A review by isotope_s
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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? Yes

3.0

Okay, so there are similarities. But I would call them romance tropes. Hazelwood’s characters are all kind of the same, but there’s a lot of authors who do that. I think the dynamic between Bee and Levi is different enough that I don’t mind, but I do think it was kind of like reading fanfic in an AU for Olive and Adam.

I think this one is executed slightly better the writing is tighter and you can tell she’s improved writing wise, though there’s kind of a pacing issue. Some people will call it instalove and I would agree with them mostly on that. We needed more time with Levi and Bee actually together—and the
”tension” with Guy was so hidden until it was revealed that it didn’t feel like actual conflict. I kept expecting there to be another leak after they were at the conference or something and more direct hints at his malignant, they were too subtle for me—though I can see they were there. The issue with her Twitter account kind of just goes away, I think it would have been better to leave that part off entirely; Hazelwood could have had her sister have a personal emergency and she can’t fly to her or she’s injured or something easier to wrap up, but would still stress Bee out<\spoiler>. Overall, despite the similarities I still think it was good; it has Hazelwood’s signature whit—so if you didn’t like the last one, this one is probably not for you.

Also the only similarities between the sex scenes in this book and the other is that he’s really big, he says “you can take it”, and she gives him a blowjob, which are such a romance trope in sex scenes it’s not really fair to say “her sex scenes are all the same”
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