harmony822's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cursing, Abandonment, Classism, Grief, Misogyny, Gun violence, Mental illness, Car accident, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, and Death of parent
reverieparacosm's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
0701mango's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
I really liked the leads' dynamic in this book, and I appreciate the science of it as a student of science myself. However, I found it harder to like Bee, the heroine, compared to some of Ali Hazelwood's other heroines like Olive from The Love Hypothesis and Mara from the novella Under One Roof. That being said, I found Levi, the hero, very attractive and highly appealing as a romantic interest. He was strong and secure, and I find good leadership to be attractive.
Spoiler
The order of events in the romantic plot was not my favorite. Nor were some of the plot points of the romantic plot. For one, I really hate the misunderstandings/miscommunication trope, and that was pretty central for a lot of the book. I include Bee and Levi not knowing they're Twitter friends in the components of this trope. I don't mind that they had sex before getting together, but this back and forth of will Bee let herself be in love or not was not for me. I generally don't prefer when the romantic resolution happens on the very last page, but I thought it worked better in The Love Hypothesis than in this book. In the last third or quarter of the book, everything felt like too much of a rollercoaster for my taste.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Sexism
Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Death
Minor: Gun violence and Murder
The main character, Bee, is an orphan whose parents passed away in a vehicle accident. She has attachment issues stemming largely from moving around a lot as a child and her ex-fiance cheating on her with her best friend. Bee's love interest, Levi, has a disinterested, rude, and unsupportive family. The sexual content in this book is explicitly written and somewhat frequent.Spoiler
There's a scene in which Bee is threatened with a gun.readundancies's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
3.0
Love on the Brain is Ali Hazelwood’s sophomore contemporary romance and I hate to say it, but it feels very sophomorey. As in, by no means is it a poor sophomore novel, it just didn’t have the same magic as her debut.
There were a lot of plot choices that just didn’t work for me in combination when it came to Levi’s backstory. It was very drama heavy and unbelievable in a way I struggled to appreciate. I also found the friendships to be lacking emotional depth in this one compared to debut. Even the sisterhood presented had a lot left to be desired for me, it just wasn’t giving me enough. And everything about Levi’s family was garbage, and I was not a fan of how it was dismissed rather nonchalantly once all his family members were introduced.
The banter was cute, but then Hazelwood does great things with dialogue. It’s just the plot and characters didn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside which is what I wanted because I wanted the romance to capture me the way The Love Hypothesis did.
And then the ending happened. Which did not do the story any favours from my viewpoint because oh how tired am I of reading about gun violence as plot points in contemporary romance.
So yeah, the story wasn’t anything to write home about but it wasn’t a bad one either. I think I just had expectations that were never going to be met.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Violence
katebrownreads's review against another edition
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
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