The Sizzle Paradox had the potential to be a cute story but unfortunately was overwhelmingly inaccurate. The interchangeable use of dissertation and thesis, ability to not be objective, inserting oneself into a study, missing deadlines - and much more - only took away from the storyline. It read like someone who had not experienced or researched the subject matter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The premise was fairly standard friends-to-lovers, but this had very good execution. This was super cute, and I breezed through it in less than a day. I was also a huge fan of the academic setting!

Recommended if you're looking for a lighthearted, quick read.

Content: language, a few scenes with adult content that were decently easy to skip

If you love a friends to lovers romance wrought with lack of communication between the main characters leading to much angst then this book is perfect for you. I personally love audiobooks and thought the narrators did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life in spite of often stilted dialogue that seemed more fitting for high school students rather than two college doctoral students especially when one of them is getting her doctoral in psychology. Overall it was entertaining, but just didn't quite reach expectations for me. It does have a rom com happily ever after so again, if a sweet friends to lovers story is what you are looking for then this one may just be the one you want!

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillian Audio for the opportunity to listen and express my opinions on this book!

This is a classic Friends to lover romance. I zoomed through this book because it wasn't that long and because it was a good heart warming story. I was thinking for a moment that no way would a scientist be researching this topic but then I thought back to some of the research that has been released and belive the topic choices more.

The fact that Lyric or Kian couldn't see that they were meant to be together was amazing. It was so clear and everyone could see it. Lyric as a scientist should have come to this conclusion way sooner

Anyways, I loved the romance and the spicy scenes in this book. However, I wish they figured it out sooner.

Brittany Pressley who voiced Lyric did an amazing job - she did an awesome job making sure that the emotions and character came through on the audio - there were no conflicting background noises

Abhay Ahluwalia who voiced Kian missed the mark for me. It sounded like he was reading a script and the other voices weren't that different than his voice. the emotions of the character weren't there

This book was okay. I read "Love Hypothesis" so thought this similar themed booked would be decent too. The premise of the book was good; but the execution of it just didn't really hit like I expected. I did like how there is a male and female narrator, switching between the characters made it alot easier and made the story flow well. I just feel like it fell short of my expectations. Still a decent read, but not something I would re-read or personally recommend.

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.

Lyric is a psychology graduate student researching the chemical reactions in the brain of romantic relationships, aptly named, “The Sizzle Paradox.”

Lyric and her best friend Kian live together and have never been romantically involved and when a professor pressures Lyric to turn in a paper to go along with her research (which for some reason Lyric has chosen to be directly involved in), Kian offers to help Lyric by going on practice dates to see what the issue she keeps running into is.

I really enjoyed the dual POV and both audio narrators did a really great job.

I did find the miscommunication and intentional avoidance of feelings a little bit overdone and frustrating and think this could’ve been tampered down so there was more time with the MC’s together.

The ladder half or the book also dragged out a little too long.

Overall this was a fun, lighthearted read!

3.5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank You NetGalley, MacMillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Sizzle Paradox had nice pacing and great characters. I really appreciated that none of the characters were annoying or stupid, like they are in most rom coms.
This book was solid and I enjoyed it! It just didn’t give me the wow factor I look for in a five star read.

The Sizzle Paradox is the classic friends fall in love story. It was cute but within a chapter or two I could already see where it was headed. I did love that the characters were intelligent, even leaning toward the nerdy side. Kian felt so realistic and it was refreshing to see the guy fall for the girl first! In fact, a guy working his way out of the “friend zone” is a cause we can all get behind! As we all know, I’m a sucker for a sweet ending and this one definitely hit the mark for that.

I listened to this one as an audiobook and it was very pleasant. The narrators of this one did a great job and I enjoyed both of them!

Very cute best friends/roomates to lovers book with a splash of STEM and academia. Lyric and Kian were clearly perfect for each other but the journey to figuring that out was very sweet and fulfilling. I wish that the communication was a little less choppy, as best friends they had a lot of issues being honest with each other.

I identified soooo much with the female MC in this book!! As a psychology grad student myself we had so many interests and things in common. My favorite books are always those I can see myself in! I loved following Lyric through graduate school and trying to solve her sizzle paradox for her thesis. I was rooting for her every step of the way. From the beginning I felt like I wanted to shout “open your eyes” because the connection between her and her best friends jumps off the page and they just weren’t seeing it!! I loved that we got both character’s points of view too!

If you love:
- slow burn
- best friends to lovers
- nerdy, super smart female MCs that are completely socially awkward
Then you should definitely check out this book when it releases on June 14th, 2022!

Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me this amazing ARC!

The Sizzle Paradox is a decent read. It’s a friends to lovers romance. There are some The Kiss Quotient vibes, except it’s hey BFF that I’m definitely not in love with, lets fake date so I can teach you how to be better at dating and relationships and not teaching sex. There are 2 spicy scenes, one is a dream the other is when it actually happens. Nothing too over the top if you aren’t a fan of open door. I liked Lyric and Kian both as characters. Their respective fields of study were interesting. Their relationship as friends was great. The transition to them being into each other was a little abrupt for me but overall it was good. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book. Release date is 6/14!

