Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood. 4.25 stars, STEM RomCom, 354 pages, 2022
Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project–a literal dream come true after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia–Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.
Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school–archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.
Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it’s her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas…devouring her with those eyes. And the possibilities have all her neurons firing. But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?
After reading The Love Hypothesis last month, it took me no time at all to realize that I would be reading more from her. It was fun, smart, and romantic. What’s not to love?
Love on the Brain is very similar to TLH. It’s set in academia, has offbeat heroines and stoic heroes (unless there’s sex and then all bets are off), and an obvious attraction seen by the reader even though the heroine misses it. But, in all of the ways that TLH went over the top and sometimes missed the mark, this one didn’t. It’s a more mature story, complete with cats and near death experiences.
Bee and Levi are working on a project for NASA and they have a history. Bee runs a site for women in science to vent their frustrations. What happens when Bee’s worst day involves both parts of her life.
I’ll be moving on to my next Hazelwood romcom soon and I can’t wait!
“Fun fact about me: I am a fairly mellow person, but I happen to have a very violent fantasy life. Maybe it’s an overactive amygdala. Maybe it’s too much estrogen. Maybe it’s the lack of parental role models in my formative years. I honestly don’t know what the cause is, but the fact remains: I sometimes daydream about murdering people. By “sometimes,” I mean often. And by “people,” I mean Levi Ward. I have my first vivid reverie on my third day at NASA, when I imagine offing him with poison.” from Love on the Brain
I only read 20 books this month, and a weird range of reads too.
I read 9 picture books, 7 fiction, 2 non-fiction. My favorite being
Wombats are Pretty Weird: A (Not So) Serious Guide by Abi Cushman. There are characters (Gage loved the snake) that will appeal to the littles in your life and just enough information to make those littles smarter! The back pages had photos and facts about the different types of wombats and the page on their cube shaped poop is fun for all.
I managed 5 romances, 2 modern, 2 historical, and 1 teen. My favorite being
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. Ladies in STEM unite! So much fun! If you have a thing for smart men, are inspired by intelligent women, and love some spice then this is the romance for you! It wasn’t without issues, but reading it felt like I was sitting down to eat a big bowl of M&Ms for dinner. I can’t wait to read more by this author.
I also read 6 non-fiction, 2 photography books, 1 health, 1 inspirational journal, 1 graphic biography, and 1 cartoon collection. Two favorites from this group were
Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton. I’m sure most of you have seen Humans of New York online. Brandon Stanton started taking photos of people in various cities along with a caption or story and his blog gained traction. By the time his camera found the humanity and exuberant essence of NYC, people were paying attention. And still are. This book was originally published in 2013. I loved every bit of it. The people, the quick story, the quote, the photos.
Interspersed amongst the rest is the story of Steve Martin and Harry Bliss, told in comic style, and how they came to put together this book. My favorite is when they were checking each other for ticks. It’s a great 20-30 minute read, sure to make you chuckle.
I’d never heard of Stephanie St. Claire, a Black woman from the Caribbean who ran the Harlem numbers in the 1920s and 30s. This was not a woman’s game and she did it at the same time and in the same city Lucky Luciano was running the mob.
There are flashbacks to her Martinique childhood where you can see what made her the powerhouse she became. This shows the racism of the day and also the way that powerful men thought they could control her through violence and sex.
I loved the two pages about the Harlem Renaissance and the two pages on the famous players in the story. And can we talk about the arresting cover? Gorgeous. A 155 page graphic biography.
Firefighter Cassie had closed herself off emotionally until one weak moment changed her life. From Austin to Boston, hero to ‘the girl’, and never been kissed to cherished forever, Cassie’s story hit all the sweet spots. A fun and thoughtful read. I loved Cassie’s confidence in herself and getting a feel for life at the fire station.
The Lady Risks All by Stephanie Laurens. Stephanie Laurens was a new author for me and I really liked the unconventional characters, unique circumstances,and very real dangerous mystery of this one. At over 450+ pages i really got to know the characters and why in the 1820s a Duke could not just become owner of gambling houses without sacrifices being made.
My Indigo World: A True Story of the Color Blue by Rosa Chang. For the older elementary or even early middle schooler. Chang shares her memory of all things blue and there is so much great information. It’s all over the place, jumping from her first trip to the blue ocean to growing indigo to Korean history, but in the best possible way.
A few months ago I read Anatomy: A Love Story and liked the young adult book. This is the sequel. In the first book Hazel found a way to make me her surgeon dreams come true in 1800s Edinburgh, but saw her love hanged by a mob.
