This book alternates between Lyric Bishop, a doctoral student studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners, and her roommate and best friend Kian Montgomery. Lyric is having difficulty connecting with her research because she feels like she is unable to have a genuine relationship complete with both sexual chemistry and an
emotional connection. Kian has just ended a relationship, as most of his relationships are short term. Kian decides to tutor Lyric on how to connect with a date and in return Lyric helps set him up on a date with her friend. But of course feelings between the two get involved to complicate things.

I really enjoyed the academic setting. Lyric was younger than most doctoral students because she finished high school and undergrad early. I also liked Kian and thought he had nice moments of growth, both internally and with his mother and Lyric. I also liked the side characters, especially Lyric's other best friend. She is very supportive to Lyric and often has great advice for her, even if Lyric doesn't always take it. I also really enjoyed Lyric's family and their interactions.

The one thing I struggled with is how little the two of them communicated. A lot of their conflict could have been solved sooner if they would have just told each other how they felt. Even in the last few chapters of the book they were barely communicated and making huge life decisions based on assumptions. Lyric in particular read very young, and I grew frustrated at some of her thoughts and actions.

Overall this book was enjoyable, but left a desire for something more.

Lyric and Kian are best friends, they met in college and hit it off eventually becoming roommates. They share everything with each other and are incredibly close, relying on each other to get through their strenuous degree programs. Lyric has chosen to undertake the study of sexual chemistry, creating what she calls the Sizzle Paradox. It is the study of both physical and emotional attraction. The problem is she cannot find someone who she is compatible with to the prove her theory. She feels like a major fraud. Kian who is getting ready to graduate from his program, is trying to help lyric before he moves out, so he offers to tutor her to help her with her dating life.

I liked the fact that Lyric was a super smart driven girl. She graduated high school early and entered college and her major program for her degree at a young age. Kian was a incredibly supportive character to Lyric and did all the typical things a best friend should do and more. I also really enjoyed the academic element to this book.

What didn’t really work for me was, the entire book everyone the two MC’s talk to (and I mean almost every other character in this book) suggests that they would be perfect for each other and yet for Lyric and Kian a relationship between them is not even on their radar. But yet Lyric mentions laying in Kians lap and cuddling on the couch. I wouldn’t associate those things with my platonic friends. It was frustratingly obvious they had deeper feelings for each other that neither of the characters was aware enough to realize. The ending also felt rushed the huge conflict at the end of the book had been built up so much that I felt the resolution was to easy and smooth for what it was.

Because I listened to the audiobook version I want to say how absolutely amazing Brittany Pressley is at narration. I’ve listened to several books that she has read and every time she does a phenomenal job! Abhay Ahluwalia was the second narrator for the book, while I do enjoy switching voices for the different POV I found his voice to be a little flat and monotone.

Over all it was a cute romcom with a HEA ending. If your into science and friend to lovers or college romances this will be a great book for you.

-friends to lovers
-STEM grads
-new adult
-Fake dating
-Releases 6/28

I requested this book from Netgalley as an audiobook ARC because of the comparison to The Kiss Quotient in the blurb and because the heroine is in STEM, despite the fact that I’m pretty picky about the friends-to-lovers trope, unfortunately I think that set my expectations a little too high. I didn’t hate this book at all, it was cute and I liked the friendship between the two characters, but this felt more new adulty than I was expecting, and I just haven’t been a big fan of new adult lately. There were definitely moments in this that I loved and the book kept my attention, but it wasn’t anything that particularly stood out to me

In The Sizzle Paradox, we have Lyric Bishop who is conducting research on sexual chemistry between partners and Kian Montgomery her college best friend/roommate who is a little bored with his dating life. When Lyric starts to feel a little defeated in how her research is going,Kian proposes that they help each other out with their romantic problems. Kian is going to tutor her and Lyric is going to set him up.

