As s self-confessed science girlie this appealed to me! It was a fun read, not my usual type of romance but I enjoyed it

A fun filled, thoroughly engaging romance that made me fall in love with both the characters from the start of the story. It took tech love to a whole new level and I look forward to reading other works by this author in the future- a swoon worthy read that hit all the right notes.
A big thankyou to Net galley and Atlantic Books for an arc of this enjoyable romance.

Sorry but this wasn’t for me. It has such a strong premise and I really wanted to love this as my first STEM romcom but it wasn’t to be.

When I started I could only manage up to chapter 3 before I stopped because it is so science heavy. I’m talking Big Bang Theory level! lol so it took away from the story and my enjoyment. That is why I am grateful to get approved for the audiobook. It did helped me actually finish the book.

The only issue with the audio, I would have preferred to have 2 narrators. I think when it’s these kind of stories it’s nice to have 2 distinct voices.

It was still too quantum science-y for me.
I did enjoy the parts they chatted to each other via their pseudonyms and they didn’t know, very You’ve Got Mail vibes.

I will definitely try the author again in the future (this is her debut) but maybe STEM isn’t the sub genre for me? Who knows

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

2.5 stars rounded up

I feel like I got on the struggle bus with this book and I couldn't get off.
This book had good ingredients but they weren't in the right amounts and the receipe was 'off'.
I work in an environment not dissimilar to this book and there were times that I couldn't get what was going on and that was down to the narrative style. The writing felt clunky and lacking execution.

I had high hopes that the foreseen connection between the MCs would be the saving grace but I didn't buy into their chemistry. The challenges of academic life were accurate but for most of us, it's less cut-throat than this and having worked at a few universities, there's more teamwork than outlined here.

I'm sad this didn't live up to my hopes, as a good stem romance normally hits the spot.

Thank you Atlantic for the review copy.

Erin and Ethan are academic workplace rivals but underneath all of the animosity they are more alike than they could ever know. This slow burn, workplace enemies to lovers romance is full of banter, angst and sweet unknowing romantic moments. Erin is a woman in STEM who refuses to be held back or bend to patriarchal standards. Ethan is just trying to impress his uncaring and bully of a mentor while making a name for himself within his field. They became instant nemesis due to an errant signature that cost Ethan dearly with the rivalry growing with each retaliation. However they connect anonymously and slowly uncover they have so much more in common than they could ever know.

Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend. It did take me a while to get into the book but once I was into the story it was a good read. The heavy scientific information was hard to get through at times.

This is a really confusing one. Whilst I did enjoy the story and the rivalry between Erin and Ethan, I found the jumping between povs in the middle of chapters without any clear indication of who's pov it was very confusing. I think if this issue was rectified, I would enjoy it far more.

Erin and Ethan have clashed from day one, despite their initial thoughts about the other. Now a work project forces them to work together will they work out their differences? I loved both characters and wanted everything to work out for them, and for the baddie to get his comeuppance.

A very sweet and charming science-themed romance. I really enjoyed how the relationship between the main characters becomes complicated and then takes a completely different direction, which kept the story engaging. Erin was a highlight for me—I truly liked her character and the way she uplifts Ethan, giving their relationship warmth and depth. What bothered me a little was the heavy focus on the scientific aspects. At times, the technical details felt overwhelming, and I found it difficult to understand most of them. Still, the romance carried the story and made it enjoyable overall.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for NetGalley.

I found this read hard to connect to, there was too much physics/science and it was hard to follow.

I loved the cover art and I wanted to love it but it wasn't a vibe for me I'm afraid. I love STEM being represented but there needs to be the right balance for the book to flow.

Nerdy girl and nerdy guy from opposite sides of the theoretical physics divide come together in a workplace rivals to lovers romp around the laboratory. With a dash of "You've Got Mail", a nasty misgynist in their midst and a dog named Bunsen, Talk Data to Me is STEM-inist forward romance that will sit tucked next to your AH favourites or first year uni physics textbook.

This is a tricky one. On one hand, the story is well crafted and the charatcers, Erin and Ethan, have more backbone than the stock standard romantic protagonists. However, I am concerned that they don't have the 'loveableness" that other STEM based power couple characters have. I do wonder if the heavy physics lexicon is where the characters will loose the reader. I do not doubt the characters were their authentic best when splitting hairs, atoms and electrical conduit but, the physics talk is laid on so thick it feels like I'm in the wrong room with people speaking a different language at times. I felt I needed to read the words but they meant nothing to me and that felt wasteful of overall wordcount that could have gone to the parts of the story I loved.

I loved the "You've Got Mail" element, Bunsen and the "stick it to the establishment". I would have loved the badguy confrontation to be really bad. His comeuppance felt like it fizzed.

