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theheartofabookblogger 's review for:
Chemistry Lessons
by Meredith Goldstein
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.*