The love hypothesis was one of my favorite books in 2021. I remember loving it so much that I recommended it to anyone who asked for book recommendations. I was quite excited to find out about Love on the brain but also had some reservations. Questions like – is she only going to write about couples in STEM. While I loved TLH, I worried I would compare it and that might ruin the experience for me. I decided to give it a try with an open mind and here are my thoughts.
Wait. Before I get into my thoughts, I’ll share the synopsis below.
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?
My thoughts
The writing was easy to read and I enjoyed reading it for the most part. Was it memorable? No. Did I particularly like the characters? Not really. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments I enjoyed the quirkiness of Bee, and knowing a bit of her backstory made her a bit more likable/understandable. I wish the author explored Bee’s past as that would’ve added an interesting touch to the story. I get that it’s a romance novel and everyone is here for a good time but I enjoy characters with a little more depth. Something.. anything to make them somewhat realistic.
The scenes that had me screaming internally in TLH had me cringing here and again, I blame the way the characters were written. Levi had no personality whatsoever and while I get that the author was trying to make him this ‘grumpy’, moody man, it just came off as him having the personality of a blank cardboard.
Finally, when will the miscommunication trope in Romance novels die?
I finished it in 3 weeks and that tells you all you need to know about this. It was not great but also not bad.
Rating
If you like :
- STEM-themed novels
- ‘enemies’ to lovers tropes
- Quirky heroines
- Easy to read – romance novels
you’ll like this.
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