Ali Hazelwood is well known for her debut novel The Love Hypothesis. I absolutely loved that book, so when her new book Love on the Brain was coming out this year, I had to preorder it. When it came, once again, Hazelwood had me enraptured in her story, and I wound up finishing the book in a day. This is going to be my overall reaction and thoughts about the novel.
Below is the synopsis of the book.
"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?"
First, I have to address how cute the cover is. It's beautiful! The inside title page also was really cute to me.
I also need to address how amazing Hazelwood's novels come out with all of the STEM and "nerdy" parts of the books. They just add to the experience and make the story so much more fun to read. This was definitely the case for me in this book with all of Bee's stories about Marie Curie, the fun facts about her, and how she forms her thought processes around her(what would marie curie do? and love is bad). Below are some quotes from the book about what I mean.
Here's my favorite piece of trivia in the whole world: Dr. Marie Skłodowska-Curie showed up to her wedding ceremony wearing her lab gown.
Don't get me wrong: I love picturing Dr. Curie waltzing back to Krakow Pretty Woman--style, wearing her wedding-slash-lab gown, brandishing her two Nobel Prize medals, and yelling, "Big Mistake. Big. Huge." But the real villain, the one that had Marie crying and staring at the ceiling in the late hours of the night, is loss. Grief. The intrinsic transience of human relationships. The real villain is love: an unstable isotope, constantly undergoing spontaneous nuclear decay. And it will forever go unpunished. Do you know what's reliable instead? What never, ever abandoned Dr. Curie in all her years? Her curiosity. Her discoveries. Her accomplishments. Science. Science is where it's at.
Marie: Are there good days? Ever? Shmac: My last one was in middle school. Secnd place at the science fair. Marie: Did you win a Toys R Us gift certificate? Shmac: Nope. A Marie Curie bobblehead, holding two beakers that glow in the dark. Marie: Omg. I would MURDER for that. Shmac: If we ever meet in person, it's yours.
You also know that I was invested in the story the moment the Twitter friendship was introduced. I know some people think that pen pal/secret friends isn't that good of a trope, but I like it because it feels like it shows connection on a deeper level. They were friends online and cared about each other even when they(or more like she) were convinced they hated each other. I kind of stand by the idea that friendship is a good foundation for romantic relationships.
That being said, I was fangirling inside when Levi confessed his feelings for her and how he wanted to be with her over text without them both knowing. The pining I felt from him was 👌.
I kind of like to torture myself with the books I choose to read because I tend to really like angst and pining between characters. It just feels more realistic and speaks to me because real life is hardly just fluff all the time(that doesn't mean I don't love the fluffy moments too though).
Moving onto something different, I want to touch on how Bee confronted Levi about her missing equipment at the start. She'd been at her new job for a week, and she hadn't gotten any of the equipment she needed, and her go-between was Levi. I was seriously cheering her on because, yeah, things looked bad for him. However, I got a lot of second-hand embarrassment when we saw that it wasn't Levi, he was trying to help her, and he is a vegan. I started nervously laughing in my head because if this happened to me, I would feel so awkward around Levi after.
The character Rocìo was so fun to read. The way she wanted to see La Llorona and just her commentary brought me a lot of joy and really kept things light and nice a lot of the time(at least to me). She's super confident and says what comes to mind; that's really hard when you think about it. Also, I related to her when she was complaining about how the GRE test was "too dumb for her" and how she kept thinking there was more to do and all sorts of things to consider. I overthink things all the time, especially on tests, and so this trait of hers was great to see.
"The correct answer is B," I repeat... "You don't need to solve for other options. X is a factor of y squared-" "You're assuming that X is an integer. What if it's a rational number? A real number? Or, even worse, an irrational number?" "I guarantee you that X is not an irrational number," I hiss. "How do you know?" she growls. "Common sense!"
Additionally, I love Bee and Levi's bonding and how they grew closer. All of their jokes about running 5K's, getting mugs, Levi's teasing over Bee's mysterious cat at work(named Félicette), and Levi always wanting to be there to catch Bee when she faints really endeared me to their romance and friendship.
I also want to take time to appreciate Levi backing up Bee all the time. When she had trouble with coworkers who kept saying what she was asking/telling was impossible, Levi supported her and made them listen. Levi also supported her again against Tim.😌😏 This was at the HBI afterparty/Sam(their old school Ph.D. advisor)'s retirement party. After telling Levi the full story of how Tim cheated on her many times, even with her former best friend Annie, they find themselves at a party with others from their school days including Annie and Tim. Proving how amazing and protective he is, Levi scares Tim when he comes up to him and Bee.
Levi's smile stays on, and when Tim leans in for a bro hug, he accepts. Which has me scowling... My train of thought fades as I realize Levi is not just hugging Tim. He's also gripping his shoulders tightly, fingers digging painfully into Tim's flesh as he murmurs something in his ear. I can't make out the words, but by the time Levi straightens back up, Tim's mouth is pulled in a thin, straight line, his face is milk white in a way I don't remember ever seeing before, and his expression looks almost... scared.
