This was such a cute, easy read. I immediately loved the premise of two best friends/roommates, living the mid 20s NYC life, with an important plot point: they are both graduate students pursuing PhDs! Dating seems to come easily to handsome Kian, who has no desires for a serious relationship after growing up around his philandering father and seeing the effects that had on him and his mother. Lyric, however, cannot seem to find her perfect match, sizing all the men she dates up with her "Sizzle Paradox," a metric she has developed in her studies of human sexual chemistry in her graduate program.

Of course, we the readers can tell from the start that there is definite tension between these two friends who laugh at anyone that suggests THEY should be together, because that could ruin a perfectly good thing. With Lyric's PhD at risk, she knows she has to crack the Sizzle Paradox and get better at dating, and Kian offers to "coach" her. We all know where this is going, but man is it fun getting there.

This book really shines in the characters. They are likable, funny, frustrating at times, and the growth between the main characters is fun to watch. Lyric's big, eccentric family are also a joy to read about. The passion the Lyric and Kian have for their academic studies, their families, and each other, make for a unique take on a romantic comedy set in the world of academia, and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Steamy, infuriatingly stupid MCs, best friends to lovers. Very swoony. 100000/10 recommend.

Be warned, you will spend half the book cursing Lyric and Kian for how stupefingly blind they are.

Sizzle is the word here!
Lyric and Kian have been roommates since their freshman year in undergrad. Now, seven years later they are months away from doctorates and still the best of friends and still single.
Kian is close to his dream job in the forestry, while Lyric is trying to crack the Sizzle Paradox and figure out exactly how two people measure their attraction for one another.
When Kian offers to help Lyric with dating advice, Lyric gets a bit of a sizzle….but is it just one way?

I enjoyed this book. The characters were well thought out and the plot moved at a great pace. I would enjoy reading more from this author in the future.

The Sizzle Paradox was an entertaining friends-to-lovers romance with some fake dating thrown in as well! I read Lily Menon's previous novel Make Up Break Up and I really like that she is incorporating female characters in STEM fields in her books and having their careers/research be central to the plot. There is a lot of miscommunication between Kian and Lyric once the lines of their friendship start to blur more. This was extremely frustrating at times, especially since as friends Kian and Lyric were so in tune with each other - their trust and history with each other seemed to disappear a bit. The ending wrapped up too quickly for me as well. As a fan of her adult and YA novels in general - I am looking forward to her next book. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

This is blend of "The Love Hypothesis" and "People We Meet on Vacation." If you enjoy the fake dating or friends-to-lover tropes then you'll be in heaven with this one!

Kian and Lyric are both grad students one thesis away from their doctorates. They've been best friends for years, and a love experiment leads to blurring lines and heated feelings. Kian is your quintessential charismatic and smart guy and Lyric is your book-smart but awkward friend. At times, they focus a little too much on those characteristics which detracts from the character development, but overall - it's a cute and fun read.

3.5 stars, but rounded up to 4. There was a little too many simple miscommunications that turned into full blown problems that made it a bit frustrating at times. I wish they had more "together" time rather than a few pages.

It was clear to the reader where this was going from the start, but how they were going to get there was well done. Not too formulaic that it was boring, not too trite that it was insulting. Loved, loved, loved a super cool nerdy science girl as the star. We need more books that portray women in science as cool. Recommended for adult collections.

After devouring the author's previous YA and adult romances, I was instantly intrigued by her next novel's premise, especially with a woman in STEM protagonist, fresh off of the success of "The Love Hypothesis." Told in dual perspectives, there's so many good friends-to-lovers slash forced proximity tropes at play. True to Menon's style, it is full of well-written and compelling language, yet something was just off for me. Maybe that it was very, very, very sweet like saccharine almost. That being said, it is a cute and fun romance that's you'll particularly enjoy if you liked "The Love Hypothesis" or "The Roommate."

Lyric Bishop and Kian Montgomery are BFFs and roommates who are both doctoral students. This is a classic friends to lovers romance. It was pretty sweet and contained a slew of the the usual suspects including fake dating and just-one-time-let’s-bang-it-out-of-our-systems tropes, so if that’s your jam, then you’ll enjoy this romcom.

Overall, it was just okay for me, but nothing particularly special in my opinion. Lyric and Kian definitely had a strong friendship bond but beyond that, nothing really sizzled between them. It took more than half the book before there was even a little tiny spark and I was bored waiting for their feelings to start bubbling. At best the tension was room temperature.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lyric is a college grad student working on her Sizzle Paradox project, which involves her trying to find what makes the perfect partner (emotionally and physically)...but she is struggling. In comes her best friend/part time roommate, Kian. He helps her out on her project, too bad they end up kissing and things go a bit out of wack!