In Immortality, after being imprisoned for helping a woman who had aborted her pregnancy, she is ordered to London to treat Princess Charlotte, the heir to the throne. She’s invited to the elusive Companions to the Death club, where she learns more about the tincture offering everlasting life. This tincture, which she had given to her love Jack, proves to be the real deal.
So, I liked it well enough for the crazy that it was. It’s brings the story that began in Anatomy to a nice end. Although, I’m speaking as an older woman here, I question her big life decision. And some endings are mind boggling, like that of Marie-Anne.
Patchwork by Matt de la Pena and Corinna Luyken. When you were a kid what did you think your life woud look like when you gre up? Sometimes you can see the seeds of who you will be, but sometimes your life will take a different direction.
Wilde Child by Eloisa James. I’ve read and enjoyed Eloisa James and her historical romances before, but this ended up being just okay for me. It’s the 8th in a series that I haven’t read and, to be blunt, I just got tired of hearing about Thaddeus’s cock (a word frequently used). A lady who wanted to be an actress, a big no no back then, and a future Duke who loved her adventurous spirit was a good story. Even the shared parental difficulties were engaging. Once the spicy scenes started they didn’t stop. So, if lots of spicy is your scene then this might be for you.
Faces of Cleveland by Laura Wimbels. This book, unlike HONY, is a collection of portraits of Clevelanders with just their name and occupation. At the beginning she has several locals tell how they know the author and what it is that makes Cleveland special. This is not a comprehensive collection in any way, but it’s always nice to celebrate the good things and people of this fine city. Although I’m a suburbanite, I can be downtown in 20 minutes and love this place I’ve called home for 23 years.
Any Patricia Highsmith fans out there? This is a graphic bio of the time when she wrote Strangers on a Train and the lesbian thriller A Pinch of Salt under a pseudonym. A Pinch of Salt was later retitled Carol and is known for having the first happy ending gay characters had gotten in books.
Loved the book and recommend it. It was the Author’s Note at the beginning that hooked me. I left out more good stuff for brevity.
“This is a story I believe is worth telling. That being said, I want to be clear: The protagonist of this story is not a good person. She was deeply anti-Semitic, racist, and misogynistic, even by the standards of her time. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that many of her beliefs were nothing short of evil…
History is populated by complicated and destructive human beings. I think it’s important that we reckon with that. Not every influential or important figure deserves to be put on a pedestal, including women and LGBTQ people…Patricia Highsmith is not a hero, and she had a huge, positive impact on LGBTQ literature, not to mention American literature in general…
If you read this book and end up conflicted about Highsmith and her legacy: good.”
Last week was New Zealand week and we read some fantastic picture books. So many I just had to share. I love to use picture books as a teaching tool, even as I teach my middle schooler. They garner interest for further learning and can be used as a part of the lesson themselves.
I am in love with the illustrations in this nonfiction book about the godwits migration from New Zealand (and Australia) to the Arctic and then back again. Great for learning about migration in general.
Such a fun and colorful story about a real octopus who was rescued and then freed himself. The story was fantastic as were the end notes. Your kid will learn so much about octopus and will most likely want to know more. This was my favorite book of the week.
Elizabeth was an elephant seal who made her home in the Avon River in Christchurch. She became a problem when she started sleeping in the middle of the road in the afternoon. Three times they captured her and took her far away to live, but each time she came back. The solution they found will make you smile. I loved the picture of the real Elizabeth in the middle of the road at the end of the book.
**For school, Gage had to write a paragraph comparing the two animals and their journeys.
Why is a book about Mount Everest on this list? Because that’s where Hillary was from! This was full of information, even with a timeline of his life at the end. Don’t let the page count fool you. Excellent resource.
I didn’t love the illustrations, but did love the concept. Sir Edmund Hillary didn’t get to the top of Everest alone and yet he always gets the credit. This book tells the story of Hillary but also the story of his sherpa Tenzig Norgay on each opposing page. By telling their stories side by side, it is giving Norgay the due he deserves.
**For school, Gage made a Venn diagram comparing the information featured in each book.
This is not a book about New Zealand, but one created by New Zealander. This is most definitely geared toward a younger audience and it was Gage’s favorite. It’s all about making art wherever you are using what nature has provided. The only fictional book (except for Ranger which is only half fiction)
**For school, Gage and I set the timer for 20 minutes and each created art from whatever we found in our yard. His was super cool with big branches sticking out of theground to look like trees and stones making a circle around it. I’m not embarrassed to say it was way better than mine!
This was our longer read and I love this series! The journey starts in New Zealand aboard the Terra Nova and, while obviously fiction since it’s based on a time travelling dog, only Ranger and the boy he was there to save were fictional characters. All the other characters were based on real life people and a real life race to the Pole. The end notes were the best part even though they were sad.
