Review: Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
Thank you Berkley for my copy of Love on the Brain. All thoughts are my own!
Last Summer, I devoured The Love Hypothesis like most readers. It was fast and fun and flirty. I was so excited for Ali Hazelwood’s three novellas to release and Love on the Brain. But after I didn’t enjoy the novellas…I was nervous for Love on the Brain.
I’m so bummed to report that Love on the Brain did not live up my love of The Love Hypothesis. Overall, I didn’t connect with this story. I was, frankly, quite annoyed by most of it. The pacing didn’t work for me, the excessive references to how tall the MMC was and how small the FMC was really frustrated me, and the tropes simply didn’t appeal to me. It wasn’t a book for me and that’s okay!
My specific thoughts are below!
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?” —Goodreads
What I Liked:
The Characters Personalities—Look, Bee is unapologetically herself. I can totally admire that and envy it, since I still struggle with wanting to be liked.
Women in STEM—The best parts of Ali Hazelwood’s books are women who love math and science and are incredibly skilled at their jobs. We need more of that!
What Didn’t Work:
Pacing—A slow burn that didn’t feel justified. What I loved about The Love Hypothesis was that it just BEGAN. You were right there with the action and it was intoxicating. It made you want to keep turning pages. This did not have that element.
The Characters Personalities—I’m sorry, this is SO personal but I really don’t like cats and being a cat person was such a huge part of these characters. It annoyed me (I know, i’m a jerk) but Bee was just A LOT for me.
Call Backs to You’ve Got Mail—I really don’t like the You’ve Got Mail Trope. It feels a bit dated to me now and I’ve read way too much of it. Like, are you all really out here just talking to strangers daily without inquiring for some other details?! I can’t suspend my disbelief for it.
Character Authenticity: 3/5
Steam Rating: 2/5
Overall Rating: 2.75-3/5
Content Warnings:
Gun violence, sexism, grief, fainting,