This worked extremely well for me, and was exactly what I needed. I enjoyed both leads very much, LOVED their chemistry, and simply want more. A perfect pick-me-up. I'd suggest it for fans of The Love Hypothesis.

The Sizzle Paradox was an okay book. I wanted to really like it because the premise was sound. There was just not a lot of development in the book, and it was slow to get through. When things happened later in the book, they happened very quickly. I had a hard time making sense of it and didn’t really have that warm feeling that I get with a happy ending.
I really liked Kian, but I had a hard time feeling anything for Lyric. She just seemed immature, and I feel like that was maybe what was keeping her from growing at all or having any semblance of a good relationship.
It may be because of other books I have read but it felt odd that neither Lyric or Kian seemed to really have any kind of physical attraction for each other until they start “dating”. I do like that deep love can grow from a friend love, but I still did not feel like there was anything there. They grew but didn’t really grow if that makes sense.
Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin’s, St Martin’s Griffin, and Lily Menon for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

As someone with a Bachelors in Psychology and enrolled in a Masters Program in Counseling Psychology I thought the plot for this book was really interesting!

The start was strong and I loved it! The humor and just that initial introduction to the friends part of a friends to lovers trope :) I found the way that she rated her experiences with possible romantic partners very interesting and didn’t really mind the one thing people seemed to have an issue with throughout, that thesis and dissertation were used interchangeably.

Other things like her putting herself taking her feelings into consideration when it came to the research also didn’t really bother me because it makes sense that she’d want to have something to prove that she knows what she’s talking about 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think what got me was the middle, at a certain point I stopped connecting with Lyric Bishop and I kept on looking forward to Kian Montgomery’s parts instead 😅❤️

The ending felt kind of rushed to me and I didn’t quite understand how things shifted so fast… like I understood what I was reading but it felt like things were moving on too quick.

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Thanks to St Martin's Press, St Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Sizzle Paradox tells the story of two mid-twenties best friend roommates who are Columbia PhD students. Kian is about to defend his environmental engineering dissertation, and Lyric is working on analyzing her data about the psychological factors of sexual attraction leading to long-term relationship viability. Lyric feels like she can't accurately analyze her data because she's never had a successful long-term relationship. Kian offers to tutor her with some quintessential fake dating.
Kian also enjoys Moscow Mules and at one point wants to buy copper mule mugs. I had to make myself a mule to enjoy while reading! If you've never made one yourself, they are possibly the easiest cocktail to make. You need some vodka, about three times as much ginger beer, and a fresh lime - that's it to add to ice and stir! You can make them to taste, with more or less vodka. Personally, I like to squeeze at least two lime wedges per drink - possibly three if I'm feeling extra zesty.
If you're looking for a friends to lovers romance with some mid-twenties grad student drama, this book is for you!
And please try to make your own Moscow mule! I will warn you that after making them you may not be able to pay the $$ premium to get one at a restaurant or bar!

The Sizzle Paradox is a fun friends-to-lovers romance set in the world of academia. It's a little spicy and features a close friendship between longtime roommates in graduate school. Overall, the story was okay, but aspects of it were a little frustrating. The main character, Lyric, seems a little immature and it seemed beyond belief that her personal anecdotal relationship experience would somehow be used or be limiting her thesis "research." The narration by Brittany Pressley and Abhay Ahluwalia was fantastic. I especially love all books narrated by Pressley.

Thank you St. Martin's Press / Macmillan Audio for providing this ebook / audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

2.75 stars ☆ This reminds me of the kiss quotient and the love hypothesis had a baby = the sizzle paradox.

I liked how it was going so far from the start but it went downhill after like 50%? I’ve become bored where I just skimmed through probably most of it. It was just meh. There’s no wow factor to it besides their scenes here and there. The fact that they still don’t end up together up until like 70% when it’s clear that they’re already into each other but they both don’t do anything about it yet. idk it frustrates me sm. Even if this was a slow burn, it wasn’t burning soo. It was sweet but nothing spectacular.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC !!

I was really excited to dive into this book! I’m a big fan of Lily (Sandhya) Menon’s books, usually rating them 4-5 stars, and her adult debut, Make Up Break Up, was one of my favorites last year.

The Sizzle Paradox did not quite hit me the way her other books have, though I did still enjoy it.

In it, best friends Lyric and Kian are both in dating ruts and end up fake dating to help each other out. They care deeply about each other, and that’s clear right from the beginning. Of course, everyone in their lives think they should be together and they laugh it off, but once they start their dating experiment, they realize there’s a bit more desire there than they thought.

