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A review by icarusandthesun
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
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.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders