This was fun and steamy and full of all the tropes! A workplace, dual POV, enemies to lovers, second chance, forced proximity with pining and a strong female MC in STEM that I didn't want to put down. Highly recommended for fans of Ali Hazelwood! Much thanks to NetGalley and the author for a chance to read an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This was my first book by HL Macfarlane and I'm excited to read more. I especially enjoyed that the story was set in Scotland!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had high expectations because the main character is from STEM and the synopsis reminded me of the love hypothesis, which I loved.
However, I DNF this book @ 39%

My problem with this book is the characters:
First Tom and his attitude toward his crush on Elizabeth, especially when he discovers he will be her assessor. He behaves badly and I didn't like him.
And about Lizzie: I got frustrated with her, she says she wants revenge but until I read, she was like kind of oblivious to that and started enjoying the time with Tom.

The story had potential but it was really slow and I couldn't keep reading.

Thank you netgalley for a free e-arc, unfortunately I had to dnf at the 30% mark. There was too many coincidences that took place which didn't make the story believable and I couldn't focus on connecting with the characters.

I’m going to start by saying: I’m truly shocked at the low Goodreads ratings. I really enjoyed this book! I think if you liked The Love Hypothesis, you’d like this!
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Personally, I really enjoyed their first meet and what followed. I don’t think he needed to be *such* a jerk to her all those years he was her superior, but I can understand where he was trying to go with it. I’m also the kind of person who defaults to standoffish if I am trying to keep someone at bay, so I get it. I just think making her cry is a bit much. That being said, I thought this was a fun, lighter read with a nice blend of chemistry, STEM & a few great tropes thrown in!
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Here’s what to expect to in The Unbalanced Equation:
Enemies to Lovers
Workplace Romance
STEM
Age gap romance
Grumpy/Sunshine
He Falls First
Anime
NO marriage or baby at the end, just a HEA
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BLURB:
What do a bad landlord, a family wedding and a rogue Bunsen burner all have in common?

After suffering four years of scrutiny from her PhD assessor, Elizabeth Maclean believes she’s finally free of Dr Thomas Henderson’s tyranny when she begins her postdoc. But when a fire goes off in Tom’s lab (stupid undergrads) he ends up working in the same lab as Liz.
On the same bench, no less.
For three whole months.

To make matters worse – and much to their mutual surprise – Tom’s mum and Liz’s dad announce their impending marriage after a whirlwind romance. So when Liz’s landlord tells her to move out, pronto, it tips her over the edge. Desperate for a place to stay and in need of a savior, the last person Liz expects to offer her a temporary home is Tom himself.

Now stuck working together, living together and planning their parents’ Christmas wedding together, will Liz discover that Tom’s attitude over the last four years was all a ruse to hide his true feelings? Or are the two doomed to fail in their co-existence experiment?

This book was a cute enemies to lovers romance. Thomas meets Liz and has instant connection. Thomas finds out he will be over Liz in her postdoc program and determines that he must be very hard on her to hide his feelings. Liz winds up hating Thomas for how horrible he treats her. Fast forward four years - Thomas’s lab burns down and he has to work at a friend’s lab - who has just employed Liz. And to make matters worse - Tom’s mom is marrying Liz’s dad! They are put in the position where they have to be in close quarters, and they have to put the past to rest.

A fun read !

I love STEM novels and I had a good time reading this. When Tom and Liz meet, there's an instant attraction but when he gets to know that he's her assessor, he acts like a jackass. Years later, they are forced to spend time together. I thought this would only be in a STEM setting but I was glad that was not the case. There were many other plot developments not mentioned in the blurb and I really liked it!

A huge thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC of this book to read for free in exchange for a review!

If you're on the lookout for a women in science, workplace, enemies to lovers book then The Unbalanced Equation is the one for you! It has all of that, plus so much more that make this book a truly fabulous read.

Now to start, anyone who has read any of my blog posts knows that I'm an absolute WHORE for a split POV, especially in a romance novel, so when I saw that this book had split POV I was over the moon, it was like a dream come true. The feeling of which continued throughout the entire book.

The characters were the real stand out for me and having that split POV to see the story progress through both their eyes was just perfect.

Whilst we saw the book from Liz and Tom's perspective (who I definitely have a crush on now I've read it, both of them that is) and they were just two wonderfully written characters. Their interactions with each other and the supporting characters in the book were excellently done and cannot be faulted. Just reading the chapters through their POV made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, they were just such fabulous characters.

And the characters were only further supported by the plot, which oh my god WAS SO GOOD. I love a good enemies to lovers situation and whilst it was maybe one sided enemies to lovers it was still so worth the read.

The story itself was just the perfect mash up of different elements and each aspect of the plot worked together to create this story that had be snorting with laughter, gasping in shock and left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say if you like women in science (and enjoyed The Love Hypothesis, this is a book for you!)

And oh my gosh, the setting! Set in Scotland the author just managed to make the entire setting seem so beautiful and it definitely aided my enjoyment of the book.

The majority of that came from the authors ability to write such wonderfully crafted sentences and paragraphs that left me wanting to be in Scotland with our main characters, living their lives and experiencing everything they did. It was just a really easy book to get drawn into and enjoy, and that is all down to the authors writing.

On the whole, The Unbalanced Equation is well worth the read and I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to do a reread in the future!

👩‍🔬The Unbalanced Equation by H. L. Macfarlane👨‍🔬

Tropes- Enemies to lovers, Age gap, Forced proximity, STEM workplace, HE FALLS FIRST

The book gave full The Love Hypothesis vibes but with both of them Forced to live under the same roof,the tension was so much more.
I found the book way too much slow & long for my liking.

Thank you NetGalley & H. L. Macfarlane for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
This romcom was heavy on the com and just ridiculous enough to be a roaring good time. I could not stop laughing and the banter was elite.
A few somewhat problematic plot points due to the focus on the MCs manipulation of each other, but it didn’t ruin the book for me. Miscommunication trope drove the narrative and got to be a bit much, the characters becoming frustrating, though this is acknowledged in a way in how the story resolved.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy. Loved the book. A perfect and fun enemy to lover read. Highly recommended.

This is an enemies to lovers romcom. I definitely appreciated the STEM aspect of the book and I liked the dialogue and the character development. I was initially unimpressed about the age difference and uneven power dynamic when the main characters first meet. Years pass before their romantic relationship fully develops and they are on more even footing so I admired that the author took the story this way. Overall a great read.

This was a perfect read for the day when I had to take care of my gastro-virused daughter. In between cleanups and rubbing her back I enjoyed reading this romance about a couple of animae geeks who also dabble in academia labs and science and love.

This story had an age gap, a professor/student relationship (not an inappropriate one based on the characters' actions), family obligations (their parents are going to GASP marry each other), miscommunication trope tossed in with years upon years of longing. The LONGING made this story.

I enjoyed the pacing of the book, however, at times I wished they had better communication with each other in order to avoid a lot of conflict, but alas, where's the fun in that? :)

I disagreed with one action Liz convinced Tom to make near the end of the story because I felt like it was his choice to make - alone.

This was a fun, British story with lots of open-door sizzling romance.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an e-copy of THE UNBALANCED EQUATION to review.

I rate THE UNBALANCED EQUATION four out of five stars.

Well, lets just start off by saying that if you haven't read this book already, you're really, really missing out. i loved the banter between characters, there was never a dull moment between them and i honestly wish they were real so we could be friends!! this did not feel like your conventional love story which i loved. if you enjoy a good (and i mean absolutely amazing) grumpy-sunshine trope, you will love this because Elizabeth (female lead) is quite the grumpy pants and Thomas (male lead) can be seen as, a definite flirt, but a ray of sunshine. how often are the women portrayed as the grumpy characters, loved that!
and yet again i have fallen for another fictional man written by a female author, standards are set.

the relationship between the main characters did feel a bit odd, because of their parents and it felt a bit toxic, but i grew to love them.

Another disappointing read.

Extremely predictable - no imagination needed at all and the main characters were not likeable. There were red flags everywhere from both parties. He literally manipulated her life to be with him and she used him and invaded his privacy.

Also, just blatantly saying in various formats that he was rich for no reason at all was not needed. He threw his wallet at her at one point like that was a chivalrous move. Nope. You just look like a dick.

Readers who loved "The Love Hypothesis" will instantly gravitate to this gem of a read. It starts with a simple meet cute between an upcoming Ph.D. student, Liz, and a professor, Tom at a college in Glasgow (bucket list trip!). There is an instant connection between these two over their love of science and anime, and their chemistry is off the charts. While they both feel this pull toward each other, neither one of them could foresee what happens next.

Due to circumstances beyond Tom's control, he becomes Liz's Ph.D. assessor, meaning hands off the student! He tries a not-so-great tactic to keep some distance between them, it doesn't really work. Any resentment is truly just the embers of desire getting hotter and hotter. Add in some hysterical family drama, fiercely protective friends, and some CRAZY AMOUNTS OF STEAM, and you have an absolute winner.

Go read and enjoy!

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc. Unfortunately I did not like this as much as I would have hoped, mainly because the character of Tom was just horrendous. He acts like a literal child even though is supposed to be 38 years old, too many red flags to name, manipulative , possessive etc. His reasons for being awful to Liz (He becomes her PHD assessor) are just bonkers and seems like an excuse to follow to enemies to lovers trope. The parents are total cliches and do not read like real characters at all. One thing I will say is I like the take of neither of them wanting marriage/ kids as its good to normalise that , but other than that it was a bit too dramatic and childish for me.

A STEM based enemies to lovers, similar in style to The Love Hypothesis. Plenty of spice and loved the Scottish links in the book.

"The Unbalanced Equation" by H.L. Macfarlane is an enemies to lovers Romance novel. This novel was rather straight forward and the supporting cast of characters/side stories was a good deal of fun. My biggest struggle with this novel was the 2 main characters Liz and Tom...they got on my nerves from nearly the very beginning and never really found their way off. I found it as if their entire story was deception and over dramatics and it was really hard to care about them. The issue with the main characters is unfortunate because the supporting characters were so great and I felt as if the story had potential but fell very short of what it could have achieved.

The Unbalanced Equation follows Liz as she starts a new job after her PhD, however the perfect job gets turned upside down when she has to share her workspace with her PhD supervisor, Tom, who made her life hell for 4 years.
Overall, this was a cute love story with a successful woman in STEM (which I love), good banter and some lovely characters (Daichi, I'm looking at you). However, Tom is incredibly toxic from the start. He knowingly made every bad decision rather than communicating honestly and openly. He took everything in Liz's life and turned it around to suit him and his agenda. For someone so smart, he's so dumb.
For this reason, it is not my favourite book but I did enjoy it in the end and the plot, and all the other characters, massively kept me going. I just couldn't help rooting for Liz to meet someone better.

After being a little unsure and tentative at the beginning, I ended up really liking this one! Some of the circumstances felt a little ridiculous but I love a trope so I didn't mind that much. Once I got into it, I literally could not put it down. The themes of complicated grief and forgiveness were very well tackled and I loved those elements of the story. I will definitely recommend this to my friends.