Kian is a player and Lyric... is well, Lyric. They decide to help each other find romantic relationships. But things never go the way they plan!

What I loved:
- friends to lovers trope
- slow burny vibes
- fake dating
- cute and funny male main character
-bantering
-the academic setting

My only problem was that it was a bit predictable, but alas, that is probably just a side effect of rom coms.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this fake dating/friends-to-lovers story well enough. It was a quick rom-com read and I did enjoy the fact it was set in a PhD university setting, but there were also a few things (the random side romances that felt thrown in and the seemingly sudden insta-love between both the main characters) that didn't mesh completely with me. Plus, all the miscommunication/no communication at the end... when they were supposed to be close friends? Not a trope/plot device I'm particularly interested in.

I LOVED this book. Friends to lovers is such an underrated romance trope in my opinion and it is done so well in this book! I also love nerdy romances and after being disappointed with my past nerd romance this book was most definitely a redemption. Lyric is such a lovable main character and I am so glad that this was a dual pov type of book. Another trope that I love is the “just for research” trope, this book did it so well that it had me kicking my feet and squealing! this deserves all of the stars easily!!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC!
I thoroughly enjoyed this story! This was a quick read with endearing characters and a sweet HEA. I thought the author developed the characters and story well, not rushing over key plot points or background but also not weighing the story down with excess detail.
My main caveat for readers is that this story relies quite a bit on the miscommunication trope, which is not for everyone. I could have done with a little less of it myself, but it didn’t go so far as to ruin the story for me in the end. I recommend this as a fun, light read!

This book is super cute. I feel like it should be a bit longer that way there can be more of the fake dating in the middle but besides that I really liked it.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Rating: 3.25/5
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Warnings: difficult family dynamics
Read if you liked: nerdy friends to lovers
Steam: 2.5/5

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Sizzle Paradox will be released on June 14th, 2022.

Things I loved: I love a long term friends to lovers, there is something special about that dynamic. Lyric's family. Target and Kohl's trips. Higher Education and STEM rep/focus. All the forced proximity. The tree house was a new concept.

Things I didn't care for: It took a long time to get into this...nearly a week to finish it. There were some plot inconsistencies and issues with language about graduate school (thesis and dissertation are not interchangeable terms). I could not understand why Lyric's research was held up because she couldn't prove her concept on yourself.

Overall, loved the concept of this book but not the execution.

Full review will be up on pop-culturalist.com closer to release week! This is perfect for anyone who is a fan of slow-burn best friends to lovers . Kian and Lyric’s chemistry is undeniable. I love them so much and the romance is incredible.

We’ve all read books with similar friends to lovers plot lines so I was excited to see Miss Menon’s take on the matter. Unfortunately she didn’t really do anything special with the plot. Which is not a problems. Tropes would not be tropes if they weren’t popular. It’s just this plot was kind of boring. It took me 4 tries to finish it. The story was well written and it flowed nicely. It was just boring. It was hard to connect to either character. I honestly didn’t care about them which is a problem. The author however did enough to ensure that I will read her next book.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Lyric who lives with his best friend Kian. They are both graduate students and have been friends for years. She is starting to have feelings fir Kian that she is trying to hide but the spark remains. I liked the attraction that developed between the two.

This was a stellar improvement in Lily Menon's romance writing. I loved the friends to lovers aspect of the book, the inherent chemistry the two characters had, and the snippets of the secondary characters who wove in and out of the story. Unfortunately I found that the progression of the narrative was odd. While the story had the classic markers of romantic struggle and road blocks that push characters together, I found that the initial chemistry didn't really change. The way Kian and Lyric talked about each other didn't really change. Perhaps that's an indication of their buried feelings but to ramp up the emotional tension, I felt that it was more stagnant which led a lot of the story to fall flat.
It's a solid second book and I'm excited to see what Lily Menon has up next!

Lyric is a graduate student in the experimental psychology department studying the sexual and romantic connections between partners. But she has trouble connecting with her research because she feels like a fraud. How can she analyze these relationships when she herself has never had one that has both a strong physical and emotional connection. Lyric’s best friend and roommate Kian proposed the idea that he “coach” her when it comes to dating so that she can finally get her research going again. But feeling they have never acted on start to come to the surface.
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The premise and structure of this book (with dual POV’s) really engaged me from the beginning but the execution wasn't quite there. The first half of the book felt quite slow and I found myself skimming through parts of it. I enjoyed their friendship but don’t feel like I was ever fully invested/connected to them as characters. I also wish we would have had more time with them together, an extra chapter at the end or a longer epilogue.