"You're crazy and funny and kind and beautiful, and so bright and intelligent that it makes my brain hurt just trying to keep up with you. Please don't ever feel that you need to be anything other than yourself."

Since first reading Ali Hazelwood two years ago, I have been interested in reading more STEM romance novels. I have read three Hazelwood books, but I was excited to try another book from a different author. Enter The Hot Henry Effect by Lucy Chalice. The premise seemed to be my cup of tea: a workplace romance and a second chance romance, both tropes I have loved in the past. I read The Hot Henry Effect in two days, and I have a lot of thoughts about it. Let's get into it!

Positives
First of all, THE COVER!! I have seen a lot of readers complain about the illustrated romance covers, but I love this trend so much. I love being able to see what the characters are meant to look like. 

I always love a second-chance romance story, and this one started off strong. I loved the banter between Clara and Henry as soon as they reunited, and I honestly felt like the two characters had loads of chemistry.

There were a few great romance elements. The declarations of love, the sticky notes... all of these were things I enjoyed reading.

Negatives

There was a subplot following a creepy coworker who kept making advances on Clara throughout the book. I never felt like this subplot was handled with care, and I finished the book with an icky feeling about the entire plot line.

While I loved the second-chance romance aspect of the story, I really wish they had developed more of their past so that we could see the sexual tension early on. In the past, they just seemed better off as friends. I didn’t feel any lusting from either of them. 

In the beginning, I appreciated Clara’s honesty about her mental health and her fear of relationships. I was excited to see how she would grow and work towards healing herself. Sadly, by the end, I didn’t feel like Clara had grown enough with her mental health, and I could not see how their relationship was going to work long-term at this point. 

There was a point towards the end of the book (like 80%?) involving Clara that frustrated me so much that I didn’t even want to continue reading (also, I know a lot of people avoid therapy, but making a comment like “I don’t need therapy because I know what’s wrong with me,” and then never growing from that doesn’t make me feel like a lot has changed). 

The book had one open-door spicy scene, which was just okay. However, when I see an "erotica" tag on Netgalley, I am expecting something much more spicy. It's not really the fault of the book, just the marketing.

The Hot Henry Effect started off strong for me, but the lack of character development and backstory made this one fall short.

4.5 stars rounded up!

Read this if you like:
- Friends to Lovers
- Close Proximity
- He falls first and harder
- Workplace romance
- Slight miscommunication

Ahhhh this was such a quick and fun read! I finished reading it in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down.

I laughed so many times while reading it. The banter between the two main characters was hilarious and felt so natural and so real. I loved seeing them as friends and I loved seeing them as lovers. Everything between them just felt so real. I grew to care for them deeply and Henry might be one of my favourite mmcs because he was just such a ray of sunshine and just so perfect. I loved Clara’s friends so much too.

The pacing was absolutely perfect. I actually liked the third act conflict. In my opinion, it was an example of the miscommunication trope done right.

It is easily one of the cutest books I have ever read and would highly recommend it! I will 100% be reading more by this author because I absolutely adored her writing style too!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I did not expect this to be a slow burn but it was so good. Henry was sooooooo in love with her and she was so oblivious no matter how much everyone told her. She just needed him as her best friend and he was so perfect for her. They built each other up and it warmed my heart.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Meeting when Henry Fraser is assigned to Clara Clancy s a PhD student, they become good friends, despite engineer Henry's lack of skill around scientific experiments. Clara is the only one not to fall for Henry's good looks and charm, which have women of all ages swooning. Meeting seven years later, when research scientist Clara is involved with a project with Henry's company, she is amused to see that the Hot Henry Effect is still in full swing. They pick up their friendship with easy banter, and it really made me smile. Each becomes the foil for unwanted attentions from other members of the workforce, swooping in like superheroes. On a work trip to San Francisco things come to a head when Henry rescues Clara from a dangerous situation. Not one to acknowledge her feelings, Clara runs away- can they admit to their feelings? Funny, romantic, frustrating, this was a great way to spend a sunny Saturday. #netgalley #thehothenryeffect

This book focuses on Clara and Henry. The book is mainly focused on the present time when they reconnect through work. But the book also had parts that showed how Clara and Henry meet when Henry was a PhD student that Clara helps when she was working on her thesis. During this time Clara unintentionally friends zones Henry and they reconnect after years and there are still sparks but the question is if the spark will lead to more or not.

I was rooting for Henry from the beginning I thought he was adorable. Clara while I understood her reasoning for friend zoning Henry at first because of her trauma after a while I was getting angry on Henry behalf particularly because she knew she had feelings for him. One of my favorite thing in this story was how they both would protecting each other by helping the other person avoid the people who were making unwanted advances on them but it was really disturbing how Dominic wouldn’t understand that his advances weren’t reciprocated. Trigger warning there is attempt SA in the book. Thank you NetGalley and Lucy Chalice for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

----I was kindly given an early copy of this book via Netgally in exchange for an honest review----

I must have a thing for rom-coms set around STEM because this one kept me giggling and cheering for the main characters. In this story, we follow Clara and Henry as they have to work together on a project. Both Clara and Henry were students at Oxford University in the past but even though they had a good and friendly relationship they lost contact when Henry's time at uni ended.

