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olxvgxes's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Death, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Infidelity
Minor: Sexual harassment and Violence
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism, Gaslighting, and Misogyny
Minor: Death of parent and Death
ashleyvharris's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-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
4.0
Nerdy science romance is a fucking delight and Ali Hazelwood proves it yet again in her second book Love on the Brain.
Ali has such a distinct writing voice that feels natural and engaging. I struggle with books that try too hard to be sarcastic and *witty* because it always feels forced and unnatural. Ali does not have this problem at all. Her jokes and dialogue read like a conversation with my friends. She makes it so easy to connect with her protagonists this way.
I’m a bit conflicted over the two main characters and their romance. Let’s be honest, I would commit crime for Levi Ward (also Rocio and Felicette). But it also felt like a near carbon copy of The Love Hypothesis. Levi and Adam Carlsen are almost interchangeable, no? And the Bee and Olive too. Their romances also felt very similar. It would have been great to see something completely different. Can I get a male scientist with golden retriever energy, please?
No spoilers, but the ending felt… extra? Like I feel like it was a little too General Hospital telenovela-y. Like okay [villain], calm down, please.
Also, my cat-loving hear was glowing. Someone send me links to Schrödinger and Felicette fan art please and thanks. Love them both and they obviously stole the show.
With that said, my BIGGEST, most PRESSING critique of Love on the Brain is I NEED LEVI’S POV. LIKE YESTERDAY. Even more than Adam Carlsen, I was DYING to know this man’s thoughts. I want this entire book again but from his perspective, a la Midnight Sun. Do you hear me Ali? I need twenty-five (25!!!) chapters plus an epilogue with nothing but Dr. Levi Ward pining after Bee. Otherwise I will be talking about this every week in therapy.
If you like nerdy things, science, romance, or cats, you should read this lil’ gem of a book. It made my cold, shriveled heart happy :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Violence, Car accident, Death, and Gun violence
symabee's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Ali Hazelwood blends romance, humor, and science in such a wonderful way. I've been in a huge reading slump for the past 4 months, but I flew through this book in two days.
Things I loved:
- Ali really shines a light on the struggles of women in STEM and academia. Her FMCs are intelligent, capable and determined while still being flawed and relatable humans.
- She also knows how to write a good MMC that is not only a hunk physically, but also devoted as hell (I'm talking YEARS of pining).
- There was a 'You've Got Mail' undertone, so it will appeal to the fans of 90s romcoms.
- Bee's assistant is basically a goth April from 'Parks and Rec' which I loved.
- Plenty of Star Wars references and Marie Curie fun facts for the nerds.
Things that I didn't love as much:
(Potential mild spoilers)
- If you read The Love Hypothesis, then you'll recognize that in a lot of ways, Levi is just Adam but in a different font. They're both tall, built and athletic scientists with dark hair. They both initially come off as gruff assholes. They both secretly carry a torch for years for a woman they can't have. As the book progresses their personality differences become more apparent though.
- Certain aspects of the plot were painfully predictable, within 25 pages I knew how the love story would unfold. But we don't really read romance for the shocking plot twists right?
- There's plenty of miscommunication and secrets in this book, which only mildly annoys me, but I know some people hate that.
- The third act breakup where the FMC has the love of her life but walks away because she's scared of getting hurt again 🙄
Final thoughts:
Ali Hazelwoods books aren't perfect, but at this point I plan on reading everything she writes because her books just make me plain happy, and that's all I need ❤️
Things I loved:
- Ali really shines a light on the struggles of women in STEM and academia. Her FMCs are intelligent, capable and determined while still being flawed and relatable humans.
- She also knows how to write a good MMC that is not only a hunk physically, but also devoted as hell (I'm talking YEARS of pining).
- There was a 'You've Got Mail' undertone, so it will appeal to the fans of 90s romcoms.
- Bee's assistant is basically a goth April from 'Parks and Rec' which I loved.
- Plenty of Star Wars references and Marie Curie fun facts for the nerds.
Things that I didn't love as much:
(Potential mild spoilers)
- If you read The Love Hypothesis, then you'll recognize that in a lot of ways, Levi is just Adam but in a different font. They're both tall, built and athletic scientists with dark hair. They both initially come off as gruff assholes. They both secretly carry a torch for years for a woman they can't have. As the book progresses their personality differences become more apparent though.
- Certain aspects of the plot were painfully predictable, within 25 pages I knew how the love story would unfold. But we don't really read romance for the shocking plot twists right?
- There's plenty of miscommunication and secrets in this book, which only mildly annoys me, but I know some people hate that.
