Tom is a professor who is attracted to Liz, one of his new PhD students. This is the first time that the handsome, wealthy, eligible professor is attracted to his student. In an effort to discourage any relationship, Tom is really hard on his criticism of Liz’s work. She can’t wait to be rid of him. When Tom’s lab has a fire in it, he is given a place in his friend’s lab only to find he will be sharing the lab bench with Liz. It gets worse when Liz heads out to meet her dad for dinner, and Tom heads out to meet his mother. Both are shocked to find they are holding hands with each other and hearing about an impending wedding. Tom’s mother is having a property remodeled for her impending marriage and will be moving into Tom’s large house until it is ready. His mother suggests Liz move in there also to save money and give them all a chance to get to know each other. I loved the characters in this book. Tom is the perfect privileged man who has no clue on how to win over a woman. Liz is extremely independent and quick to get angry with Tom even though she cares for him. Their parents are great examples of love and patience. Great book, great romance.

I’m a science nerd and I’m loving the fact that there are more and more intelligent and ambitious heroines appearing in these books. While I must admit that the anime details in this story sailed right over my head, I really enjoyed the genetics aspects (and hello! Ms. Macfarlane apparently has a PhD in molecular genetics!). For a book that unfortunately turned me off immediately—having the man decide to treat the woman poorly because he likes her but can’t have her is…childish and off putting—the author mostly redeemed herself with the brilliant banter and spicy sexual tension between the two main characters.

⭐️
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Thanks to BooksGoSocial, the author, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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Honest, I will be. This book was so awful. I was wholly convinced it was written by a straight, cis man until I went to the author’s GoodReads page. The premise is almost cute if Tom wasn’t emotionally and mentally abusive… at one point he says “I almost felt bad for making Liz so self-conscious but, in all honesty, it was too entertaining watching her squirm because of me.” I almost DNFed the book right there but forced myself to finish so I could encourage everyone I know to never pick this book up, ever.
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All in all - it’s not hot, it’s not spicy, the tension is manipulated and fake, the FMC is supposed to be a freaking DOCTOR in her field and is so childish it hurts, not to mention that the MMC is literally 11 years older than her and her new step-brother?!?!? AHHHHHHH

The Unbalanced Equation was a lovely book. I enjoined reading it very much.,

Elizabeth (also Liz and Lizzie) Maclean has just completed her PhD studies under the tutelage of Dr Thomas (Tom) Henderson. She had a horrific time because he was a very harsh critic of her work. One evening, they are both invited to a family dinner and to their surprise, it is a whole family dinner because their parents, his mother and her father, are getting married, In a short tale of errors, Liz ends up staying with their parents at Tom’s apartment for a few months. While there, they discover their attraction for one another and have their HEA.

This book was well written and I liked getting to know the main characters. There was just enough of a side cast to know Tom and Liz had active lives.

Thank you to NetGalley, H. L. Macfarlane, and BooksGoSocial for allowing me to read this book in advance of official publishing.

This book had NO RIGHT being this good! At first I though there were going to be too many typical romance genre tropes (grumpy/sunshine, workplace, forced proximity) but they all played together masterfully!

Lizzie. Tom. These two are so incredibly SMART, yet so simple minded when it comes to the heart. Life could have been so much easier for them to just work together, but no - they had to have feelings for each other! And then their parents drop the bombshell! It was an entertaining ride. I enjoyed it very much. Even when I wanted to slap either of them! haha
You know the story - meet cute, hate, like, love, hate and love again. It's just a new setting, one that I haven't read before.
Rom-coms. Such great entertainment. I highly recommend "The Unbalanced Equation".

Thank you allowing me to read an advanced copy.

=^.^=

The Unbalanced Equation

3.5 ⭐️

The Unbalanced Equation is an academic romcom set in Glasgow and it took me right back to visiting! I liked the setting and the back and forth chapters between Liz and Tom.

Although it’s a little long, I thought there was good character development and growth through it. The third act breakup was a little predictable but I enjoyed the ending.

Thanks to @netgalley for this ARC of The Unbalanced Equation

The description of this book, and the cover pulled me in and reminded me a bit of, The Love Hypothesis so I wanted to read it.

I will say, quick trigger warning, both of the main characters have lost a parent to cancer, and it is briefly

Short summary: This book follows Liz and Tom, who have a complicated, and mostly professional relationship. They are both in science and Tom gets assigned to be the assessor for Liz as she completes her postdoc. The early part of this book skips a bit around time-wise. Liz and Tom already have a strange and weird relationship but it gets even weirder after Liz completes are postdoc and Tom is no longer her assessor.