Back in the present, we get to learn what happened back then and see the cute dynamic they have with each other, from the get-go the chemistry between them compels you to root for their success and happy ending.

Pick this one up if you want a low-stakes rom-com with messy but funny bits.

"The Hot Henry Effect" by Lucy Chalice is a rom-com movie in novel format. The writing is delightful, witty, and easy to read. Clara is a breath of fresh air. She is incredibly intelligent and quirky while also very compassionate and kind. The perfect match to Henry who is equally adorable. They are both so endearing as individuals. I adored watching them fall in love.

Also, as a science nerd myself, I feel so appreciative of the accuracy in the stem topics discussed within the book. The execution of combining romance and science was done wonderfully.

Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I so wanted to give this book a 5 star rating, but I ultimately rated it 4⭐️. This book is a wonderful slow build, friends to lovers romance, and I really recommend it. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

First of all, Clara and Henry might just be two of my favourite characters of all time. Henry was swoon- worthy, and Clara was funny and relatable. Their chemistry was absolutely undeniable – Clara might not have noticed it straight away but their connection was electric. Henry fell first, and he fell hard and I was desperate for Clara to realise that they were meant to be together.

I do wish we could have seen things from Henry’s perspective but I think following it from just Clara’s POV was really good. She made me laugh on multiple occasions, but she also had me feeling very emotional too.

I love an epilogue – epilogues give us a chance to have a sneak peak at the future of our characters, but the epilogue in this book just seemed to follow on from the previous chapter, and didn’t provide us with much closure. So that was something that did let down this book a little bit for me.

Ultimately, this book is a wonderful rom-com with some funny and emotional moments, and two fantastic main characters who you can’t help but root for and fall in love with. Wonderfully written and engaging – I couldn’t put it down.

I enjoyed reading The Hot Henry Effect by Lucy Chalice. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

I always give this pre-cursor, but this genre isn't my favorite and so it can be hard for me to really get into these types of books and rate them high. Every once in a while, I like this genre as a palate cleanser. It definitely was a fun and cute read which most of them usually are. It was giving Ali Hazelwood vibes for sure. Clara did bother me sometimes just because she was really insecure, which honestly can be really relatable but, in a book, it can be exhausting. BUT I did love that she was in STEM and was obviously smart and confident in her work. And I really did like Henry and their cute flirty banter. It wasn't the best I have read in this novel but it wasn't bad!

A cute debut romcom from Lucy Chalice - I had a lot of fun reading this one!

Clara is reunited with the guy she once had to train in her PhD lab at Oxford - the semi American, semi British engineering student who destroyed a ton of her precious stem cells and put her research behind. The guy all the women swooned over. But Clara friend-zoned him and ignored the Hot Henry Effect… and they became good friends until he went back to Stanford.

7 years later he pops up at her new STEM research lab where the two companies plan to join forces to work together on several cross-disciplinary projects, and the pair picks up their friendship again… while all her coworkers continue to swoon under his Hot Henry Effect, again. She finds out he’s divorced, and on a business trip she meets the ex... Finds out a whole lot of interesting things! Battles some terrible things (and people) within her company.

I enjoyed it because I always enjoy women in STEM, and a good workplace romance. Second chance has to be done right and Chalice did a great job the way she worked everything in with this storyline. I quite enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to her next book this fall. I definitely recommend picking this one up! It has the perfect amount of steam and a great balance of drama, depth of characters, angst and comedy (yes, angst and big topics covered in a romcom).

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and HarperCollins UK / One More Chapter, and this is my honest feedback.

The Hot Henry Effect is the debut novel from Lucy Chalice. It's a slow burn workplace romance with a lot of humour and an adorable couple.

Clara and Henry are the kind of people you want to lock in a small space together until they get their stuff together. They missed their chance first time around when they were at university because Clara had put Henry firmly in the friend zone despite really liking him. And now seven years later she is repeating history.
There were a few times where I wanted to give Clara a little shake and a good talking to as she was so entrenched in her own insecurities that she wilfully ignored all the blatant signs that Henry was in love with her. I felt quite sorry for him as he was so perfect and cute.

I loved all the silly banter and humour and good fun they had. Their chemistry sparked off the page right from the outset and I was itching for the pair to finally say how they truly felt. Of course, even when the truth of the matter was revealed it wasn't an instant HEA as Clara needed even more convincing. This is where I felt most sorry for Henry because he had expressed himself so endearingly I was sure that Clara would see sense. Thankfully, it wasn't long before they had worked things out after Clara made a fun gesture to win him back, However, I felt that she could have done something that involved more effort to make up for all the misery she put him through.

I liked all the side characters and I enjoyed the subplot involving one of Clara's co-workers being creepy and inappropriate as it provided opportunities for Clara and Henry to collaborate to keep her safe from unwanted attention and have a lot of fun doing so.

The Hot Henry Effect is a delightfully entertaining read and I look forward to reading the author's next book in November.

