AHHH! One million heart eye emojis for Love on the Brain!!! A big thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and Ali Hazelwood for this advance reader copy. Ali Hazelwood simply has done it again – another amazing and clever female protagonist and book boyfriend to add to my list of faves. If you think no one can compare to Adam Carlsen from The Love Hypothesis, think again….hello Levi Ward. *Cue the hot flame emojis*

Bee was such a refreshing character – she’s ambitious, relatable, passionate about her career, and completely real. When she is offered her dream position (lead on a neuroengineering project), she’s over the moon. Until she realizes who her co-lead is, her arch nemesis: Levi Ward. Believing he despised her in graduate school and is sabotaging her now at work, Bee finds herself getting to know the “real” Levi Ward in this satisfying enemies-to-lovers book.

A surprising addition to reading: I learned a lot about Marie Curie! Ali Hazelwood continues to pave the way with creating rom-coms that incorporate STEM effortlessly. The STEM content in both The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain is refreshingly real – specifically about the harsh reality (and unfairness) of working in a male dominated profession. Already eagerly waiting for what comes next from Ali Hazelwood! When this book releases in August 2022, set aside 4-5 hours because you won’t be able to put this down!

This book was a little slow for about the first 20%. It was kind of hard to get into, but once we got into it, oh goodness, hold your horses! This was smart and sexy and fun. I devoured this book!

thank you so much berkeley for sending me this arc

5/5 stars! ali hazelwood has done it again!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. From start to end it always kept my interest peaked, and that’s not some thing I can often say. From the beginning we are obviously introduced to Bee and she has to be one of the more interesting female protagonist I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading the perspective of. I love the way her mind works and how quirky she is she’s also insanely relatable and easy to adore. Bee and Levi’s relationship progression was one of my favorite things about this story. The way the audience new from the jump that he probably has always liked her and her oblivious behavior to it all just did it for me. I’m a sucker for these kind of tropes and this story hit it on the mark every time! I also love that Ali Hazelwood tend to always throw in a conferences in her storylines. I realize this is just a second book but I obviously love that because that allows us to see the force proximity TROPE. Which is executed beautifully in the story, Levi and Bee’s banter is one of my favorite things in this story and honestly I couldn’t get enough of it! I will say some parts of the story were extremely wordy for me, maybe because even though I am a stem major I am an engineer and not a neuroscientist so the constant references to Marie Curie and big science terms sometimes threw me for a loop but that’s just me. I will say what saved the story from getting a 4.5 from me to now getting 5 stars was the ending. I am a whore for climactic endings like that. Like Guy being the bad guy in the end and bringing out a gun??? I enjoyed that so much! I wasn’t expecting that at all that threw me for a loop and I absolutely adored it. I think Ali Hazelwood is one of the first authors I’ve ever seen incorporate such a chaotic ending into a story which you wouldn’t expect anything like that to happen. I really enjoyed reading that it put a smile on my face and honestly did it for me. Also Levi is honestly such a dream, I absolutely adore his character honestly believe he has no flaws the way he’s so hopelessly loved Bee with everything in him! He is a hopeless romantic, just like me and I absolutely love him for it. He also was re-teaching Bee what it felt like to be loved and I just couldn’t get enough of it. All in all I really adore the story if Ali wants to hang out any time she has my attention I will make time for her I absolutely adore her this was amazing.

Another winner by Ali Hazelwood. I was so excited to get this and read it in one sitting. It was so cute and I will read it again. I will also be purchasing a copy for my library.

What a delight! Although this story hits a lot of the same beats as The Love Hypothesis, Hazelwood pull off another great slow burn, enemies to lovers story centered around two competing scientists. Our heroine Bee has finally gotten the opportunity to prove herself by getting appointed to lead a team of scientists in creating a helmet for astronauts. The only difficulty is that she has to work with her nemesis, Levi, who made her graduate school rough through his indifference and avoidance. It seems at first that it's going to be the same thing- Levi is going to ignore her and sink their project. But throw in an imaginary cat, a side goth/sunshine romance, and a Marie Curie, and Levi and Bee realize that maybe they've just misunderstood each other all this time.
The chemistry is, as usual scorching, and this is the type of book that you'll want to sit and read in one sitting because why can't they just kiss already? There's also a delightful You've Got Mail situation going on that will be very obvious to the reader, but I thought it served a great job to let us into Levi's inner workings.
If Ali Hazelwood writes it, we will read it!

