Quirky, adorable, sweet and hot. Those are the first words that I thought of after I finished this smart and funny rom-com. Ali Hazelwood is an original voice in romance and if you loved The Love Hypothesis, I think you’ll enjoy Love on the Brain.
This is not a sequel or in any way connected to The Love Hypothesis other that they are both set in the world of science. This book is filled with chemistry and humor and dare I say, zaniness? Once again, I have to hand it to Ali Hazelwood for setting a novel in the STEM world and for giving me lots of trivia about Marie Curie!
Our heroine Bee and hero Levi Ward are working together on an exciting project at NASA. The problem is, Bee thinks Levi absolutely hates her. But of course, this being a romantic comedy, nothing could be further from the truth.
“Bee. You want to belong. You want someone who won’t let go. I’m it. I didn’t let go of you for years, and I didn’t even have you. But you need to let me.”
Ali Hazelwood really shines when she points out the difficulties still faced by women in STEM, but she does it all with a dose of hilarity. That is one of the most unusual aspects of this book and I loved it!
“I marvel that I was given credit for my idea. Goes to show how low the bar is for cis dudes in STEM, doesn’t it? Thank you, Oh Penised Overlords, for the recognition I deserve.”
All in all, Love on the Brain is an entertaining, light read with very steamy chemistry and a cinnamon roll hero who is hard to resist. I even enjoyed the subplot involving a secret Twitter account that highlights the systemic unfairness in graduate school admissions. Overall, I really enjoyed Love on the Brain, its nerdy heroine, and the adorable Epilogue.
(Many thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.)
About the Book:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.
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?