If you're into stories about kickass women in STEM like the love hypothesis, and love a slow-burn romance where the guy falls head over heels first, then this book is totally your jam. Right from the get-go, it had me grinning like a fool, rooting for Henry and Clara every step of the way. Sure, Clara's indecisiveness got on my nerves sometimes, but I knew deep down that their slow-burn love story would be worth the wait.

This book doesn't go heavy on the steamy stuff, but that's cool because the plot is so darn good. And let me tell you, those post-it notes? They were like the sweetest icing on the cake, adding an extra layer of charm to an already adorable story.

Honestly, this new STEM romance was everything I'd hoped for and then some.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Chalice and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for providing the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for a review, but all thoughts are my own*

If you want a fun, very light, pretty hilarious read, this is a good one to pick up. It has a lot of the elements of Romance that I like: a smart, STEM, female lead, a very kind and loyal male love interest. There are hijinks. There's lots of pining. Parts of the book reminded me of Ali Hazelwood, but I got a bit more frustrated with the two main characters, Clara and Henry. Actually, I was mostly frustrated with Clara. Henry really did try his best, was always around for Clara, rescued her a ton, and was uber-patient. Clara, meanwhile, had not gotten over the devastating loss of her father walking out on her when she was 8 years old. Although she knows this is the source of her distrust of men and fear of commitment, she refuses to do anything about it. Henry kindly suggests therapy, and she says she doesn't need it. She absolutely does. She hurts Henry's feelings because she refuses to give their relationship a try. Seriously, I don't often feel bad for the dude in books, but I felt bad for Henry.

So on to the positive things.. Listen, it's a Romance, so you know you are going to get a HEA, and this one is good, even if I wish girlfriend had gotten some therapy first. The third act break-up wasn't that bad. Once they are together, they are really together. I think the best parts of this book are in the banter. You can see the two of them really enjoying each other's company, and so the Romance felt earned.


Thank you NetGalley for the free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was quick and easy read. Kinda cute story. It's a friend to lovers story.

I liked the characters. I felt the tension between Henry and Clar. I enjoyed their friendship. But they were lacking of character. I wanted to feel more depth. More about their history together.
And I didn't feel like they were older. Some childish drama.

Overall it wasn't bad, just, I didn't enjoy the miscommunication trope...

Recommending this if you want to read light-hearted book.

Clara and Henry met while working towards their doctorates at Oxford. They became friends, but their friendship ended when Henry returned to America. When they meet again, Clara finds Henry has fulfilled his potential, and they rekindle their friendship when they begin working together. Clara has trust issues and protects her heart. Henry has always cared for Clara, but can he convince her he won't break her heart? I like the gentle romance peppered with humour and spice. The story explores consent and power in the workplace through the characters. Clara is a likeable contemporary woman who draws you into her life. Henry is lovely. I like the friends-to-lovers romance, the couple's emotional investment, and the workplace setting.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher.

I have fallen to the hot Henry effect! How could you not? He’s hot, nice, smart and completely oblivious to his effect. There were times I wanted to shake Clara or hurting Henry, but overall she has a good heart. I would have liked to have more time with them as a couple, because as friends their chemistry was perfection!

The Hot Henry Effect was such a fun rom-com by Lucy Chalice.
My first time reading her work and I’m happy to say I loved it!
Chalice created absolute magic here.
This was the perfect workplace/second chance romance.
The way Clara and Henry connected was amazing.
Their relationship was so pure and so genuine it tugged on all my heart strings.
This book was a fun, quick read and was totally unputdownable.
It leaves you with feel good, happy vibes!
I can’t wait to Fundamentals in Flirting this fall!

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This is maybe one of the best steminist books I have read in a while. I think I have also fallen prey to the Hot Henry Effect and I am also in love with Dr. Fraser.
You meet Clara in an embarrassing moment, and then she just snowballs to more embarrassment when she is found in front of her long lost male best friend who is, of course, one of the most handsome men and engineers she has ever met.
They quickly start up their friendship again and the banter and antics these two get into made me laugh out loud multiple times. I loved seeing them be actual real best friends, with a few close calls for the potential for more. When it all comes out that there are feelings, I didn't feel like there was a big backlash of feelings or a blow up that was out of proportion for things. No crazy third act break up, no a little bit of a run away girlfriend vibe - but Henry was man enough to get his words out right away to fix everything. The spice was so tasteful and not at all graphic. They both seemed to know what they were doing and we didn't need to know the passionate parts.
I do wish we had gotten more of the aftermath of Dominic and what happened after he cornered Clara in the parking lot. I needed a little bit more closure in that. The "epilogue" was just a continuation of the story. It was not a where are they now and that was a touch disappointing for me.
It started a little like Ali Hazelwood, but then quickly became a thing of it's own and I really honestly loved it. Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Chalice, and One More Chapter!!

This was such a fun story to read! i really loved Clara and Henry and the chemistry between them was through the roof! I couldn't put it down and managed to read the whole thing in one day!

I'm usually not a huge fan of spicey books but this one was just *chefs kiss*