Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

5 reviews

noellegrace8's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is my 3rd Ali Hazelwood, and I loved the characters in this one. I felt like I could relate to them more than any of the ones I read previously, and they were more fleshed out. They were all kind of odd and interesting. I absolutely loved the humor Rocio added. And Levi was so much more real than Adam in Love Hypothesis, and they had better everyday chemistry. I appreciated that there was not another issue of inscrutability regarding the female lead trying to read the male lead. In fact, a lot of this book differed from how her others are, which was refreshing. But yeah, I was frustrated at times by Bee's lack of ability to see that this guy doesn't hate her. It became unbelievable at some point.

The premise is interesting and chapter headings are as clever as ever. I didn't like the way Bee treated Levi toward the end, but I was glad it got resolved quickly enough. Speaking of resolution, it gets almost cheesy at some point, especially with the protective cat, and the severe tension of the ending is uncomfortabbly unexpected. Plus the twitter subplot is built up so much with very little reward. But the epilogue was actually useful! Normally, I don't really see the point of prologues & epilogues, but this one was worth the pages.

I give Brooke Bloomingdale 5/5⭐️. She does the perfect narration.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism

naomi_k's review against another edition

emotional informative lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cursing, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

was it as good as TLH? no.
did i still have fun? yes!

i had trouble getting into this book, especially since the switch from 3rd to 1st person through me completely off guard. furthermore, bee is kinda whiny. but i LOVED her and levi. 

idc how many times ali hazelwood writes similar STEM romances - i will enjoy every single one. it is her niche and her charm, for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Car accident

auteaandtales's review against another edition

emotional funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

First and foremost: Ali Hazelwood knows cute and quirky to a very tall, dark and handsome T. “Love on the Brain” was science + cuteness, encapsulated. You don’t have to know anything about neuroscience or space to understand the workplace romance fleshed out amongst these pages. It’s quite endearing, if a little repetitive. As many have pointed out, the plot and characters are very similar to Ali’s first steminist romcom and one of my personal favorites of all time, “The Love Hypothesis”. Forgive me for comparing them, but it absolutely happened!! I had no control over it!!

I love Levi, and I love Adam. But Olive >>> Bee for sure. Moving on.

For a neuroscientist working on a NASA-funded project, Dr. Bee Königswasser is quite the oblivious Damsel in Distress™ when it comes to her supposed grad school nemesis, Dr. Levi Ward. She is Tiny and Clumsy and Alternative Hair. He is Massive and Closed Off and Beautiful Green Eyes. Levi avoided her in grad school at all costs because He Hated Her So Much And There Is No Other Explanation. 

It’s your typical enemies-to-lovers romance, but I appreciated that the “enemies” part didn’t fester long. We all know the “enemies” trope is never that accurate considering at least one party is secretly in love the entire time. In this case, it’s glaringly obvious to everyone except our stubborn MC.

I enjoyed this novel, but it didn’t give me all of the swooning and butterflies that TLH gave me. Which, understandably, is hard to achieve. Still, I think it has long been a dream of mine to score a NASA scientist who named his cat Schrödinger.

Extra points for the extra steam in this one, though 🔥

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence