Ashleigh, recently fired from her high school chemistry job, signs up for a sleep study to make ends meet—only to discover she’s been paired with the one man who ever made her rethink her casual-encounters-only lifestyle. Though the couple's study requires them to fake a relationship, old sparks resurface, and a second-chance romance unfolds.

I struggled with this one. While the premise is fun and Xander has some appealing qualities, I found Ashleigh a difficult character to connect with. Her commitment to avoiding emotional intimacy felt extreme, and though her backstory attempts to explain her fears around relationships, it didn’t quite land for me. The trauma from her parents’ past is mentioned often but it still doesn't warrant her ridiculous attitude toward love, and her reactions to Xander's genuine interest in her felt more immature than emotionally complex.

The dynamic between the two leads lacked the grounding needed for me to root for their relationship, and some aspects of Xander’s character weren’t fully fleshed out. This may appeal to readers who enjoy edgy romantic setups and deeply flawed protagonists, but it just didn’t work for me.

Readers who gravitate toward unconventional heroines with sharp edges and emotional baggage may find more to appreciate here.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

*arc review*

Just a cozy fun romance! I liked the concept of the book and loved the characters but I do feel like the “romance” was just a bit too rushed. We obviously see the tension and like know its going to happen but I feel nothing really went down until the last 10% of the book. The FMC was definitely interesting and I thought her ideals and things she watched from her parents previous relationship was a nice twist. I do wish would’ve explored more of the wedding and wish the book was just a bit more detailing of the relationship but overall a fun read!

Bed Chemistry made me actually laugh out loud, which is rare and always a win. I flew through it in just a few days and there wasn’t a single boring page. Ashleigh is emotionally guarded in a way that felt really real and at times frustrating, but it’s her friendship with her bestie that brings out her softness and totally won me over. The banter, the heart, the chemistry (pun intended), I was hooked.

Highly recommend if you love your romcoms smart, funny, and full of depth.

Can’t wait to read more from this author!

This is a super cute, second chance rom-com. Ashleigh and Xander had great chemistry and the tension was well-written! However, Ashleigh was a little too much of an emotional introvert - she really needed to start opening up earlier. And, with the book only being written from her POV, it doesn't give the reader the chance to see exactly what Xander sees in her. I would have liked to see his POV and how he pined for her since their hookup in college. It would have made Ashleigh a much more enjoyable character. However, I do recommend if you like second-chance, slow burn, only-one-bed rom-coms.

An achingly tender story that lingers long after the last page—full of quiet moments, stolen glances, and emotions that speak louder than words. It’s less about what happens, and more about what’s felt

This was so good! I really liked the title (Sabrina Carpenter fan here!) and the cover is so colorful and cute.

This was a unique and fun twist on the one bed trope. It was clever and helped make this plot feel different from other romcoms. This had great banter, chemistry between the leads and the comedy hit. The awkward moments were hilarious. I thought the romance was well paced and developed nicely. I would say Ashleigh and Xander have major black cat x golden retriever energy. I really liked this couple a lot.

A quick, uniquely fun and steamy romcom. Would recommend!

Thanks to alcove press and NetGalley for this arc!

This is a different take on the one bed, second chance romance tropes.
It was very cute, very quick read. I read it in just a couple hours on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

It’s perfect for mood readers who want a spicy, fun rom com!

the only reason i applied for this was because it gave me sabrina vibes ikykyk
OMG im literally in love.
the chemistry was perfect!!!! and the sexual tension!
this was such a unique book with such a different plot and im so here for it.
THE ONLY bad thing was her mum for Obvious reasons if you read the book and how she made ash believe love wasnt real and that all men cheat.
i was giggling and blushing SO hard.
this is a cute little rom-com with a tiny bit of spice, but loads of sexual tension

thankyou so much netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review

Bed Chemistry centers on wrongfully-fired teacher Ashleigh who finds herself desperate to make enough money to cover rent. This desperation leads her to a month-long sleep study where she reconnects with Xander, a man she knew in college but whom she ghosted after a one night stand. Because the study is only looking for couples, the two lie so that they can join the study, but their attraction to each other is anything but in the past.
While the pacing of this book is fine and there are definitely moments of witty banter, overall, I just took a lot of issue with Ashleigh, the main character, and I found it hard to root for her and Xander. Ashleigh obviously has a lot of trauma from her parents’ divorce, but her philosophy about love and relationships is so frustrating- like, do you mean to tell me that she has no examples of healthy relationships at all in her life? She is supposedly a teacher: there aren’t ANY families that she has witnessed that show her mom’s mantra about infidelity and relationships is not always true? Also, she is apparently desperate for this money but can go eat lunch at cafes in every other scene, get waxed, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and Door Dash food. Ash, how about a budget, friend? This isn’t her first summer as a teacher and she would have been entitled to the rest of her salary for the contract year she finished, which is how teachers get paid over the summer. Other than paying her rent, she just did not seem concerned about the amounts of money she was spending. The implausible nature of the whole situation just took me out of it. Additionally, I just found Ash mean for much of the story, and while she did start to grow on me at the end, it wasn’t until about 70% of the way through the book. Also, her ending love declaration did NOT feel believable; Xander, I know you’re apparently hung up on her, but I do think you can do better. Lastly, I wish that Ash would have been given a profession other than a teacher because, as a 17-year veteran teacher, there were SO many ridiculous things in this book that just aren’t how teaching works, but I suspect those who are teachers don’t need me to point them out and those who aren’t teachers don’t care.
Thank you to Alcove Press and Net Galley for this ARC!

Loved this book. The sleep study premise is such a fun, fresh take on the "one bed" trope, and it totally delivers. What stood out most to me was how actually funny this romcom is. So many books in this genre lean cheesy or try-hard, but this one felt sharp and genuinely hilarious.

Ash, the FMC, is one of my favorite parts. She’s emotionally avoidant, but not in the typical "my heart was broken" kind of way. It feels more grounded and real, like it’s just who she is and something she’s trying to figure out. I loved that.

The tension and banter between Ash and Xander is great, the setup is unique, and it had the perfect mix of good steam, awkwardness, and heart.

Also, how adorable is that cover? While I’m all about what’s inside the pages, this book is gonna look so good on my shelf. :)

Highly recommend if you like your romcoms smart, really funny, and a little messy in the best way.

First of all, thank you very much for the ARC.
It was a very good book and a quick read.
I recommend it. Perfect for mood readers looking for something new! 3 stars.

Oooof one could say the pre-read thoughts had me nervous. Readers are told in the synopsis that this one’s for you if you like The Paradise Problem and The Love Hypothesis, so okay, I’m here for it but I’m going to be nervy as heck. Overall, this book was cute but I don’t know if I would have compared those books to this one.

Elizabeth McKenzie’s Bad Chemistry is set to release this December, just in time for readers to start putting down those holiday romances for something a little different. The book follows Ashleigh, a chemistry teacher who is a dedicated Bone It user, yup, you heard me. What is Bone It you may ask, haha, Tinder, so good for you girlie 👏🏻. But unfortunately due to one of her casual hookup interactions…briefly (it was an ass grab right before she was considered off property) on school grounds, she gets fired. Honestly? The principal is an ass and pretty much states she’s promiscuous, I mean…maybe she is, but she’s overall kept her home life separate from her work life. Smells like a lawsuit to me.

Desperate for cash due to having no money for rent, she turns to month-long sleep study…next to enter the villa…ex-friend/fling, Xander Miller. The only guy she’s ever contemplated saying the L word to. In order to stay in the study, they have to act as a couple. Cue the one-bed trope and the slow burny goodness. This book was definitely sex-positive and the banter between Ash and Sawyer was great! My biggest issue with the book was that it felt rushed and short, it was a really cute concept but I needed a bit more.

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press.
3.5 stars!

2.5 stars
Ashleigh is fired from her teaching job and she decides to enroll in a sleep study over the summer to pay the rent. The catch: the sleep study is only looking for couples, so when she runs into Xander, her college one-night-stand who also wants to enroll in the sleep study to cure his insomnia, they decide to enroll as a fake couple.

This skewed a little too much toward only emphasizing the sexual tension between Ash and Xander, it got a little repetitive with the off-the-charts sexual attraction backed up by nothing else shown in the relationship between the characters - until suddenly they were supposedly "completely in love all along". While the banter was sometimes fun, too often it veered too far into just being-an-asshole-to-each-other territory. I'm not a fan of the emotionally unavailable love interest trope, and Ashleigh was more emotionally unavailable than any other character I've ever read. Turns out I like it even less when the emotionally unavailable part of the "couple" is the only POV character in the book. If I don't believe the characters in a rom-com are both equally good for each other, I can't really get into it. And Ashleigh's character growth happened too little too late in the book for her to redeem herself to me. It didn't feel earned. And the HEA didn't feel believable, not without years of therapy before getting there. The writing wasn't bad, the pacing was fine, I finished the book quickly and was never bored by it, but I was exasperated with the main character the entire time. The reason she was fired was completely unfair and unacceptable, and I actually think she was a good teacher, so I was rooting for her to get her job back or find another way too keep being a teacher. But I just couldn't root for the relationship. And while with other genres that might not be a big deal, it is what makes or breaks a rom-com. It's not like a mystery or fantasy book where I can take or leave the romantic subplot if it isn't working for me. With a rom-com the relationship is the whole point of the book. And for me personally, this one missed the mark unfortunately.