Off the bat, I have to say that this is one of the wildest fake dating set-ups I have ever read! Lyric is trying to learn how to be better at dating, essentially, and Kian offers to help. In exchange, Lyric will give him tips on how to date women who aren’t typically his type. Kian barely even cares about his goal, and I never understood why Lyric personally needed to find her perfect partner in order to complete her research in the first place. Surely, people research things they don’t personally experience ALL the time. Because this is the setup for the entire fake dating scheme, the whole thing felt absurd, but I got on board eventually.

The main thing that did not work for me in this book is Lyric. I could not figure her out for the life of me, and I just did not like her. It was wild to me that she seemingly became an entirely different person on dates, which is also essential to the plot, and I never understood why. In general, her read on romantic partnerships was confusing because she clearly got that Opal’s relationship was higher stakes than Opal was admitting, and yet she continued to misread the whole Kian/Zoey situation, even after it was abundantly clear that Charlie was going to go after Zoey. None of this made sense. I didn’t like that she low-key slut shames herself and refers to herself as a pervert more than once. She was also just annoying as a character. This doesn’t often bother me, so I definitely surprised myself when reviewing my notes at the end of the book and seeing over and over again some iteration of, “Man, I don’t like her.”

Despite Lyric’s character zapping a lot of fun out of this book for me, the romantic and sexual tension definitely saved it, as did Kian. I didn’t fully buy his strategy of avoiding cheating by... just dating a lot (which, huh?), but there were at least clear reasons why he felt the way he did. (There were absolutely no reasons given for why Lyric is a different person in romantic and sexual contexts.) I loved almost all of the side characters, who had enough of their own things going on for this world to feel rich and interesting, but not so much that it detracted from our main pairing. I also laughed out loud multiple times in this book, particularly in the second half. What a delight any time that happens!

On the whole, I had a good time reading, which is what matters to me most. I definitely wanted Kian to have his happily ever after and was thrilled when he got it. Also, I won’t spoil it but that final scene was pretty darn sweet!


Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Sizzle Paradox had so much potential but was somewhat lacking in sizzle. I liked all the main characters and was rooting for Lyric and Kian to realize they were perfect for each other. They had chemistry from their very first scene and their banter was top notch. I love a dual POV because I need to understood both characters side. My only gripe was the lack of sizzle and spice. But overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to friends and family!

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The idea of this book was great, but the execution fell flat. I didn't love the characters, and the entire thing felt slow and forced.

Lyric is a graduate psychology student who is writing her thesis on sexual and emotional chemistry in romantic couples, aka “The Sizzle Paradox”. As the due date approaches, Lyric is concerned her lackluster love life will undermine the credibility of her research. When her best friend and roommate Kian offers to “tutor” her so she can improve her dating skills, they are forced to confront what their friends and family have told them for years: maybe they are destined to be more than just friends.

I had mixed feelings about this book. The first half felt so slow and tedious, that I almost DNF’d it. However, I pushed through and found the second half significantly better. I expected this book to be on par with great academic/STEM romances like The Love Hypothesis and The Soulmate Equation. Despite sharing some similarities, this one just wasn’t as well executed.

What I liked:
The “paradox” theme
In addition to Lyric’s thesis, the author weaves in other paradoxical elements throughout the story. Lyric herself is an ivy-league student but relies on crystals and tarot cards for comfort; her noncommittal, underachieving brother becomes engaged; her friend Charlie is both a scientist and a pastor at an LGBTQ+ Korean church, and her no-nonsense sister finds love with a professional magician 10 years her junior.

Meanwhile, the MCs are having no luck with “obvious matches” who share common interests, backgrounds, and goals. The author’s message is well-illustrated: people, life, and love don’t always fit into neat, tidy, and obvious boxes.

Casual diversity
The author took care to write diverse characters with real storylines and does a great job of incorporating intersectionality into the diversity.

Kian
Kian was a cute love interest. He genuinely cares about Lyric, and his character growth and romantic feelings felt natural and authentic.

Friends (the show)
I strongly suspect the author is a Friends fan. There seemed to be a few nods to the show: the mention of finding your ‘lobster,’ going to London for a wedding, and then proceeding to hook up with a close friend in London.

Dislikes:

Lyric’s Thesis
It was a cute idea in theory. However, the explanation of the study and Lyric’s approach was convoluted and messy. Why does she need a successful romantic relationship for her work to count? Didn’t her years-long experiment already prove her point? Wouldn’t it be improper and undercut objectivity to include herself in the study? By the second half, I found myself trying to forget about the thesis and just focused on the characters and the romantic storyline.

Lyric
This FMC is mind-bogglingly immature. Her awkwardness and cluelessness are endearing at first, but it drags on for far too long. Even towards the end, she makes a massive life-altering decision on a whim but then goes back to her original plan just a little while later. Like, what? Where Kian had a natural progression in growth and his feelings, Lyric was just as dumb at the end as she was in the beginning.