Friends to lovers. Met in college, currently doctoral students in STEM. One study is on sexual chemistry and she is struggling with her own romantic life. Her friend/roommate starts giving her lessons on dating and flirting. This is silly and fun. I do think a lot of things could be avoided if the characters just said what they were thinking but it was a very enjoyable experience reading this.

A cute and light read with laugh out loud moments timed perfectly, The Sizzle Paradox brought a much needed smile to my face. Friends to lovers has a special place in my heart and Lily delivered on not just the friendship, but also Kian and Lyric’s move to romance.

Kian is easy-going and charming, Lyric is awkward and hilarious, and they come together for the best kind of romcom, one that could easily be a movie. The spice was perfect, if only there was more than one scene but maybe that’s just me lol.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.)

It was okay. I feel as though it was very predictable. To me, Lyric was just whining about her love life most of the time and they would just deny their feelings for each other. It was very the nerdy girl takes off her glasses and now looks pretty book.

The Sizzle Paradox: ⁣
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“Perhaps we are all born alone and will die alone; however, if we are lucky, there are many years between one and the other. What better way to fill those years than with an enduring love?’” ⁣
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Initial Reaction: Loved Make Up Break Up, can’t wait for this!⁣
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Review: I’ll be honest, I really struggled with this book. I tried listening on audio, I tried reading on my kindle, it just didn’t click for me. This gave more of YA characters and adult steam, than adult characters and adult steam.⁣
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Lyric graduated early, but she still seemed like a high school student, not graduate student to me. It was really hard to connect with her. Instead of a graduate student running an experiment on sexual chemistry, this could have been switched to strict dating in high school, no steam and it’s a perfect YA read. ⁣
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The audio also wasn’t my favorite. To make a comparison: you know in school when you would get called on to read a chapter from the book? That’s what it felt like. I felt the reader for Kian just got “popcorned” to read it and never had someone take over. ⁣
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I really loved Lyric’s family. They were eccentric, they were so accepting. They just had so much love to give and it was just really cool to see a family that just genuinely cares for each other. They had the exact opposite of Kian’s family dynamic, and I just really appreciated all of them. ⁣
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Of course, it’s not romance unless we’re getting a HEA, right? I did gush over the HEA, and thought it played out wonderfully. I love deeper meaning HEAs, and when it all clicked in place I did clap and get all giddy. 😂⁣
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Overall, this was a miss for me. I loved Lily Menon’s previous book, Make Up Break Up, so I’m hoping the next one I will enjoy as well. Thank you so much @smpromance and @macmillan.audio for the gifted copies. The Sizzle Paradox is out 6/28!

The Sizzle Paradox by Lily Menon reminded me of “The love hypothesis” and was a cute romance based in a STEM environment. I have to admit the beginning was a little too cheesy for me- Kiane has just broken up with his GF because he feels bored of dating the same super model type girl but then immediately his best friend and protagonist Lyric keeps insisting on setting him up to get him out of his “slump” . I literally couldn’t get my mind wrapped around the start of the novel because they keep focusing on his slump while he has only just broken up with his GF the night before… .. Lyric also can not finish her thesis because she doesn’t feel like she can connect to the thesis after being in a dating slump herself. I can’t be the only one who was screaming at my phone “JUST WRITE THE PAPER”. The character is about to lose her place in the program if she doesn’t make progress and I found it a little unbelievable that she has everything she needs; the data, the interviews, the research- but she can’t write because she feels like a fraud. Other than that the story was cute these are just the things that made this a 3 star over a 4 star for me.

The women narrator was fine but the man narrator was so slow that even at 2x the speed I couldn’t get into his chapters. Overall this was a really cute story and thank you to NetGalley for the ARK in exchange for my honest review!

I couldn't stop listening to this book! The chemistry/sizzle was there between the characters from the first chapter. It was such an enjoyable fun read. That tree house scene 🔥😉

If you enjoyed the liked hypothesis you will fall in love with this book. Absolutely outstanding! I was addicted from the beginning, and could not put it down.

The premise intrigued me, but unfortunately, too many things didn't work for me.

Lyric is a doctoral student, writing her dissertation on the Sizzle Paradox- how sexual and emotional chemistry affect you. But she is stuck- she feels she can't analyze the data because she has failed to find someone with whom she has both a sexual and emotional connection. She decided she is bad at dating. Her best friend and roommate, Kian, agrees to fake date her to help her out. Teach her how to flirt and date. And we know how fake dating always ends up, lol.

Other romantic partners are common in friends to lovers books. I'm usually OK with that. But when we are 2/3 through the book and other people are still factors, that is a bit too far. I also don't like when characters do the same thing over and over and over. Lyric is terrible at avoiding things. I am, too, but this was to an extreme. Very frustrating.

I listened to the audiobook. The male narrator paused after every single sentence. Even at 1.5, it was annoying.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really loved this dual perspective, friends to lovers romance featuring two PhD students who fake date for the sake of science and find themselves falling in love. The friendship, the banter, the STEAM! Everything just worked so well for me in this book. I also loved that Lyric was a woman in STEM researching the romantic chemistry between partners. Great on audio with two narrators, Abhay Ahluwalia and Brittany Pressley (one of my all time fav voices for young women)! Highly recommended for fans of Helen Hoang, Ali Hazelwood and Susannah Nix. Much thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advance review copies!!