The Sizzle Paradox

"3.5<br/><br/>Solid enough but I didn't like it as much as I should like a friends-to-lovers/dating lessons/roomates book set in academia. Part of it was the fact that I've been working on a research project this summer myself and am just the worst about procrastinating because I don't think I can do things and it's like girl stop worrying about connecting to the data and saying you can't write anything until you find someone you like and are sexually attracted to, this is just a roadblock you're making up in your head and don't need to validate. In general I'm team knowingly push out literal **** you hate because otherwise you'll never write anything at all. Speaking of, why was she like that's it I'm dead when her supervisor gave her 3 weeks to give him a draft of an abstract? Maybe I define drafts differently but to me a draft of an abstract is just like bare bones what do we know about the topic? (she should already know this) state gap in knowledge/research question (she definitely already knew this). what did we do? (super easy, just the super basics of her method) What did our data say? (she said she already analysed the data and everything). Incomplete sentences allowed. Throw something out and edit later. I definitely did an abstract in a few hours over around two days a few weeks ago and it was...fine. IDK maybe in trying to get over being immobilised by perfectionism I'm getting a bit too comfortable underperforming but this is already off-topic. Oh and I think toward the end we got a snippet of her actual journal article and it's like (I'm paraphrasing) "you might find love where you don't expect it, it could be with the best friend you've known for years" and it's like what kind of scientific journal is this? <br/><br/>But also. Just because The Love Hypothesis was ginormous and sparked some people's interest in books set in academia doesn't mean we need to hear about this protagonist's matchstick arms and small, thin fingers and the male lead's big hand curled loosely around the handle of his Kylo Ren mug and a bunch of other mentions of how he dwarfs her.<br/><br/>And the way they just *constantly* assumed the other hated them.<br/><br/>I'm focusing on the negatives because it's been at least a week and these are what I remember at this point but to be clear I did consider this overall a good time and I will hopefully edit to mention the positives. But I do remember I was dissapointed to learn that Lily Menon is Sandhya Menon because years ago I liked From Twinkle, with Love, and for whatever reason I don't really remember anymore, this book didn't feel to me like a book by such an established author."

"such a cute friends to lovers romance-was more of a slow burn but still had its steamy moments!"

"This is a story about Lyric and her doctorate research project looking for the answer to how romantic and sexual chemistry can be calculated.<br/><br/>The book starts with Lyric’s point of view which is just a whole chapter about Kian, mostly his godlike physique. Since Kian is objectified in the first chapter, the reader already knows where the story is going. Personally, I thought this aspect of the book was infantilizing the reader by putting a not so subtile hint that could have easily been exploited in other ways.<br/><br/>The premise of the novel was good, but it could have been exploited better. The secondary plots were actually more interesting than the main one. Zoey, Charlie, Max and Eli seemed to have more depth to their characters compared to the actual main one, Lyric. She did not seem to act at a doctorate level making the reader question how she got there.<br/><br/>I have to say though that Kian was a very nice and well thought character if we remove the fact that he is a six six giant.<br/><br/>The book was a fun easy read, but I would not rate it more than 3 stars."

"Graduate students Lyric and Kian have been best friends for years. They have helped each other navigate undergrad, grad school, and the crazy world of relationships. With less than a year before they head out to the real world, the best friends decide to research Lyric's thesis--the Sizzle Paradox. As they fake date and Kian tries to help Lyric figure out how to "do dating," they grow closer and closer until they need to decide if they want to fizzle out or let things sizzle.<br/><br/>This book was marketed to a similar crowd as The Love Hypothesis, though to me they were drastically different. This novel builds the friendship and sexual tension between the main characters in a completely separate way. While I enjoyed experiencing Lyric and Kian figure out how to get over their neuroses, I did wish for a bit of a curveball thrown into the plot as I never actually believed they would not end up together."