Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Love on the Brain

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Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

91 reviews

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

I've loved everything else I've read by her, but this was just not that good. It had me cringing in parts and not for the usual romance reasons. It didn't have enough depth into certain issues, and others were just trite and WAY too cliche. It was still hilarious at parts and mostly enjoyable. Also, I think she just tried to do too much with this one book.

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stardustandrockets's review against another edition

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

4.0

It really had me in the beginning as being extremely cookie cutter and like the rest of Hazelwood's work. Which, it is, but it also had me on the edge of my seat. Was I also screaming at Bee for being am idiot basically the whole book? Yeah. But that's nothing new for me when it comes to romance books.

I know a lot of people had issues with this one (I see you, twitter discourse), but I enjoyed it overall. Though do I agree that all the male leads are basically carbon copies of each other in some form or fashion? 100%. Are they giants with large dicks? Absolutely. Weirdos in bed? Yup. (That's also coming from a sex-repulsed asexual, so take it with a grain or five of salt.)

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jbookly's review against another edition

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funny inspiring 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? Yes

4.75

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addysongilmore's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

I thought this book was really cute and I read it in two days. But my main downside was how oblivious Bee was about the way other people felt about her. Otherwise I thought it was really cute and a good book to get you out of a reading slump.

I also wanted to add a trigger warning for fainting because that happens a lot and it wasn't an option on the list.

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yoursaswell's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year because I read "The Love Hypothesis" last year and loved it. I am a sucker for a nerdy romcom that takes place in higher education. I was really into this book until the end, which kind of ruined it for me.
"Love on the Brain" follows Bee, a young woman who has been struggling to make a name for herself in her academic field, neuroengineering. When she gets offered her dream job to work with NASA she is elated...until she finds out her co lead is Levi, a man who has hated her since grad school, seemingly for no reason. Bee relocates to Texas to start her new job and is frustrated not only to see that Levi is the same guy, but that she still has to deal with the sexist politics she has always had to face. Can Bee succeed with her project and finally prove to everyone that women are just as capable as men, and can her and Levi resolve their differences?
I think it is pretty obvious that this story centralizes as a love story between Bee and Levi. I am normally not a big fan of enemies to lovers, but their story overall did work for me. I loved seeing their love story, and I really enjoyed that they already had a past together, so it kind of felt like a second chance romance. I did think Bee was incredibly annoying at times. I understand an empathize that she is going through a difficult time and trying to heal from her past trainwreck of a relationship, but she is entirely convinced that Levi is the enemy and will not even give him a chance. I also understand that woman, especially in the science fields, have to work twice as hard because of their sexist male counterparts, and I love to see Ali Hazelwood's characters kickass and show how smart and capable they are, but I am getting a little bored that all of her characters seem to have the same jaded outlook. I would love to see her write a woman character who is a little less jaded by the struggles woman face. Again, I get it, and it sucks that we still live in a world where women are seen as inferior, just from a fictional standpoint, I would love to see a variety.
The ending of this book is CRAZY. The story takes a dramatic, Hollywood -like turn and becomes a high action, higher stakes adventure for a hot second, which I did not see coming. This is where the story lost me. I did not need that intense scene, and it seemed way too over the time to be plausible.
I will definitely read from Ali Hazelwood again, but I do hope she writes a different story in the future!

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ardentlyandi's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.0

I was so excited to read this after reading TLH when it came out but almost immediately, I was a little disappointed with this book. From the jump, you pretty much have an idea where it’s going.

Shmac being Levi is blatantly obvious from the first time he’s introduced.

I feel like everything was very predictable. I love the grumpy/sunshine trope

but the misunderstanding trope is so obvious from the beginning. I don’t really understand how Bee is a neuroscientist but also can’t realize that Levi very obviously likes her or at the very least doesn’t hate her.

Overall, I was just disappointed. Especially towards the end, things took a weird, random turn that I don’t think would be expected from a lighthearted romance book. Unexpected can be good, but I don’t think it made sense here. It went from super predictable to something so out of left field that you wouldn’t really ever see coming. On the other hand, I did enjoy the women in STEM aspects, discussions about the inequality facing groups of people who aren’t cis, white, straight men and I did enjoy Levi’s character for the most part and some of the supporting characters. I do love Ali Hazelwood’s writing style so I look forward to her next book, I’m just hoping for something a little less predictable.

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