Review: Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
Rating: 4/5 PoP: 68%
Bee Königswasser is ready for things to go in her favor for once. When the perfect opportunity presents itself, she is ecstatic until she learns she must co-lead the project. Her co-leader is Levi Ward, the guy that acted like she had the plague in grad school. BLINK is a combined project of the NHI and NASA and special to both Bee and Levi for different reasons. So, they need to be able to put the past aside and find a way to work together.
Bee is such a well defined and complex character. I absolutely love women in STEMM and related so much to Bee. I love her personality and hair and clothing choices, she is not afraid to be herself. And the terms her RA and her have for being women in a male dominated environment are very true. Not only is a Bee a great scientist, she has overcome adversity in her personal life as well. However, she has not completely discovered how to move forward.
My biggest struggle with the book is that we only get Bee’s point of view so we see Levi through her perspective. At first there does not seem to be many redeeming qualities about Levi besides his brain power, until Bee is forced to change her perspective. As Levi opens up to Bee, we see that he too has overcome a lot. I would have liked to see some of the book from his view to fully understand his internal battles.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and like most books with STEMM characters, it made my nerd heart happy. You can tell that Ali Hazelwood knows what she is talking about and her characters work and behave like scientists. I think that could be a distraction if you do not enjoy science in your romance book. This book has a bit of everything: a mystery, some suspense, personal conflict, and drama that can make the romance seem a bit secondary. Again, I think getting some of Levi’s views would help the development and understanding of the romance plot. I still rated it high because I love how complex all the characters are and the quirky little traits that make them unique. I am excited to see Ali continue to grow as an author.
