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3.2 AVERAGE
3.2 AVERAGE
I received a copy of Chemistry Lessons by Meredith Goldstein from the publisher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) in exchange for an honest review.
Maya is ready. Ready to be a freshman at MIT. Ready for the next step in her relationship with her boyfriend, Whit. Ready to move forward with her life.
Then Whit breaks up with her. Suddenly Maya is lost, adrift. She finds solace in the boxes of research her mom left her in her will. She also finds what she needs to get Whit back. Maybe. Maya will have to conduct an experiment.
With the help of her mom’s graduate student, Maya plans to test her mom’s pheromone formula on Whit. But first, she needs a couple of control subjects. A close friend, and a relative stranger.
As often happens in science, the results are not quite what Maya expects.
What I loved most about this novel was the focus on women in science. There are men in the lab where Maya works, but the researchers that drive the story forward are all female. The female characters throughout are relatively well drawn. Maya’s challenges are realistic, given her specific history. The women around her aren’t quite as fleshed out as Maya, but they all have their own stories.
I did struggle a bit with the male characters in the story. Overall, they are less developed, in particular Maya’s dad. I had a difficult time getting a sense of him in relationship to Maya and the story as a whole.
I also appreciated that the story wasn’t based on a vague, improbable love potion. Instead, the magic formula is rooted in actual science, though it may not work quite the way it does in this novel.
While the story did end pretty much the way I expected, I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the journey Maya took to realize there was a new worthwhile path waiting for her. I also loved the “whiff walks.” You’ll have to read the story to find out what that means!
Maya is ready. Ready to be a freshman at MIT. Ready for the next step in her relationship with her boyfriend, Whit. Ready to move forward with her life.
Then Whit breaks up with her. Suddenly Maya is lost, adrift. She finds solace in the boxes of research her mom left her in her will. She also finds what she needs to get Whit back. Maybe. Maya will have to conduct an experiment.
With the help of her mom’s graduate student, Maya plans to test her mom’s pheromone formula on Whit. But first, she needs a couple of control subjects. A close friend, and a relative stranger.
As often happens in science, the results are not quite what Maya expects.
What I loved most about this novel was the focus on women in science. There are men in the lab where Maya works, but the researchers that drive the story forward are all female. The female characters throughout are relatively well drawn. Maya’s challenges are realistic, given her specific history. The women around her aren’t quite as fleshed out as Maya, but they all have their own stories.
I did struggle a bit with the male characters in the story. Overall, they are less developed, in particular Maya’s dad. I had a difficult time getting a sense of him in relationship to Maya and the story as a whole.
I also appreciated that the story wasn’t based on a vague, improbable love potion. Instead, the magic formula is rooted in actual science, though it may not work quite the way it does in this novel.
While the story did end pretty much the way I expected, I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the journey Maya took to realize there was a new worthwhile path waiting for her. I also loved the “whiff walks.” You’ll have to read the story to find out what that means!
Actual Rating: 3.5
Chemistry Lessons is a cute, kind of predictable YA contemporary. What it really has going for it is the emphasis on science. You don't often see that to the degree depicted here Maya lost her mother to cancer, but hopes to follow in her footsteps by becoming a great scientist. The book is set the summer before college begins (at MIT of course) while she is interning at an MIT lab. Everything is going as planned, until her long-time boyfriend suddenly dumps her for someone else. When Maya learns that her mother had secretly done research involving pheromones and attraction, she concocts a crazy plan to get her boyfriend back.
Maya teams up with her mom's former grad student to carry on this work with experiments. Plural because they need controls to know for sure if there is actually an effect (of course). A big concern I had while reading this book was how unethical the research is, especially with unknowing participants. Happily, the issue of ethics is eventually addressed fairly well, but it bugged me through a lot of the book. So be aware, in terms of science, everything that Maya does is VERY unethical and not good research, but she's also 17 and dumb and broken-hearted. The grad student should have known better, but that's a separate issue.
