This was such a fun, cute book. I loved the science experiment theme. I recommend reading if you like light hearted YA reads.

Chemistry Lessons is the perfect contemporary novel for all my fellow scientists out there, whether you're still in high school thinking about a career in science, or you are already in the field.

Maya has been putting off going through her recently deceased mother's research notes since they were passed down to her based on her mother's will, but after Whit dumps Maya for another girl, her aunt mentions a secret research project her mother started before passing. Maya picks up her mother's reach on human pheromones and how they can help attract two people together. But the best science experiments have many trials, and as the experiment begins Maya has to get in tune with her emotions and find out what she really wants from this experiment.

I am actually very impressed with the way this book turned out. I read a few reviews before starting this book, and not all of them were favourable, but I'm glad I didn't pay too much attention to them because I ended up absolutely loving the book. I think this book really played close to my scientist side and had many aspects that I could relate to, which is one of the main reasons why I liked it so much.

I really enjoyed Maya as the main character. She is young, but already a science prodigy. While is very smart and kind, there are definitely times where is a bit naive and lets her emotions cloud her judgement, but for her age and situation I wouldn't blame her for it, its exactly how a person her age would respond to her situation. Maya goes through quite a bit of character development, both in her personal life and in her scientific research about how to properly conduct an experiment and ethics.

The storyline was really well written. The beginning was a bit slow, but the book is short enough that you can finish it in a day and get to the good parts very quickly. I thought the book had a fantastic middle and end. And while the book was slightly predictable, there were moments that definitely took me by surprise.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book to all my science friends who also love to read. Maya is a great main character, and Chemistry Lessons a super cute novel perfect for the summer.

I fell in love with this books cover. Then I fell in love with the plot. This book was so cute totally a good end of school/early summer read.

My go-to genres are Contemporary Romance, New Adult, and Thrillers but I try to mix up my reading routine every now and then. This time I threw in a Young Adult book called Chemistry Lessons by new-to-me author Meredith Goldstein. I didn't know what to expect from the book, mostly because I requested it months ago and I wasn't sure if I liked it anymore. My worries were unfounded, though because I really enjoyed Maya's journey looking for a chemical equation for lasting love.

First of all, let me put your mind at ease: you don't need to know anything about chemistry. Maya, however, knows everything there is to know about chemistry which is all thanks to her late mother who was a renowned scientist for epigenetics at MIT. Maya wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and study epigentics herself, and landing a summer internship in the lab at MIT her mother used to work at is only the beginning of her career.
I loved that Goldstein decided to make Maya a scientist. There are still not enough women in scientific jobs, although girls and women are just as smart as boys and men and can become scientsts just as much. Hopefully a lot of young girls feel encouraged to pursue a career in science after reading the book - or give it a good thought at least.

The storyline of this book, researching a serum that manipulates pheromones to enhance human attraction, is based on an actual study by Swiss scientist Claus Wedekind. The "Sweaty T-Shirt Study" from 1995 tested if women chose their male partners only based on their odor. How interesting is that? I found this really great article online that explains all the hows, whys, and whats of the study. It's both super fascinating and impressive. If you are interested, here is the article from Discovery Magazine. And here's another one from The New York Times.
The fact that the plot of Chemistry Lessons is based on this study, makes the book even more authentic and tangible. Even though the pheromones study is a fictional idea by Goldstein, taking the "Sweaty T-Shirt Study" a step further, was fantastic.

Maya was a great character to read about. Her journey through her summer internship at MIT, her effort to continue her mom's research, while hanging out with her friends was fun and entertaining. At only seventeen, Maya's knowledge of science was impeccable, yet she was totally naive in other aspects of her life which made her very likeable.
Researching a serum that manipulates human pheromones might not be the smartest idea but Maya had good intentions to continue the research, and an even bigger heart.
The side characters fit all perfectly into the story. Not once did I ask myself what a certain character was doing there. They all belonged and played important parts toward the conclusion of the story.