I was uncomfortable with the petty power plays that punctuated the first part of the story. If they had an element of hijinks rather than dangerous (personal and professional) I would have felt differently.  There was great potential for a light segway/scooter double-dink scene that might have balanced out the less savoury sabotage.

I'm definitely interested in more from this author.  I look forward to Book 2- I wonder if having a greater range of locations and potential shenanigans will allow the author the freedom to lean into her characters.

With thanks to the author, Atlantic Books and NetGalley for the eARC to read ahead of publication.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF

unfortunately I struggled to connect within the first 25%.
The plot line was not gripping and I didn’t feel a connection with either Erin or Ethan.

As this was a debut, I did want to love it and shout from the rooftops but it just fell flat and a tad childish for me.

A nice dive back into STEM romance for me and I liked the way that Ethan and Erin's relationship was developed and the rivalry they had as well as the unexpected common ground. The workplace was certainly a toxic environment in some ways which is often reflected in STEM fiction so there were some elements to cause a little rage but overall it's quite a relaxed read with a little competition that sometimes gets out of hand, but we also see representations of anxiety and some lovely You've Got Mail style connection. There was a fair bit of science talk that went right over my head and made the reading a little more challenging at times - even when they're explaining things in layman terms, but clearly physics isn't for me!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

This book was written only for people with an understanding of physics. I have never felt so dumb reading a book before and I have a college degree. This book was meant for a way too narrow audience and I won’t be recommending it to anyone.

This was a fun, nerdy romance with a strong STEM vibe! Erin and Ethan are rival physicists who are forced to work together, and of course, sparks fly. I enjoyed the enemies to lovers dynamic, and their anonymous online chats were a cute twist .
The banter was great, and I appreciated Erin as a smart, confident woman in science. Ethan was a solid grumpy but also soft man, and their chemistry built up slowly, which I liked. The science talk, though, did get a little dense at times, I found myself skimming some of the jargon because whether is my age or just the culture younger people live now, I just couldn’t get into those parts. Still, this was a charming romance with warmth and wit that many readers might love, even if it didn’t completely work for me.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy through NetGalley, opinions are my own

I love a STEM romance book. And there was something really intriguing about having to google certain scientific words and phrases, so I could understand what they were talking about throughout the book.
Not heavy on the spice and focuses more on the plot which is sometimes rare these days in romance books.
Definitely will recommend.

It was an average read for me, i dived in expecting more but I felt underwhelmed after the story got finished. The plot felt dull and though there were some cute moments, overall i craved for more vibe. There should have been more character development and depth in back stories.

As a woman in a STEM field, I absolutely loved the viewpoint of this book. It was wonderful seeing the women characters in the book presented as strong and taking leadership roles. The more role models women have (even if it is in fiction) is nice to see.

I picked this book for the romance aspect, however, too much of the story was spent explaining the characters roles and theories for their respective physics applications. I felt that the author spent way too much time focused on this and not enough time focused on developing her characters.

I would have loved to see more explanation for why the characters did the things they did. For example, Ethan seemed to develop a high level of anxiety at the end of the story, but it was not as present throughout.

In the end, I did enjoy the story once the main characters decided they liked one another.

As a self confessed science girlie, I'm really enjoying the growth of STEM based rom-coms.  There will never be enough of these for me.

This rivals to lovers, workplace romcom was a great debut novel in my opinion.  We had mistaken adversity, prank wars, petty bickering and banter.  There was even a forced proximity element.

Erin and Ethan are two dissimilar peas in a pod.  Even though they think they aren't even the same species, everyone around them sees the sparks. I struggled with Ethan initially as I thought he was so "doormat" like when it came to his boss.  I much preferred the ballsy, say what's on her mind Erin.  However, together these two chip off all the sharp corners and were really cute together.

The obligatory misogynistic, high-handed physicist really scraped every nerve ending I had and really reminded me of two many odious bosses I've had over the years. I also enjoyed the nurturing approach Erin took with the new interns, there was no gatekeeping or trying to keep out future academic rivals here. There are plenty of diverse characters (although some could have done with a bit more characterisation/relevance). There are low/medium spicy scenes and some great office nookie.

I did feel a bit overwhelmed with all the physics - I felt like I was in a Stephen Hawking book with no crib notes sometimes! Whilst I have a background in science, I struggled with the theories and lingo at times (to be brutally honest it could have been cut down quite a bit and wouldn't have impacted the story too much).

I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't get into it and had to DNF it. The writing was too heavy on the science jargon that I found myself skipping through a lot of the pages. While I generally love a good enemies to lovers trope, the angst between these two felt very childish - down to the acts like slashing her tires, taking all the oat milk, etc, We are PhD doctorates?! Thank you for the opportunity to review this ARC!