Scars of Anatomy was a cute novel following Bronx & Olivia during their senior year of college. The story is all from Bronx’s POV - poor dude was going through it half the time and it was sweet to understand his thought processes.

If you love slow-burn, modern romance, and found family tropes, this is the perfect book for you!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to ARC read!

I’m debating between a 3 and 3.5 star rating.

Overall, it was a cute college romance that I did enjoy. But I wished there were more scenes not inside a classroom or involving studying.

I was interested in this book as a Human Anatomy and Physiology major myself in college, and so many of the class scenes seemed unrealistic. It seemed like all they learned was basic bone names, which is not something you learn your senior year of college. And to also be studying a rat like the entire novel? It just didn’t seem well researched, especially for students in their final year of college.

Besides that, I did think Bronx and Olivia’s relationship was cute. It did remind me a bit of the movie A Walk to Remember, which I looove. It was nice seeing how much Bronx bonded with Olivia’s parents, and I wished we could’ve gotten more of their dynamic outside of studying or dealing with the two jealous side characters. They both pushed each other to try new things and grow, and that type of character development is *chefs kiss*

I wish there were better spice scenes because you just knowwwww Bronx is skilled in bed LOL. And again, more with the good side characters, like Delilah or JC or Brennen. I wanted less academic and more social because of how great the side characters and the world inside the book was. I was definitely invested in all the characters.

For a sports/nerdy romance it was nicely written.

This was a cute, slow burn romance told from the male's perspective which I hadn't seen before. I liked reading the story through his eyes. Plus there are a few chapters at the end from the female's perspective which I thought was a nice touch. Overall, the book lacked some depth in the characters but I enjoyed the premise (and the multiple revelations at the end).

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

guys, this is a romance from guy’s pov👀
never seen, heard or read anything in this format. it was so interesting and new in some ways, because omg??? however, i did not know that before starting the book. the first chapter was from the guy’s pov but the second chapter had a name “Olivia” so i kind of assumed it was her pov??? until i read the goodreads review where someone mentioned only his pov.

this was a cute romance with not so basic plot and interesting characters. i would not say it was very distinguished from other college romances.

from 30% to 70% book felt repetitive. they went to class, talked after the class, talked again in the class. sometimes new locations and characters would appear but nothing else. i genuinely think the book would be so much better with less pages! or maybe with more tension between main characters

the jealous couple of people were kind of adding to the plot but the whole fight was a miscommunication. i do understand olivia and i would probably react the same way but…i would not consider this as a plot twist. i really think less pages with this turning point would be so much better!

i don’t think they’ll end up together. they have different goals and for some reason i don’t see them together as adults. which is very believable for a collage couple

mark my words!!! in a couple of years this book will be turned into a movie!!! also recommend if you want a slow paced, college romance 🤍

Okay, doing the entire story from the MMC pov was new and I was totally into it... but unfortunately I was not totally into the MMC. I mean, basically he had the emotional intelligence of a walnut. I wanted to like this, I really did, and it had it's bright spots with talking about the adoption themes and heart transplant full circle, but every time we said rat-boy or how Bronx hooked up with another girl I just cringed. Not the story I wanted but the bones are there.

I DNF'd a third of the way through because of all the glaring editing errors. The characters are also extremely unlikable and I wouldn't want to read this book if the editing did get fixed.

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I couldn’t get passed the editing issues that were consistent since page 1. Hopefully some editing will allow me to try this book again in the future as I liked the concept

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC for an honest review.
To say I thoroughly enjoyed this book is an understatement! I devoured this book and loved both the MMC and FMC.
I knew going in that it was from the MMC’s POV which made me hesitant, but holy cannoli did I enjoy it!
This is the first slow burn I’ve read and actually enjoyed and I really loved how it was the MMC that fell first, considering he was a rake prior to meeting the FMC.
While I did love this book, I decided to dock 1 star as there was something that continuously bugged me. As much as I was completely drawn in to the MMC, I did not enjoy his toxicity! The constant angry outbursts and then apologizing for his actions but never thinking about seeking help to cope with his emotions had me cringing and had me feeling angry and annoyed with him. An apology is always great, but correcting those actions to avoid hurting someone the same way again is crucially important, in my opinion.
I definitely will be recommending this book to friends who enjoy romance novels.
Also, the cover art….*chef’s kiss*

I personally could not connect with either the male or female lead. They both seem unlikable in many ways. Olivia, being the stereotypical naive girl where there’s no bite to her bark. I found myself rolling my eyes at the comments Bronx made throughout the book and I’m not sure if it’s because of the amount of errors in the book but I truly could not stay focused on it.


One aspect I did enjoy was that it was primarily in the MMC POV. It was a fresh take but poorly executed.

"Scars of Anatomy" by Nicole Alfrine is a captivating debut that blends sweet romance with spicy elements, creating an engaging young adult read. The story follows Bronx Miller, a star college quarterback with NFL aspirations, and Olivia McCausland, a straight-A pre-med student, as they become anatomy lab partners. Their opposites-attract dynamic unfolds through study sessions and test score bets, revealing unexpected commonalities between them.

