I thoroughly enjoyed this scientific romance, the chemistry was amazing between the main characters,
Laughed out loud in places and kept me on my toes in others!
Would recommend this for some fun Summer reading.

This was a fantastic read! If I could give it more than 5 stars I would! The relationship between the main characters was perfect. I would read so many things by this author!

Big thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advanced review copy (ARC). All opinions are my own.

Set in Glasgow, Scotland, The Unbalanced Equation is an enemies-to-lovers story following postgrad student Liz working alongside her previous hellish PhD assessor Tom. This is a spicy age-gap romance and dual-pov.

I enjoyed this book and gave it three stars. I felt like the two main leads had a lot of chemistry. They bond over watching anime which was cute to read. The characters are both flawed, but they also own up to their mistakes. Another detail I appreciated in the book is Liz’s confidence in her appearance. In most romances, the main woman is self-conscious and critical of herself; Liz’s attitude in this book was a breath of fresh air. I also enjoyed how the characters discuss not wanting to have children and following the traditional path of marriage. This is something that should be more normalized.

If you like STEM-themed romance books, such as The Love Hypothesis, you will enjoy this one. Liz is a postgrad student working on a chemistry project and there are multiple scenes of her working in the lab. The author has a PhD in molecular genetics, and you can tell that these scenes feel genuine and well-researched.

However, I found a lot of Liz and Tom’s relationship was built on their physical connection (this stood out to me particularly in the opening scene—it seemed Tom only had one thing on his mind). I prefer stories that don’t focus on this as much. Plus, towards the end of the story, the book dragged for me. It is over 400 pages, so I found the pacing to be slow at times.

Overall though, if you are interested in an enemies-to-lovers STEM romance, I would recommend The Unbalanced Equation.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶🌶🌶

Thank you to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Where to begin.... I had a hard time getting into the beginning of this book. Once the parents announced the engagement, the momentum picked up as did my interest. First , I love banter. I love enemies to lovers. I DONT love miscommunication. Granted it seems to come with the territory in romance novels especially when it comes to enemies to lovers. But the miscommunication between these two is from start to nearly finish. Even the parents point it out and they still couldn't get it together.
While the steam was top notch for me, nothing too cringe or overly kinky that is just gross, these two both made horrible decisions that overshadowed the steam. I gave this one a 3 star because of all of the revenge and manipulation. Liz goes to some dirty levels with her revenge (ahem... halloween) and Tom literally derails her personal life (her flat searching and Tinder). To me the lengths they each went to were over the top and unnecessary. Overall, if you look past the red flags and miscommunication, it was an up-and-down ride and a unique plot.

The Unbalanced Equation has a few troupes happening with enemies to lovers and forced proximity along with an age gap. The characters are interesting and while it starts as like at first sight between Tom and Liz, circumstances make it into hate for 4 years. Things start to change with a lab fire force them to work in the same lab and then finding out their parents are getting married throws a whole new craziness to the mix. I enjoyed the science int he story along with the romance and it was a quick read.

Holy flawed characters!!! I was hooked from start to finish. I enjoyed the conflict between Liz and Tom. I thought the story flowed easily. The dialogue was believable, and the chemistry between the two was hot. I really enjoyed the side characters and plot.

Not “quite” a second chance romance, but it has that feeling! I really enjoyed this story set in academia, especially so because it takes place in Scotland. I could picture the locations as I read. The steam took a while to build but was totally worth it. I have already recommended this book to my audience and I only finished it last night.

Fun romance for those that love contemporary, modern romance. The story follows Liz and Tom, as they meet again 4 years after their initial meeting. I enjoyed the witty banter and chemistry between Liz and Tom.

It was entertaining to read this account set in academic research, seemingly by an author who knows that world well - I did love the characters and storyline and enjoyed it. Definite feel good read.

There were a couple of jarring words/moments that I thought had been added unnecessarily to sex it up a little that didn't seem to fit the characters other actions - but that is my only critique. I definitely enjoyed reading this.

