Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

Narrated by Brooke Bloomingdale

Smart RomCom. Stands Alone.

I really loved The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (see my review) so I was excited to listen to another “STEMinist” novel from her. If you read and liked The Love Hypothesis, you’ll probably enjoy Love on the Brain just as much, but you may feel a bit of déjà vu.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a community of women trying to mind their own business must be in want of a random man’s opinion”

Love on the Brain felt so similar to The Love Hypothesis. Not only because of the enemies-to-lovers in a lab setting, but in the personalities of both main characters. The stories differed of course, but I still felt like I had already read this. Despite that feeling, I really enjoyed Love on the Brain.

Bee Königswasser is a neuroscientist who was screwed over by her ex and best friend. She’s really in need of a project that would further her career when the opportunity to help create a new astronaut helmet with NASA arises. The only problem? She has to co-run the project with her grad-school nemesis, Levi Ward.

Levi has made it abundantly clear that he despises Bee. He won’t look her in the eye and can barely stand to be in the same room as her. When they do need to speak, he is a rude prick. He also seems to be trying to sabotage Bee’s role in the project.

But not everything is as it seems.

“You were always in my head. And I could never get you out.”

Levi may seem grumpy, but he is a total cinnamon roll, except in bed, where he knows how to take over.

“I want to tell her that she’s luminous, she’s so bright in my mind, sometimes I can’t focus.”

Likes:

The way Levi practically pined for Bee.
The kitties.
The NASA project they were working on was interesting.
It was a cute story that kept me completely engaged.
I love a smart book.
It pointed out the boys club and misogyny in the STEM community.
I loved her assistant.
Some of the subtle politics.
The mystery.

Dislikes:

Felt way too similar to The Love Hypothesis.
For such a feminist storyline, she needed rescuing by a male too much.
He was so big! OH.MY.GOD. WE KNOW. Just like in the first book, the heroine is tiny and the hero is huge, and the author points it out every chance she can.
Though she was a smart woman, she was depicted in an almost childlike way, certainly as immature.

The Narration:

Brooke Bloomingdale is new to me, as far as I know, and I really enjoyed her narration. I hope to hear more of her books. There was nothing that made the audio stand out so much that you should pick one format over another. It’s just personal preference.

The Down & Dirty:

If this was the first Ali Hazelwood book I read, I really would have loved it. I still loved it, but it just felt a little too similar to The Love Hypothesis. Of course romances about women in STEM will have some similarities, but the two stories mixed together in my head immediately because the personalities were so similar. I still really enjoyed the book and didn’t want it to end, but I’m hoping for a bit of a different story with new personalities next time.