Overall review: I would call this an enemies to lovers book, with a miscommunication trope (which is not my favorite, unfortunately). I would also venture to say there is some forced proximity also.

Beyond Liz and Tom, there were some fun side characters that brought in some humor, and pointed out their miscommunication and issues.

There is a specific plot point that really forces these characters together. I don’t want to give away any spoilers as to this, but this particular turn of events definitely made me cringe for a lot of the book.

I enjoyed much of the banter, and some of the side characters provided some good comic relief. On the flip side, I spent a lot of the book aggravated by the miscommunication and some ridiculous choices by main characters.

I will say, if you like enemies to lovers, some science goodness thrown in, plus some steamy and descriptive scenes, you will likely enjoy this book.

Overall, I thought it was a well-done book, but I really struggled with one particular plot point, and I really couldn’t get past it.

I loved this! It was a super easy read, and a good break from fantasy—which is what I usually read.
Anyone who loved the Love Hypothesis will definitely love this book. The characters are fun, realistically-flawed, and the tension between them is *chefs kiss.*
I felt that it was very well-paced with just the right amount of spice. Ironically, unlike the title, it was perfectly balanced in my opinion.

I wish the plot had been less contrived, with the parents meeting and falling in love. without their kids having any idea or inkling ahead of time. The lab setting in the beginning of the book is also so not romantic.

I also found the open door sex scenes a bit over the top.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with and eARC of this book in return for my honest review.
I am a big fan of The Love Hypothesis and this had very similar vibes so I really enjoyed this book! The Unbalanced Equation is a dual pov between Liz a post and her former PHD professor Tom, who has been in love with Liz for four years. This book covers several tropes, from enemies to lovers, forced proximity, he falls first and an age gap (10.5 years). I wasn't the biggest fan of the parents storyline, it felt a little odd that Liz and Tom's parents were getting married and would therefore make them stepsiblings, but I also understand that this storyline is the backstory to the whole force proximity storyline. Overall a really good read and a great love story, with a good amount of spice!

I'm honestly not surprised I loved this book. It's The Love Hypothesis meets The Hating Game (both books that I'm obsessed with).

Liz, now post doc, gets a job in a lab where she is suddenly forced to share workspace with her grumpy former PhD assessor, Tom. Tom made Liz's life a living hell during her 4 years in school and she was looking forward to not having to ever see him again. But when Tom's lab burns down he is forced to take his work elsewhere. Tom isn't all to thrilled with the arrangement either. He has spent the last four years trying to squash the crush he has had on Liz since meeting her at a mixer for the new graduate students during her first year. When he found out he would be her assessor he decides the only way he can stay professional and keep Liz away is to make her hate him.

This book has so many of the things I love:
*Enemies to lovers
*Forced proximity
*Age gap
*He falls first

I loved the banter in this book. And the spice...

"Ugh. Don't go all parental on me."
"Insinuate I'm a dad again and I swear to god I'm going to assume you have a kink you don't want me knowing about."

Tom did some pretty problematic things in this book, but I'm able to overlook them in the name of love ;) This was the first book I read by Macfarlane and I can't wait to read more!

“So what if the mere sight of Elizabeth
Maclean still made my heart race? So what if
my supposed schoolboy crush had not waned in the slightest after four years?”

~ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ~

Two anime-geeks hit it off at a university event, their attraction for each other palpable. But when Thomas Henderson gets assigned as Elizabeth Maclean‘s Ph.D. assessor on the next day, their shared evening and connection seem forgotten.

After Tom made the next 4 years hell for Liz, she’s more than happy to leave him in the past. But then one thing leads to another, and suddenly the two of them have to work in the same lab while Liz moves in with Tom.

A cute rom-com set in Glasgow for fans of ‘The Love Hypothesis,’ Enemies-to-Lovers, forced proximity, age gap, dual POV, AND the guy falls first...hell yes?!
Or so I thought.

I was really excited to read ‘The Unbalanced Equation’ since I absolutely adored ‘The Love Hypothesis’ and wanted to read more STEM romances.
Unfortunately, I didn’t like the two main characters, and to be honest, Daichi (Tom’s best friend and co-worker) carried the book.

If you like anime, you will be delighted to hear that throughout the book are several references. But since I never watched the mentioned animes, I can‘t really comment on them.

