THE SIZZLE PARADOX - LILY MENON

3.5⭐

PLOT - Lyric Bishop feels like a fraud..she's studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for a successful long term relationship and hey she can't figure out her own dating life. To complete her thesis she needs to crack the sizzle paradox bit she must get help.
Kian Montgomery is her best friend roommate and fellow grad student who has no trouble in romance and sizzle department and hence he offers Lyric his dating expertise.
But what happens when friends develop feelings for each other?

MY THOUGHTS -
The friends to lovers troupe with dual POVs..their banter/ friendship was really good.
I enjoyed scenes involving lyrics family
For a stem student I found lyric to be a little slow to catch on things and did frustrate me at times.
In all a quick read.

The Sizzle Paradox: ⁣
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“Perhaps we are all born alone and will die alone; however, if we are lucky, there are many years between one and the other. What better way to fill those years than with an enduring love?’” ⁣
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Initial Reaction: Loved Make Up Break Up, can’t wait for this!⁣
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Review: I’ll be honest, I really struggled with this book. I tried listening on audio, I tried reading on my kindle, it just didn’t click for me. This gave more of YA characters and adult steam, than adult characters and adult steam.⁣
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Lyric graduated early, but she still seemed like a high school student, not graduate student to me. It was really hard to connect with her. Instead of a graduate student running an experiment on sexual chemistry, this could have been switched to strict dating in high school, no steam and it’s a perfect YA read. ⁣
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The audio also wasn’t my favorite. To make a comparison: you know in school when you would get called on to read a chapter from the book? That’s what it felt like. I felt the reader for Kian just got “popcorned” to read it and never had someone take over. ⁣
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I really loved Lyric’s family. They were eccentric, they were so accepting. They just had so much love to give and it was just really cool to see a family that just genuinely cares for each other. They had the exact opposite of Kian’s family dynamic, and I just really appreciated all of them. ⁣
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Of course, it’s not romance unless we’re getting a HEA, right? I did gush over the HEA, and thought it played out wonderfully. I love deeper meaning HEAs, and when it all clicked in place I did clap and get all giddy. 😂⁣
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Overall, this was a miss for me. I loved Lily Menon’s previous book, Make Up Break Up, so I’m hoping the next one I will enjoy as well. Thank you so much @smpromance and @macmillan.audio for the gifted copies. The Sizzle Paradox is out 6/28!

I didn't adore this one - but it was a cute read! I l liked moments of it - and gave similar feels to "The Kiss Quotient" but it wasn't anything to write home about.

Lyric is a doctoral student who has spent her academic career evaluating sexual chemistry and relationship longevity. Fate would have it that she cannot seem to master either, and it's put a wrench in her revolutionary thesis and her chances of graduation. Her best friend and roommate Kian (also a doctoral student) can't stand by and watch her struggle so he offers to give her relationship lessons. The dynamic between Lyric and Kian is carefree, playful, and revolves around a genuine friendship. The evolution of their "lessons" seems to be a genuine surprise to both and is a joy to experience along with them. Would recommend to fans of The Kiss Quotient and Take a Hint, Dani Brown.

Friends to lovers trope, fake dating for science, I love it!

This was a cute and fun read

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

I really, really loved this dual perspective, friends to lovers romance featuring two PhD students who fake date for the sake of science and find themselves falling in love. The friendship, the banter, the STEAM! Everything just worked so well for me in this book. I also loved that Lyric was a woman in STEM researching the romantic chemistry between partners. Highly recommended for fans of Helen Hoang, Ali Hazelwood and Susannah Nix. Much thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advance review copies!!

While this was a little slow to get into, there were multiple funny quotes that had me laughing early on about the Macarena & being an awkward potato.

Once I got into this one, I really enjoyed it and didn't want to put it down. I loved that there was some actually psychology data analysis terms (that I understood thanks to a university class)!

I enjoyed the two MCs, their friendships with each other and the side characters and their growth throughout the book. However, I really dislike the miscommunication trope so that kind of took away from the book for me!

Thanks to Netgalley & St Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Ehh, Well I finished it but I really didn't enjoy it. Some parts I liked but not enough. I couldn't like the main girl character. stupid lack of communication.

The Sizzle Paradox
by Lily Menon
4 stars
Lyric and Kian are roommates and best friends they seem perfect for each other, they don't see it but everyone else does. After many failed attempts trying to find a love to help Lyric finish her thesis, The Sizzle paradox has been her work in trying to see what makes a relationship last.
Kian is tired of dating the same girls all fast that just never work out he's a few months away from getting his degree and wants a relationship worth more than a one-night stand.
Kian decides he can help Lyric out by them two going on practice dates, so he can tell Lyric what she can approve on.
Lyric wants to help Kian find a different girl than what he's used to dating so she decides it is time to set him up with one of her friends.

Classic friends to lovers trope it was a cute and fun read, a little slow-paced but picked up in the end. I did not care much for the misunderstanding that kept happening between the two. I did get extremely excited when they finally did connect and start getting together but it still took a while for them to fully be together and get over there not sure if it should happen attitude. I loved the little bit of family scene we got from both of their lives see a little of the back story. Hands down Lyrics sister's names I loved them. The first book I've read by Lily Menon and was impressed I didn't think id enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you, Net Galley, and St Martin's Press for the eARC for an honest review

I just couldn’t get into this book. The characters just weren’t for me and they just felt a little too immature. Wasn’t as realistic as I wanted it to be.

