STEM romance – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Love and Other Brain Experiments

Author: Hannah Brohm

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 2/3/26

Publisher: Atria Books

Categories: STEM, Romance, Contemporary

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Atria Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood and Christina Lauren, a STEM academic-rivals-to-lovers rom-com set at a New York conference about two neuroscientists who are forced to pretend they’re dating, leading to unexpected chemistry and a heartfelt journey of self-discovery.

Neuroscientist Dr. Frances Silberstein has success on the brain. As a grad student, she was offered a job by her brilliant boyfriend, but determined to make it on her own, she turned it—and him—down. Now, stuck in postdoc purgatory with no job security and no personal life to speak of, Frances is desperate to make a breakthrough. Her best shot is a summer conference packed with her field’s leading scientists. The only problem? It’s organized by her ex, who has found the success that’s eluded her. But backing out is not an option, because Frances desperately needs to network to save her career.

Enter Dr. Lewis North: her perceptive, meticulous, and inconveniently attractive rival. When their academic sniping gets mistaken for flirtatious chemistry, Frances doesn’t deny it—putting her integrity and career on the line. As soon as her prefrontal cortex is operational again, Frances realizes she needs to keep up the charade, or risk everything she’s worked for. Faking data is out of the question, but fake dating? That might just be the solution she needs.

But as Lewis starts to make her reward centers spark and a major setback has Frances questioning everything, she must confront what she’s willing to chase—for love, for science, and for the future she thought she wanted.

Content Warning: anxiety, panic attack

I thought the way the characters met was cute, and then right away we find out they are rivals in their field of study. Lewis did wrong Frances in the past but this is the first time they’ve met in person, all off the animosity Frances feels for him resurfaces. But then they both attend a conference together and get into a fake dating situation because Frances’ ex is there, and his fiancé assumes she and Lewis are together.

Some quick takeaways I got from this book while reading:

I would never make it in academia.
I never knew all the work post-docs go through with getting and losing funding for research, all the traveling, moving, competing, networking. It sounds exhausting!

With that said – I found the research Frances was doing very fascinating even though I barely understood it. I like how Frances’ motivation in her work stemmed from something that happened to her sister, who she loves so much. Frances as a character was very obsessive about her research, but also was riddled with anxiety and all these decisions about her career path and her life really weighs in on her. Eventually, it overwhelms her and she has to make some hard choices.

The romance is a nice slow burn and I was invested in seeing how Frances and Lewis worked together at fake dating. I love how they argued about science, but came together when it came to family, or supporting one another. There is even spice. There are some situations that challenge their relationship, but I thought the ending was very emotional, it gave me all the feels!

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this and I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. I loved the fake dating, the science talk even if it’s out of my comfort zone, all the insight into what goes in pursuing a career in science and academia, and the rivals to lovers romance with an emotional ending. I look forward to reading more books from this author!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: The Design of Us

Author: Sajni Patel

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 7/16/24

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, STEM Romance

One impulsive lie leads to a weeklong adventure of fake dating for two bickering coworkers in this swoony destination wedding rom-com.

Sunshine incarnate Bhanu brings big UX energy to whatever she does, including going for the promotion where her only serious competition is her work nemesis, AKA Sunny, the grump with the Denzel voice. She expected to get a reprieve from him while visiting her family in Hawai’i, but the universe has other plans. When Bhanu runs into Sunny at the hotel and witnesses his ex criticizing him about being single, Bhanu does the first thing that comes to she impetuously claims to be Sunny’s girlfriend just to get some peace and quiet. Except Sunny is on island for a friend’s wedding and his ex has already texted the entire wedding party about this mysterious girlfriend.

Bhanu truly is the bane of Sunny’s existence. But the last thing he wants to do is cause tension during his friend’s wedding festivities, much less be the object of their pity. He has no choice except to play along, if only he and Bhanu can put aside their quarreling and act like a real couple.

Between Bhanu’s hilariously meddling family and Sunny’s ecstatic friends, the two are pushed closer together, even as stress mounts over the impending promotion.

They say what happens on island, stays on island. But as Sunny and Bhanu let their guards down, will either of them be able to resist this romantic getaway without crossing the line?

Content Warning: toxic ex

+ I admit this cover sucked me in because of the vibrant colors and then the story takes place in Hawai’i (the Big Island) and I’m on Oahu so I wanted to see how the author portrayed the Big Island.

+ Bhanu and Sunny are coworkers. She works in UX (user experience) and he’s a coder and I thought them being in this tech job that I don’t know a lot about was fascinating. Sunny’s ex thinks he’s a robot with no feelings, and always working. Bhanu is always working just like him, but she also has social anxiety. They do not get a long at work, but when they coincidentally find one another staying at the same island in Hawai’i – things get interesting.

+ I think the author did a great job portraying the Big Island. I have family that live there and sadly haven’t visited in years but the beauty, the humidity, the various landscapes, culture, and food is showcased really nicely in this story. She also even brings up the issue of tourism in our islands, where it is our main economy but how it takes it’s toll on the islands and the workers of the industry. My mom worked in a hotel so Bhanu’s sister working at a hotel was spot on.

+ The romance is a very slow burn. But I loved how they went from enemies to wild for each other mostly because of their personalities. Sunny, despite his name is grumpy and closed off. Bhanu is much more free-spirited but she also likes control and she has social anxiety – the two of them are workaholics and ambitious but also like to have space.

+ The themes of friendship and family was great.

~ Sunny’s ex, Sejal, is really awful, especially causing that kind of drama during their friend’s wedding. Not cool. But her making Sunny feel like he was not good enough irked me.

~ I wish this wasn’t a closed-door romance. It’s totally fine but they had so much tension, it would have been fun to have their sexy scenes detailed a bit more but that’s a personal request lol.

~ Also, I think the author mentions Sunny’s voice sounding like Denzel a little too many times! 😅 I was starting to picture Denzel Washington in Sunny’s role.

Final Thoughts:

This is a perfect romance to read by the pool or at the beach during a hot summer’s day. It’s got fun tropes like one room, one bed, destination wedding, fake dating, and co-workers. Overall, I enjoyed this one!