Overall, this was a fun, light romcom if you keep your expectations in check. You won’t find the same attention to detail and compelling characters you would in similar Christina Lauren or Ali Hazelwood books, but the general theme of the book is cute. There are sweet and funny moments along the way, and ultimately what we’re all after: a satisfying HEA.

*I received an e-arc from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This is Menon’s second adult novel and it was such a delight! If you like friends to lovers, fake dating, and a graduate school setting I think you would enjoy this contemporary romcom.

Lyric Bishop and Kian Montgomery are besties and roommates. They’ve been great together since they met years ago in college. Currently they are both working on their doctorate degrees.

Lyric feels like a complete scammer as she’s studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes relationships last long term, and she can’t even figure it out in her own life. The science she’s researched is sound, but she feels as though she can’t give her expert opinion on the subject without some real world experience. In order for her to complete her doctoral thesis, she needs to crack the Sizzle Paradox, and she desperately needs some help.

Kian has never had trouble bringing sizzle and romance to his own romantic relationships. He offers to tutor Lyric on dating tactics so that she can find her own match. Lyric is certain that this offer will help her to solve her problems, and she offers to set Kian up with someone different than he usually dates to stir things up a bit.

Once the tutoring sessions begin however, they don’t really feel like academic exercises to Lyric and Kian as real feelings begin to develop. This becomes a big problem as they have always been best friends and nothing else. Will their friendship survive?

I found myself cheering for Lyric and Kian along the way! I loved the banter and all of the angst. Such a cute and swoony romance that you’ll be sure to enjoy. This one is coming out on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 so please pick this one up and/or add it to your TBR.

Lyric Bishop is a student living with her best friend Kian as they pursue they’re doctorate degrees. Lyric is crafting her dissertation on The Sizzle Paradox, measuring physical and emotional attraction of couples. When she realizes her own love life doesn’t come close to those measured for her study, Kian offers to coach her through fake-dates—with rules—to figure out where she’s falling short in her dating. But will this role-playing affect their existing friendship?

I really enjoyed this book—and finished it in one day! I appreciated the bond and chemistry between Lyric and Kian. I appreciated their growth and self-awareness as the book progressed and was a fan of the dual-perspective.

This is a great, easy read for fans of friends to lovers, found family, and dual POV!

Special thanks to the NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. All thoughts in this review are honest and my own.

I wanted to love this book so much, but it just didn't fit for me. The male perspective wasn't very believable, His voice felt very feminine. Overall the writing seemed juvenile, like a kid trying to write for an adult. Also their relationship was weird. They were both like "Yeah BFF's I'd never see this person as a serious relationship" but then they were also always like "Yeah he/she's so hot and stunning and let me touch you and be so close to you all the time." I'm sorry but none of my best friends male or female have ever acted like this. Also I found it so weird that Lyric comes from this family that believes in crystals and tarot cards, but she's a full fledge scientist. I feel like those two things don't really overlap in real life.

I also felt like this could have benefited from some more editing. There was a low of flowery descriptions that weren't necessary. And how many times do we have to hear Kian's hands were so large and Lyric's were so tiny and petite. It felt a bit stereotypical and not really benefiting the story at all. We get it! Also there were big rants in detail about their doctorate programs that I just didn't find interesting. Maybe an overall theme i'd find interesting but the little details I didn't understand and didn't care to for a romance novel.

With all that said, this book did get more interesting as it went on. The back 50% is much more interesting than the first half, and had that been edited down a bit I think this would have been a much more successful romance.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review! This book releases 6/28!

Sigh. This just wasn't it. Was it a lighthearted summer romance read? Yes. Was it offensive in any way? No. Would it be ok to read on the beach and not get too invested in it? Sure. It tells the tale of doctoral candidates Lyric and Kian, who are longtime platonic best friends. Lyric is working on The Sizzle Paradox, which is a way to assess romantic love and sexual chemistry. The problem is that she is socially awkward and her dates for the project aren't going well. Kian suggests some sample dates with him to help her out and sparks fly. They go from friends to lovers but don't seem able to face it....until they do. My problem with this book was the level of maturity that both characters lacked, and the sense that neither one of them had any sort of growth. The verbal exchanges didn't seem like those of doctoral candidates...more like high schoolers.

Lyric and Kian are best friends and roommates working on completing their dissertations. Lyric’s topic is related to intimacy and compatibility -her Sizzle Paradox - but feels like a fraud because she’s never been in love. Her and Kian are both the king and queen of random hookups, and Kian agrees to “tutor” her on flirting and relationships.

The miscommunication trope is strong in this book, and they both seemed a little immature. Lyric was also really into crystals, which just isn’t my thing. It was cute altogether, with a few spicy scenes.

