enjoyed it and recommend to romcom lovers everywhere…except maybe if you’ve read The Love Hypothesis. But if the sameness doesn’t bother you, read on, friend, read on!

Have you read this book? What did you think? Tell me in the comments below, or better yet, join in with us on October 25th, as we discuss it live!

Join the Discussion!

Join us on Tuesday, October 25th at 7pm CST on Instagram Stories Live to chat with and get to know this month’s co-host, work on a project, sip some bevies, and talk all about Love on the Brain. Allow me to introduce my co-host for the evening, The Marly Bird!

Marly Bird

Marly Bird has been in the yarn industry for over 15 years and has made a name for herself as a knitwear and crochet designer, YouTube host, teacher, and ambassador for Yarnspirations yarn. Because of the nature of her job she spends a lot of time listening to audiobooks as she works and finds great joy in connecting with friends to discuss favorite authors. Her favorite genres are romance and fantasy.

Find Marly on MarlyBird.com | MarlyBirdHouse.com

UPDATE: The replay of our discussion is now available! We learn about Marly’s maker journey, her new venture, MarlyBirdHouse.com, talk all things yarn, books, authors we love, and so much more that we went over time! It was a blast! Technical difficulties couldn’t keep us down!

Some of the authors/series that Marly recommended in the live, as promised: Lauren Blakely for a palate cleanser, Jay Crownover, Kylie Scott, Nalini Singh Psy-Changeling series, Penny Reid, Diane Duvall Immortal Guardians series.

Also mentioned in the discussion, the retreat in Reno is called the Crochet at The Lake Retreat, taking place in October 2023. For details, see The Crochet Crowd.

Lastly, if you would like to listen to Marly’s interview of Diana Gabaldon, click here.

Click below to watch.


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Happy reading!


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