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BOOKWORM REVIEW: Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood


RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥.5

I totally get it now. 

As someone who is new to reading Ali Hazelwood but has heard/read about the hype around her books, reading Love on the Brain has made it clear to me why this excitement exists.

Dr. Bee Königswasser should be excited for her three-month detail to NASA Space Center. After all, she has worked hard for her place in the neurological research world and more than deserved this opportunity for groundbreaking technology. Unfortunately, having to work with Levi Ward has become this dark cloud over her research parade.

Levi was her nemesis in grad school. A handsome, smart neuro-engineer who detested Bee's existence and refuses to acknowledge her presence. But while this NASA Levi seems to be the same broody, taciturn -- still attractive -- man he was in grad school, all of his actions contradict what Bee assumed to be his feelings toward her.

The chemistry between these two is the centerpiece of this book. It is built around fake-hate, miscommunication, assumptions, and just flat-out UST (unresolved sexual tension). I love that we slowly get layers of their history -- as individuals and as a duo -- as the story unfolds, eventually giving us clarity as to what led to creating their personalities. 

Bee is a nice ray of sunshine, which is an apt description as she radiates positivity but also has sunstorm-esque bouts of (mostly suppressed) anger. Ali Hazelwood does a phenomenal job of driving home the struggles of being a female scientist and they are cleverly infused into Bee's story.

Levi steals the show for me, however. His quiet, brooding, stare-into-the-depths-of-your-soul presence somehow stood out to me. I especially appreciated his dry sense of humor and quiet dedication to Bee.

I would consider this a slow burn, and Hazelwood does make the best out of the few spicy scenes she includes in this book. I particularly enjoyed the details of these moments, which made even the simplest of movements hotter.

This book is a standalone from the rest of Hazelwood's works.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Ali Hazelwood, Berkley, and Edelweiss for providing an ARC. **

ABOUT THE BOOK

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.

Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project—a literal dream come true after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia—Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.
 
Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school—archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.
 
Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it’s her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas…devouring her with those eyes. And the possibilities have all her neurons firing. 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 Königswasser do?


MEET ALI HAZELWOOD

Ali Hazelwood is a multi-published author—alas, of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the U.S. to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies her. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, crocheting, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her two feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband).

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