Love on the Brain

I loved this book! Bee and Levi are so fun together. They have some great banter and chemistry. I laughed and swooned in equal measure while reading. I love a good enemies to lovers story and this one did not disappoint. And the slow burn is definitely worth the wait. I recommend this book!

I absolutely love the nerd language and humor that Ali Hazelwood injects in her books. But after having read all 3 of her STEMinist novellas, this book shares so many similarities with them that it doesn't particularly stand out other than being a full length novel so there's more fleshed out character development. Bee is the neuroscientist hired on to work at NASA in Houston and will be co-leading than none other with Levi Ward, the head engineer on the project. Ali always make sure to pair up the best of the best in the field when she matches up the hero and heroine so there's no dispute that one is more intelligent than the other, because in the end, they always make the finest team. The same could be said for these two. Their Ph.D. studies overlapped briefly in grad school where Levi was a few years ahead of Bee, and during that time, it was pretty obvious to Bee that he loathed her on sight. While she dreads collaborating with him, she also knows this is an opportunity that she cannot pass up.This book made me laugh and there was some good angst and steam, on top of all the intellectual dialogue and monologue with additional quirky aspects. I was entertained and amused, I loved Levi and Bee together, but the romance formula does mimic the novellas so I wasn't especially surprised by anything that came about, even towards the end with the slight twist. Still, I enjoy this style of writing and look forward to more of Ali Hazelwood's books in the future.

✨​🐈‍⬛​👩🏼‍🚀​🔭​🥼​💖​🥰Mmmkay. So I LOVED The Love Hypothesis... like really loved it... but, my gah, I am over the moon for Love On The Brain!! What a profoundly hilarious and heartwarming read! I was immediately hooked from the first few pages — I really love it when the writing style somehow makes the intro sound like an opening monologue overture of a phenomenal TV show or movie (same with the epilogue/ending!).Love on the Brain was sarcastic, witty, and charming. Snort-laugh, burst out loud funny. That covert kind of snark and dry wit that completely sneaks up on you. The writing is fast-paced and just filled with so much rich prose and meaningful moments. Every word, sentence, paragraph meant something to the story. It's angsty. Heartracing. Spicy. And just splendidly splendid. I forgot I was reading half the time and just zoomed right through. It's basically a glowing 5 stars and I already want to read it again! I'd also like a next chapter in Bee and Levi's lives, thank you very much. 🐝👖🐈🐈‍⬛WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:— a NASA project— academic setting x neuroscience labs— the convergence of the brain x tech— sworn archenemies to lovers— also friends to lovers, slowburn— secret academic Twitter accounts— fancy swag for astronauts— “it’s always been you” x he falls first— serial fainting spells (or swooning moments, if you will)— a workplace mystery!— some science trivia— clever, mysterious kittens— hummingbirds x gardens x vegan things— eccentrically lovable side characters— broody, alpha male engineer— women in STEMThank you to Berkley Publishing for my e-arc!! 💞💞Potential Content Warnings: past trauma, death of a friend (off page), cheating (off page), friendship breakup

For all that this is not the type of book I generally read, I enjoyed Ms. Hazelwood’s last novel quite enough to give this one a go. Granted, my expectations were not stratospheric. That said, this story has a lot of problems.The big thing: every single thing that is going to happen here becomes obvious early on. Not obvious in the sense that we expect the boy and girl to get together at the end. That was true in Ms. Hazelwood’s first novel, The Love Hypothesis. There, however, the obstacles seemed mostly realistic and character-driven. Here, on the other hand, the mysteries are artificial and the obstacles artificial.(If you are the kind of reader who fears spoilers, then you might want to skip this paragraph.) Everything about what is going on here is obvious to the reader but our protagonist, Bee Konigswasser, Ph.D. in neuroscience, has no clue. Clearly, her work is being sabotaged. Clearly, her “unknown” online pal is her lover, Levi. Clearly, when she gets together with Levi about halfway through the novel, he loves her and wants to marry her. Somehow, she refuses to acknowledge this. The reason all of this irritates me is because this makes our supposedly brilliant Bee look very stupid.Still, I cannot completely trash this novel. Ms. Hazelwood writes with a joy that is rare. I love the way her prose just bounces along with a verve that doesn’t diminish even when her characters are in tragedy mode. Plus, she writes about science with as much love as she does about love, which I also think is fantastic. She’s upped the sex scenes from one last time to three this time, and they are better here. Of course, I don’t know where she went to graduate school where the male scientists are towering strong men with six pack abs, but I’ll accept this necessity of the genre even as it makes me feel somehow inadequate. She’s always got a bone to pick with science culture. This time it’s the GRE, which worked much better than her Title IX obsession last time. And I enjoyed the recurring Madame Curie stories, even if I did know most of them already.This couldn’t quite save what I considered the diminishment of Bee. Still, Ms. Hazelwood is two-for-two in the fun department. Her novels are light and fun to read. I’ll check in to see what she does next time.