**We read this aloud as a family, each taking a chapter each night.
March was thriller month! Four of the seven adult books I read were thrillers, with the other three being one romance, one fiction, and one motivational.
My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby. I’ve read all three of his books, this being his debut. He’s grown into a must read for me.
I read 21 books for kids. 10 non fiction picture books, 8 fiction picture books, 3 middle school fiction.
My 5 favorites
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan. Middle school historical fiction based on Norwegian children smuggling gold out of the country on their sleds while Nazis watched, unknowing.
My Dragon Boat Festival by Bing Ge and Li Li. I thought this book looked too childish for Gage, but when we read it together it was a good jumping off point and I loved the illustrations.
I’ve read 69 books this year, less than I would like, BUT, I really am trying to find a life balance.
I hosted my book club this month and we read Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen. I love magical realism. When I had by first bookstore job after college I would always make a display of staff picks and then make sure I read one of them each month. Thanks to those excellent recommendations I first read and fell in love with books like Like Water for Chocolate and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Fast forward to 2016 when I picked up Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen and fell in love. I quickly read the rest of her books and have been waiting impatiently for this next book.
There were ghosts, but it wasn’t a ghost story, there were misfits looking for a tribe, there was a mystery or two you didn’t even know needed solved, and there was love in many different forms. There were secrets revealed and secrets kept, invisible birds, and childhood trauma. Even with all of that going on at one this is, at its hear, a comfort read.
In an interview with the author she said that she always envisioned the setting first and that’s why it always feel like a character. This setting is the fictional Mallow Island, South Carolina, known for its marshmallows and that leads to what makes this a fun book club read… the menu!
So, I started with marshmallows. A S’mores cake and orange marshmallow fluff and coconut marshmallows.
I also made a marshmallow dip for sweet potatoes fries and fruit.
There was also a chef who based his menu on cornmeal. Cornmeal popovers with raspberry jam. Cornmeal candied bacon. Sweet potato soup served over marshamallow.
I also made a cornmeal pudding in the crockpot which was probably my favorite.
Oh, and Zoey, the main character, loves potato chip sandwiches so we had those too.
So, you can see how easy it is to totally get into the food for a book club meeting and I had so much fun doing it!
Everyone loved the book so that was a bonus 🙂
Are you in a book club? Has there been a book where the menu for the meeting wrote itself?
Today we finish up our time in Mexico. Last week we studied the country as a whole and this week we concentrated on what’s going on at the US-Mexico border and its history. These are a few of the books we liked this week.
The Honeys. 4.25/5 stars, YA novel, 344 pages, 2022
Mars has always been the lesser twin, the shadow to his sister Caroline’s radiance. But when Caroline dies under horrific circumstances, Mars is propelled to learn all he can about his once-inseparable sister who’d grown tragically distant.
Mars’s genderfluidity means he’s often excluded from the traditions — and expectations — of his politically-connected family. This includes attendance at the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where his sister poured so much of her time. But with his grief still fresh, he insists on attending in her place.
What Mars finds is a bucolic fairytale not meant for him. Folksy charm and sun-drenched festivities camouflage old-fashioned gender roles and a toxic preparatory rigor. Mars seeks out his sister’s old friends: a group of girls dubbed the Honeys, named for the beehives they maintain behind their cabin. They are beautiful and terrifying — and Mars is certain they’re connected to Caroline’s death. from Goodreads
What did I just read? A seemingly recognizable story of a teen twin on the search for what happened after their other half died turns into…a dreamlike coming of age story, in a way. I really don’t want to say more. I went in blind and think it’s best you do too, but only if you are in the mood for something bizarrely different.
My favorite part of the book was the gender fluid, oft maligned, main character Mars. He is a character I’m not likely to forget. It really was his coming of age story, every sweet, honeyed drop of it.
I listened to the fantastic audio of this very mind bending book. The production was top notch and I would highly recommend experiencing the story this way. But only if you’re in an open state of mind 🙂
Love this thought…
“The way they talk about themselves—with such frankness—it feels like all people are wet clay, all the shapes that define us self-imposed. I realize this fits into the way I’ve always seen myself, which is: art, attempted, though often spoiled by the demands of another’s taste. It makes me wonder what shape I’d be if I’d never met another human being.”
As a football fan, I was so excited when Trish asked if I’d like to be part of this book tour. I’m a Buckeye and I think it goes without saying that attending Ohio State means that you are going to be bombarded with football in the fall. Now that I live in Cleveland the Bucks help make watching the Browns more bearable.