- The third act breakup where the FMC has the love of her life but walks away because she's scared of getting hurt again 🙄
Final thoughts:
Ali Hazelwoods books aren't perfect, but at this point I plan on reading everything she writes because her books just make me plain happy, and that's all I need ❤️
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexism
Minor: Gun violence, Death, and Infidelity
midnightbelles's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I don’t know how to feel about this. I went into the Love Hypothesis with skewed views about its contents so I decided to read this with an open mind.
The beginning of this was really boring and I was really confused for about 10 chapters and not even about the science stuff. I felt like the “enemies” thing didn’t really make any sense and I also felt like Bee kept trying to force her wrong opinion down my throat. However I thought that it was sweet that he fell first and I felt so bad for him that she remained convinced that he hated her despite him explicitly saying on multiple different occasions that he didn’t. Her obtuseness really frustrated me a lot while reading. I also thought the gun thing was doing a bit too much. It really wasn’t necessary. And the ending and makeup seemed very rushed. Despite spending most of this book confused it was a nice read.
The beginning of this was really boring and I was really confused for about 10 chapters and not even about the science stuff. I felt like the “enemies” thing didn’t really make any sense and I also felt like Bee kept trying to force her wrong opinion down my throat. However I thought that it was sweet that he fell first and I felt so bad for him that she remained convinced that he hated her despite him explicitly saying on multiple different occasions that he didn’t. Her obtuseness really frustrated me a lot while reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Gun violence
Minor: Chronic illness, Sexism, Grief, and Car accident
kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Cursing, Misogyny, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death and Medical content
Minor: Sexual harassment and Gun violence
CW provided by the author: seizure disorder in children (epilepsy), dieting for children (due to epilepsy)lovealwaysadi's review against another edition
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, and Misogyny
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Car accident, Gun violence, and Medical content
kassidyreads's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Death, and Animal death
Minor: Gun violence
dezembrluft's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
carbs666's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Okay normally I try to avoid spoilers but I probably won't be able to this time so if you don't want to be spoiled keep scrolling.
I was really frustrated with this book! I felt like so many of the components - the tropes, the set-up, the hero and the sidekicks, the chemistry, the sex - really WORKED, but they couldn't come together as a whole. The main barrier to this for me was the narrative choice; I don't prefer first person perspective for a romance novel anyways, but I felt like this character's voice was so immature that it made the whole book feel amateurish. It was hugely disappointing because I really like The Love Hypothesis and I wanted to like this book the same way but I just couldn't.
Now for the plot. Listen. You can't end a book like this one, which is mostly fluff and internal conflict and very limited hints at genuine external conflict, with someone threatening the heroine with a gun! You just can't it doesn't work!! Also, can we talk about how Levi watched his best friend die and we simply breeze by how traumatic that was? And how his family is just terrible and the only reason we need to know that is so we can explain why he's a good guy, even though that's already abundantly clear? I also could not STAND the Twitter side plot. I know the point was to prove how much they had in common without either of them realizing it, but the book was already showing us that so effectively that it was unnecessary. I wish Hazelwood had taken that space to instead develop what was already on the page so I could see a more satisfying character arc for Bee and an ending that MADE SENSE.
Anyways, it's fine. The chemistry between Bee and Levi is regrettably excellent and there are a few gratifyingly filthy moments in here. If you can get past the book reading like the self-insert fan fiction that it is, then you'll love all the cute things about it.
I was really frustrated with this book! I felt like so many of the components - the tropes, the set-up, the hero and the sidekicks, the chemistry, the sex - really WORKED, but they couldn't come together as a whole. The main barrier to this for me was the narrative choice; I don't prefer first person perspective for a romance novel anyways, but I felt like this character's voice was so immature that it made the whole book feel amateurish. It was hugely disappointing because I really like The Love Hypothesis and I wanted to like this book the same way but I just couldn't.
Now for the plot. Listen. You can't end a book like this one, which is mostly fluff and internal conflict and very limited hints at genuine external conflict, with someone threatening the heroine with a gun! You just can't it doesn't work!! Also, can we talk about how Levi watched his best friend die and we simply breeze by how traumatic that was? And how his family is just terrible and the only reason we need to know that is so we can explain why he's a good guy, even though that's already abundantly clear? I also could not STAND the Twitter side plot. I know the point was to prove how much they had in common without either of them realizing it, but the book was already showing us that so effectively that it was unnecessary. I wish Hazelwood had taken that space to instead develop what was already on the page so I could see a more satisfying character arc for Bee and an ending that MADE SENSE.
Anyways, it's fine. The chemistry between Bee and Levi is regrettably excellent and there are a few gratifyingly filthy moments in here. If you can get past the book reading like the self-insert fan fiction that it is, then you'll love all the cute things about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death
Minor: Death of parent