Hey book lovers! I'm here with a book review for a Netgalley arc of The Sizzle Paradox by Lily Menon (a pen name for Sandhya Menon). I requested this arc after liking Sandhya's book From Twinkle, With Love and LOVING 10 Things I Hate About Pinky. On her website blog, she said she's using Sandhya for her YA books and Lily for her adult books so that parents and librarians can easily tell which books are appropriate for younger readers. The Sizzle Paradox will be published soon and is an easy and fun read for the beach or summer vacation.


About The Book 📚
Title: The Sizzle Paradox

Author: Lily Menon

Publication Date: June 28, 2022

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Suggested Reader Age: Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance
› Lyric and Kian are best friends and roommates. Kian is a big guy with curly dark brown hair, half-Indian heritage and is an environmental chemistry grad student. Lyric is a short, blonde hair blue eyed psychology doctoral student. The Sizzle Paradox is a scale she developed for her psychology thesis. She is studying romantic partners in successful relationships to figure out how they keep the romantic and sexual chemistry alive. Biotech students helped her develop software that can analyze romantic and sexual activity in the brain. She plans to interview couples with high scores to determine what they are doing "right" in their relationship and once she's gathered enough data she will know what makes a successful relationship.

You might think Lyric has first-hand knowledge about long-term relationships, but no. She has struggled to have both a romantic and sexual chemistry with anyone. When she meets a guy who seems like good fit, she somehow messes it up. Kian suggests they can go on "fake" dates so he can try and help her figure out where she's going wrong because he knows she's amazing and doesn't understand why she's not in a relationship. Kian just broke up with his girlfriend due to his fear of commitment. Hmmm...I wonder what will happen?

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 4
› Atmosphere: 4
› Writing Style: 5
› Plot: 5
› Intrigue: 5
› Logic: 8
› Enjoyment: 6

Average 5.3

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★★

› Final Thoughts
• The Sizzle Paradox isn't one of my favourite rom-com reads, but I did have a good time reading it. I'll definitely be checking out more from Lily Menon!



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Not my cup of tea. It just didn’t interest me that much and as someone who gets major secondhand embarrassment, let me tell you, there’s a lot of it. But it was well written, so if you like friends to lovers and don’t get secondhand embarrassment then by all means get this book 😂

I really enjoyed this author's previous book but this story didn't draw me in the same way. Best friends, to one-time lovers, to HEA trope. It's kind of hard to cross the line with your best friend when you also live together. I think that was what made the story difficult in that they really couldn't escape each other and so all the awkwardness was kept in play until someone moves out. I'm not sure why the parents had to be Wiccan, it's like the author was trying to throw in so many diversities with the characters. It was an ok read - 3 1/2 stars.

You're the shizzle to my nizzle! You make my shizzle dizzle!

This was hot! That's what my slang implies. It starts hot; it ends way hotter to the point I kept saying to myself — when would you both see that you should be together?

There are no words to type; if you are in a spicy need for the perfect friends-to-lovers, please my darlings, this is it.

Thank You, SMP Romance, for a wonderful reading journey!

What's your favorite romance troupe? Personally, I am a sucker for #bestfriendstolovers!

📝 Best friends and roommates, Kain and Lyric, are two doctoral students at Columbia University. They both struggle to make long-term relationships work. Kain can't seem to make a long term commitment. Lyric on the other hand, can't get her physical connections to match her emotional ones and vice versa. What worse....Lyric's thesis is all around the science in healthy long-term relationships. How is she supposed to graduate if she can't even understand what love feels like? The solution: to tutor each other. What could go wrong?

What I 🤍:
👩‍🏫 Academic Setting
💕 Best Friends to Lovers
💗 Interracial Relationship
✌️Duel Perspectives
👟 Fast Pace
🌳 Treehouse Date

I REALLY loved the idea of this book! I appreciate reading about women in this setting, because I feel that representation doesn't happen a lot. I also loved the warm connection these two had at the beginning of the book.

With that said, some things didn't work for me, and I was longing for more. This is a miscommunication troupe. So if that's your thing, you'll love this book! Personally, it seems weird miscommunication would happen when two people are best friends for a long period of time. Because of this, I am not quite convinced this relationship would work. 😢 I also wish there was more plot and character devlopment. If I was the editior, I would have cut ✂️ this story apart and rearranged some scenes around. 🧩 That way, readers would be more invested in the MCs.

Prince's Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Steaminess: 🔥🔥🔥
Read If ➡️: You Love Paris Geller from Gilmore Girls or Miscommunication Troupes.

Overall, this was a phenomenal story idea, but it fell a bit flat for me.

Huge thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for a #gifted #arc of this book!

🌟 The Sizzle Paradox comes out June 28! 🌟