Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Love on the Brain

Ali’s last book was what got me back into reading for pleasure, so I was very excited for this one to make its debut and to read it. And I enjoyed it a lot! Well written, steamy intimacy, and interesting subject matter. However…it was a little TOO predictable. I’m pretty oblivious; I don’t guess the ending often, or figure out plot twists until they are revealed. But I figured this one out immediately. Which was a bit of a bummer. Thankfully, there was still a wild plot twist that I didn’t consider even once! So…4 stars. Side note - Bee irritated me a lot. Because she’s oblivious, like me. It was excruciating at times. But I’m trying to be sympathetic to her trauma. Trying.

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thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

First and foremost: Ali Hazelwood knows cute and quirky to a very tall, dark and handsome T. “Love on the Brain” was science + cuteness, encapsulated. You don’t have to know anything about neuroscience or space to understand the workplace romance fleshed out amongst these pages. It’s quite endearing, if a little repetitive. As many have pointed out, the plot and characters are very similar to Ali’s first steminist romcom and one of my personal favorites of all time, “The Love Hypothesis”. Forgive me for comparing them, but it absolutely happened!! I had no control over it!!

I love Levi, and I love Adam. But Olive >>> Bee for sure. Moving on.

For a neuroscientist working on a NASA-funded project, Dr. Bee Königswasser is quite the oblivious Damsel in Distress™ when it comes to her supposed grad school nemesis, Dr. Levi Ward. She is Tiny and Clumsy and Alternative Hair. He is Massive and Closed Off and Beautiful Green Eyes. Levi avoided her in grad school at all costs because He Hated Her So Much And There Is No Other Explanation.

It’s your typical enemies-to-lovers romance, but I appreciated that the “enemies” part didn’t fester long. We all know the “enemies” trope is never that accurate considering at least one party is secretly in love the entire time. In this case, it’s glaringly obvious to everyone except our stubborn MC.

I enjoyed this novel, but it didn’t give me all of the swooning and butterflies that TLH gave me. Which, understandably, is hard to achieve. Still, I think it has long been a dream of mine to score a NASA scientist who named his cat Schrödinger.

Extra points for the extra steam in this one, though 🔥

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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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sydneyluxford's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

If Ali Hazelwood did not write this book, I’d tell her to sue whoever did because it is literally a carbon copy of The Love Hypothesis but ten times cringier.

This book took me so long to read because I just didn’t connect with the characters, and the plot was really dull in my opinion. It was also really predictable. Don’t ask me anything that happened before 75% because I literally cannot remember 😭.

Also, the last 10%????????????? Since when did this book turn into a hostage situation??? I’ve never been more confused in my life, because it was just so unexpected.

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macykey's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-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

4.5

Okay, first of all, Levi Ward 🥰
There are two things that are keeping this book from having a higher rating: 1. Levi was just a *little* too much of a jerk in the beginning and 2.

Bee never told Levi that she loved him. Obviously she thinks it and we assume she says it off the page, but I would’ve liked her to say it.

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oflifeandstuff's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-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

3.0

It was so similar to The Love Hypothesis that it was boring at times - even the details were the same: main character is an orphan with attachment issues, love interest ist an enigmatic dick-hunk with absent parents, humorous best fried character, a work conference leading to a shared bed situation, harassment in STEM causing the pre-resolution conflict. I’m not saying it was bad (apart from the ending), but I think some variation in the characters while keeping the plot elements the same would have really elevated this story for me.

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bxcvi's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I absolutely loved The Love Hypothesis – I thought it was absolutely amazing so when Ali Hazelwood announced another book, I instantly pre-ordered it.

This book is about Bee Konigswasser and she lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? So when NASA offered her the lead on a major neuro engineering project which would be her first major project after scraping by on the crumbs of academia – she knows that Marie Curie would accept it without hesitation. There is just one problem – she would have to co-lead it with Levi Ward. Levi is attractive in a tall, dark and handsome kind of way and yes he caught her in his arms like a romance novel when she accidently damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school and archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away. Now her equipment is missing, the staff are ignoring her and Bee finds her career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it’s her mind playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays and seconding her ideas. 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 Konigswagger do? This book is a new adult romance.

I really enjoyed this book and Ali Hazelwood has a thing of managing to suck you in from the first couple of chapters. The storyline was interesting and very much like The Love Hypothesis and you can’t help but compare Levi to Adam (expect I like Levi more) as Levi seemed like a bit of an asshole for no reason until you learned the reason. Levi and Bee really needed to communicate more and the issues could have been solve like 7 chapters before. But the romance made me giggle like a five-year-old and there was still a bit of mystery with the whole things keep moving and disappearing from places. I would have loved to see more of Bee’s sister Reike and maybe some chapters from Levi’s point of view especially with what Tim said to him and the other half of what Bee didn’t hear in Grad school.

I would buy anything that Ali Hazelwood writes – I’ve already pre-ordered Loathe to Love You and I would love to see a sequel with all the characters from this book.

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