I enjoyed Xander's smack-down "review" of Ashleigh's mom's bestselling book - that was the only scene in here that had me actually cheering.

Thank you to Alcove Press for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

When chemistry teacher Ashleigh Hutchinson is unexpectedly fired from her job she joins a well paying sleep research study in order to pay the rent.

There she runs into insomniac Xander Miller, who she ditched after a memorable one night stand 11 years before.

When the pair find out the study only has room left for couples they pretend to be in a relationship to get onto the study.

But getting a good night's sleep might just be easier for Xander than getting past Ashleigh's no relationships rule.

*******

This book was funny, sexy and had a storyline that hit on all the right points.

I didn't get a good night's sleep while reading this because I couldn't put the book down.

Bed Chemistry is a perfect book for an emotional spicy lover.

Xander
✅ lawyer
✅ imsomniac

Ash
✅ chemistry teacher (got fired)
✅ in need of money
✅ broken family

✅ forced proximity (one bed - sleep study)
✅ second chance love
✅ high school friendship
✅ emotional (both of them shows each other their vurnerable sides)
✅ angst ( the storyline are giving a rollercoaster vibes)
✅ tear jerker ( sometimes I hates Ash’s mom)
✅ sweet ( Xander still helping Ash even tho Ash rejected him)
✅ plenty of spicy scenes: explicit and intense
🔥🔥🔥🔥
🔥 the heart monitor scene
🔥 the lift scene (my fav)
🔥 the criminal mind scene

Abso fucking lutely gonna read the next book from Elizabeth Mckenzie.

Ashleigh Hutchinson es una profesora de química que ama su trabajo, adora a sus estudiantes y su vida personal tiene una regla de oro: el sexo y el amor no se mezclan. Pero su mundo se derrumba cuando es despedida injustamente por su vida sexual fuera del trabajo. Sin empleo, sin dinero y con la renta por pagar, Ashleigh acepta participar en un estudio de sueño por el tentador sueldo de ocho mil dólares. El único problema: ahora solo buscan parejas.

Justo cuando parece que todo está perdido, reaparece Xander Miller, su antiguo “amigo con derechos” de la universidad con quien tuvo una noche inolvidable hace once años. Él también necesita entrar al estudio. La solución es obvia: fingir que son pareja. ¿Qué tan difícil puede ser dormir juntos sin realmente dormir juntos?


--

Ojalá Xander tuviera POVs, porque en el primer tercio cae mal por los comentarios que hace sobre la vida sexual de Ashleigh. Y aunque después se redimió, me quedé con la duda de si realmente pensaba eso o si solo intentaba mantener distancia por lo que pasó entre ellos en el pasado.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest

Okay first what I liked: the premise was super fun and unique. I also enjoyed *some* of the banter, and Xander was hot. What wasn’t my favorite: the main character was annoying AF. I think some people will really love her, but she wasn’t my cup of tea.

Five stars! This was such an easy read, i finished it in a day. It also had me laughing. It was such a cute romantic comedy and a great singer read. I will be looking out for more books by this author!

"There's oxytocin. That's the love drug. And then there's lust. That's the pure sex hormone. And they are polar opposites. I'm talking smokin' hot and frigit cold. Pleasure and pain in the ass. Soaking wet and very, very dry. Love and sex: never the two shall meet. You can fall in love, or you can have great sex. But love and chemistry can't coexist."

Bed Chemistry is a fun, flirty, and sizzling romance that puts a fresh twist on the classic "only-one-bed" trope. Ashleigh, a no nonsense chemistry teacher with a strict no relationships rule, ends up fake dating her ex crush, Xander, in a sleep study gone hilariously sideways.

The banter is sharp, the chemistry is undeniable (pun intended), and the awkward moments are just the right kind of cringe worthy.

Simple, steamy, and sweet. This debut delivers exactly what it promises.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy in exchange for an honest review!