I thoroughly enjoyed The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, so couldn’t wait to get my hands on The STEMinist Novellas about women in STEM and the guys who can’t help but love them.
Quick synopsis: Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn….
Potential spoilers ahead
Under One Roof
A scientist should never cohabitate with her annoyingly hot nemesis – it leads to combustion.
This novella follows Mara, an environmental engineer, forced to room with a big-oil lawyer. The banter between is good and getting to know them was a fun journey. Things moved really quickly in this one, and I had to keep reminding myself it was a novella. I enjoyed how their situation moved from enemies, to friends, to pining, but I wasn’t a fan of how they finally got together. The spice was awkward, a little cringy, and totally skimmed over Liam’s “I don’t like sex” comment. Wait, what? Was he supposed to be asexual/demisexual? That deserves a conversation before jumping straight into it and with only a “I don’t like sex, but I’ll do it for you” thrown in. The audiobook narration was good — I listened to this one a while ago and don’t remember anything (negative or positive) about the narration.
“I step out with a small wave and notice two things: he’s staring hard at his feet, and his left hand is a tight fist at his side.”
Ali Hazelwood
Stuck With You
Nothing like a little rivalry between scientists to take love to the next level.
The second STEMinist novella follows Sadie, a civil engineer who hits if off with a guy before a big proposal, is betrayed by said guy, then gets stuck in an elevator with said guy. While I enjoy a good insta-love trope, I don’t care for miscommunication/perceived betrayal. The alternating timelines (then and now) was done well. I am a pretty conflict avoidant person, but still can’t imagine having that much of a connection with someone (even in such a short amount of time) and then ghosting based on a situation that has obvious potential for misunderstanding. And that is just on her side. His explaining away the ghosting by thinking that the sex was too much, made me cringe a bit. The spice in this one was definingly better (the tiny woman/huge man notwithstanding). Overall, I enjoyed it more than Under One Roof, but not by much. Again, the audiobook narration was good — no complaints.
“I only knew you for twenty-four hours, but I’ve never missed anyone so much.”
Ali Hazelwood
Below Zero
It will take the frosty terrain of the Arctic to show these rival scientists that their chemistry burns hot.
The final novella brings us to Hannah, a NASA aerospace engineer, who has to depend on the huge (gasp) man she had a one afternoon stand with, to save her after she gets stranded in a situation he tried to prevent. Here we have another story told in a here and now format, with insta-love and miscommunication. While the format was similar to Stuck with You, I enjoyed this one more. Novellas, as a rule, don’t provide a lot of character development but Ian had the most potential for me. I thought the spice in this one was better, although I’m not quite sure how I feel comparing/naming Hannah’s body with Mars geography. This one was my favorite of the 3 but I can’t really put my finger on why. It was basically the same story with a different smaller girl and huge love interest. I did read this one on Kindle vs listening to the audiobook, so maybe that is is.
“My hair, eyes, sometimes even my soul, are black-hole dark. And here he is, Martian red and ocean blue.”
Ali Hazelwood
Epilogue
I’m glad I read/listened to The STEMinist Novellas with some time between them — I think if I had read them back to back, the similarities would have been too much. Even though the spice in The Love Hypothesis wasn’t anything to write home about (and was even a bit awkward), I expected more from these novellas, and was disappointed when they didn’t deliver.
If you are in the mood for quick, mindless, romance and enjoyed The Love Hypotheses – these will fit the bill. Enjoy!
