I was pretty excited to grab this ARC after more than mildly enjoying The Love Hypothesis. However, this book did not cut it for me. I really doubt I would have even finished it if not for getting an advanced copy and feeling obligated to review. In all honesty, I hate-read my way through the majority of this novel. I"m going to try to limit any spoilers, but beware, this review will not be pretty.

First of all, Love on the Brain definitely read like the younger, less popular, version of The Love Hypothesis. The characters felt recycled and brought all of the worst parts of their Love Hypothesis counterparts to Love on the Brain. Adam and Levi? Both "asses," both so super tall 🙄, both unrealistically crushing on a girl for years without knowing anything about her, hell, they even both wear the same black Henley shirts. Olive and Bee? Both super QuIrKy, body-obsessed, skinny, petite, so smart but tHeY dOn'T kNoW iT. It wasn't fun to feel like I was reading the same characters from The Love Hypothesis, just in a different story. (Side note, there were even two lesbian side characters in a similar vein to Holden and Malcolm in the LH, who I actually enjoyed and wished there was more of. But it also just felt like Hazelwood threw them in for representation this time while still mainly presenting a heteronormative, sexist relationship).

Second. I really can't stand how body-obsessed Hazelwood seems to be. The readers are CONSTANTLY getting reminders of Levi's hotness, his height, how BIG he is (if you know what I mean...), and Bee's petiteness. I saw a lot of this in The Love Hypothesis as well, but it just felt really intense in Love on the Brain. Some examples:
- Levi is so tall. Like SO TALL. He's the tallest person Bee has ever seen. So tall.
- He also has biceps. BICEPS! Oh my god, look at his biceps. Such big biceps busting out of his shirt. Biceps.
- Bee: "I can't believe I'm having sex with someone with a six-pack." 🙄🙄🙄
- Bee is 5'0 exactly, and petite, and we get reminders of this so much throughout the book. Like how she sleeps in a twin bed (at 28 years old), wears shirts that she's had since middle school (at 28 years old), and pretty much every time she and Levi have sex we're reminded that she's so small for his big c**k. 
- Bee waxes her chuncha every month. No, that's not a word I made up, it's in the book. She's a 28-year-old neuroscientist but she's too immature to say mons pubis.
It also just really annoyed me how much time and effort was spent on explaining to the reader how vegan she and Levi are. Like that's fine, be vegan, but when it's paired with the obvious body obsession, it comes across as shame-y. ALSO, of course, she hates exercise. Why would a naturally petite and skinny vegan need to exercise?! Bee's entire physical appearance just screams fat-phobia and infantilization of female bodies and it disgusted me to be perfectly honest.

So now let's talk about Bee's personality which I equally hated. She comes across as really stubborn and childish. She insists to herself and out loud throughout the entire book that Levi hates her, even when presented with contrary evidence. She gives him the silent treatment after he decides to do something in his own department because he didn't get her permission first???? (Which he doesn't need because it's his department). AND THEN when he breaks the silent treatment by apologizing, she doesn't accept it until he apologizes in the way she wants him to. Eventually, I just started reading everything she says and does as really immature. She's supposed to be a grown-ass woman who's smart enough to have obtained multiple degrees, but she doesn't read that way at all. 

Now the romance. As I've mentioned, the trope in this novel is the "enemies to lovers." Except they never were enemies, Bee just assumes things that aren't true. Which is understandable...in the beginning. But, when things begin to change and you start to see another side to a person, wouldn't you just, I don't know, communicate? Ask questions? Believe what's being said to you? Well, not quirky Bee. She justifies every romantic action of Levi's by saying it's not real. They're just friends, but not even friends because he HATES her. He has to hate her because that's what she's decided and she can't change that. It became so absolutely grating that if I wasn't scared to break my Kindle, I would have thrown it across the room. Here's an example to show you just what I mean:
"It's not a date.
But if it were--which it isn't--it would be the best date of my life.
Of course, because it's not a date, the point is moot.
But, if it were.
Though it's not.
Even when, I must admit, it almost feels like one."

Do you...do you see what I mean? And this mental back and forth happened A LOT. I really hated her by the end of the novel. 

Okay so now let's talk about the women in STEM aspect and how there was still actually a lot of misogyny and sexism in this book. If the goal of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain are to encourage more women to be in STEM, they're doing a terrible job, but this book especially. Bee isn't a particularly likable character (as I've already established), but she's also not someone I would want my daughter to look up to. She is presented with two tough situations, one at the beginning of the novel, and one at the end. Both times, she wants to pack her bags and give up, and it's not until a man saves her that she decides it's worth staying. Not to mention that she literally faints, like, a lot, and Levi is there to save her each time. Does that not scream Damsel in Distress? The sex scenes also just disgusted me. She takes directives and does exactly what Levi wants/tells her to do. I literally wanted to throw up, I'm not kidding, during the scene where she is forced to swallow his cum. He calls her a "good girl," tells her that she's "built to do this, built for me." I just, I don't know a stronger word for disgust. Loathe maybe? Abhor? Detest? All of those are what I felt.

Conclusion? Levi and Bee both need extensive therapy to resolve their childhood and adult trauma surrounding relationships. The whole book was a case study in attachment theory that wasn't adequately resolved. I would even venture to say that Levi and Bee are trauma bonded. (Case in point, Levi begging Bee to stay and saying that he didn't even need her to admit to herself that she loves him. Broke my heart, poor man needs help). 

If I could give this book zero stars I would, but I'll give it one if just for the fact that I learned that Marie Curie's notes are radioactive and kept in a lead box in France and can't be opened until the 3500's. That was the most fascinating paragraph in the entire book.