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tuckeralmengor's review
2.0
Many thanks to William Morrow for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
SIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I really, really wished I had believed the reviews for one time in my life... But I didn't. I decided "well, it can't be that bad" but guys... it was. I generally try to find the best in a book (and there was some good stuff in this one) but this was pretty irredeemable.
This was supposed to be a romance but it was so cold, sterile and boring. There was absolutely no spark at all.
I think this author has the potential to write a really good novel but she just didn't strike gold with this one. Better luck next time, I suppose.
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Review to come
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tacotexas's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
emleemay's review against another edition
1.0
The first time Aeden saw me handling a pipette he walked away and for the rest of the day did not speak to me again.
This might be the most sterile and lifeless romance I have ever read.
I thought it sounded great. What happens when a woman in STEM gets caught up in a romantic relationship with a colleague? When her research and her love life come into conflict with one another, which does she choose? I expected it would be bittersweet. The author is a scientist herself, and this is 2019, so I figured that this wouldn't be another scenario with a woman giving up everything she's worked for in exchange for love. Good - nerdy and feminist are kinda my thing.
But I don't even know what to make of this. There are two main aspects to the plot: the olfactory research and the romance. The former is detailed, but not exactly exciting. I could have forgiven that, though, if the romance had balanced it out. Instead, the romance - if it can even be called that - is more dull than the descriptions of lab work and research.
There's no chemistry, no spark, no puns intended. Aeden starts by being rude to Emily, and this eventually leads into some very cold and detached sexual encounters. There's no emotion or desire in it at all. In fact, it's odd but the first time they have sex, I didn't actually realize what was happening at first. Most disturbingly of all, one of their sexual encounters doesn't seem to be consensual. Emily clearly tells him "no" and Aeden continues anyway.
I really disliked everything about Aeden. I think I'm supposed to want them to be together, but I honestly just wanted Emily to run in the opposite direction.
There's this constant questioning if "people like her" are destined to be alone and live isolated lives, focused only on their work. It's heavily implied that Emily is on the autism spectrum, though the A-word itself is treated like something taboo.
Autistic or not, I think the question about whether some people are just better suited to solitary lives is an interesting one and worth exploring. However, instead of exploring this with any nuance, the author quickly tags on an ending that implies an answer to the question and it feels pulled out of thin air and unsatisfying. It annoyed me instead of giving me the closure I longed for.
Can anyone please suggest some adult romance that is sexy but where the guy isn't a douche?
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thephdivabooks's review against another edition
4.0
Somber, intense, and deeply thought-provoking, Andrea Rothman’s The DNA of You and Me is the sort of book that left me with a quiet pensive feeling about women, love, ambition, and sacrifice.
I finished The DNA of You and Me more than a day ago and the emotions I felt reading it and through the end have stayed with me. Sometimes a book is so well-written that it brings a stark moment of clarity to my own life that is both uncomfortable and important. (I think this is what the J.D. Salinger may have described as the sound of one hand clapping)
This is not a romance, though it is a story about love. And this is an important distinction to make, I think. A romance implies a certain amount of fun, infatuation, and wooing. A story about love is different from a love story. To me, The DNA of You and Me is truly a story about love, but it is the type of love that feels authentic and without the dramatic flair a novel normally brings.
When Emily meets Aeden in the lab, they don’t immediately click. Aeden is worried about Emily starting rival research within their own lab, and Emily has never really learned how to connect with others. Watching their love develop slowly, as they pushed through genetic research to understand the genes that relate to our olfactory sense, I found the humanization of the dry research lab to be one of the shining points to this book.
Emily herself is compelling, tragic, and root-able. She wears her loneliness like a suit of armor. She I confused over whether she should choose ambition or love. Or more specifically, whether she should choose her legacy or her happiness.
“The gene will be here 100 years from now. But you and I won’t.”
As I’ve spent the past 24 hours reflecting on the story, I think that the story isn’t even really about choosing career or love. More nuanced, the story to me was about how hard it is to truly understand what we want when we are living it. But also that perhaps it is truly never too late.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for my copy. Opinions are my own.
I finished The DNA of You and Me more than a day ago and the emotions I felt reading it and through the end have stayed with me. Sometimes a book is so well-written that it brings a stark moment of clarity to my own life that is both uncomfortable and important. (I think this is what the J.D. Salinger may have described as the sound of one hand clapping)
This is not a romance, though it is a story about love. And this is an important distinction to make, I think. A romance implies a certain amount of fun, infatuation, and wooing. A story about love is different from a love story. To me, The DNA of You and Me is truly a story about love, but it is the type of love that feels authentic and without the dramatic flair a novel normally brings.
When Emily meets Aeden in the lab, they don’t immediately click. Aeden is worried about Emily starting rival research within their own lab, and Emily has never really learned how to connect with others. Watching their love develop slowly, as they pushed through genetic research to understand the genes that relate to our olfactory sense, I found the humanization of the dry research lab to be one of the shining points to this book.
Emily herself is compelling, tragic, and root-able. She wears her loneliness like a suit of armor. She I confused over whether she should choose ambition or love. Or more specifically, whether she should choose her legacy or her happiness.
“The gene will be here 100 years from now. But you and I won’t.”
As I’ve spent the past 24 hours reflecting on the story, I think that the story isn’t even really about choosing career or love. More nuanced, the story to me was about how hard it is to truly understand what we want when we are living it. But also that perhaps it is truly never too late.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for my copy. Opinions are my own.
janetteh's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
woolardhe's review against another edition
2.0
I read this book last year, and reading the love hypothesis made me remember this - this man FALSIFIED her data and WHAT? That in itself was so angering. I didn’t like this book.
cfabb's review against another edition
I love a stem romance as much as the next girl but honestly this writing was so horrible I couldn’t force myself to finish it
100pagesaday's review against another edition
4.0
Emily Apell knows exactly what she want to do with her life. When she gets the chance to join a renowned research lab, Emily knows this is her chance to make a breakthrough in the science of smell. Emily has never felt like she fit in with other people. However, lab colleague Aeden intrigues Emily like no one before. Unfortunately, Aeden seems to have no interest in Emily and only sees her as a competitor. Aeden's research is surprisingly similar to to what Emily was brought in to work on. When Emily's research proves more promising and Aeden is faced with being kicked out of the lab, Emily makes a decision to make Aeden an equal partner in her research. Emily and Aeden begin a clunky relationship, but as things progress Emily realizes she is in uncharted waters. Years later, as Emily is about to accept an award for her work, she tries to unravel what happened in their relationship.
The DNA of You and Me is a very different type of romance where a neurodivergent tries to piece together what happened to a relationship that almost changed her goal in life. I could tell Emily's character was a bit different from the beginning and yet I could relate to her not attaching to any people and feeling like she was just fine without them. I have to admit I found the science part of the book way more fascinating than the relationship part. It was clear that the author had experience in the lab as well as an extensive knowledge of the science of smell. I enjoyed reading about the process of tirelessly searching databases, finding something that looks promising, isolating the gene and seeing if it does what is expected. The reality of research science is also highlighted, that most of what is worked on is a failure- or at least not what was expected. Aeden was a conundrum to me, approaching his relationship with Emily as something he needs to hide, almost hate fueled and willing to ruin everything that she has worked on for what he believes is love. I understood Emily's attraction more since Aeden seemed to be the first person she ever clicked with, ever felt that she needed to be around. In the end, I felt that Emily made the right decisions for herself and highlighted the strength of women in the STEM field.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
The DNA of You and Me is a very different type of romance where a neurodivergent tries to piece together what happened to a relationship that almost changed her goal in life. I could tell Emily's character was a bit different from the beginning and yet I could relate to her not attaching to any people and feeling like she was just fine without them. I have to admit I found the science part of the book way more fascinating than the relationship part. It was clear that the author had experience in the lab as well as an extensive knowledge of the science of smell. I enjoyed reading about the process of tirelessly searching databases, finding something that looks promising, isolating the gene and seeing if it does what is expected. The reality of research science is also highlighted, that most of what is worked on is a failure- or at least not what was expected. Aeden was a conundrum to me, approaching his relationship with Emily as something he needs to hide, almost hate fueled and willing to ruin everything that she has worked on for what he believes is love. I understood Emily's attraction more since Aeden seemed to be the first person she ever clicked with, ever felt that she needed to be around. In the end, I felt that Emily made the right decisions for herself and highlighted the strength of women in the STEM field.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.