*arc for review* the books starting off good but was it really necessary for their parents to be a “couple?” after that i just didn’t seem so interested after. there was many different ways it could have been written if you wanted the forced proximity trope. the step siblings isn’t really my cup of tea.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by BooksGoSocial.

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 is finally free of Dr. Thomas (Tom) Henderson’s tyranny when she begins her postdoc. But when a fire goes off in Tom’s lab he ends up working in the same lab as Liz. On the same bench, no less. For three whole months.

To make matters worse Tom’s mom 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 saviour, 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?

I'm having trouble trying to decide how I feel about this book. I mean, on one hand, it kept my attention and I definitely wanted to see how the book would end, But on the other hand, I found both Tom and Liz unlikable. As the plot progressed, I hated Tom more and more. It is one thing to make mistakes, but I feel like Tom was being manipulative and all around toxic. I will say that they at least figured out they were jerks, not only to each other but to other people. The side trope of step-siblings forced proximity was not that bad, but the thing that put me off was the whole soon to be step-siblings thing. It might just be me, but knowing that I'm catching feelings for essentially a brother would be very weird and a little bit creepy for me However, the miscommunication troupe is not my favourite troupe and just had too much of it in the book. A simple explanation from Tom as to why they couldn't date after he became her advisor could of sufficed. The writing in the book was so well done too. Overall, this book was average. The red flags in our protagonists really just threw me off.

Rating: 2.5/5

The Unbalanced Equation is the perfect tale for those imperfect, humane love stories. It makes us fall in love with all the things we never value, and appreciate the ingenious attractiveness of STEM and specially female representation in said department. The author wrote intelligently, brilliantly and kindly this novel, and it shows.

the book is an enemies to lovers romance between liz and her previous PHD assessor that made her PHD journey hell, with several circumstances Tom and liz end up working in the same lab again and living in the same house.
I actually enjoyed most of the book in terms of the tension and romance between the characters and I loved that the book is in dual POV, (spoiler alert) however the whole plot with their parents dating made it weird for me.
Also, I feel like the book was too long and by 80% in I lost interest and started skimming through it.

I found this to be a bit of a slow starter for me but once it got going, I couldn’t stop reading! I love the banter-filled relationship of Liz and Tom, almost as much as I loved the spice! The real winners of the book however are Jenny and Jim!

If you felt a warm (& hot) embrace from The Love Hypothesis, The Unbalanced Equation by H.L. Macfarlane has the same vibes. The MC & Love Interest are both scientist and have an ex-professor agenda which plays into the story.

Liz & Tom had a connection from the moment they met, but when Tom discovers that Liz will be mentored by him, he switches his unforgivable grump ON for 4 years. Now that circumstances (or a cheeky best friend), aligns their paths, the undeniable chemistry returns between the two, even if their widowed parents are about to get hitched.

I whole-heartedly invested myself in this book. The first 70% of it was *CHEFS KISS*, but then it went on a steep slope where it just went full on cringe. The conflict was disappointing which led me to rate this book a 2/5 stars.

If you love a fluffy romance with killer spice, H.L. Macfarlane delivers.

The Unbalanced Equation H.L. Macfarlane

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

If you loved ‘The Love Hypothesis’ then you’ll love this book too! Another STEM inspired ‘he falls first’, ‘forced proximity’, ‘enemies to lovers’ romance 🫠

A story about Thomas and Elizabeth, two Scottish anime loving scientists that are forced to work in the same lab, on the same table - this would be perfectly fine if Tom didn’t treat Liz horribly whilst she was completing her studies. In addition to this they have found out that their parents are recently engaged so they are now all having to live together under the same roof 🙃

I loved this book! I found it to be such a quick easy read and it had me hooked from the very beginning. I thought it was just as good as Love Hypothesis ~ if not better ~ with about the same amount of spice, and I just want to read it again already 🫶

“The two of us were being equally reckless fools, playing a game of horny chicken until only one of reigned victorious.”