As usual romantic feelings grow between the two best friends. Overall, I didn’t love this story. We get a chunk of the way through the book before anything happens between these two characters. I wish it was more of a slow burn major physical attraction between these two characters but it was quite boring. These opinions are my own and if you feel like you would enjoy this then pick it up! But if you are like me and are picky with what books you pick up and only want to read things you know you will enjoy then I would skip this one. I will recommend picking it up and reading it physically rather than the audiobook. I received an early recording of this audiobook from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you for the opportunity to listen!) With that being said I did not enjoy the audiobook. I didn’t care for the narrators either. Maybe if I had read this physically rather than listen to it I would’ve enjoyed it a little bit more but unfortunately I went with the audiobook.

As previously stated all opinions are my own if you feel like you would enjoy this then by all means pick it up!

*Thank you to NetGalleyand the publisher for the opportunity to listen to an early recording of this audiobook.

The absolute HOT read of the summer! This was definitely sizzling and I enjoyed every minute of it. The narrators really kept me hooked and I wanted to hear more. Abhay Ahluwalia really brought the sexy Kian to life and Brittany Pressley emoted so well, I was swooning alongside Lyric.

A great, fun read and wished their trip to London would have been longer but well worth the buildup overall!

Thanks to the wonderful Lily Menon for writing such a great love story built with a unique love scale (SPS) and to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the amazing ALC!

This was really painful to listen to. The female narrator paired with the way the story was written made the FMC sounds like a teenager.

The male narrator was a lot better.

In general I was not a fan of this story. The whole sizzle paradox thing seemed kind of silly.

The Sizzle Paradox is a dual POV best friends to lovers story about Lyric and Kian. I was excited upon reading the blurb because I love a friends to lovers done right and this one had some unique characters.

Lyric Bishop studies sexual chemistry and what makes long-term relationships work for her doctoral thesis. She’s struggling to find real experience in her personal life, until her best friend/roommate Kian offers to “tutor her” with dating lessons. These lessons slowly start to blur the lines they’ve drawn in their friendship and neither know what to do when they start seeing their platonic roommate in a different light.

While the idea of the story was unique and exciting, it unfortunately fell flat for me. The relationship between Lyric and Kian was very slow burn as expected, but how they went from friends with zero feelings to people with intense attraction for each other was rapid speed. There wasn’t proper build up for me. Then, there was a major miscommunication factor after they give into their physical attraction and that’s one of my biggest issue with books. With how strong their friendship was, we could have got a great build up during all the dating lessons, but that’s not what happened.

I listened to the audiobook version and the two narrators were new to me. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and can be picky about the narrators I listen to so I was nervous, but they did not disappoint. The narrators are what made me continue the story and want to finish it through. They did an excellent job bringing Lyric and Kian to life.

Tropes: best friends to lovers, forced proximity/roommates, lessons romance, grad students, hidden feelings

I thought this was so cute! I usually like enemies-to-lovers over friends-to-lovers, but this one was adorable and I did enjoy it. I really liked both of the main characters. Lyric and Kian are best friends going on SEVEN YEARS, and they are also roommates. It's always funny to me when two friends have NO IDEA they're actually in love, even though everyone else can clearly see it... One thing that did annoy me was the constant miscommunication (one of my least favorite tropes). If they had both been honest and upfront right away, they could have saved themselves a lot of heartache! Overall, this is a quick, lighthearted romance perfect for a summer read.

Read if you enjoy:
• dual POVs
• fake dating
• friends to lovers
• best friends/roommates
• strong female lead
• grad school

I listened to the audiobook version of this, and I thought it was great. I love the Lyrics narrator, but Kian's definitely wasn't my favorite that I've heard, but that's a personal preference and didn't take away from the quality of the recording.

Thank you St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for this ALC in exchange for an honest review. This book is due for publication 6/28/22 . This review will be posted to my blogs & Amazon closer to publication day!

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What a cute story! Lyric and Kian have the exact type of friendship everyone strives for. It was frustrating to be on the outside and not understanding how they can't possibly see the feelings they had for each other! Overall, the characters were quirky and easy to fall in love with, the storyline was believable, and the romance was steamy! Thank you, NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and Lily Menon for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook ARC.