"What just happened?" I whisper while Levi pulls out my chair. Apparently, we're in 1963. "Look." He points at Sam's food. "They have quinoa bowls." "Why does Tim look terrified?" He gives me an innocent look. "He does?" "Levi. What did you say to him?"
I love it when the love interest acts protective.
In this part of the book, we also see Amy reach out to Bee and apologize. I actually admire how Hazelwood wrote out the indecision and hurt in their relationship. They were as close as sisters before Amy and Tim cheated, and though blocking each other out for space and healing is important, I do like that they decided to leave the space open for maybe repairing their relationship in the future.
Regarding Bee's commitment issues and how Levi wants to be in a relationship with her but she was refusing, though I was frustrated and wanted her just to accept that she's in love with him, I somewhat understood why she didn't because of how hurt she was by her last relationship(Tim). I also understood because many people she's loved in her life never really stuck around(her relatives she lived with growing up and her sister is off traveling around the world too). That being said, I wanted to scream when she pushed Levi away and was going to pack up and leave Houston. Things did work themselves out, though, and while she didn't explicitly state that she loved him in the end, I did like how she admitted she wanted to be with him.
"I was wondering..." I life up the box. Hold it out to him. Clear my throat. "I was wondering... do you think poor Schrödinger would hate us if we adopted another cat?"
Finally, it's time to say my reaction to the plot twist: Guy being the one who sabotaged her and BLINK. At first, I didn't suspect him at all. In fact, I almost suspected Levi's boss as the mastermind behind the issues. That being said, I was a tad bit suspicious of Guy after he asked Bee if she wanted to go out. I don't know the exact reason in my head but I thought something wasn't right; maybe it was that it feels like everyone in the book knew that something romantic was going on with Levi and Bee(their old school friends, for example. Or maybe it only felt like that because I was the audience and knew). So, in my head, I thought, why is Guy asking, especially in front of Levi? Then again, later, in Chapter 20, Bee remarks that Guy was acting weird.
In the past couple of days he's been moody, anxious, and more tired than ever. I think he's been keeping his fears to himself to avoid disrupting morale, which makes me want to hug him. The other night I stopped by his office to check on him: he startled like a coil spring and quickly closed all his tabs.
Now, even though I knew Guy was acting strange, I didn't put it together until the reveal. I didn't suspect him, but after my initial gasp of shock, I thought That actually tracks, though.
So, overall, this kind of wraps up my thoughts on Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood. It is an amazing novel with comedy, romance( and a tiny bit of mystery when you think about who was sabotaging BLINK) elements. I enjoyed reading it very much, and I highly recommend it and Hazelwood's other books. Thanks so much for an amazing read, and I know I'll be rereading it again very soon.
I give Love on the Brain 5/5 stars.
Below are a few other cute quotes I enjoyed from this book.
“I can give you nice. I can give you better than nice. I can give you everything.” He smiles at me, full of hope. “You don’t even have to admit to yourself that you love me, Bee. God knows I love you enough for the both of us.”
“FUN FACT ABOUT me: I am a fairly mellow person, but I happen to have a very violent fantasy life. Maybe it’s an overactive amygdala. Maybe it’s too much estrogen. Maybe it’s the lack of parental role models in my formative years. I honestly don’t know what the cause is, but the fact remains: I sometimes daydream about murdering people. By “sometimes,” I mean often. And by “people,” I mean Levi Ward. I have my first vivid reverie on my third day at NASA, when I imagine offing him with poison.”
"...I stomped my way to the office with the rage of a murder of dragons." "Is that their collective noun?" "It should be." ..."I will slay a murder of dragons for you." "I looked it up," Levi says from the doorjamb. "It's a thunder of dragons."
"If I win, you're going to sign up for a 5K here in Houston." I shrug. "Sure. I'll sign up for a--" "And you're going to run it." I burst into laughter. "There is no way." "Why?" "Because I'm currently on step four of my program, and still unable to run more than half a mile without collapsing. Running a 5K sounds about as pleasant as bloodletting. By leeches." ... "I'll train you." "Oh, Levi. Levi. You sweet summer child." I point at myself... "You see this scrawny, stunted, unmuscled body? It's built to live in parasitic symbiosis with a couch. It resists training with the force of many million ohms."
"I just want you to know, not everyone is like your family. You can be . . . you can be you with me. You can talk, say, do whatever you want. And I’ll never hurt you like they did.” I make myself smile at him. It’s easy now. “I promise I don’t bite.” He reaches over to take my hand, his skin warm and rough against mine. He smiles back. Just a little. “You could rip me to shreds, Bee.”
I hope you enjoyed those quotes.
Thanks so much for reading my review. I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post.
Comment below if you've read this book and how you felt about it, and we'll chat in the comments.