Love On the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
Series: Love Hypothesis #2
Published by Berkley on August 23, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new 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?

I LOVED The Love Hypothesis (read my review at the link above), so I was incredibly excited to see Love On the Brain pop up on Netgalley and then even more excited when I was quickly approved! I read this 7 months ago, so I literally had no chill about it. I dove in immediately and had so much fun reading this quirky, nerdy romance. As always, my main points are bolded.

1. The first this you should know is that this is not in any shape or form a sequel to The Love Hypothesis. We’ve got completely different characters, a different setting, different science, same quirk. There’s no mention of anyone or anything from The Love Hypothesis so, while this is being marketed as part of the same series, it’s a standalone novel. Science and the author are the only two things that tie these books together.

1. Bee. When I think of Bee, I think of this little slice of puff pastry. She’s pretty adorable and quirky (I think I’m going to use this word to describe a lot about this book). Bee is a neuroscientist, who is on loan to NASA from NIH to collaborate on a project involving developing helmets for astronauts that offer transcranial magnetic stimulation. It sounds like it’s essentially a non-invasive way of stimulating the brain to help control mood? Who knows. The science was way over my head and, at times, made me glaze over and read the words but not actually know what I was reading. Anyway, Bee is very smart and sweet and spirited. she’s frequently underestimated and pushed to the side. She’s relatively fresh off a bad break-up (her ex cheated on her with her best friend), so there’s a lot of insecurity and issues with trust on her end. I felt for her and liked her a lot. Oh, she’s also obsessed with Marie Curie and I now know more about Marie than I ever needed to know. lol.

2. Levi is a major cinnamon roll. He’s the silent brooding type, who doesn’t always know how to process his feelings and act on them correctly and is just so sweet. I wanted to hug him and also give him a pep talk. I love how he treats Bee (he takes her seriously and really respects her), how he feels about her, and how he sticks up for what’s right and fair. Oh my gosh, there’s a scene where he has to go save her from a cemetery that she got locked into because she fell asleep after her run, and I was cracking up. And he loves cats. My goodness.

3. These two… oh my goodness. They are hilarious and frustrating at the same time. Their banter and flirtatious teasing of one another had me smiling a lot. Levi has been in love with Bee for years but has accidentally disguised that love as hate. She is convinced that he hates her, therefore she also hates him and he struggles to convince her otherwise! She jokes with him about it and brings it up all the time, and just when you think they’re turning a corner and she’s beginning to understand how he really feels, she says he hates her again and ahhhhhhhh!! LOL. Seriously, I relate to this part of Bee more than I’d like to admit.

4. There is some major heat in this book. Wow. And the swoons are there, too, OF COURSE. These two have some very sweet, romantic moments.

5. Bee’s co-worker… I cannot remember her name for the life of me. Oh my gosh, she is a dramatic hoot and really grew on me. I was rolling my eyes all over the place at first, but then I loved her. She also has an online friend named Schmac, and I loved her candid conversations with him about her life.

6. I’m not kidding when I say I glazed over the science bits and a lot of the info about Marie Curie’s life. Science and facts are abundant in this book, way more than I remember in The Love Hypothesis, and there were times when I feared I would not survive it. 

7. Bee’s monologues include a lot of trademark symbols behind made-up phrases, which was annoying. I searched my eARC by “™” and got 42 results. It was excessive. We have WurstFest™ (aka Meatwave, aka a “dicksplosion in the testosteroven”); Cockcluster™ (meetings with only one woman in the room); Sausage Referencing™ (when a man vouches for a woman’s ideas, therefore making the rest of the men think it’s a better idea); The Cute Guy™, The Handsome Guy™, and The Sexy Guy™ (all of these “guys” are categories that Bee and her friend place guys in, and each category has different qualities); Hostile Companionable Silence™ (how Bee and Levi work), Levi Green™ (as opposed to an actual color), and Uh-Oh™. This was easily my least favorite part of the book. Every time I saw a ™ I wanted to throw my Kindle. I don’t like the use of trademark as a way to place emphasis on something or make it seem special. I see it on social media a lot, and it bugs me because that’s not how trademarks work! It’s like when people speak in hashtags (for example: “Hashtag best. summer. ever!”). Annoying. There’s a time and a place for hashtags, and there’s a time and a place for trademark symbols. This was not the time or the place for trademark symbols. Wow. That was a rant. Moving on.

8. There’s some major “You’ve Got Mail” vibes that I loved.

9. There’s also some drama and career scaries, a mysterious cat, and even a life or death situation and it all combined together to create quite the page-turner!

All in all, I really enjoyed Love On the Brain. The Love Hypothesis is still my favorite of the two stories, but Love On the Brain is filled with quirk, heart, nerdiness, and a heaping spoonful of swoons. If you like science, women in STEM, plucky heroines, and cinnamon roll heroes then I highly recommend this book.