Love On The Brain by Ali Hazelwood

5 Stars Feb 23, 2023

My review

5/5 stars

I resisted reading The Love Hypothesis when it first came out because I didn't want to be part of the hype for the sake of it. I did eventually cave earlier this year and ended up absolutely loving it [insert mock shock here], so when the author's next book was released, I couldn't get to my local bookshop fast enough!

Love On The Brain follows neuroscientist Bee as she lands her dream job, only to realise that she will have to work with her archenemy, Levi. Bee was an utterly adorable character from start to finish. She was fun and sassy, with a healthy amount of hesitation and self-doubt thrown in to make her relatable and endearing. Her obsession with Marie Curie was downright lovable and gave her a real anchor as a character.

Levi was a character that took me a while to warm up to. He was the stereotypical standoffish, tall, dark, brooding male lead to start with, and I struggled to find something different about him to attach myself to and like. As the story progressed and the plot unfolded, he became the perfect gentleman and I rooted for him to get his girl as much as I'd been rooting for Bee from the start of the novel.

The chemistry between the two leads was well-written, with their constant miscommunications providing ample humour and drama in equal measure to keep the story engaging. I particularly enjoyed how they worked together to solve the big department mystery.

While the main miscommunication between them was fairly obvious and easy to unpick from the start, I still had a lot of fun watching them try to resolve their issues and figuring out how they would get to a better place. What was less predictable was the plot twist that came towards the end of the book; I genuinely didn't see it coming and it provided a lovely degree of intrigue in an otherwise romance-heavy story.

This book is fairly similar to it's predecessor, The Love Hypothesis, in that it follows much the same formula - crossed wires between the lead characters, steamy chemistry, the well-written focus on science etc. Lucky for me, I enjoyed The Love Hypothesis immensely, so was quite happy to read more of the same. So happy, in fact, that I struggled to put this down and ended up finishing it in two sittings (no mean feat for a parent with two kids under 5) and foregoing a decent bedtime in order to finish it (again, as a parent of young children, giving up sleep for anything is true dedication).

Book blurb

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?