I have found a new book boyfriend! Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood . #sponsored #prhinternational

Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results.

Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project – a literal dream come true – Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school – archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas… devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.

But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do? 

Review

4,5 stars

Levi, oh Levi! <3

“I want to buy her flowers, food, books. I want to hold her hand, and I want to lock her in my bedroom. She’s everything I ever wanted and I want to inject her into my veins and also to never see her again.”

I know I am not supposed to quote from this early copy without checking with the finished copy and I will I swear but I still wanted to share this with you because it’s just SO Levi Ward!

I adored Olive and Adam from The Love Hypothesis and.. Levi and Bee raised to the challenge!

I so love these two together as well!

Ali Hazelwood creates characters who are terribly smart yet totally clueless at the same time when matters of heart are concerned! She also give us these many details to flesh them out perfectly (going from Star Wars nerds to crying at every roadkill) and make them so real that you just feel like they are the best friends you’ve known forever!

Also, for how imposing and intimidating her heroes can be, they still blush adorably in presence of their secret crush. Sigh. Adorable! Levi was the absolute best here and he is my new book boyfriend!

This story has many assets:

-the characters (adorable, quirky, smart, sexy…);

-the science (because people don’t talk enough about science in romance stories);

-a romance really well executed

-a villain and a slight suspense (just enough to keep us interested all along).

But let’s talk about the characters as I am a character driven reader!

Meet Bee.

She is a professor in neuroscience and very dedicated to her work.

It was so easy to relate with Bee thanks to the little quirks Ali Hazelwood gave her. Crying at every roadkill made me love her so hard as I am a big cry baby every time I see a dead animal.

Orphaned from a very young age, Bee has been raised by relatives in many different countries (Italy, Germany, France etc) with her twin sister. Now, all she wants is planting roots somewhere and being successful in her field of work: neuroscience.

That’s why when she is offered to co-direct a project at NASA she jumps on the occasion, even if it means working with her nemesis Levi Ward!

Levi Ward who ignored Bee and refused to work with her when in college! Yet when Bee faints on her first day (because Bee is prone to fainting) she ends up in Levi’s very strong arms… and keeps thinking about being crushed against his strong body.

Levi is very intimidating, very tall and very sexy. And he was one of the best parts of this story! Every woman needs her Levi!

Not very talkative with Bee, these two will still have to work together on the project.

And soon, Bee will discover that Levi is vegan like she is, has similar taste in music and is as interested as her in making that project a success! And that strangely, he does not seem to despise her as much as she thought…

I absolutely adored these two together. Reading that book was a pure delight thanks to the chemistry and banter between Bee and Levi. Their relationship grew organically. It was charming, clumsy but also sexy! Seeing Levi’s dedication, his goodness and his patience with Bee had me melting on the spot.

Special mention for  the “What would Marie Curie Do” arc as Ali Hazelwood used this as a very astute mean to talk about women in STEM and how they are not always treated fairly. Cue misogyny, lack of grants etc. That part was eye opening without being patronizing!

I read that story in record time and if I had to use two words to describe it I’d say smart and charming!

Thank you for giving me this advanced reading copy PRH International! It has no impact on my always honest opinion of this book!

Thanks for reading!

Sophie