Sophia Rose Reviews: Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood

Today Sophia Rose returns with her review of Ali Hazlewood's latest, Loathe to Love You a collection of rom-com novellas.

Enjoy!

Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood

Romantic Comedy

Publisher: Berkley

Published: 1.3.23

Pages:  384

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: Trade Paperback

Source: Berkley

Sellers: Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

Goodreads Blurb:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a collection of steamy, STEMinist novellas featuring a trio of engineers and their loves in loathing—with a special bonus chapter!

Under One Roof
An environmental engineer discovers that scientists should never cohabitate when she finds herself stuck with the roommate from hell—a detestable big-oil lawyer who won’t leave the thermostat alone.
 
Stuck with You
A civil engineer and her nemesis take their rivalry—and love—to the next level when they get stuck in a New York elevator.
 
Below Zero
A NASA aerospace engineer's frozen heart melts as she lies injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station and the only person willing to undertake the dangerous rescue mission is her longtime rival.

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

I adored Love on the Brain and, after reading these three novellas, the lovefest of the StEMinist series continues.  Enemies to lovers, opposites attract, and career rivalries pepper these romps with brainy romance characters with zest and laughter.

 

The Loathe to Love You novella collection are all standalone stories about three women who came together as friends during their post-grad years and remained friends when careers took them to far flung locations.  While the author’s writing voice is strong and the same through all three tales bringing the humor and female voice to each and the set-up of antagonism and clash between the pairs was similar, I did appreciate that each pair of characters were different from the other romance pairs.  They had their own personalities, backgrounds, flaws, and strengths so even though I read the three all in a row, I felt the distinctions and knew whose story I was reading.  Okay, the location and vastly different careers and physical appearances helped.

 

But, what drew me to Love on the Brain- the wit, the modern situations and the way the characters and relationships developed were lights out great in Loathe to Love You.  I confess that our NASA pair edged out the earlier stories as my favorite, but sorry, space science trumps all.  The fun extra never-before-seen chapter at the end was the perfect cherry on top of the three stories though no, I don’t think anyone who has read the three separately should rush out and get this just for that.  But, you know, good to have for the re-read shelf if you can.

 

All in all, this was laugh out loud with the occasional embarrassing snort sort of romcom about smart people who had something still to learn about love.  Light and engaging for the romcom lovers.

 

Author Bio:

My favorite thing in the world is to explore traditional romance tropes—and to picture how they’ll play out in academic settings.

Rival scientists falling in love despite their better judgement?

There’s only one cot in the lab?

Fake dating during faculty meeting?

Sign me up!

I’m originally from Italy, lived in Japan and Germany, and eventually moved to the US to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. I recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies me. Oh, the sheer dread of being entrusted with the care of young minds!

When I’m not at work you can find me binge-watching shows with my feline overlords (and my slightly less feline husband), running, or eating candy.

I’m represented by the amazing Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

Website:  https://alihazelwood.com/

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/alihazelwood/

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose