H.L. Macfarlane

The Unbalanced Equation

Nouran Hazem

2.5 ⭐️
Thank you Net galley for the arc!!
I was very excited about this book because I heard it had a similar vibe to the love hypothesis which I loved.. 
This book started with Liz and Tom meeting at a university conference and having a meet cute and really hitting it off.. but then we find out Tom is going to be her pHD assessor so instead of asking her out he ends up being cold and mean to her because they can’t really go out..
We have a time jump 4 years later and Liz hates Tom but they’re gonna be in forced proximity as they will be working together in the same lab and their parents are getting married.. so Thomas has to convince her to give him a chance since he still likes her but she hates him..
There were some things that I enjoyed about the book but the characters just disappointed me.. they were supposed to be 38 and 28 but still acted like children.. I didn’t enjoy how Tom basically manipulated her love life and hid things from her and I hated how Liz was cruel when she found out about his feelings for her and would deliberately hurt him and twist his feelings against him… It however worked out for them so that’s good but I also think that we just didn’t get any of the mean Tom moments that made Liz hate him so idk.. it was a lot of tell without showing and just the pacing felt a little off..
I did enjoy the banter.. but I did hate the conflict at the end with the parents and also I’m not a big fan public confessions of feelings…
But it definitely had boy obsessed and a STEM vibe and she was the grumpy one…

Nouran

Caroll-Ann

First of all, I‘m thankful that I recieved this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review..anyway this book so cute. I haven‘t been able to put this book down at all. Honestly it kind of reminded me of „the love hypothesis“ BUT I have to admit that I like this one more. This book is such a cute love story that has so many good tropes in the book. But not only the main love story is amazing, also the side stories are amazing as well. I don‘t think that there is even one character I didn‘t like in this book, apart from Eli…fuck Eli. This book is so good and I can only recommend this one, everyone should read this once it‘s released.

I don't know if this was funnier because it's set in Glasgow, or because I have the voices of the characters in my head!  The accents are fighting for supremacy in my brain! 

Tom is a prominent academic and when he meets Liz at a department social event, they bond over cheap booze and give in to an instant attraction.  After a disaster strikes and they have to change clothes, what-might-have-been never happens and Tom later finds out that Liz is his new Ph.D. candidate.  So that instant attraction has to go into hiding - and he covers up the simmering feelings he has with a snotty attitude towards Liz and her work.

Liz really thought Tom might have been a great friend, even if the attraction she felt was one-sided but in the 4 years since their initial meeting she has learned to loathe him. But after a calamitous series of events, they are now not only working in the same lab but their widowed parents are getting married and they're ging to be housemates!

As I live right nearby where Tom lives and the University stands, all the posh, WestEnd Glasgow accents are alive in my head.  I've met many people like Tom and he just leapt off the page for me.  He was a complete bampot over Liz and let his attempt at keeping them at bay take over and go too far the other way!  Liz rode that fine line between love and hate for Tom and I loved ho her wee clan of friends automatically took her side and hated Tom before they met him!

Tom really has to learn where that line is between helping and programming her entire life! All the secondary characters are fully fleshed out and I could attach them to someone I actually know, like Peter became my brother-in-law, who is also from Nigeria, and therefore became all the more real.  

Completely immersed myself in this and read it in one go.  A solid 4 stars!

Nicola Sarah Brooks

I don't know if this was funnier because it's set in Glasgow, or because I have the voices of the characters in my head!  The accents are fighting for supremacy in my brain! 

Tom is a prominent academic and when he meets Liz at a department social event, they bond over cheap booze and give in to an instant attraction.  After a disaster strikes and they have to change clothes, what-might-have-been never happens and Tom later finds out that Liz is his new Ph.D. candidate.  So that instant attraction has to go into hiding - and he covers up the simmering feelings he has with a snotty attitude towards Liz and her work.

Liz really thought Tom might have been a great friend, even if the attraction she felt was one-sided but in the 4 years since their initial meeting she has learned to loathe him. But after a calamitous series of events, they are now not only working in the same lab but their widowed parents are getting married and they're ging to be housemates!

As I live right nearby where Tom lives and the University stands, all the posh, WestEnd Glasgow accents are alive in my head.  I've met many people like Tom and he just leapt off the page for me.  He was a complete bampot over Liz and let his attempt at keeping them at bay take over and go too far the other way!  Liz rode that fine line between love and hate for Tom and I loved ho her wee clan of friends automatically took her side and hated Tom before they met him!

Tom really has to learn where that line is between helping and programming her entire life! All the secondary characters are fully fleshed out and I could attach them to someone I actually know, like Peter became my brother-in-law, who is also from Nigeria, and therefore became all the more real.  

Completely immersed myself in this and read it in one go.  A solid 4 stars!

I really enjoyed this book! As someone who works in STEM, I thought this was a really great romance that represented what it’s like to work in the field and fall in love in the field! Super cute, like a Scottish ‘The Love Hypothesis’ but make it more enemies to lovers!

The Unbalanced Equation

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