Short, sweet, and steamy. This is a quick great read. Two students who happen to be best friends are working to finish their masters. This story is a cross between friends-to-lovers and fake dating. The two main characters are roommates who are best friends. When one roommate feels stuck in her relationship research the other jumps in to help.

This story is sweet and the spice is definitely there. I liked the story and the romance. The one frustration I had is that even though both the main characters were smart individuals they really were obtuse ... a little painful so. That being said that's not uncommon in the romance world and it wasn't enough to get me to put down the book. The steamy scenes were well written and fun to read. I wanted a little bit more about the main characters and their family dynamics I think it would have made some of the scenes more enjoyable.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who needs a lightweight contemporary romance. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to rad this book!

This was the perfect friends to lovers romance with a good combination of some of my favorite tropes. You get two roommates that are best friends and agree to fake date, for a science experiment about sexual chemistry. Lyric Bishop studies sexual chemistry & what makes a relationship be successful between romantic partners. Yet, she hasn’t had any successful relationships, and is struggling to complete her doctoral thesis. She created “The Sizzle Paradox” as a way to scientifically test the sexual chemistry in those romantically and sexually involved. How can she successfully complete her PhD thesis, if she can’t scientifically pass her own sizzle paradox? Which is where her good friend, and roommate, Kian Montgomery comes in. He has zero problem in the sizzle and chemistry department, and offers to fake date Lyric as a way for her to get an insight on what it’s really like to date her. They agree to go on dates and Kian will tutor her on how to bring out that sizzling chemistry Lyric has built up, in order for her to complete her thesis. The only thing is, neither of them were expecting there to be so much sexual tension between them, especially since they live together.

This book is such a treat & the slight miscommunications between them kept me very intrigued! If you enjoyed The Love Hypothesis or The Kiss Quotient, this one is for you!

You can expect;
* Friends to Lovers
* Witty Banter
* Fake Dating
* Friends to Lovers
* STEM Romance
* Slow Burn
* Open Door Romance
* LGBTQIA+ Rep

This one wouldn't hold my attention it was kinda flat to me and I ended up not finishing it about half through.

I loved Lyric and Kian’s story. If you love friends to lovers stories, you will love this one! This has lots of communication mishaps and cute will they/won’t they moments! Everyone seemed to know they were perfect for each other before them.

I didn't love this book, but I also didn't hate it. At its core, it was a STEM-ish romantic comedy with aspirations of being the next Love Hypothesis. In execution, it was a sweet love story burdened with overly heavy-handed description and misunderstandings that would have been easily resolved with a single conversation. I also didn't like the dual narrator with both leads having chapters in alternating voices. It felt like a shortcut to get inside both characters heads without having to do the work to make their actions speak.

At the end of the day, this book is short and fluffy. I have wasted time reading much worse books. If you're looking for a light read, this might fit the bill.

I give this Book a Solid 3 stars. For a lite, fun, smutty read, it was satisfying. I felt the characters could have been very fun series, if they were given more depth and story building! Overall, I liked the story, the science, but it left me feeling like it lacked some fullness to the entire plot, character, and progress. It’s definitely a fun summer read.

The sizzle paradox is a cute and funny, well written story about friends turned lovers, including the “dating for informative reasons” trope and I really thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were believable and interesting, the plot was too, the side characters had depth but didn’t overshadow the main characters and the world was built enough to hold it all in.

I listened to this book on audio, and the female narrator was wonderful, I would absolutely trust her to tell me a story again. However. This story was read by a dual cast, and the male narrator, while he has a nice voice… his intonation really took me out of the story during his parts. To the point where I dreaded them.

Between the story and the female narrator I was able to push through the male narrators parts. He had a nice voice, but he honestly sounded like he wasn’t listening to the words he was saying most of the time, or didn’t know how to convey punctuation. Often at the ends of sentences his tone would go up for no reason, or didn’t when it should have.

All around I really did enjoy this book, and I would have given it 5 stars, if not for the male narrator.

This was my second read from Lily Menon. I remember quite enjoying Make Up Break Up. I found that it took me quite a bit to get into this one (nearly until the end), as it was quite a slow storyline. I give it a 3.5 star rating, rounded up to 4. I feel terrible marking down a Canadian author, but...

The premise is college grad student roommates that have been friends for many years (he's nearly at graduation) - one is in engineering and the other in psychology, and they have always just been in the friendzone. Lyric needs to run an experiment to find more data for her Sizzle Paradox, and finds that all the data she collects from her own dates doesn't work - she can't find love for herself, and how can she interview folks about love if she can't find it herself. Kian just broke up with his long-time girlfriend and agrees to help Lyric out by going on some test dates, trying to help her figure out what she might be doing wrong. The switch from friendzone to something more seems a struggle, when something starts to sizzle where it never did before. Seems a mistake that they are both afraid of, and of course no one knows where to go from there.

The very slow burn, friends to lovers storyline is extremely slow burn - a little bit too slow and drawn out. I think there was a lot that could have been cut, things could have been sped up and perhaps some things presented a little differently to make it a bit more exciting, to raise my rating. It wasn't that it was a bad or poorly written book, not at all! It was just very slow, and very drawn out, and didn't keep my attention (it took me 3 days to read instead of only 1, as it might have normally). I would recommend this book for those that love a college romance and are ok with very drawn-out slow burn romances and looking for a STEM read. Perhaps go for the ebook.

For the narrators - I felt that the female narrator, Brittany Pressley, did a very good job. She is a narrator I have long enjoyed. The male narrator was new to me, Abhay Ahluwalia, and I really felt that his voice did not suit the character or the book. I give Brittany a 4.5 star rating for her excellent performance, but only a 2.5-3 for Abhay as he was not very expressive (felt like he was only reading the words and not performing at all), not a good fit.

I received an advance listen review copy from NetGalley and Macmillan audio, and this is my honest feedback.

I listened to the audio version on the app supported by NetGalley. Audio quality was good, but the app doesn't allow the listener to select a useful speed. I listen to most books at 1.1x or 1.15x, but this app only allows speeds in .25 increments. 1.25x was just too fast, so I had to settle for 1x. The female narrator did a good job and seemed to represent the personality of the main character, Lyric Bishop, well, but the male narrator was downright annoying. He mispronounced words, (bedraggled was read as BED-raggled), read dialogue in a stilted manner, had long pauses between words and had the delivery of a teenaged valley girl with a lilt at the end of each sentence that drove me crazy. Even though I somewhat enjoyed the story line, that narrator almost made me want to quit.

Lyric Bishop and Kian Montgomery are both doctoral students in New York, and have been best friends and roommates for several years, during which time they've maintained a platonic relationship. Lyric's doctoral project relates to the sizzle paradox, which is the study of sexual chemistry and what makes a long-term relationship work. She's young for a doctoral student, and has had only two relationships, both of which didn't last long. Kian, on the other hand, a "chick magnet", has had many females in his life, though currently he's not in a committed relationship.

Kian agrees to "tutor" Lyric in being better at dating and attracting men and they go on a few fake dates. Predictably, things get hot and steamy soon, and rather than bringing them closer together, everything between them becomes awkward. In the way of romance novels, you know it will eventually all work out, but there will be bumps along the way.

Lyric is rather addle-brained for a PhD candidate, and Kian comes across as a womanizing sleeze at times, so casting them as doctoral students probably wasn't the best plot device, but otherwise the novel is amusing and held my interest.

The Sizzle Paradox is like if someone was asked to write The Love Hypothesis having only read the title and bare-bones premise of “academics in love.” Unfortunately, it takes this concept in the most uninteresting, least-convincing fake dating execution I think I’ve ever seen. Friends to lovers and fake dating are two tropes that function fine on their own, and even better together. They completely fall flat in this story though as it managed to create two leads with a dynamic that lacked so little chemistry I wished I was reading an actual academic textbook instead. Perhaps even one about chemistry.