The biggest problems I had with the book were the conflicts. Liz is in her late 20s and Tom is almost 40, yet they act like teenagers.
The miscommunication was really bad.
Additionally, this is just my preference, but I don’t like the step-siblings trope. So naturally, I was not the biggest fan of the relationship between the main character's parents.

*small spoiler following

There was a part at the end of the book, where Tom gave a speech at his Mom's wedding.
One of the most important days in his Mom's life...and he made the whole speech about himself. He literally apologized to Liz through a wedding speech.
Only fueled my dislike for him.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Unbalanced Equation follows Liz, a postdoc, and her grumpy and possessive former PhD assessor, Tom, who has been pining for her for years.
This was your standard semi-cringey, mostly funny rom-com about two very relatable nerds. Whether it's their shared love of anime, their very entertaining bander, or their shared love of science, none of it disappointed me.

This book is amazing, despite the fact that it appears insane and contrived. Liz and Tom were fantastic; their dynamic was pure sexual tension. The chemistry and banter were fantastic!

What I didn’t love was all the manipulative moves, especially on Tom’s end and the parents addition to the storyline. It made both of them feel much younger than they were to have their parents around all the time. So thats why four stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I normally love a good enemies to lovers story and one set in Scotland? Perfection! I was so excited to dive into this but unfortunately I didn't connect with the story or characters. Without giving too many spoilers, the main character Tom is so egregious in his behavior that there is no really redeeming him. Add to that several plot points which would never happen in the real world and I was lost.
I do love that there is STEM representation and hopefully this is a trend that continues. I think if you are into books with a lot of hijinks or really into anime, you might be into this story. I think there is an audience for it, it just isn't me.

Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book! A very detailed romcom with a variety of twists that kept me hooked until the end.

I heard that this was a hate-to-love relationship and very, very similar to The Love Hypothesis. But unfortunately, it didn’t meet my standards.

With that in mind, novels usually have some distinct differences however, this one was very much like a duplicate of the famous book I mentioned.

Both the main characters both have red flags. For example, Tom is on Liz’s phone, sabotaging her chances in getting her own flat, and putting Liz in sexually uncomfortable situations. He is also this weird manly type of man personality, but I could not really see him like that.

Liz is literally the definition of “play silly games to win things”.

She is the person who is like “I never knew you liked me!!!” even though Tom literally says he liked her from very early on so she clearly refuses to communicate when it is there clearly. These two characters unfortunately did not vibe with me, though sometimes they were cute.

Other than that, I didn’t have any major issues with the book. The side characters were meh and barely served any purpose. There’s not as much science-y stuff going on, though there were times where people talked in science-y jargon.

The “get back together” scene wasn't too exciting as you usually get with these types of novels. However, I did appreciate that the couple’s happy ending was not getting married or having kids—because some people don’t need that in their lives.

Overall, this book was average. The red flags in the protagonists really just threw me off.

Thanks to the publishers for sending me this novel in exchange for my honest thoughts

All academics are very well aware of the frequent crushes students get on their supervisors and how relationships with students lead to dismissal. And the student's work is thrown out. So Tom's concern were valid. His manner of implementation however, was extreme but it did lead to a prize for best thesis so..
I really enjoyed this story of 2 nerds with mouths that snarked and said exactly the wrong thing at the the wrong time. That's scientists for you?
The writing style was engaging, well paced, and clear. The characters believable and as I read I could understand their motivations for their actions.

This book is billed as enemies to lovers, although our male lead was never really an enemy, just plain rude.

The “heat” was there, but unfortunately I couldn’t get past Tom’s manipulation and general creepiness. It just made me think that she could do better!

There were parts that were cute, but not enough to make me cheer for this couple. (And also the step sibling thing is weird!)

The Unbalanced Equation brings genetic researchers Tom and Liz together under several hilarious circumstances. Tom began pining for Liz 4 years prior to the current story when he was her PhD assessor. Not realizing that Liz would be one of his PhD candidates, he had to lock down his feelings for her starting the slow-burn side to this fun romance. As the current story unfolds, Tom and Liz go from having to share a lab bench at work to a “forced” co-existence at Tom’s residence and planning a wedding for their parents!

I enjoyed listening to them nerd-out about their shared interests and the tension between them was so perfect. They clearly were into each other from the get-go, but unpacking that drama from early in their acquaintance took time. Bonus points for this being set in Scotland! I tried my best “Scottish inner voice” as I was reading Tom’s part. I would definitely read about Tom and Liz or any other characters after this if it turns into a series!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Read if you like:
Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
STEM
Women in STEM
He Falls First