by Ali Hazelwood
About this book
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?
Book review
I took longer than usual to finish reading this book – almost 2 weeks, compared to my average of 2 days with a good romance novel. I don’t know if this is due to the story being kind of slow-paced and not too exciting, or if this is simply a reflection of my stressful days at work recently which made reading less enjoyable.
Anyway, as I said, I felt the story moving along rather slowly. I liked the theme of women in male-dominated industries more than the romance itself. Bee has an online community where she provides support to other women and helps them navigate the challenges in male-dominated industries.
While Bee and Levi don’t seem to get along in real life, their online personas are good friends where Levi helps support and second Bee in her online advice through his own community. Levi is the type of steady and reliable genius who seems to get along with everybody except Bee.
I think the story ticks all the boxes for a good romance story – characters are well developed and likeable enough, the initial antagonism which evaporates over time, the happy ending. But somehow it lacked lustre for me. I also could not figure out why Levi simply wouldn’t tell Bee why she was sabotaged in the beginning when he had no hand in it and it was simply due to politics which is understandable enough. Having read two of Ali Hazelwood’s stories within a short period of time, it’s easy to make a comparison and I certainly prefer The Love Hypothesis.
Rin Ranger 