The open ending might be unsatisfying to some readers because it isn't the usual happy ending readers are hoping or rooting for but I actually enjoyed it. Honestly, I thought it was perfect. Another scenario, the typical predictable ending, would have been wrong and not believable. The open ending actually entices the reader to imagine their own ending for Maya and her future. ;)

I'm glad I picked up Chemistry Lessons because it was a super fun, enjoyable, and unique read. This story about loss, friendship, and love deserves a full 4 Stars.

P. S. Where can I find Bryan's break-up music list? That was such cool and clever idea!

Actual Rating: 3.5

Chemistry Lessons is a cute, kind of predictable YA contemporary. What it really has going for it is the emphasis on science. You don't often see that to the degree depicted here Maya lost her mother to cancer, but hopes to follow in her footsteps by becoming a great scientist. The book is set the summer before college begins (at MIT of course) while she is interning at an MIT lab. Everything is going as planned, until her long-time boyfriend suddenly dumps her for someone else. When Maya learns that her mother had secretly done research involving pheromones and attraction, she concocts a crazy plan to get her boyfriend back.

Maya teams up with her mom's former grad student to carry on this work with experiments. Plural because they need controls to know for sure if there is actually an effect (of course). A big concern I had while reading this book was how unethical the research is, especially with unknowing participants. Happily, the issue of ethics is eventually addressed fairly well, but it bugged me through a lot of the book. So be aware, in terms of science, everything that Maya does is VERY unethical and not good research, but she's also 17 and dumb and broken-hearted. The grad student should have known better, but that's a separate issue.

But leaving aside the issue of ethical research, the book had some very funny moments and some cute things develop. It's a quick read and a light one for the most part. But it DOES get specific about science, which is awesome! Maya's mom focused mostly on epigenetics, the study of genetic markers in predicting diseases, and there is quite the smattering of scientific explanations and terminology woven throughout the story. I think it's done well without being too heavy-handed. As a character, Maya is book smart, but is still figuring everything else out. Which I certainly identified with at her age.

If you're looking for a light contemporary with a sciencey twist, I do recommend this one! I freely agreed to review an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.

Maya is miserable until she discovers that her scientist mother, before she died, was conducting research on manipulating pheromones to enhance human attraction. If Maya can finish her mother’s work, maybe she can get Whit back. But when her experiment creates chaos in her love life, she realizes that maybe love and loss can’t be understood using the scientific method.

Sweet, lighthearted read that looks at love and loss.

This was a book that i couldn't wait to get my hands on....Completely different and a fun book for some - but at the end of the day i struggled to get into it. Maybe it wasn't for me or maybe i just picked it up at the wrong time, i'm not sure....but all i do know is 'i wanted to love it' and didn't.

Brilliant, lighthearted read with a bittersweet look at life without a parent.

Using scientific notions to change your love life always seems cute, but is never as cute as it's intended to be.

This book was a cute story about love.
However, I found the characters kind of lacking and I questioned several times what age the book was directed too. When I started reading it, the book seemed appropriate for young readers, but there was some inappropriate content, as well as unnecessary cursing.

Overall, the storyline and characters were a bit bland, and it made me not want to finish the book.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free ARC of this book.

I really liked this synopsis, so I was pretty eager to get to it.

Maya is a decent character. She’s smart and even though she’s heartbroken, she has good intentions. Sadly, those intentions didn’t translate to character growth. I get that the experiment was important; however, she was quite careless when it came to the feelings of others.

Plot wise, it was sort of boring. I didn’t see the appeal of the boyfriend and the other “test subjects” are kept at a fairly shallow level. And since the entire goal of the story was for Maya to get back with the ex boyfriend, I struggled to stay interested. Plus the ending left a lot to be desired.

Overall, it was an interesting idea, but it was lacking a spark that I was expecting.

**Huge thanks to HMH Books for Young Readers for providing the arc free of charge**

I think this book may interest anyone is in the situation in life - being a genius or really smart and going to higher education at a young age. I personally did not enjoy the book, but it is well written. It is good to see a book centered around a strong young female, who has a keen interest in science.

I picked this book solely based on the cover. I loved the colors. I also do not consider myself a "science" girl. That being said, I loved this book. It wasn't so science-y that I didn't understand, but enough to keep me interested. About halfway through I wasn't sure how I wanted it to end, afraid of Being disappointed, but I think the author did a good job. The characters seemed real to me, with flaws and imperfections that helped me relate to them. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I think everyone else will also.