While the novel offers an intriguing premise and strong character chemistry, it occasionally suffers from pacing issues, with some sections feeling drawn out. However, the unexpected twist at the end adds a refreshing element to the narrative, elevating the overall reading experience.

The book explores themes of personal growth and overcoming past traumas, as both Bronx and Olivia learn that scars, whether physical or emotional, don't define their futures. Despite some lengthy passages, the author manages to create a compelling story that keeps readers invested in the characters' journey.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to like this book. I think the male POV was really interesting and rare these days. However whilst the basis of the characters and the plot seemed good in theory, unfortunately the execution of the writing feel a bit flat for me.
I didn’t fully finish the book I admit but everything felt very basic and not fully formed so I struggled to stay engaged. I think a bit more depth into the characters and some working on the plot would make it more enjoyable!

This surprised me. Both from being labeled as spicy, and being NA, with steam and not spice, and being from the male POV!
There are SO VERY FEW books from the pale POV. That I wanted to love this. And tried very hard to. But the book fell a little too short for me. It read as a little juvenile, and petty, between the name calling, and “ha ha gotcha” moments, to the extent that Bronx went in order to make an impression on Olivia because he liked her, rather than…use his words. I totally understand that it can be hard! But miscommunication trope is not something I’m a huge fan of. And this had quite a bit of it. I really wish this was just tweaked a little to keep things fresh and moving to show that you don’t only have to be nice to someone because you want to get into their pants…

2.5 ⭐

Serial playboy football star Bronx meets naïve and delicate studious Olivia. Sparks fly leading to an incredibly SLOW, SLOW burn read.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The concept was charming and had potential, but the execution fell short. The characters were flat and lacked meaningful growth throughout the story. Overall, the story just did not have a great flow and was too disjointed, however there were some sweet moments.

I feel bad but I could did not care for this. I did not finish it. But don’t think i was the target audience.

Serial playboy jock star meets naive, delicate nerd. love ensues.

This book needed a better editor. The first quarter of the book was a tell-not-show info dump, and the rest felt like every trope and coincidence in storytelling all in one place.

It was an easy read, just not very compelling. And it all buttoned up too easily.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wattpad Book Group for the eARC

What made this book interesting to me when I first started reading it is that it's read from the male's point of view. Bronx is the college superstar football player that everyone loves and when he gets paired up with his new lab partner, Olivia everything changes. This is definitely a he falls first type of trope.

I felt like this book had a lot of hits and misses, but it did have some good in it. At first it was hard to get through the first chapter because of all the typos, but it got better. I felt like characters lacked dimension and there were some characters such as Olivia, that I felt deserved more background so readers could fall in love with that character even more. The writing itself was a bit messy and hard to get through. I thought though that the author did a good job with the dynamics between the two characters that readers could fall in love with their love story.

I felt that overall the book had potential, gave some good cozy sweet moments, but overall fell short for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nicole Alfrine for the eARC! This was an honest review.

2.5 ⭐️⭐️

So much potential but it just didn’t quite get there. I almost dnf because of the amount of errors just in the first few chapters. If you like Jamie Mcguires Beautiful Disaster you’ll probably like this one. I liked the male POV but it lacked depth. I would have liked to have learned a little more about Olivia and her background. That aspect added a lot of value but it felt rushed and thrown into the ending of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group

I have mixed feelings about this book. The concept was charming, and it had so much potential to be great. Unfortunately, the execution fell short. The writing felt unpolished. The characters were flat and lacked meaningful growth throughout the story.

Still, there were sweet moments that gave it a warm and cozy vibe, which made it enjoyable in parts. It’s not a masterpiece, but it works as a light read if you go in without high expectations

I’ll be honest. I’m a sucker for Wattpad books.

This one was just so cute, albeit a little cringy. But who cares? I had fun reading it and just couldn’t put it down. I kind of with there was more.

Scars of Anatomy quarterback Bronx and pre-med student Olivia. Opposites attract which leads to the slowest of slow burns.

I really enjoyed that this book was from the male POV. Its different and not often seen in this genre. This book was so sweet and the slow burn made sense with the timeline. I feel as if this book has a lot of potential, and will be loved by many, but was just not for me.

One of the issues I have with this book is the pacing. Perhaps I am just not a slow burn type of girly but this book took me a very long time to get through, at around only 350 pages. Adding to that (and while I understand I was reading an unproofed copy) the eARC had so many spelling, grammatical, and spacing errors it was distracting to get through and took me out of the story many times. While these are supposed to be 2 college students it felt a bit high school to me.. I lost track of how many times the words 'rat boy' were used. This book was also advertised as "spicy" but there was no spice to be found. Zero.

I feel like the idea of this book was fresh and had a lot of potential, but just feel a bit short for me.