The Unbalanced Equation is an enemies to lovers rom com with some spice. Tom and Liz had a meet cute years ago followed by 4 years of Tom treating Liz terribly when he became her PhD assessor. In the current day, the two end up as coworkers at the same lab and then end up living together when she is forced to move out of her home. To make things crazier, their parents are engaged.

At one point, the author writes “How could the two of us be this dysfunctional? We were like children.” This quote sums up the book for me. The main characters are so unlikable. They are incredibly manipulative and toxic, and it was just on the edge of cringe for me that they were about to be step siblings. They act in ways that are selfish and just plain mean, and even the scene that may have been their redemption was too focused on themselves and no one else.

I did like the lab setting and bringing the STEM influence into this book, but unfortunately I just couldn’t stand the characters which makes this a 3 star read for me.

I got this arc this morning and I finished it within hours.

It was that good.

Enemies to lovers is my favourite trope, and H. L. Macfarlane will be an author that I will be following closely.

I like that there is a main love story but also side stories (although the main one is my favorite).

We follow Liz (who is a postdoc) and her possessive but also kind of grumpy former PhD assessor, Tom.

Tom has been pining after her for years.

But do to unfortunate events, they need to share a lab.

How will this turn out for them? You will need to read this book (coming out 15th of September) to find out.

If you read and liked The Love Hypothesis then you will for sure like (in my case love) this one as well.

Not only does this book contain enemies to lovers but also forced proximity/

And something we need more of in the world: STEM workplace.

I am already so hyped for the next (standalone) in the series.

I honestly really liked how H. L. Macfarlane brought the chemistry and sexual tension between the characters.

Great first step into contemporary.

This book! I struggled to put it down! It checked all of the boxes - enemies to lovers, second-chance romance, witty banter. Not to mention the setting taking place in academia! It did remind me a lot of Love Hypothesis, which I have read recently, so that did take away from some aspects of the story, But as a whole I would recommend!
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This is another romance hoping to get in on the trend of protagonists who are women in STEM fields, written by authors who have or can believably fake a background in STEM. Unfortunately, it is not one of the better ones although it begins promisingly enough, with an instant attraction between a pair of Tolkien-reading otaku.

Very quickly we learn that the male half of this pairing, Tom, is thirty four when they meet, compared to Lizzie’s twenty three years and he is set to be her PhD assessor, a task which he performs for the next three years with unwonted unkindness because he’s so into her the only way he can keep their relationship on the level is to constantly make her miserable. For the majority of the text Tom is thirty eight and Lizzie is twenty seven, which makes the eleven year age gap marginally less alarming, but people of those ages are at such different places in their lives it’s difficult to imagine they’d actually have much in common.

Which brings us to the narrative.

Lizzie is having a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week. Tom’s isn’t great either. I have more sympathy for Lizzie, even though Tom’s lab burned down. After all, she got evicted from her actual home the next day. Fortunately (from some points of view), Tom and his family are crazy rich and since his mum is marrying her dad, he can offer her a place to stay. Except he’s still not a good person: almost at once Tom sabotages Lizzie’s hunt for a flat. Their family situation is complicated and it makes the living together thing marginally less absurd, but I just don’t like that he’s considering taking steps to prevent her from leaving what is clearly a messed up situation. Not to mention the way he uses her phone without permission to sabotage her dating life, too. It’s not a good look, and she forgives him for it and I really don’t think she should have done.

There were a lot of red flags in this relationship, none of which were the ones alluded to in the content warning at the beginning of the book. Tom is not a good guy, no matter how the author tries to paint him as such. He even hijacks his mother’s wedding to confess his love to Liz. (She does do the same, which just makes both of them look bad, rather than excusing the behavior.) I was cautious about the relationship at the outset and it never convinced me that it was a good idea, ultimately.

Finally, I have two complaints that do not relate to Tom and Lizzie’s relationship. First, although these are “older” characters, they are self-professed otaku and yet only allude to or watch old anime. Seriously. I’ve been out of the otaku scene for well over a decade and even I know their references are dated. Secondly, and perhaps stupidly, it’s odd to me as an American reader that the section dividers are sort of balance scales usually associated with the (American) legal profession. I get that the title talks about balance (undoubtedly in reference to how wildly unbalanced the power dynamics are in the main characters’ relationship), but it’s still odd to me.

This book was fun and mainly light-hearted. I loved the banter between the main character and her love interest, it felt realistic and it was adorable. Also, I'm a sucker for science-related settings so this was perfect. It reminded me of The Love Hypothesis but they are both very distinct books from one another. If you enjoy fun science-based rom-coms, then I would recommend this book.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

"The Unbalanced Equation" is like a dual POV "The Love Hypothesis". I loved "The Love Hypothesis", so I really enjoyed this book as well. Obviously there were enough differences that it wasn't a total copy-paste. I thought the pacing of the romance was really good, and I loved Liz's character. Good banter between the love interests is my guilty pleasure, and this book had plenty of it!

