Title: Intermediate Thermodynamics
Author: Susannah Nix
Series: Chemistry Lessons #2
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2017

Esther and Jeremy are a great opposites attract relationship. Plus, she’s also a strong, independent woman who works in STEM. With Jeremy working in the arts – a bit of a gender swap to what we more traditionally read about in romances. And I absolutely adored it. Like everything I read by Susannah Nix, I couldn’t put this down. It was such a wonderful adventure and I love that they both need to confront their issues.

Esther is kind of a prickly and harsh lead – I loved her, but even I found her harshness to be a little tough at times. Mostly because I tend to be the crazy person who loves with everything, whereas she struggles to show any kind of love. But, even with her prickly exterior, she’s also loyal and loving. Incredibly sweet, and capable of intense emotion.

Jeremy to contrast Esther works really well in that he is incredibly emotional. However, he does come across as a bit of a tool – mostly because he spends a lot of time mansplaining and being superior in his tastes. However, it very quickly becomes obvious that these behaviours come from his insecurities, not being an absolute fool. I did love that once he stops with the pretentious act, he was actually really lovely and definitely great boyfriend material.

I’m always a big fan of great female relationships in a book – even though Esther and Jinny have a massive fight. It’s not one that is about boys or any of that cliché. Rather, it is about their relationship with each other – and I honestly didn’t know which relationship I was more invested in. Probably Esther and Jinny because I love that there are women who will stick with each other through thick and thin.

Not only is this a great love story (both with Jeremy and Jinny), but it’s also a wonderful look at some of the sexism and inequality which women face in work. Particularly within the STEM fields. I also like that it’s not just the men that Esther has to contend with, but also her female boss falls into the trap of gender-based expectations. I love that Esther is able to weather all of the nonsense and come out better at the end. But, it was still a painful reminder of the crap women have to put up with on a daily basis.

Image source: Amazon

Title: Remedial Rocket Science
Author: Susannah Nix
Series: Chemistry Lessons #1
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2017

I both liked and disliked the fact that Nix starts off this book with a trigger warning in the front. It’s great, because you don’t want to read something that might trigger you. But it also made me feel a little hesitant about reading this, because I didn’t know if I would be triggered by said triggers. Plus, at the core of it all, I really hate stories in which infidelity is rewarded. Personally for me, I find it to be a pretty big moral line that shouldn’t be crossed. Having said that, once I got into this story… I found that those “triggers” within the warning were so damn minimal that I wasn’t bothered in the slightest.

I’m going to be honest, it took me a little while to get my head around the timeline. I must have missed the three years ago heading in the first chapter, so I was wondering what was going on when the time jumped. But, I put that entirely down to my own brain lately. Once I got into the swing of things though, I found this book impossible to put down. In fact, I pulled an all-nighter to finish this. Which was bad, but also, oh so good. As soon as the dynamic between Melody and Jeremy starts to make a bit more sense, this became one of my favourite reads in a while. It just took a little while to get going.

I really enjoyed the many geeky references throughout this book. You can tell that Nix has many geeky interests and there were so many comments littered throughout. It wasn’t anything overwhelming, and if you’re not a fan of things such as Star Wars you wouldn’t pick up on it. They were lovely little moments and easter eggs that I will probably find more of on another read through. I know next to nothing about Susannah Nix, but reading this, I want to find out more.

Jeremy and Melody are a lovely couple, but it was the girl-friendship with Lacey that I really got into. Lacey is something intense and completely unexpected. Especially after the first meeting with her. It’s nice that whilst this is a story about Melody falling in love and finding her forever person, it’s also about settling into a new city. And, something I still haven’t figured out, how to make friends as an adult…

Image source: Kobo