Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project—a literal dream come true—Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school—archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas . . . devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.

But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?

“The real villain is love”. BAM. That line was written by Ali Hazelwood and is just two pages into one of the smartest love stories I have read in a long time. Ali is an unparalleled novelist who turns a sworn-off-love-scientist into the protagonist of an earth-shattering and utterly compelling romance. Cue Bee Königswasser, a scientist helming an exciting new project designing gear for astronauts, who trusts science way more than people. All she wants to do is get her own lab, and one day find her name next to Marie Curie’s in all the textbooks. But Levi Ward, her gorgeous grad school archenemy, has other plans for her. Her lab equipment starts to disappear, and then she is hit with a ton of communication mishaps. At first Bee assumes Levi is engaging in active sabotage, but slowly she learns that there is more to Levi...

I love Ali Hazelwood’s novels because her female leads stand on their own. Bee is an endearing powerhouse of a woman you wish existed in real life so you could be her best friend. But since we aren't lucky enough to have the real-life Bee, the next best thing to spending time with her is to pick up Love on the Brain.