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Now, I love Romantic Comedy books. They are just the perfect palate cleanser between dark fantasy or thriller books. The tropes, the banter, the tension, yes please! However, with Unbalanced Equation, it just did not hit the mark for me. I love the Sunshine/Grumpy, forced proximity, and enemies to lovers tropes, but Thomas is not grumpy instead he is mean and manipulative.

The story starts with an almost Instalove, they immediately fell for each-other in a matter of minutes and then instead of being an adult, Thomas decides he is going to be an ass to her when he finds out he is now assigned her PHD Advisor.

There was tension, but it seemed much more physical vs emotional for both of them. Which i feel 4 years of pining on Thomas' part would maybe make him fall a bit in love with her for her mind/personality.

This story also hinges on Thomas' and Elizabeth's single parents announcing they are marrying each-other. Even though they are not related, it just is on the edge of 'ick' for me.

Overall, The story was okay and had fun banter. I was just wanting a little bit more from the characters and Elizabeth not to be such a pushover with Thomas.

This book reminded me a lot of a book I read earlier this year and with some similar tropes, it makes sense why I enjoyed it so much!

So much building on tensions and as fate would have it, of course nothing is going to go to plan! Watching the twists and turns unfold was a splendid experience and there were so many fun parts to digest!

Full review to follow on my blog.

Tom and Liz are two scientists.
When they both first meet each other they definitely both fancy each other. There is an age gap of just under 11 years. They have lots of similar interests and match well together. After an unfortunate events with spilled drinks, Tom ends up giving her a shirt and she leaves her clothes in the lab...

But of course things don't go well when they need too because Tom ends up being Liz's PhD assessor, which leads to him behaving like an idiot due to his feeling for her. The clothes aren't swapped back.

4 years later both their single parents have met at a grief session and have found love again. Both Liz and Tom find out at dinner at the same time.

Tom makes some questionable decisions to make Liz stay in his life and house which of course she inevitably finds out about. But she is also out for revenge too, so she's not exactly an angel in this situation.

Overall I did like this book and I read it in two days. I'd recommend it if you liked the love hypothesis or love on the brain. Lusting academics is just a new genre of romance and I love it🤣.

I also really liked that this book is set in Glasgow. It makes a lovely change.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this.

I love a lab based romance and this book did not disappoint. I would say pick up this book if you loved The Love Hypothesis but wished it was enemies to lovers. This book follows postdoc student Liz, and her former PhD assessor Tom, who made it his life's mission to make Liz miserable to conceal his crush during her time as a student. Once they are forced into close proximity, and the hurdles keeping them apart disappear, we find out if Tom has what it takes to fix his mistakes. You will love these characters, their banter, and the conflict resolution.

Questo romanzo ha molti trope che io adoro: enemies to lovers, age gap, forced proximity, he fall first (🔥)… e il fatto che sia anche STEM mi ha dato un po’ di The love hypothesis vibes ma al contempo ho cercato di vivermi la lettura senza lasciarmi influenzare da uno dei miei libri preferiti.
Ho adorato il conflitto e la tensione tra Liz e Tom, specie visto che quest’ultimo, essendo il professore della protagonista, non ha esitato a fare un passo indietro dopo il loro primo incontro e fingere di odiarla per quattro anni. Liz, poi, è una protagonista femminile pazzesca, che sa ciò che vuole e sa farsi rispettare. L’ho adorata!
Ho percepito alcune parti un po’ frettolose, tuttavia è un libro assolutamente godibile e che ho apprezzato. E, nel caso in cui ve lo steste chiedendo si, c’è lo spicy 🔥

I adored this book. I've always loved a good enemies to lovers trope. Loved the tension and banter between Liz and Tom. Although, I think Tom's best friend, Daichi, was my favorite character. The one thing that bothered me was that it was never explained why Liz had run away from Tom all those years ago. Anywho, I'm loving all these extremely smart and sassy (described as nerdy) female leading roles.

Synopsis:
After suffering four years of scrutiny from her PhD assessor, Elizabeth Maclean believes she’s finally free of Dr Thomas Henderson’s tyranny when she begins her postdoc. But when a fire goes off in Tom’s lab (stupid undergrads) he ends up working in the same lab as Liz.

To make matters worse – and much to their mutual surprise – Tom’s mum 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?

A smart, sexy enemies-to-lovers story perfect for fans of The Hating Game, Book Lovers and The Love Hypothesis,

Thank You NetGalley and BookGoSocial for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The banter in this was so funny! This book did a good job of twisting together the insta-love troupe with the slow-burn troupe and the enemies to lovers. I will definitely recommend this title to my friends when it is released.

thank you to netgalley and booksgosocial for the early release of the unbalanced equation. unfortunately, this was not the book for me.

i was super excited to read this one, but i just couldn’t connect with either of our main characters at all. elizabeth is just okay as our female lead, and thomas is just god awful. both of them continually manipulate each other in many different situations and we’re supposed to just be like yay! i love love! hooray! thank you again to the publisher for this early release. 2.5 stars.

