We love a good STEM romance and Love and Other Brain Experiments fits the bill. I haven’t read one of these in a while and I loved being in this world of academia and rivals. Keep reading this book review of Love and Other Brain Experiments for my full thoughts.
Summary
Neuroscientist Dr. Frances Silberstein has success on the brain. As a grad student, she was offered a job by her brilliant boyfriend, but determined to make it on her own, she turned it—and him—down. Now, stuck in postdoc purgatory with no job security and no personal life to speak of, Frances is desperate to make a breakthrough. Her best shot is a summer conference packed with her field’s leading scientists. The only problem? It’s organized by her ex, who has found the success that’s eluded her. But backing out is not an option, because Frances desperately needs to network to save her career.
Enter Dr. Lewis North: her perceptive, meticulous, and inconveniently attractive rival. When their academic sniping gets mistaken for flirtatious chemistry, Frances doesn’t deny it—putting her integrity and career on the line. As soon as her prefrontal cortex is operational again, Frances realizes she needs to keep up the charade, or risk everything she’s worked for. Faking data is out of the question, but fake dating? That might just be the solution she needs.
But as Lewis starts to make her reward centers spark and a major setback has Frances questioning everything, she must confront what she’s willing to chase—for love, for science, and for the future she thought she wanted.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
If I had a nickle for every emotional plane turbulence confessional I would have three nickles, which isn’t a lot but it sure is fun it’s happened three times. Love and Other Brain Experiments was a delight. I devoured it and kept wanting to read way past my bedtime. I love the academic rival STEM vibes. But even more so, I loved the character heart to this. I, too, have been in a relationship where the past has burned us so badly we want so desperately to be anything, do anything, but be hurt the same way that we run so fast. We lash out first so that we don’t go down the same road. That is at the core of Love and Other Brain Experiments. And it felt like a conversation with my past.
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Then it gets even better. We love a good fake dating, the line between real and illusion with our rival! Love and Other Brain Experiments was heartfelt and compulsive. I loved the way we can all tell from the beginning that Lewis definitely doesn’t hate her, but that he’s had a difficult time figuring out how to make amends. If you’ve ever thought that the pursuit of knowledge is beautiful and that you want to help someone do great things, then this is for you. I loved how Love and Other Brain Experiments directly confronts this idea of being absorbed into someone, into this We, another person’s dreams when we get together.
It forces us to examine our dreams. To realize that maybe we are going down this path because it’s what we think, but we could find a different way forward. Find Love and Other Brain Experiments on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.