Thank you for sending me this galley, however unfortunately I was unable to access this book on my e-reader.

Hey all!
I recently finished reading Chemistry Lessons, by Meredith Goldstein!
Oh look, I finished this book right on time for Valentine's day
Note: I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley! This does not affect my opinion on the storyline, plot, writing, or any other point of interest. Thank you for sending it to me!

This book was not what I expected, in any way! You have Maya, a student working on her internship before joining MIT to study epigenetics. Her mother died and dedicated her laboratory research to her - using a love interest's genes to alter your own genes to increase attraction via pheromones. Maya continues on this work on her own, testing the formula on three test subject - her friend, a stranger, and her ex. This secret project makes her realize the value of personal relationships of all kinds, and tests her in many situations that may happen to anyone.

This book was easily readable - it was smooth, there were no empty chapters, and the s scientific ideas were easily understandable and well explained. Easy-reading contemporaries make for really nice summer reads!

I did have a little problem when it comes to the plot of the book, at first. It struck me as odd that the main character saw nothing strange in altering her own chemical signature in order to see if unknowing test subjects would feel any unusual romantic attraction to her. As someone who even finds online dating to be an uncomfortable idea, her lack of realization in the ethics of the experiment surprised me. Not only that, but as a scientist, it was obvious to me that the experiment had many flaws, namely the lack of regularity in the experiments. Her friend Bryan often had the same mindset as I did throughout the book, regarding Maya' s actions and decisions. However, Maya realizes all of this by the end of the book, and makes it up to everyone in various ways. This redeemed the book for me, however did not get rid of the fact that the first 90% of the book seemed odd both ethically and scientifically.

The book was overall a very light read. Where some contemporaries are heavy on mental illness or other topics, this was simply a college girl science-ing the hell out of trying to get back with her ex, and growing on the way. It was a cute, light read, good for anyone who wants to read something that is technically a science fiction but is disguised in a contemporary form. The mix of sub-genres including science, family, theater, love and growing up was a lovely blend that showed that anyone can find themselves in this story.

Finally, I appreciated the realism of the side characters in this book - they were a good representation of the people you may meet in college. Diverse characters, the best friend, the flamboyant guy who doesn't mind who he spends time with at a party, the unrealized crush, the one having a hard time getting over their ex, the ambitious one... it made it easy to find a place in the book as a reader!

I'm giving this a 3.5/5 stars!

Honestly, I wish this book had been around when I was in high school, when I needed reassurance that girls could be unapologetically strong-willed with even stronger mindsets. This story had a lot of coming of age themes while also being romantic and pleasantly entertaining - I would definitely suggest that plenty of my students check out this book.

This book did a really good job of not dumbing down a smart girl. Maya is intelligent, friendly, pretty, and conflicted like all normal teenagers are. She has baggage, from the death of her mother, and change is impending, with college starting at the end of summer, but she doesn't excuse herself from participating in her life. Even after her boyfriend dumps her she doesn't wallow in misery even though she is obviously sad. She keeps participating until she comes up with a plan to get him back using her mothers research.

Was anyone else concerned that Maya's mother's experiment was what led to her cancer metastizing? I was very concerned the whole book. I appreciated the way the ethics of what Maya and Ann were doing were explained and then rejected and then concluded. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, quirky, and complicated. I just wish I got to know Bryan better, and I want more story about him!

This was solid read. I though the characters were well developed and the ending was satisfying. MY only gripe was that the book seemed to be a bit shorted than I would have liked. I felt the author could have gotten another 50 pages in there to really make the book a real gem. All in all it was good read, but likely forgettable in a month or two.

This is a light, gentle romance for teenagers. I liked the concept, I thought it was very individual and unique. I was worried that the science would be very confusing to follow, since I basically scraped through all my science lessons (cough)many(cough) years ago, but it was all very well explained and easy to understand.
Cute moments, fluffy romance and characters who actually learn a lesson in the end; what more could you want from a book?


I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. This does not affect my review in any way. Thank you for the chance to read it.

A fun story that romantics and science nerds will love and embrace.