After drinking cheap mimosas at a departmental mixer Liz and Tom feel an instant attraction, however the following day Tom becomes her phD assessor stopping any chance of the two becoming involved.

Following the completion of her phD Liz believes she is finally free of Tom who has made every assessment a misery throughout her studies. But a series of events leads to the two being forever entwined in each other’s lives. Will Liz get over how she has been treated by Tom for the past four years? Will Tom ever admit to the reasons behind his poor decision-making?

All is answered in this enemies to lovers rom-com. With declarations of love from unexpected places and some torturous means of revenge this book will keep you on your toes.

I enjoyed reading both Liz and Toms character development as they both realise that the things coming in the way of their own happiness are themselves.

The supporting characters really add to the story helping to push the main characters to where they need to be.

We get some steamy scenes throughout the book including an extra steamy scene in the shower!

What originally drew me to the book was the cover and also the synopsis, which reminded me of The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood with some similar tropes included. Overall, this book was an entertaining evening read that at times I couldn't put down - but be forewarned, there is some seriously spicy content included, some of which some readers might find triggering. A particular favourite element of the book was the way the story is told through multiple narrators, with each chapter covering either Liz or Tom's perspective of the events unfolding. For the most part, I also felt that the story unfolded at a good pace and there was enough character development throughout to keep it interesting - there were good arcs for all of the main characters. What didn't work for me was the length of the book - I think probably 50 pages could have been removed without too much difference. The first third of the book had strong plot development as did the final third, however the middle third could have been cut down. It felt as though the author's attempt to build tension between the characters and set the scene for what was to come was a bit contrived. I'd recommend this book to people who enjoyed Love Hypothesis or other scientist 'meet-cute' stories or anyone looking for a rom com book for the early autumn months.

This was a fun read and gets 3.5 stars from me, rounded up to 4.
I admittedly know nothing about PhD and postdoctoral academic life, so I can’t speak to whether it was portrayed realistically, but it certainly felt realistic to me!

I think what I liked most about this book is the series of events that force the MMC, Tom, and FMC, Liz, to spend time together and start to act upon their feelings. We have an enemies to lovers thing going on, along with child of the parent’s fiancé(e), forced proximity, a kinda only one bed situation, and more.

What stopped me from rating this book higher is that some of the immature things the MMC did were not necessarily dealbreakers, but I think we’re not deserving of such quick forgiveness. But of course, this is a book and we need to get to the HEA! I am glad the two MCs came together but I think it would have been more realistic to expand the timeline for the reunion so that the MMC could show how he has matured and win back the trust of the FMC, and her family and friends.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC and I am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

The unbalanced equation is said to be the ideal novel for fans of The love hypothesis or The hating game. Does this book lift above others of its type?
The plot focuses on Tom and Liz, who meet at a party of a Molecular Genetics PHD and fall for each other right off the bat. However, this changes when Tom discovers that he will be Liz's PhD Assessor. As a consequence, he decides to grind Liz down as a way to suppress his feelings for her. 4 years later, they meet each other again, what will destiny await them?
What I like about this book is the short length of the chapters, which makes it a story that you can read in one sitting. Moreover, the writing style helps the reader to dive in the narrative.
Be that as it may, this work leaves a lot to be desired: the main characters are mediocre, especially Tom who not only is childish despite the fact he is in his thirties, but also manipulates Liz in multiple occasions. It seemed that he can't take no for an answer, let alone tolerate another man's presence next to Liz.
Because of this, I find it difficult to feel the chemistry between these characters. Another point that is worth mentioning is the amount of drama this novel has, which feels unrealistic.
All in all, even though this book is both fast and easy to read, it is not my cup of tea.

Tropes:
- Enemies to lovers
- Forced proximity
- Age gap

* I was given an eARC in exchange of an honest review**