It is a true tribute to the power of this book's plot that I read and loved it even though the author for some godforsaken reason decided to switch from 3rd to 1st person in the middle of a trilogy??? But the plot is COMPELLING. It's the perfect "wronged woman" revenge fantasy: your fiance cheated on you, your best friend was the person he cheated with, your boss is a sexist pig, you're being sabotaged at every turn at work... but a sweet, brilliant, handsome man (who is played by Adam Driver) has been hopelessly in love with you for years, supports you unquestioningly, makes all the sexist men at work listen to you, catches you when you swoon at the sight of your cheating ex and then CARRIES YOU out of the room? And then you make groundbreaking scientific discoveries and you get offered your sexist boss's job and then HIS boss's job and you turn it all down so you can live in sweet sweet scientific bliss with Adam Driver and your his-and-hers matching laboratories? Perfect, showstopping, no notes. Love that for all of us.

This is not a story where the heroine has to change to earn her happily-ever after. This book is that picture of Will Smith gesturing to Jada on the red carpet as if to say "here she is, the most perfect woman in the world, adore her" in textual form. And you know what? GOOD.

Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis was one of my favorite reads of 2021 - I have never clicked on a Netgalley linked faster than when I saw her follow-up, Love on the Brain, was available eight months ahead of its publication date. I sped through it in one day, but wanted to savor it - it's one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time. It was so swoony, so delightful, so smart, and so funny - perhaps even better than The Love Hypothesis. I love that Hazelwood is representing women in STEM in her romances - she knows her stuff, but it never feels overly academic for non-scientists to engage with (and I ended up learning a lot from this book about brain science). Can't wait for everyone else to discover this book, and I'm so excited to read more of Hazelwood's work!

OMFG.

This book was so damn cute and Levi Ward deserves a spot in my top book boyfriends list because WOW what a man. Love on the Brain brings so many tropes to the table that I love: enemies to lovers, yearning, online friends but at odds in real life, forced proximity, DID I SAY YEARNING (Levi is such a simp I adore it), PRAISE

Also, my sister works in neuroscience so I felt like this was an awesome little peek into her world.

The only reason I am docking a star is because some of the central angst surrounds miscommunication, and it just lasted a bit too long for my taste. Like girl just tell him you're not married?? I know you're embarrassed and assume he already knows, but SPEAK.

I always worry about an author's sophomore book. Sometimes they just can't keep the same magic they had in their first book. Ali Hazelwood not only kept the magic, but created a book so satisfying and heart warming, I just couldn't put it down. Levi and his absolute love for Bee, the unrequited and pining was so gut wrenching, the moment he realizes that he has a chance the sweet, subtle, gentle way he goes about it had me holding my breath. Bee's utter unwillingness to believe that he truly still loves her, her, just how she is, I just wanted to shake her and make her see the light.

I loved these characters and rooted for them throughout the whole book. I love the emphasis on Marie Curie and loved the factoids scattered throughout. I will literally read anything Ali Hazelwood writes, even if it's just a grocery list. I will recommend this book far and wide!

Ali did it again! Love on the Brain was an incredibly fun, sweet read that got me so absorbed I finished it in under 24 hours, I can't wait for it to come out to I can put my copy in its place next to The Love Hypothesis. Thank you for the early copy, I can't wait to read Ali's next book!

I was fine with it as is until chapter 24. I guess certain “twists” happen in Woody Allen movies, but he’s nuts, and his movies always contain wonky undercurrents, so basically anything goes. Here, I felt like I got a hiccup in the middle of a perfectly good hamburger. The story corrected itself immediately after chapter 24, so... nice.... but it detracted a bit from the total experience. Likable characters, an interesting examination of academic politics, the gender gap, and a modern sensibility that wasn’t overbearing lent authenticity to this and separated it from the pack. I’d recommend it, in spite of what I said.

Bee Königswasser, a scientist with NIH is given the chance of a lifetime to team up with NASA and it’s a dream come true for her! She’s so ecstatic…until she finds out that she will be working alongside Levi Ward - her archnemesis. Levi and Bee were in grad school together, but Levi was always so cool and reserved and hated Bee. She’s not sure anything’s changed in the past few years and is dreading working with him.

The project starts off immediately on the wrong foot. Being a woman in the STEM field, Bee should be used to it, but she was hopeful and excited. Soon, Bee’s not sure that she can put up with all the crap she’s having to deal with. Not to mention that Levi either ignores her or is trying to sabotage her every step of the way. But not everything is at is seems and soon Bee finds herself working alongside Levi. Will these two be able to work past their differences to work together?

<SPOILERS>

After reading The Love Hypothesis, I was highly anticipating Love on the Brain. And oh, how I loved Levi and Bee together. Their chemistry and banter was evident right from the beginning. This enemies-to-lovers, second chance romance was equally swoony and funny. I constantly had a grin on myself while reading it.

And while so many parts of Love on the Brain had me laughing out loud, there were also topics of grief and loneliness that I really resonated with. The grief of losing a best friend, the grief of losing parents, the grief and loneliness of having family members that never accept you for who you are. These topics were woven throughout this romance so perfectly.

Read Love on the Brain If you love Star Wars, cats, Marie Curie, texting ala You’ve Got Mail, steamy scenes, nerdy jokes and lots of puns…so yeah I could go and on and on, but please add this book to your TBR!

Funny, nerdy, sweet, and a perfect sophomore book!!

Like most other romance book lovers, as soon as I saw the newest Ali Hazelwood title, I squealed. I moved it to the top of my queue and then read it in a night. My god, is this a superb second novel in this series. This plot, the science, the women in STEM, the protagonists. All of it was just *chef's kiss*. Bee was one of my favorite characters. Levi! Ugh, I just adored Levi. You know when you're reading a book, and then you're halfway done and get preemptively sad that it'll be over? I felt it with this one. I wanted to be in this world after it ended, and was sad to leave these new pals. Ali Hazelwood writes perfectly nerdy characters with such refreshing plots.

Bee was a super relatable science nerd who has had so many people leave her in her life that she's promised herself to never put herself in a situation where she would be leave-able. No dating (they could die or leave you!), no cats (they'll die in 13-17 years!), and just focusing on her career will keep her safe. That changes when she's placed as a co-lead on a NASA project with her nemesis Levi. Levi has hated Bee since grad school (for reasons that were never clear to Bee), and now he's basically sabotaging any progress on this project. Toss in some incredible research assistants, coworkers and some super fun plot twists, and you get an incredible book. LOVED Love on the Brain!

This was absolutely EVERYTHING I was hoping for!! Bee is a strong woman in STEM lead that I adored! She is a hardcore Marie Curie fangirl with an anonymous twitter account which worked perfectly with the You've got mail storyline. All the Marie Curie facts sprinkled through the story were lovely biographical tidbits of an outstanding woman scientist.

The male lead, Levi was the best kind of book boyfriend (I only wished we got in his head more). Their story starts off as an enemies to lovers romance with a great dose of secret pining (my favorite trope!). Throw in some cute cats, a twin sister, a quirky research assistant, a great collaborative NASA science project and some deliciously steamy open door scenes.

There was nothing I didn't love about this book. For me it was even better than The love hypothesis. Highly recommended for fans of Susannah Nix's Applied Electromagnetism (another STEM/Engineering office enemies to lovers romance). HUGE thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Books for my advance review copy! Go pre-order your copy immediately, you will not be sorry!

Bee and Levi are just wonderful. I loved the story, the characters, even the science (and I am so unscientific lol)! It’s just a simply spectacular book!

This puts the STEM in Steamy, I love the steamy scenes. Hazel wood is great with steam, but this one got a tad formulaic when comparing to Love Hypothesis, the pacing and characters were almost a direct copy of her previous. Still super enjoyable!

this book was so cute. i loved the love hypothesis and i loved this one as well. i loved bee, she was cute and funny. also the cats were great!

It would be quite an understatement to say that, I absolutely loved it because not only I did and do, but also the romance, the writing, the angst, chemistry and most importantly the characters were so beautiful and loveable that I can’t ask for anything more.

Ugh this was very cute!! Throughout my entire reading, I was smiling like a loon with love emojis shining bright in my eyes. I really liked the MCs, Levi and Bee. Although, I’m not a big fan of miscommunication trope, I found that it gave the story an edge and overall played a bigger part in bringing the MCs closer and giving them an insight of them and their respective feelings. Along with that, I really liked the writing; it was witty, so damn engaging. I just loved it. However, I have a teeny tiny complaint, that I did with the Love hypothesis too, and it’s about the ending, I find it a tad bit rushed. As, I would love to see that epic meeting between Levi and Bee’s side of family.

Full review posted to links after embargo date.

I was lukewarm on The Love Hypothesis, and kind of expected to be lukewarm on this one too. Nope. Sucked me in and stole my heart. A lot of my issues with TLH are worked out here: it’s not (to my knowledge) Reylo fanfic where the hero shares the actor’s first name, we get a little more backstory on Levi, the sexism in academia is worked in better, and the spice level is upped. There’s also a fairly predictable (in a good way) little mystery woven in, which is super fun.

The whole thing hinges on a few miscommunications, which I think some readers will ding it for, but they seemed relatively believable to me. It was a very enjoyable four hours of watching one absolute brussel sprout realize another brussel sprout has been head over heels for her for years.