I absolutely loved this book! As a fan of The Love Hypothesis and all science romance, I highly recommend it! Lyric and Kian’s friends-to-lovers plot line was full of humor, chemistry, and “sizzle”. I could NOT stop reading this book and was so glad to get a copy of it. I especially loved the was the author wrote their snarky personalities and flaws. I really felt like the characters were relatable and look forward to reading more from this author.

DNF 33%
This author has never met a PhD student in her life, especially one in STEM. The book uses dissertation and thesis interchangeably (they are not the same thing). Somehow Lyric can afford to live in NYC as a student without being from a wealthy family and without working three jobs. Lyric has to be one of the most immature heroines I have ever read. There is socially awkward and then there is 20-something-woman who acts like she's 12. Once again, there is no way this is an actual person who has managed to get through Ivy Leave undergrad, a masters program, and is now completing a PhD. Also why in the world would she need to personally experience her thesis to prove its worth. THAT'S NOT HOW SCIENCE WORKS!!!! Where is the objectivity? Where is the research? Frankly this book is insulting to higher education and women in STEM.

What a cute friends-to-lovers book!

I adored this short and sweet story about best friends Lyric and Kian falling for each other. This book was stereotypical and similar to many other romance books, but I still enjoyed this stem twist on it.

A classic opposites attract story, I loved how the two main characters got past themselves to realize their love for each other. While I did not enjoy it as much as the books this book is often compared to (The Kiss Quotient and The Love Hypothesis for example) but I still enjoyed it nevertheless.

"The Sizzle Paradox" is a run-of-the-mill love story between two best friends turned lovers. Starting off as truly platonic relationship amongst best friends, their relationship slowly changes to something more. The novel was a cute story but unfortunately offered no twists as the story progressed slowly and was predictable from the beginning. As a fan of "Love Hypothesis" I was excited for this book to come out but it didn't hold up to my expectations.

Thank you Net Galley and St Martins’ press for this arc.

While I really like the premise of this book, I don’t think it delivered on what the blurb said it would be. I expected something different than I got. Also the hero nine was hard to root for. Also felt the writing was a little all over the place. A lot of side plots and some of it had nothing to do with the main couple. Also plot holes felt added in just to add in. Not sure what the purpose for some of these things where like the London guy or Kian’s family plot. Also found my self wanting more of the side characters stories instead of Kian and Lyric. I like the author’s past work so I am willing to try her again. This one wasn’t for me.

3.5/5

This being marketed as The Kiss Quotient meets Love Potion No. 9 and I have to say, that’s a pretty dang accurate mash up in terms of describing this book. The author used a couple of different tropes in her last book and she does it again here too, and does it pretty well might I add. You have friends to lovers with a side of fake dating and fake dating is one of my faves so I was happy to see it here. Despite Lyric being a woman in STEM, which I love and always find interesting, she isn’t portrayed as the best scientist around. She’s talked about as being super smart but her actions (both romantically and having to do with her research) don’t really match up to what was being said about who she is. It didn’t bother me too much, just something I found odd and wanted to mention. My overall experience here was good, I have to give credit to the audio narrators performances because I truly enjoyed listening to both Brittany Pressley and Abhay Ahulwalia and felt like they elevated things for me.

This book has a ton of my favorite elements: best friends to lovers, academic setting, and a decent amount of 🌶️spice🌶️. It was light-hearted and reminded me a lot of Christina Lauren's Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating. Lyric and Kian are both working toward their PhDs when they agree to go on fake dates and we can all guess what happens from there. While I loved the premise of Lily trying to crack her Sizzle Paradox, I struggled a bit to get through this because there really isn't much happening for over half the book. It got pretty frustrating to read pages upon pages of our main characters being so adamantly against even *considering* a relationship with the other when everyone else can see right through it. Once the ball got rolling though, it wrapped up to be a really heartwarming romance.

Pretty cute! It took me a little bit to get into it, but I think I’ve just been in a funk lately. Over all, I enjoyed it!

This book left me really, really confused. It tread a weird line, in my opinion, between light and fluffy and trying to reach for more but really never getting there and thus missing out on being just a really great light and fluffy read. It had the friends to lovers trope that I love meeting up with a twist on the fake dating trope that I typically go for as well. For me, it just so clearly missed the mark. I'm giving it to a 3.25 though as it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't what I wanted it to be!

This is a pretty standard best friends-to-lovers novel.

Lyric is a grad student researching attraction and romance, but she’s blocked. She hasn’t felt a spark in a while. Kian, her best friend/roommate offers to coach her in what a good date is (because, ladies, he is GOOD). Shenanigans ensue.

This is a really quick, fast paced book. A great summer read. Skip it if you’re not into the whole, both in love with each other but assuming the other person is repulsed by the idea of a relationship. This book relies HEAVILY on that. Kian and Lyric have a great friendship, though. And the spice is pretty decent.