As the first book I have read of this author's, I was delightfully surprised and enraptured with The Unbalanced Equation by H.L. Macfarlane. This novel is the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman in a universe where all romantic-comedy novels are DC Universe characters; filled with delicious and clever banter arrogantly wrapped inside a shiny black patent pleather shell. It is the perfect novel for all you readers out there that are thirsty for more STEMinist romances or:

- Enemies to Lovers: an initial scene between Tom and Liz is described as a scene from "every shounen anime ever where the camera zooms in first on the hero's face and then the rival's without either of them blinking", and we all know how tense that feeling is

- Miscommunication: SO much miscommunication, or rather lack of communication; certainly the world would be easier if we all just said what we're thinking, but it would be much less interesting

- Forbidden Romance: there is something to be said about a teacher/student power dynamic, even when when it ceases to be the case

- Mr. Darcy Level Pining : instead of pride and prejudice, Tom and Liz have arrogance and history

- Forced Proximity: literally everything, including an expensive sounding laboratory , bursts into flames to keep these two together... and even when there are no physical barriers they keep coming together like magnets

Vicious Banter (straight up almost bullying, but it's somehow incredibly hot): this is not one of those fluffy "enemies to lovers" novels where the adversarial relationship is merely passive; it is straight up aggressive, purposefully spiteful at times in the most intriguing way. As someone who has spent this summer reading a lot of Dramione fanfics, I appreciated this

What I Liked Most About This Book :
- I was mimosa-level horny for Daichi; I wish we could have a prequel novel about him and his wife May. He is such a shit-disturber in the ways only a best friend can be. He was blatantly and delightfully manipulative to either give Tom an opportunity with Liz or maybe just make him suffer so he could laugh.
- This book was truly written for nerds, by a nerd. It was peppered with mentions of anime, fantasy, even You-Gi-Oh because why not. Whose sexual awakening didn't include Tuxedo Mask!?
- Despite there being only a couple of actual sexual scenes, the whole book was actually quite spicy. Even when not explicit, the banter and pining was constant foreplay for the reader. There is something so tingly about two people truly punishing each other with sexual frustration. I felt personally victimized/edged by all the. *almost* moments
- Highlighting the fact that not everyone wants to have a nuclear family with 2.5 children. You can be childless, common law and still be happily in love with a white picket fence.

What I Didn't Like :
- There was a serious missed opportunity to make innuendos or jokes about hentai
- Although Tom is like, ten years Liz's senior, because of how juvenile some of his manipulations were (that asshat), he seemed a lot younger not in the best way. He would have to do a LOT more grovelling (let's reverse that begging kink)
- Liz's Dad - who also seemed quite juvenile when he became a "pick-me" girl pouting about Tom and Liz's fight and the wedding

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I recieved a advanced copy of the unbalanced equation. It was a fun book that I enjoyed about love and the workplace and what to not do to get the girl.

This was my first book by this author and it was awesome! As someone who works in HigherEd I loved a lot of the environment/setting of the book. The h is a postdoc, and the H is her grumpy/possessive former PhD advisor. The H has been pining for her for years and it creates a hot tension throughout the story that kept me engaged.

The dialogue was really good as well and it was just an all around fun, steamy, workplace rom com.

I can't wait to read more from this author.

The unbalanced equation by H.L. MacFarlane

I really enjoyed this book. It starts with a flashback to 4 years ago and the comes back to present day. It follows a FMC who works in STEM. I really enjoyed the banter and chemistry between Liz and Tom. I wanted to slap Tom with some of the decisions he made but I understood the end result he was hoping for even if he was going about it all wrong. He just kept digging himself a bigger hole to try and crawl out of!

If you loved the love hypothesis I think you’d love this also.
This was my first book by H.L MacFarlane but I would 100% read another book by this author as I really enjoyed this storyline. It was also very refreshing to see a FMC who didn’t want marriage and kids but still wanted to settle down in her own way. I really appreciated it not being the typical thing where it revolves around marriage and kids be the only way an FMC can be happy. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

A really well thought out and cute romantic comedy. I loved the STEM aspect of it and I LOVED the Scottish setting. In the vain of The Love Hypothesis or The Soulmate Equation, but without the fake dating. Like with these books, the main coming together doesn't happen until over halfway through the book. But unlike these others, there is such huge tension built up that the reader is not lacking. Several smaller spicy interactions keeps you going. These characters had so much witty banter and such good chemistry that I really found myself rooting for them. I loved the dual POV and the chance to experience events from both perspectives, but events did not repeat which it often does in dual POV. So this made things move along well. The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars was because it was almost 500 pages which is a lot for a rom com. Overall fun and entertaining experience and cannot wait to read the rest.

Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. I found it boring and the characters really got annoying. 25% in and I was done.