Ok the blurb was interesting and cute. It’s all about Sarah and Molly, 2 sisters whose love lives are the book’s focus. Though I think Sarah should’ve just been the focus here... or maybe just Molly since it’s her “solution”. Either one really, though Molly”s would’ve been more interesting.  Couldn’t put it down because I wondered how they’d muck things up and also because I wanted to get it over and done with, the book. Sigh. Not a good feeling when you’re reading. Anyway, it was a fast read, decent story.

Thank you Avon Books UK for the copy of this book!!

The Love Solution is a cute rom-com following orphan sisters Sarah and Molly. There are two simultaneous plots progressing very differently yet interconnectedly which make the book integrated and whole.

Molly is a scientist who is crushing on her boss, Ewan. At the New Year's Party, they kiss but it just leads to a disaster and Molly is devastated.

Sarah also has to face heartbreak on New Year and is left all alone to pick up the broken pieces that her relationship left behind.

Through the book, we follow the sisters as they try to mend their hearts and move on, still wanting to be with the men that broke their hearts.

The storyline was flat and the writing was boring for the first 50% and I debated DNFing it then but as we went ahead, moral ethics came into question and there was anticipation which made the book exciting and fun to read.

The characters evolved and became multidimensional only after 50% and it was only then that the romance began to feel realistic and believable.

I am glad I persevered through the first half of the book to get to the good parts, but the writing did not improve much according to me.

While the characters came to life, there could have been much more development even in the first part of the boo to make it interesting.

The book overall was a pretty decent read.

This was not the book for me. I really had to push myself to finish it. I could have easily DNF'd this at 10%.

So this book was not for me. I did not enjoy the characters or the reading experience. I don't like to give negative reviews because I understand the author worked really hard on the book,  so I am going to leave it at that.

A tandem, a science lab, two sisters and everything that happens gives this novel a real WOW factor. I really enjoyed this and even stayed up half the night to read it, I wanted to know how the story would end and I wasn't disappointed. Ashley Croft has written this book so well and I recommend everyone to go and get it to enjoy it as I have done.

A book set in a biochem lab - I'm up for that.

Molly and Sarah are sisters. Molly is a scientist, working on a thing that can help two people fall in love (possibly). Sarah is a jewellery maker who makes tiaras, who has just found out she's pregnant.

There are two romances in the story. Molly and her grumpy boss Ewan ... and Sarah with her love triangle. Molly is a little prickly, but I liked her scenes. Ewan running hot and cold on her was frustrating, but understandable because of what had happened to him before. 
Sarah's story was a bit more difficult, not least because she tries to persuade Molly to take a huge risk with her career and basically do something unethical (this aspect is discussed quite a lot, which was good). Her plot arc with Liam was lovely. In fact, Liam was adorable.

This is a story about sisters, a bit of romance, quite a lot of riding about on a tandem. All in all a nice, light summer read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

Sarah and Molly are sisters, and after their parents were killed in a car accident, Sarah changed her life plans to take care of and push her sister Molly to fulfill her potential. While the two are close and share most everything: they couldn’t be more different.  Sarah is settled (mostly) with her EMT partner Niall, they’ve bought a house and her little craft business, making tiaras, is growing. She’s got a love for sparkle and glam, and her little ‘shed’ in their backyard has everything she wants. Until her partner is caught cheating – in her bed – and her life falls to pieces. Being pushed to sell the house, move on or alternately forget his straying – she’s in a tumult about it all, and isn’t sure from one moment to the next if she wants him back or wants him gone. Painfully. 

Molly, on the other hand is a talented scientist with no real experience with relationships as she’s always put school and her career first. She’s in a bit of a conundrum with her boss, however, as she has a massive crush on him – and can’t see that he’s even remotely interested in returning the affection. And, career-wise, it could be suicidal – having a relationship fail while still having to be the ‘lead’ tech on their current project – one that works with hormones, pheromones and DNA to increase or provide attraction between two people. Nicknamed the Love Bug, the nasally-delivered serum is in testing – with plenty of kinks to work out in this top secret experiment. 

So we have two love-challenged sisters – and while one is clearly immature about emotional life (Molly) she is also the one who has been the supporter and ear for her now devastated sister. With Sarah’s vacillation between wanting her relationship back and not – and a very interesting student starting to take her tiara-making class, she’s got a ton of decisions and uses her connection with Molly and Molly’s work to break every rule imaginable and get the potion.  There were so many things right with this story – and then so many wrong. Emotional blackmail from Sarah, Molly’s near cavalier (although considered and carefully crafted) creation of a potion for Sarah – endangering the lab, her job and her boss, the mix ups, some laugh out loud moments and, sadly, a few too many characters and names to integrate into the story with plenty of ‘color’ but little substance.  It was, however, a quick read and entertaining – even as I wanted to smack both Sarah and Molly about – screaming grow up and think first – but while I had issues with Molly’s actions, I think Sarah was more troubling and less mature in her expectations and lack of decisive actions.  It’s not a story without trouble – but the laboratory and tandem cycle bits are interesting, Sarah’s partner Niall trying to be charming and ‘adorable’ when he was simply smarmy, and the adorable boss, Evan are worth the read in this told in two perspectives (Molly’s and Sarah’s) story. 

