Love on the Brain — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Ali Hazelwood
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Berkley Books
Pages: 368

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis--with explosive results.

Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, 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 after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia--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. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school--archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it's her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas...devouring her with those eyes. And 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?

First Impressions

I had heard all the hype around Hazelwood’s debut, Love Hypothesis, but never quite got around to it. When I was offered the chance to read her second book I jumped on it. I was excited to get a chance to read an author everyone had loved. The cover is cute and I like the idea of a woman in STEM.

What I thought

Um….

Bee is a neuroscientist who gets picked to co-lead a project at NASA with her enemy from her Doctoral program. She is worried that he’s going to make her life miserable and when things start disappearing or not showing up at all, she immediately blames him.

This is like a romance novel written by someone who has only ever heard about romance novels and has never actually experienced any romance or sex. I know that sounds harsh, but after sitting on this book for a while it’s how I feel. Initially, when I was reading it, it felt more like a 4 star read. Then some of the sex scenes got grossly graphic in addition to sounding like they were written by someone who had never actually had sex. The longer I sat on the book the more I realized I disliked it.

Bee is your stereotypical manic pixie dream girl. She’s not your “typical girl” in stem. She’s edgy and cool because she dyes her hair, has piercings, and wears dresses. She’s also super petite. So much so that she sleeps in a twin bed as an adult. But she’s insanely smart and good at her job. And also insanely obsessed with Marie Curie. I liked the interest in the female scientist at first, but then it became like every single chapter a mention of what Marie would do or how she would’ve handled the situation and it got a little irritating.

Her chemistry with Luke was good at first. I am personally a fan of enemies to lovers and I liked the slow burn of her not realizing he was into her. I also liked how Luke was a good person. Even though she interpreted things he had done as him hating her, he was never outright mean. When I found out the reason she thought he hated her though I was a bit let down.

What truly dropped this book from 4 to 3 stars for me were the sex scenes that I mentioned. They just were so bad. Like, cringe worthy. Then the last like quarter of the book completely shifts gears and even though I saw it coming it felt like it didn’t truly fit.