Despite never having gone to grad school myself, I’m convinced the author learned all she did by reading about it in other romance novels. Neither Lyric nor Kian read like the eternally frazzled, thesis-fixated grad students I witnessed at university who live in their office and spend all of their “free” time in the labs. And Lyric’s thesis is so absurdly vague and woo-woo that I’m surprised the author had the gall to write her as a STEM student, let alone a STEM student at an Ivy League college. She doesn’t even come across as someone pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science degree, which I can speak to. It’s always a bit awkward to read about characters in STEM fields when it’s obvious the author lacks experience in the field, which is why something like this reads as inauthentic with that premise more so as a prop and less a necessary character trait. And that’s the exact opposite reason why Ali Hazelwood’s character work is so fun to read.

I would not recommend this book for fans of The Love Hypothesis, and do find the marketing around that concept to be disingenuous. There is a completely different dynamic between the two main leads with The Sizzle Paradox being entirely into friends-to-lovers and lacks all of the tension and mutual pining that made TLH so compulsively readable. And while I’ll give this book two stars because it wasn’t outwardly offensive, it’s still a story that I think I would have been better off not having read.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan Audio for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

Lyric and Kian are roommates and best friends. They are both finishing school trying to figure out this thing called love. Lyric is trying to finish her thesis on romance and needs a little help in that department. She is socially awkward, looking for the perfect person. Enter her best friend, Kian. Tall, dark, handsome, socially perfect in all ways. They decided to fake-date and he will teach her how to find love and gain some confidence in that department. Their relationship struggles back and forth between what is fake and what is real and then toss in some communication breakdowns you are left with a cute little romance story. This is a slow burn of a story and you are left at times feeling frustrated that they won't just communicate with each other, but that just adds to the cuteness of the story and the desire the see where life is going to take them.
A great light hearted listen, with great dual narrators!

The Sizzle Paradox follows the story of Lyric, a scientist who studies sexual chemistry among partners and her best friend, Kian, who is a graduate student at the same school. Lyric is majorly slacking in her thesis about “The Sizzle Paradox”. Kian then offers to “tutor” Lyric in the area of dating - all in the name of science - and their relationship unfolds from there!

Quick thoughts:
LIKES - I loved the STEM aspect of the book! I also enjoyed the friendship and inevitably, the relationship between the main characters.

DISLIKES - The book was a bit frustrating in that there was a significant lack of communication between Lyric and Kian that was the real root of their problems.

Read if you like:
*friends to lovers
*fake dating
*dual POVs
*slow burn
*romance wrapped up in STEM
*LGBTQIA+ representation

💖✨ the sizzle paradox review ✨💖

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"if there's one thing this past year has taught me, it's that i can't stand the thought of life without you." 💬

🌿✨ SYNOPSIS ✨🌿

lyric bishop feels like a fraud. she's beginning to think something is wrong with her. she is studying what makes relationships work, but has yet to find it for herself. kian, her best friend & roommate has no trouble getting dates. he steps in to tutor her on how to act on a date. can he help her get one step closer to cracking the sizzle paradox once and for all?

🌿✨ MY THOUGHTS ✨🌿

if you love books like the kiss quotient and the love hypothesis, the friends to lovers trope, women in stem, light & fluffy romantic comedies with a hint of spice this book is for you!!

alexa play you belong with me by taylor swift 🎶

🌟 RATING: ★★★★☆
🌶️🥵 RATING: ★★☆☆☆

honestly, i was a little worried about this one. i've been hearing mixed reviews, but i personally really enjoyed it. it was a fun ride & that's what truly matters. kian and lyric were a little predictable, but gave me jess & nick vibes from new girl except they're both insanely smart human!! although, they're mildly infuriating for being so blind & not realizing their feelings sooner. i still thought they had amazing chemistry!! the witty banter was everything. the only reason it wasn't a five star read for me was that i struggled getting into the physical copy, but i love the audiobook!! the narrators did a phenomenal job bringing this story to life!!

