The Sizzle Paradox - Lily Menon

 

Title: The Sizzle Paradox
Author: Lily Menon 
Format: E-book
Rating: 3.5 stars 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Kiss Quotient meets Love Potion No. 9 in the next sparkling romantic comedy by Lily Menon, The Sizzle Paradox.

Lyric Bishop feels like a fraud – she’s studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for a successful long-term relationship, only she can’t seem to figure it out in her own dating life. The science is sound, but how can she give her expert opinion with no real-world experience? In order to complete her doctoral thesis, she must crack the Sizzle Paradox – it seems the more sexually attractive she finds a guy, the less likely it is to come with an emotional connection; but why? – and to do that she must get the help she desperately needs.

Kian Montgomery, her best friend, roommate, and fellow grad student, has no trouble bringing both romance and sizzle to his own relationships. When he offers to tutor Lyric on dating tactics to find a good match, she’s certain it will solve her problems, and in exchange she agrees to set long-term-commitment-averse Kian up with someone different to give his romantic life a much-needed shakeup.

But once the two progress with their "tutoring sessions," they start to feel less like the academic exercise they were supposed to be as real feelings develop. Which is a problem, because Lyric and Kian are best friends and absolutely, irrefutably nothing else... Right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you're in the mood for a truly funny romantic comedy book look no further - The Sizzle Paradox has all sorts of funny and romance throughout the entire book. 

I liked all the characters in the book - and I loved the relationship that Lyric had with Kian.  They were great friends, and once they actually opened up about how they felt about each other they made a cute couple. 

Lyric and Kian did take A VERY LONG TIME to communicate with each other about how they really felt.  Like, it was literally THE END of the book before they told each other they were in love with each other. They kept saying it to themselves and everyone around them, but when push came to shove they both kept their lips sealed with each other, and were then both absolutely convinced the other didn't love them.  It led to a lot of hurt feelings and a lot of potential life changing decisions.  That was the only thing that really bothered me about this book was that neither one just opened their mouth and said "Hey, I'm in love with you." Other than that I really enjoyed this book. 

I loved the whole idea of Lyric needing a "tutor" because she felt so love inept.  Her best friend, apparently more capable at love and all than her, offers to be her tutor and it works - they have this trust in each other that makes it just good enough to work.  Lyric is able to trust that Kian will be honest with her about why she may be failing in relationships and love.  And Kian is gentle and kind enough with Lyric to help her move through her awkwardness at dating. 

The book was well written enough and kept me hooked with the story that I wanted to keep reading.  Each part of the story worked well together and moved well within the book.  I enjoyed watching each event and the entire story play out until it reached the end game. 

Even with the amount of humor in the book it also had the right amount of heart and seriousness that comes along with adult life.  The author did a great job striking that balance throughout this entire book.  

The dynamic between each character was well developed and they all played off each other well.  Even the weird moments that Lyric couldn't pick out because she wasn't love savvy fit into the story and made everything work. 

The growth that Lyric did in terms of what she wanted from her education was good to see as well. She knew she had spent a lot of time investing in her education (and money, let's be real) and she took time to examine it due to her exploration and experiment with Kian.  I think that time she took really helped develop her character and made her seem more like a real person.

Overall, this was definitely another hot from Lily Menon that I recommend to any adult who loves romance books!

The release date for this fun book is June 14, 2022.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DISCLAIMER: I received and ARC of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.  All thoughts and opinions about this book are my own.

October {2018} Book Haul

 Hey reader friends!  I have a humongous amount of books to share!  My library had a huge book sale all month long in October.  Plus, I got seven books (the ARCS I shared here) for free!  I bought one book - Seraphina - at full price.  That means I spent just over 20 bucks for all these books!  Here's what I got!

Young Adult

 

 Adult

 

Tell Me Everything - Sarah Enni

Title: Tell Me Everything
Author: Sarah Enni
Format: Paperback
Publication: February 2019
Rating: 4 Stars

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOUR SECRET’S SAFE … UNTIL IT’S NOT

Ivy is the shy artist type and keeps a low profile—so low that she’s practically invisible to everyone at Belfry High School except for her best friend, Harold. As sophomore year begins, Harold takes up a hundred activities, leaving Ivy on her own. Luckily she’s found a distraction: the new anonymous art-sharing app, VEIL.

Soon Ivy realizes that one of her classmates is the VEIL user who needs new paintbrushes … and another is the one visiting the hospital every week … and another is the one dealing with their parents’ messy divorce. While she’s too scared to put her own creations on the app, Ivy thinks of an even better way to contribute—by making gifts for the artists she’s discovered. The acts of kindness give her such a rush that, when Ivy suspects Harold is keeping a secret, she decides to go all in. Forget gifts—Ivy wants to throw Harold a major party.

But when all those good intentions thrust her into the spotlight, Ivy’s carefully curated world is thrown into chaos. Now she has to find the courage to come out of the shadows—about her art, her secrets, and her mistakes—or risk losing everything and everyone she loves the most.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ivy is a young high school artist who starts looking at Veil, an anonymous art sharing app.  Even though she is an artist herself, she is too scared to share her stuff on Veil.  Throughout the summer and beginning of the school year, she finds out who some of the users are and sends them gifts.

Ive also has a crush on Harold, but gets a very, very wrong idea about him, and because of that wrong idea - she goes months without telling him how she really feels.

So, without giving too much away: Here is what I think of this book

* Ivy is way too timid and scared!  She needs to open up and realize that she can and should be brave and share her art as well - especially if she wants to call herself an artist. 

*Ivy makes a lot of mistakes in this book.  There is something I need to say about one of those mistakes.  She makes an assumption that someone she cares about is gay.  So, she then outs this person to a whole bunch of people.  Let's just break that down for a minute.  First of all, don't make assumptions about people just because they are accepting of gay people.  There is nothing wrong with being gay.  However, unless someone tells you they are gay, don't just assume.  Sometimes an ally is just an ally. 

Second of all - if someone does come out to you and tell you they are gay, you do not ever, ever get to share that information with other people.  I cannot stress this enough: It is never ever okay to out a gay person.  Coming out is deeply personal, and something that should only be done by the person when they are ready.  Gay people get to decide when they come out.  Gay people get to decide who they come out to.  It is not up to anyone else to share that deeply personal information!

Moving on:

*I wish there had been more Harold in this book.  In most of the book, he was just a mentioned character instead of an active seen character. And I really loved him - so I really wanted him to be seen more instead of just talked about!  I think, aside from the art teacher, Harold was my favorite character.

* I like that Ivy has such an incredible art teacher who really pushes her to be active in her own art instead of just worrying about other people's art.

* This story is well written - everything that happens in the book just seems to fit.  Even when I get mad as heck at Ivy, whatever happened in the story FIT! 

* The characters in this book are well developed and distinct - and they have layers.  They are not all just one-dimensional.  They learn stuff about themselves and others throughout the book as well, which I think is important. 


Overall, I liked this book.  I highly recommend it for readers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I won a copy of this book as an ARC on the twitter.  It is set to be published in February 2019, so when it comes out - go read it, okay?!