A neuroscientist is forced to work with her academic nemesis on a career-changing project in this STEM-celebratory contemporary romance. Bee Königswasser is over-the-moon excited when she's asked to lead BLINK, a joint project between NASA and the National Institutes of Health designed to build better technology for astronauts. The invitation to the team is enough to get Bee out of the funk she's been in since she discovered her fiance cheating and her engagement fell apart. Her excitement is short-lived when she discovers she'll be co-leading the project with engineer Levi Ward, her grad school nemesis, whose cold, cutting behavior and outspoken inability to work with her on an assignment have stuck with her. Their work on BLINK is an improvement though, as Levi doesn't immediately bail on the project. But when little things start to go wrong for Bee and her team, she begins to wonder if her co-lead isn't above sabotage. Adding an additional layer to Bee and Levi's rivalry is the fact that they run two very popular anonymous social media accounts. Since the accounts are both rooted in science and academia, Bee and Levi unknowingly frequent the same internet circles and have even developed an online friendship without knowing each other's identity. While the epistolary elements of the book, including tweets and direct messages, are novel, it often feels unnecessary. The quiet, pining hero in a lab setting isn't new territory for Hazelwood, and readers may wonder if she pushes it in a new direction here. The answer is no. While Hazelwood is clearly a talented writer who's tapped into readers' desire to find powerful, proudly nerdy women in science getting happy-ever-afters, she's missed the opportunity to try new character types that don't feel like The Love Hypothesis (2021) with slightly different packaging. A quick read, though less than fresh. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Snappy dialogue with witty zingers make this tender enemies-to-lovers story, set at NASA in Houston, an unforgettable follow-up to neuroscientist Hazelwood's popular The Love Hypothesis (2021). Colorful hair, tattoos, and piercings make Dr. Bee Königswasser, an otherwise serious National Institute of Health neuroscientist, stand out. She is thrilled to be a leading investigator for BLINK, a neuroengineering research project to add performance-enhancement technology through neurostimulation via astronauts' helmets. Bee worked in the same lab as engineer Levi Ward in graduate school. His behavior convinced her that he couldn't stand the sight of her and didn't want anything to do with her, so she is horrified when she finds out she will be co-leading BLINK with Levi. They start out acrimoniously, but gradually bond over vegan food, cats, and their fruitful sci-tech collaboration. Emotional neglect and constant pressure from his family to go into the military has closed Levi off from people and his emotions. Abandonment and frequent moving in her childhood has Bee craving stability yet fearing commitment. Hazelwood sensitively shows that for Bee and Levi, love is an act of valor. Light espionage, some derring-do, and an unexpected villain are just some of the delights in Hazelwood's smart, unusual, and superbly enjoyable tale.

Bestseller Hazelwood's charming and intelligent sophomore outing (after The Love Hypothesis) follows a pair of noted young scientists on their rocky path to love. NIH neuroscientist Bee Königswasser is thrilled when she is tapped for the position of a lifetime: leading BLINK, a program that will build performance-enhancing technology for NASA astronauts. Unfortunately, her co-lead is her graduate school nemesis, Levi Ward. As Bee, who's still nursing emotional wounds over a cheating ex-fiancé, encounters a series of obstacles in her attempts to get BLINK off the ground, she assumes Levi is stonewalling her. She takes to her popular twitter account @WhatWouldMarieDo, where she doles out advice to academics in the voice of Marie Curie, to blow off steam. She finds solace in trading quips and commiserating with the smart and witty @Shmacademics, another popular account, to whom Bee vents about working with Levi while @Shmacademics pines over a married woman. When it becomes obvious to Bee that it's not Levi blocking her requests and instead that someone else is first subtly, then overtly, working to sabotage BLINK, she and Levi must band together to save their work. The snappy prose, engaging and twisty plot, and utterly endearing characters combine to create pure romance gold. This brainy offering should win Hazelwood even more fans. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (Aug.)

Hazelwood (The Love Hypothesis) offers another contemporary rom-com featuring women in STEM, this time introducing pierced, tattooed neuroscientist Bee Königswasser. Bee is a purple-haired devotee of Marie Curie and the owner of the anonymous @WhatWouldMarieDo Twitter account, which shines a light on sexism in STEM. She is also the co-lead on an innovative new project with NASA that could launch her career and get her away from her sexist boss, but only if she can manage to work with her longtime nemesis Levi Ward, a man who's hated her since grad school. The tension between Bee and Levi grows and changes from mistrust to attraction as their program is beset by seemingly random setbacks that put their potential relationship, and Bee's entire career, at risk. VERDICT Bee is an appealing character who manages to recognize unfair practices in STEM while also using experience and practical skills to navigate them. Readers will quickly recognize the misunderstandings behind Bee and Levi's antagonism but will be no less compelled by their chemistry and scorching love scenes for that. An ideal selection for fans of The Kiss Quotient or Courtney Milan's "Cyclone" series.--Meagan Day