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility. 

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-avZ/” > <a> I am, Indeed</a>

this one really wasn't for me unfortunately, didn't click with the writing or the characters. could be a case of right book wrong time, or i don't know. sometimes it just doesn't work :)

I loved this book! I thought it was just going to be a light chick lit, which in many ways it was but it had real substance there too. 
The characters had depth, and backstories that were to the point and well thought out.
I’m sad to have finished it actually and would quite like a follow up!

2.5 stars

If I had written a review for this book immediately after reading, I can tell you...that would have been one heated review. However, I have distanced myself and gave myself a day after finishing this to collect my thoughts. Hopefully, I'm able to get my thoughts across in an eloquent and calm manner.

First off....how DARE you.

Just kidding.

But really, I think the most disappointing thing of all when it comes to this novel was how much potential it had. The story started out so promising and then it hit a drastic decline.

What started out as a story of two parallel romances (technically three) became a game of 'hot and cold' for the duration of the novel. Understand me when I say that I LOVE a 'slow burn' romance but none of the relationships featured in this novel fall into that category. When I say it was 'hot and cold', I mean it. The romance would be going fine between a couple until it suddenly was not and then the cycle would start over again. It was not a read that kept me anticipating what was going to happen next because if anything, I became more and more frustrated with the characters and found myself liking them less and less. I know I'm supposed to be sympathetic towards Sarah's character especially but do not even get me started. I liked her least of all. 

Regardless of what is mentioned above, there is a moment in the story that is the exact moment where all of my interest in this novel was lost. It was the introduction and involvement of a particular...solution. I mean, come on, seriously?! Prior to this 'ingredient' being involved in the story, I still had a little bit of hope that it would turn itself around. But this with the combination of the 'hot and cold' dance brought a resounding no from me. 

Again, I'm so disappointed because the novel originally started out so promising! I don't know how it went from that to where the story eventually finished off. 

***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

DNF @ 60% 

The cover, the title, and the synopsis of this book do not fit what the book actually is. I'm a lover of all romance, but this... I don't even know where to begin. The heroines were annoying and found myself skimming a lot while reading through. I missed a lot of the 'humor' (although I've never quite enjoyed what's considered 'british humor').

This book wasn't for me.

This book made me laugh out loud at times. I really enjoyed the dynamic between the sisters and certain moments definitely pulled at the heartstrings. I much preferred one of the love stories to the other, which is often the case. Overall, it wasn't a hit-out-of-the park romance for me but it was cute at times and easy to read. The Britishness always bumps it up just a touch for me, too. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC received from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The cover of this book doesn't represent the story whatsoever. It's about two sisters and their respective love lives.

I just couldn't get into this. While an interesting premise, the story dragged (read: I was bored out of my mind for most of it). I also found the "plot" toward the end to be borderline ridiculous/despicable. What is this - a fictional take on the song Love Potion No. 9? Too bad since the book overall had potential, but it never got there.

Review copy courtesy of NetGalley.

The cover of this book is very misleading: the book is actually about two sisters, one of whom is working on a scientifically-created love potion, and the other who ends up wanting the solution to keep her baby daddy around. It was an intriguing premise, but sometimes the book just dragged.

Received an Advanced Reader’s Copt from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

*falls back in exhaustion* Oh my gosh. I need a moment. I’m pulling a Will Smith from After Earth and taking a knee because I need a darn moment.

The Love Solution frankly, had me…unhappy and perhaps even a little impatient for the first half of the book. I was not feeling good about anything that was happening and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. The first half creates the foundatoin for the story that’s often quite disheartening, painful and frustrating. You want to shake people up and have them just get their thoughts together even though you sympathize and feel quite sad for them/their situations. And then, at around just past the 50% perhaps, a bomb is dropped and all I did for the rest of the book was no no no no no no please no. 

I can tell you right now, all my praying helped for naught. Whatever was meant to never happen happened anyway. And you’re pretty much freaking out right along with the characters. The story kicks up pace after this point, hitting all the right notes with drama at its absolute peak. I mean, yes, it’s unethical and unprofessional and good God so scary, but it kept me at the edge of my seat.

Sarah and Molly are sisters who’ve stayed at one another’s side through thick and thin. Through loss, heartbreak, struggle and happiness. But what happens suddenly when they are both confronted by choices that could change the path their lives take? And are these choices only about the men they are interested in? Does their relationship last the test of their thoughts and the weight of the tasks that lay before them?

The Love Solution addresses a lot of…grey areas of life. About love and how it must come to us, whether we are weighed down by the weight of the love we receive or whether we should do whatever it takes because…love. Right? Or not?

Four stars. It took me a long long while to truly be dragged into the story, but once I was in, there was no actual getting out. TLS was not a light read for me, I felt too much for it to be. It wasn’t an easy read either…and perhaps it was not meant to be. Give it a chance someday, you might feel a lot of things.

A story of two sisters fighting the memory of unimaginable loss with the present day’s complexities of unrequited love. The first third of this story really captured my attention. It’s not often women in science are primarily featured in a book and I felt a kinship with Molly. Her career in biochemistry and pheromones brought back fond memories of my own time at uni studying biochemistry and neuroscience. The enthusiasm she had for her ‘Love Bug’ science project, the reason for the aptly chosen title, was endearing. I couldn’t help but support her attempts to gain the attention and affection of the man she secretly loved! 

Despite my love of Molly, this book was hard for me to rate. There were a lot of things I liked and equally disliked about this that left my overall rating somewhere in the middle. I adored the science representation in the book, as well as the premise of two nerdy characters (Molly and Ewan) slowly falling in love. What brought this book down though, was Molly’s sister Sarah. Her story-line, which was half of the book, was very annoying to read. Her constant indecisiveness became frustrating half-way through the book. If this book had been solely about Molly and Ewan I would have rated it much higher. Regardless of this, it was still a sweet book that I think many readers would enjoy. 

CHARACTERS

Molly – Easily my favourite character. She was kind, independent and career-driven. Her unrequited love for Ewan pulled at my heart-strings. While unrequited love is never easy, the constant mixed signals form Ewan really toyed with her emotions. She deserved someone willing to be proud of her on their arm, not neglecting their emotions due to the opinions of others. In addition to this, The unrequited affection in their personal lives played an interesting parallel to the nature of their research in to a chemical compound that would effectively create the illusion of love. The temptation of using it would be hard for some people to ignore, when in a similar predicament. Molly put a lot of effort in to being a good sister and helping Sarah out of her latest dramas. She definitely deserved a good HEA after all of that emotional turmoil. 

Ewan – was a character I never fully understood. His actions were so hot and cold toward Molly and were quite confusing throughout the book. That poor woman! She didn’t know which way was up in their relationship (or lack thereof). Despite this, he was a genuinely nice and unexpectedly hilarious guy when he finally started opening up. 

Sarah –  The most indecisive woman on earth. Her inability to make any decision for the entire second half of the book really took away my patience. I really felt for her in the beginning. She had been dealt an awful hand in life and had really gone above and beyond to look after her sister. Her compromising nature to put others before herself was heartening to read about. I couldn’t help but want her to finally have everything she had missed out on. When presented with these opportunities though… she refused them. And then complained about it. It just… frustrated me. To say the least. In spite of this, I still have respect for all that she sacrificed in her life. Perhaps a life of constantly compromising would lend itself to a future of indecision and guilt at the idea of finally putting herself first. 

Liam – The most patient man in the world. He really had to put up with a lot of hot and cold action from Sarah. In spite of Sarah’s hormonal tendencies, he was such a sweetheart. Maybe this was the reason I disliked Sarah so much. She had an absolute gem of a guy waiting around for her and she kept being obsessed with her cheating ex! He really deserved better, in my opinion. 

Overall, this book had some highly enjoyable moments mixed in with a few lacklustre ones. The writing was done well and I particularly enjoyed the colloquial English terms used in this. It really painted a vivid image of the characters and their backgrounds. If you’re a reader that is sympathetic for indecisive, introspective characters then I think you’d really enjoy this book.

I thought this would be more of a romance but it's actually focused on the two sisters, Sarah and Molly. It's a cute, fun read. 


Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

It was fine. I didn't really connect with this book and the characters but overall it was easy to read, kinda cute, and there were a few amusing moments.

DNF at 25%. I wasn’t a good fit for this book. It is the story of two sisters - Sarah and Molly. One is working in a science lab developing the “love bug” and is romantically interested in her boss. The other has her own business making tiaras for weddings. 

I haven’t connected with either sister at this point in the story and am not interested in finding out where their stories lead. Unfortunately this one is a miss for me. 

Thank you to the publisher and the Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Overall this book was a fun and fast read. I enjoyed the relationship between the sisters and they way that they supported each other. This is a fun and contemporary romance that focuses on the relationship between two sisters and their respective men. Each sister had her own story that only overlapped in one location (which I did take a little issue with) and they each did their one growing up. Over all I liked this story and even with the drama from the plot twist that I didn’t love, I still ended up liking the story and the way that it ended.