Reviews with content warning for Death - Love on the Brain

30% cute, 70% questionable.

the cute: romance, science, social commentary!

i liked nearly everything about levi, from his calm demeanor, to his rationality, attitude and (soft) personality. bee and levi shared some cute moments, and their relationship seemed genuine and built on common interests and values (veganism, science, cats, hummingbirds, movies and music), which i enjoyed. i liked the banter, and both characters as a couple were likable enough. i enjoyed the science talk, and the feminist and social commentary, and the facts about Marie Curie!

the questionable: everything else.

the characters, especially rocío and kaylee, seemed like cheap clichés. the 'villain' was disney-esque (seriously, there is an "i'm telling you all about my evil plans and schemes" scene, which could've been copy-pasted into a mystery book for children and no one would've batted an eye).

bee started to seriously get on my nerves circa 60% into the book. she makes my sense of delusion seem like a daydream in comparison: "he hates me", "this is not a date", "we're just friends-with-benefits", la di da – girl, he literally asked you to move in with him, be for fucking real.
the miscommunication was hard to read sometimes, and so was her crying over every single roadkill (she's an empath and i'm a cold bastard, apparently).

the plotline with her ex-fiancé tim and ex-best friend annie was anticlimactic, utterly pointless and boring – first and foremost because tim has no redeeming qualities, is a completely unambiguous, black-and-white character that served only as a tragic background for bee and to explain her immense fear of social commitment. he's shoved into the readers' faces ("he's bad!") and it stays that way from start to finish. (nearly the same thing applies to annie.)

the ending (and big reveal) was goofy at best, and a shitshow at worst. it completely took me out of the illusion of the book.

astronaut with gun pressuring scientist to suicide. Félicette, a CAT, jumping the villain so that bee could escape. need i say more? seriously, whom was this written for? 6-year-olds? (i briefly considered throwing my copy against the nearest wall.)

levi and bee got some closure and a nice ending, which is cool. the romance was the only thing carrying this book at this point, so an epilogue that was not completely disappointing seems like a big-enough win to happily accept and glutton over.

fun! wouldn't read again.

Content Warnings

sarahaurora628's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was my first Ali Hazelwood and I liked it 🤷‍♀️ I loved all the side characters and the male lead. I thought the main character had so much potential which is such a shame because I found her kind of annoying 🫣 I love her back story and interests but being in her head made me roll my eyes a lot. I wanted to like her so badly but she came off kind of try hardish. That being said by the 2nd half I was routing for her. I think the smut was well done, I don’t remember cringing at them. I loved the love story, plot, and twists and I want a Levi Ward.

He is so funny, the ladder back and forth actually made me laugh

Content Warnings

whatisbeereading's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

isfantasi's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

rebakesl's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

The first 20% of this book dragged PAINFULLY, to the point where I wondered if this was going to be the one and only Ali Hazelwood book I would DNF because of all of the rambling and uninterrupted misogyny was frankly painful HOWEVER once it picked up (around 21-22%), I was hooked and barely put it down.

Content Warnings

stormeno's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

jackiepreston's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Are Levi and Bee essentially Adam and Olive from The Love Hypothesis with different academic specialties? Yes, absolutely
Did I devour this book in less than a day? Also yes
I don't know what kind of drugs Ali Hazelwood puts in her books but I love them.

Content Warnings

katiecoconut21's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed Love on the Brain, perhaps even more than The Love Hypothesis, which was introduced me to the contemporary romance genre and the amazing author Ali Hazelwood.

I just want to start by saying that the characters are so entirely lovable, and have complex relationships that I feel better mirror real life. After all, the whole driving force behind Levi working on the Sullivan helmets is because

of his friend who passed away, and he wants to honor his family by finishing the helmets

. Coincidentally, these complex relationships led Guy to

threaten Bee's life

, but more on that later.

Additionally, I enjoy Bee's narration, letting the readers in on various inside jokes that STEM women often relate to. As a female mathematician, I definitely do. It can get a little confusing, as there are random switches from first to third person, but I was able to get over that with a little re-reading here and there.

This book was a series of misunderstandings (as most romances are), but after we get over the initial hurtle that

Levi does not hate Bee, but is in fact, madly in love with her

and that

Bee did not marry the shit-stain, cheating Tim

, the misunderstandings become less central to the plot as focus shifts to

Bee learning to trust and accept love again

.

I feel like a huge critique some might have of Love on the Brain is how Bee did not realize that

her Twitter friend Schmac is Levi

before the end of the book. While I figured this out pretty much instantly (why else would the author introduce the madly in-love male character Schmac that Bee gets along with exceptionally well, unlike her Camel Dick nemesis Levi), I would like to point out that in Bee's situation, it is unlikely I would have made that discovery until later. The Internet is huge, and any coincidences could be exactly that, coincidences. So, keep that in mind before judging Bee for not figuring it out sooner.

Now, onto the scenario when

Guy pulled a gun, and threatened Bee into killing herself

. I get that we need a climatic moment, but this was way overboard for me. The jump to

Guy going to kill Bee

was a lot for me to process, partially because I felt it was really extreme, especially for his reasons.

Anyway, I loved this book, and found myself so immersed that I couldn't stop reading. I really recommend it!

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