If you’re thinking you have to like football to like this book you’d be mostly right. This is a book about the start of the NFL and other professional football leagues as they got started in the early 1900s and about the black players, but you can’t tell that story without talking about that period of time. I found the first half of the book just as interesting historically as anything else. Reid does an exceptional job of painting a portrait of the men. I really felt like I knew these men who broke barriers, like Fritz Pollard.
Even though I’m not completely naive to the the history of racism in the US and how it still rears its ugly head, I was surprised to see the barriers put up for black quarterbacks, like a 13 year period when some unspoken rule kept them from the NFL. But even after this ‘ban’ lifted so many great black athletes were passed over and the ones who weren’t faced so much backlash from fans. Warren Moon, the only black quarterback in the NFL Hall of Fame, was booed by his own college fans for years, before leaving to play in the Canadian league. He had to win up there for 6 years before an NFL team was willing to bring him home. This was the early 1980s. And the hate mail and death threats around that time period for many of the men were still shocking to me and I’m an 80’s kid!
There’s so much more here, but I can’t tell all of the stories! I am so glad I read it. Reid did a skillful job of telling the stories of the past and tying them to the current day NFL and it’s crop of black quarterbacks. He brings it full circle. I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Chicago Bears Justin Fields who is having a standout season after only two years removed from THE Ohio State University 🙂
“In September 2019, ESPN’s The Undefeated website (now Andscape) began a season-long series of articles on the emergence of Black quarterbacks in the NFL. The first article in the series was Jason Reid’s enormously popular, “Welcome to the Year of the Black Quarterback.” The series culminated with an hour-long television program in February 2020, hosted by Reid himself. The Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It Means for America will expand on Reid’s piece—as well as the entire series—and chronicle the shameful history of the treatment of Black players in the NFL and the breakout careers of a thrilling new generation of Black quarterbacks. Intimate portraits of Colin Kaepernick, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Kyler Murray feature prominently in the book, as well as the careers and legacy of beloved NFL players such as Doug Williams and trailblazing pioneers Marlin Briscoe and Eldridge Dickey. Reid delves deeply into the culture war ignited by Kaepernick’s peaceful protest that shone a light on systemic oppression and police brutality. Fascinating and timely, this page-turning account will rivet fans of sports, cultural commentary, and Black history in America.” from Goodreads.
I’ve been reading like a maniac for Cybils judging (I think I’ve read around 70 and I’m not even halfway done!) but I’m going to wait and talk about them after judging is done.
These are my 5 favorite reads in October that aren’t up for Cybils judging.
This one packs a punch. I wasn’t familiar with Hector or his story. The way that this story was told in three different first person segments made it all the more powerful. This was perfectly told for the older elementary or even early middle school set. So much to discuss. I don’t want to spoil it, so I won’t give more details, but if you are talking about apartheid, this story of 12 year old Hector is a must read.
This is a fabulous book for little kids about the beauty to be found in each other. I adored it. We we read this and compared the idea to other religious ideas. And it came full circle when we read the Mandela book and it talked about ubuntu, which means “I am, because you are.”
A great book that shows the amazing strength of this man as he brought about change for his people. We were lucky to have such a leader on the world stage. Intelligence, empathy, and courage are qualities too often lacking in leaders.
It’s the second book of the Belles of London series but is a standalone. To be honest, I wish there had been a bit more interaction between the four friends that we met in The Siren of Sussex, but that just means it works better for new readers to the series.
Julia has crippling anxiety in social situations and that’s a big problem since her huge dowry puts her on everyone’s radar. Enter Captain Blunt who has come to London to fetch a rich wife to support his estate and three illegitimate children. A mutual attraction is there from the beginning, but it takes a life-threatening situation to move things forward.
This is one of those sweet romances that features two decent people who are each to cheer for. There are mysteries and problems to unravel, but the goodness of the characters make this a comforting read. And the mysteries aren’t so hard to figure out early on, but waiting for Julia to learn the truth made it worth reading.
I first knew I’d like Julia when she took a book to a party and actually found time to read it! She was a mouse who became a lioness thanks in part to the man who first showed her love. While she was a quiet character Captain Blunt was full of mystery and seemingly bad choices so the two matched quite nicely.
Highly recommend for romance fans, especially ones who love historicals. I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series.
This 339 page middle school book told in free verse is fantastic. I mostly listened to the audio and it was great.
Zhanna and Frina are piano prodigies and live in Ukraine with their parents. One day the Nazis come and march them toward the killing fields. Both girls manage to escape at separate times but eventually find each other again. They change their names and birthdays in the hopes of hiding, but Zhanna’s piano genius couldn’t be denied.
Read the book. Watch these two Jewish girls stand in front of the Nazis night after night and survive.
Stacy's Books 