thank you @macmillan.audio @stmartinspress @goodreads & @netgalley for the arc. i love y'all so much!! 💖🥰

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard a familiar voice of one of my favorite narrators Brittany Pressley. Somehow, all the books she read I loved. May be it is something in her voice than give the book extra points from the beginning.
I'm not really a huge fan of stories from friends to lovers. One of the reason could be personal, cause all of my best friends was short, blond and nothing to compair to Kian Montgomery. The whole story is really sweet. Make you kind of feel nostalgic of your college time.
Very light summer reading. Took me a day and a half to finish it.

I liked this book! Overall, this is a very cute story with a best friend to lover trope which I can appreciate. However, there was nothing that really stuck out to me in this contemporary romance. I really enjoyed the narrators in the audiobook, but I was hoping for something more throughout the book. I would recommend if you are looking for a quick, light read.

Review - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 🧪

🗓Pub Date: June 28, 2022 (out now!)

The Sizzle Paradox was developed by Lyric Bishop and used to test chemistry between partners while conducting research on sexual chemistry. After struggling in her own romantic life, Kian Montgomery, her best friend and roommate, offers to tutor Lyric in dating.

During his tutor sessions with Lyric, Kian finds Lyric’s flaws in dating and tries to help her overcome them. Kian is just trying to help Lyric with her own experiment with sexual chemistry, but does it end up being too much for the both of them? Or does Lyric finally get the answer to her own Sizzle Paradox?

I did enjoy that this was told from dual POV’s. I always like being able to see both characters POV and feelings. I also found it hard to relate to any of the characters. Lyric came off as very naïve and immature, while she was supposed to be a very smart and intellectual character.

I listened to this as an audiobook, thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio. I really enjoyed Lyric’s narration but was not a fan of Kian’s. I really struggled to get through his chapters and felt his narrator lacked any and all emotion while reading.

I always love a fake dating and friends to lovers trope, especially with a little bit of spice. With that being said, I felt like this was a super slow burn and the ending was really rushed.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've loved other books by Lily Menon but for some reason, this one didn't work for me as much as the others. That doesn't mean I didn't like it, I did! It was just not what I was expecting.

I very much enjoyed this book, so it was a pleasure to listen to the audiobook, as well. The female narrator was spot-on. The male narrator was a little less so, but not enough to derail my enjoyment! The Sizzle Paradox is a friends-to-lovers rom-com set at Columbia University in NYC. Lyric and Kian are roommates and best friends, both in search of a relationship - but sure that any feelings between the two of them would be a disaster. Or would it?

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audio-ARC in return for an honest review.

I wanted to love this so much more than I did - after all, who doesn't love a nerdy heroine?! Unfortunately, Lily was just... obnoxious. If you want a nerdy romance, read <i>The Love Hypothesis</i> or <i>The Kiss Quotient</i>.

Is it possible that your best friend could also be your soulmate?

This was an enjoyable listen, perfect for fans of The Love Hypothesis or The Soulmate Equation!
The writing flowed smoothly and The Sizzle Paradox could easily be devoured in a single day - a great summer or beach read.

For years Kian and Lyric have been one another's family, roommates, sounding boards and co-conspirators. But when they decide to look to each other for dating advice, things become tricky. I loved the banter between the two friends, but because I liked them so much as friends it was hard for me to transition to shipping them as a couple.

The late in the book conflict felt forced for the sake of a final climax and found myself yelling out at the recording "just have a conversation!". I will say though that I think this is the sign of a good writer - someone who can make you feel, even if a character or situation isn't your favourite.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lily Menon and St. Martin's Griffin for an advanced copy. This is my honest review.