The Sizzle Paradox was quite adorable. Lyric is working on her psychology doctoral thesis: the sizzle paradox - how partners react chemically that show physical and emotional desire. At times Lyric was a little frustrating as she was unable to see and use the data because it wasn't solving her love life problems. But as a scientist you've got to set that aside.

Kian is her friend and roommate. Kian offers to tutor Lyric to help her out and Lyric offers to set him up in return. This brought in a few funny moments, as well as some steamy ones. They have some real chemistry together, and it was easy to see from the beginning that they were meant to be.

Their journey may have been a little rocky, but it was worth the ride.

Friends to lovers trope? Science and post-graduate education setting? Sign me up! "The Sizzle Paradox" sets itself up to be a cute story with an interesting premise, however it didn't follow up with execution. I found this book to be slow moving, with none of the the sizzle or romance sparking between the main characters until about half way through. I also had a difficult time connecting to these doctoral students, who acted like high school students with crushes and poor communication skills.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book and really enjoyed the female narration for Lyric. I found her reading to be spot on for how I would picture the character of Lyric. For the male narration, I struggled with his cadence, and how he came across as almost robotic.

The ending to the book was sweet and enjoyable, however this is not a book I would recommend for someone looking for a fun rom-com read.

Lyric and Kian are roommates and best friends attending Columbia together as they complete their doctorate programs. This is a romance, so of course, they both have hidden feelings for each other which get more intense as the story goes on and they go on mock-dates to help Lyric with her doctorate research. I had a hard time buying that these two could actually be in a doctorate program, especially our female lead, Lyric, but it is a work of fiction. I think this is a great light beach read for the summer, but not as good as books with similar plots, like The Kiss Quotient.

Also, I listened to the audiobook version. I love audiobooks and I like to include a review of the narrators. A great narrator makes a huge difference in an audiobook as the narrator is essentially acting out the story. I really enjoyed Brittany Pressley's portrayal of Lyric. Pressley is a very good storyteller and demonstrates a great range of emotions in her portrayal. On the other hand, I found Abhay Ahluwalia's reading to be very stiff and not quite at the same level as Pressley. When I first heard him, I actually stopped in my tracks and did not know if I could keep listening to the book because he sounded a bit robotic, to me. They are definitely at different stages of their voice-work careers. Buy the Kindle or paperback!


I received this ARC in audiobook format from NetGalley and the publishers to read and review. All statements above are my own true opinion after fully listening to this audiobook

I thought this audiobook was really cute, as long as you can not get hung up on the topic of Lyric's study topic for her grad paper. It wasn't super realistic, but if you go into it just looking to enjoy the friends to lovers trope and view it as lighthearted, it works. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and I loved the sexual tension between them once Kian decided to try to help Lyric with her dating life by giving her "lessons". I was more than ready for the two of them to get together!

The narration by good, but the pacing by the male narrator could have been better sometimes.

Thanks to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

Lyric and Kian are both students finishing up their doctoral studies and BFF’s who live together. Lyric is studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for healthy happy long term relationships. She feels like a fraud as she has never been in one herself and acts like an immature goofball with men. Well, all of them except Kian. As she feels in need of some real life experience to help with her thesis she’s at a loss until Kian volunteers to tutor her on dating and all that goes along with it. Their tutoring sessions start off well until actual feelings get involved on both sides with neither of them willing to admit it to each other things go all FUBAR. Its a cute story, but considering they’re both adults they come off as children at times. For goodness sakes talk to each other. It all goes wrong until the tow of them figure it all out with a sweet HEA. It was a sweet story of friendship to romance, but at times found some of their dialogue and actions a little bit cringe worthy. It’s light and sweet listen. The narration was so so for me. I found the male narration stilted and like he was reading the story for the first time.

This wasn't for me. The pacing felt slow, and I did not care for the main characters. Lyric and Kian came off to me like teenagers and not twenty-somethings in grad school. I didn't buy them being best friends for so many years; they are terrible communicators without much chemistry. Their romance felt forced to me and not organic.

Not to mention Lyric's project itself. It felt ill-defined, and it didn't make sense to me why she would be the subject of her studies rather than studying other people to stay objective. The way the grad school experience was described felt very inauthentic as well. I really had to ignore the logistics to keep reading.

I'm normally all for fake dating/friends to lovers, but this book wasn't it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy!

This was a quick, light book featuring some of the things I like best:

✔️Dual POV
✔️Fake dating
✔️Nerdy characters
✔️A sprinkling of spice 🔥

I started it in print and ended up listening to almost all of the audiobook instead. I think that this helped me get through it quickly and actually finish it.

Friends to lovers is not my favorite trope but it is one I enjoy enough to read pretty regularly. The trope development was okay (at times less believable than others) but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite FTL plot.

The main character seemed kind of immature and not as “intellectual” as she was supposed to be. It felt like there were inconsistencies between how the characters were described and how they acted. I found the lack of development in characters to be off-putting. For me, simply identifying that you’re in love with someone doesn’t automatically count as development when all other behavior stays the same.

For me, the ending felt rushed. Things built up and then resolved quickly to where I felt like I missed something in between (I won’t give details to avoid spoilers).

Friends to lovers is not a trope that works for me, and I could tell from the beginning that the plot just wasn’t going to play out in a way that kept my interest. The narrators for the audiobook did a great job, it just wasn’t the story for me.

This book has the perfect set up for something I'd typically love, but it just didn't work for me. I found both Lyric and Kian to be quite immature, neither acting like the 24/26 year old they were. Lyric's insistence on setting up Kian with Zoey was frustrating and felt almost stale to me. I also struggled with a few things feeling incredibly unrealistic. For example, how did they both get dates on a *checks notes* Target Run? I don't know about you, but I have never gone to Target looking for a hook up. I could have believed it if *one* of them got a date out of this target run but both of them? I couldn't get over that.

I think the primary problem for me was the comparison to The Kiss Quotient. Going in, I had high expectations for both the romance and honestly, some sort of disability rep. I feel like Lyric is just "socially awkward" which is fine because plenty of people are, but it's usually about so so much more than that and I'd prefer to have seen a little more exploration into that topic. Granted, I did DNF and there may have been more later on in the book so I would still encourage you to give this one a shot and decide for yourself.

DNF @ 39%

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

This is a great audiobook and i loved the dual narration that is not always the case in most audiobooks. Lyric is trying to get her doctorate and is working on her thesis in why people are attracted to each other and the body's response to it. it was great getting to know lyric as she worked on this project and the data and results she found. she had gone on dates to see the body's chemical reaction. Why will a beautiful have no chemistry and an average guy have some off the charts. for research purposes of course. she shares the apartment with her best friend she has had for 7 years. The relationship between lyric and kian makes you believe into the friends to lovers trope. Kian offers to help lyric with her data and they "fake date".
i give this book five stars and would highly recommend to those who like romcoms and the friends to lovers books

This was another romcom with the miscommunication as the main plot point, and I just have a hard time with that. These two were best friends for years, but when they finally start to realize they've developed actual romantic feelings for the other, even after several instances of physical expression, they STILL think the other couldn't possibly be interested and run away rather than express how they feel. And Lyric continued to push Kian to Zoe, even after they both showed a lack of interest. There's something about the "I can't see past my own nose" that just really bothers me in a romance.

The audio was ok, but it was really hard to listen to the male narrator. For most of the female characters, he just made them sound nasally and whiny in what I believe was an attempt to give them distinguishable voices. And the intonation just felt flat for most of the book. That said, the female narrator was fantastic and I really enjoyed listening to her chapters.

Overall, the story had a little less Sizzle than I hoped. I'm not sure if the connection just wasn't there or if it was the male narrator that sort of took me out of the story.