Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - La química del amor

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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idk_indigo's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was not as good as the other two books I've read of hers (Bride and The Love Hypothesis), but I still enjoyed it. I just really lowkey hated Bee, I thought she was just like the FMC from TLH but with even less of a personality.

I feel like Ali Hazelwood knows how to write exactly 3 characters. The first is a quirky, weird side character and there's always something about her to add a little diversity.
The second is a tall, smart, handsome white guy love interest with blue/green eyes and muscles for days.
The third is (I'm fully assuming this because I actually don't know her in real life) herself.

I appreciate it though, however, I do think the reason why I didn't love this as much as TLH is because this is the same book just slightly to the left and I read that one first so it's automatically better. I think reading a third one would be overkill and I will just flat out not like it. Like hearing the same joke 3x.

Also I hated the main villain,

the switch over was just too much and too sudden

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icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

30% cute, 70% questionable.

the cute: romance, science, social commentary!

i liked nearly everything about levi, from his calm demeanor, to his rationality, attitude and (soft) personality. bee and levi shared some cute moments, and their relationship seemed genuine and built on common interests and values (veganism, science, cats, hummingbirds, movies and music), which i enjoyed. i liked the banter, and both characters as a couple were likable enough. i enjoyed the science talk, and the feminist and social commentary, and the facts about Marie Curie!

the questionable: everything else.

the characters, especially rocío and kaylee, seemed like cheap clichés. the 'villain' was disney-esque (seriously, there is an "i'm telling you all about my evil plans and schemes" scene, which could've been copy-pasted into a mystery book for children and no one would've batted an eye).

bee started to seriously get on my nerves circa 60% into the book. she makes my sense of delusion seem like a daydream in comparison: "he hates me", "this is not a date", "we're just friends-with-benefits", la di da – girl, he literally asked you to move in with him, be for fucking real.
the miscommunication was hard to read sometimes, and so was her crying over every single roadkill (she's an empath and i'm a cold bastard, apparently).

the plotline with her ex-fiancé tim and ex-best friend annie was anticlimactic, utterly pointless and boring – first and foremost because tim has no redeeming qualities, is a completely unambiguous, black-and-white character that served only as a tragic background for bee and to explain her immense fear of social commitment. he's shoved into the readers' faces ("he's bad!") and it stays that way from start to finish. (nearly the same thing applies to annie.)

the ending (and big reveal) was goofy at best, and a shitshow at worst. it completely took me out of the illusion of the book.

astronaut with gun pressuring scientist to suicide. Félicette, a CAT, jumping the villain so that bee could escape. need i say more? seriously, whom was this written for? 6-year-olds? (i briefly considered throwing my copy against the nearest wall.)

levi and bee got some closure and a nice ending, which is cool. the romance was the only thing carrying this book at this point, so an epilogue that was not completely disappointing seems like a big-enough win to happily accept and glutton over.

fun! wouldn't read again.

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the_reading_italian's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

I loved this!! There was a bit too much drama for my tastes, but I had so much fun with the characters. I personally was absolutely in love with Levi from the beginning - I'm a sucker for the 'he falls first, and harder' trope - so I am very glad I picked this up. If you enjoy anything else by Ali Hazelwood, I would recommend reading this!! It's fantastic

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madanxiety's review against another edition

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3.0

This being my third Ali Hazelwood read, I think it's safe to say she has found her formula. For those who might not have read yet, I mean that the archetypes of her two leads are pretty much exactly the same every time. Ultimately, the similarity among all her books is more comforting to me than it is boring. I think most romance readers are attracted to the predictability and optimism of the genre, so I can't complain. It's like eating your favorite breakfast - one you've had hundreds of times in your life, and yet it sates you every time. Her formula isn't my ideal fantasy as a lesbian, lol, but I still find it entertaining. And hey, wlw got some rep in this book!

Aside from the wlw side-plot, this book did set itself apart from her other novels in 1-2 major ways,

the major way being that there is a GUN! Lol, I was not expecting that level of high-stakes. The other stand-out feature was that the smut seemed a tiny bit kinkier/dirtier than her other novels, specifically with a dom/daddy vibe. I'm glad Hazelwood didn't lean into that as much in the other novels that bigger age gaps/power imbalances.

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madisonthacker's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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sarahaurora628's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

This was my first Ali Hazelwood and I liked it 🤷‍♀️ I loved all the side characters and the male lead. I thought the main character had so much potential which is such a shame because I found her kind of annoying 🫣 I love her back story and interests but being in her head made me roll my eyes a lot. I wanted to like her so badly but she came off kind of try hardish. That being said by the 2nd half I was routing for her. I think the smut was well done, I don’t remember cringing at them. I loved the love story, plot, and twists and I want a Levi Ward.

He is so funny, the ladder back and forth actually made me laugh

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