But leaving aside the issue of ethical research, the book had some very funny moments and some cute things develop. It's a quick read and a light one for the most part. But it DOES get specific about science, which is awesome! Maya's mom focused mostly on epigenetics, the study of genetic markers in predicting diseases, and there is quite the smattering of scientific explanations and terminology woven throughout the story. I think it's done well without being too heavy-handed. As a character, Maya is book smart, but is still figuring everything else out. Which I certainly identified with at her age.
If you're looking for a light contemporary with a sciencey twist, I do recommend this one! I freely agreed to review an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.
Chemistry Lessons is a cute, kind of predictable YA contemporary. What it really has going for it is the emphasis on science. You don't often see that to the degree depicted here Maya lost her mother to cancer, but hopes to follow in her footsteps by becoming a great scientist. The book is set the summer before college begins (at MIT of course) while she is interning at an MIT lab. Everything is going as planned, until her long-time boyfriend suddenly dumps her for someone else. When Maya learns that her mother had secretly done research involving pheromones and attraction, she concocts a crazy plan to get her boyfriend back.
Maya teams up with her mom's former grad student to carry on this work with experiments. Plural because they need controls to know for sure if there is actually an effect (of course). A big concern I had while reading this book was how unethical the research is, especially with unknowing participants. Happily, the issue of ethics is eventually addressed fairly well, but it bugged me through a lot of the book. So be aware, in terms of science, everything that Maya does is VERY unethical and not good research, but she's also 17 and dumb and broken-hearted. The grad student should have known better, but that's a separate issue.
But leaving aside the issue of ethical research, the book had some very funny moments and some cute things develop. It's a quick read and a light one for the most part. But it DOES get specific about science, which is awesome! Maya's mom focused mostly on epigenetics, the study of genetic markers in predicting diseases, and there is quite the smattering of scientific explanations and terminology woven throughout the story. I think it's done well without being too heavy-handed. As a character, Maya is book smart, but is still figuring everything else out. Which I certainly identified with at her age.
If you're looking for a light contemporary with a sciencey twist, I do recommend this one! I freely agreed to review an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.
This review and more can be found at The Heart of a Book Blogger.
Before I jump into my review, can we talk about how gorgeous Chemistry Lessons‘s cover is for one second?? It’s absolutely adorable and definitely what first attracted me to this novel. Now, onto the review!
Maya is bound for MIT in the fall, following in her late mother’s footsteps in becoming a scientist. Her summer before college is going to be perfect—she has a cool internship in a lab, awesome new friends, and a boyfriend who she’s ready to take the next step with. Everything comes crashing down on her, though, when her boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her. Armed with her mother’s secret research project, Maya is ready to do anything to get him back.
By far my favorite part of Chemistry Lessons was how many women in STEM it featured! Most of the scientists and students in the lab Maya is working in are women plus Maya comes from a family of female scientists! While I myself am not in any of the STEM fields, many of my college friends are and I often hear about their struggles. I loved how this book showcased so many STEM women in such a positive manner, and I really enjoyed that we got to see everything that went into Maya’s experiment.
The actual project is an interesting concept. It really is a bit unethical though, so I was glad that was touched on in the story and that Maya was conflicted over it in the end. For the experiment, Maya uses three test subjects and uses their DNA to alter her own pheromones in hopes of them being attracted to her natural scent. Since there are so many variables involved, it’s hard to know if the experiment actually worked, but Maya comes to the conclusion that the subjects reacted the way they did because of the unaccounted variables. All of the subjects are love interests at one point in the story, but their characters are not developed as much as I had hoped for and the end was left pretty open.
Overall, Chemistry Lessons was a fun story featuring a STEM heroine! I definitely recommend it for anyone who loves science and contemporary YA novels!
*This ARC was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.*
Before I jump into my review, can we talk about how gorgeous Chemistry Lessons‘s cover is for one second?? It’s absolutely adorable and definitely what first attracted me to this novel. Now, onto the review!
Maya is bound for MIT in the fall, following in her late mother’s footsteps in becoming a scientist. Her summer before college is going to be perfect—she has a cool internship in a lab, awesome new friends, and a boyfriend who she’s ready to take the next step with. Everything comes crashing down on her, though, when her boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her. Armed with her mother’s secret research project, Maya is ready to do anything to get him back.
By far my favorite part of Chemistry Lessons was how many women in STEM it featured! Most of the scientists and students in the lab Maya is working in are women plus Maya comes from a family of female scientists! While I myself am not in any of the STEM fields, many of my college friends are and I often hear about their struggles. I loved how this book showcased so many STEM women in such a positive manner, and I really enjoyed that we got to see everything that went into Maya’s experiment.
The actual project is an interesting concept. It really is a bit unethical though, so I was glad that was touched on in the story and that Maya was conflicted over it in the end. For the experiment, Maya uses three test subjects and uses their DNA to alter her own pheromones in hopes of them being attracted to her natural scent. Since there are so many variables involved, it’s hard to know if the experiment actually worked, but Maya comes to the conclusion that the subjects reacted the way they did because of the unaccounted variables. All of the subjects are love interests at one point in the story, but their characters are not developed as much as I had hoped for and the end was left pretty open.
Overall, Chemistry Lessons was a fun story featuring a STEM heroine! I definitely recommend it for anyone who loves science and contemporary YA novels!
*This ARC was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.*
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. This book wasn’t on my radar but I received an arc of it so I decided to read it.
It’s very cute and sweet. If you’ve been through a yucky break up I think this book does a good job portraying those emotions.
While it’s certainly predictable and filled with typical YA contemporary tropes, it was still a delightful read. Sometimes you don’t want anything too intense you know?
It’s very cute and sweet. If you’ve been through a yucky break up I think this book does a good job portraying those emotions.
While it’s certainly predictable and filled with typical YA contemporary tropes, it was still a delightful read. Sometimes you don’t want anything too intense you know?
Before I jump into my review, I want to say thank you so much to HMH Teen for sending me an ARC. I filled out their blogger request form (which you can find on their website) and I really didn’t think I was going to get accepted, and a few weeks later this showed up at my house!
Maya’s life has turned on its head when her mom dies and her boyfriend broke up with her, leaving her lost more than before. So when she finds an old project of her moms that could possibly hold the key to getting her boyfriend back she uses it to her advantage.
At first I didn’t like this book so much, I found it to be very slow but as soon as the experiment started picking up momentum, the book went from a two star to a three star. This is obviously the authors debut novel, from the way the novel is written.
I found the writing to be drawn out and boring. I felt antsy when reading certain parts of the book, hoping more would happen.
Her ex-boyfriend sucks. I think Whit isn’t worth her time at all and I found that the fact that she didn’t tell her other subjects what was going on to be illegal. I did like Kyle and Yael.
I think Yael was one of my favorites because my best friend is named Yael. But I just didn’t find this to be the best book I have read. I wouldn’t recommend it, which is a shame because I was hoping to really love this book.
Maya’s life has turned on its head when her mom dies and her boyfriend broke up with her, leaving her lost more than before. So when she finds an old project of her moms that could possibly hold the key to getting her boyfriend back she uses it to her advantage.
At first I didn’t like this book so much, I found it to be very slow but as soon as the experiment started picking up momentum, the book went from a two star to a three star. This is obviously the authors debut novel, from the way the novel is written.
I found the writing to be drawn out and boring. I felt antsy when reading certain parts of the book, hoping more would happen.
Her ex-boyfriend sucks. I think Whit isn’t worth her time at all and I found that the fact that she didn’t tell her other subjects what was going on to be illegal. I did like Kyle and Yael.
I think Yael was one of my favorites because my best friend is named Yael. But I just didn’t find this to be the best book I have read. I wouldn’t recommend it, which is a shame because I was hoping to really love this book.
This is a light, gentle romance for teenagers. I liked the concept, I thought it was very individual and unique. I was worried that the science would be very confusing to follow, since I basically scraped through all my science lessons (cough)many(cough) years ago, but it was all very well explained and easy to understand.
Cute moments, fluffy romance and characters who actually learn a lesson in the end; what more could you want from a book?
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. This does not affect my review in any way. Thank you for the chance to read it.
Cute moments, fluffy romance and characters who actually learn a lesson in the end; what more could you want from a book?
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. This does not affect my review in any way. Thank you for the chance to read it.
This was such a fun, cute book. I loved the science experiment theme. I recommend reading if you like light hearted YA reads.