Book Blurb:
CHEMISTRY LESSONS
by Meredith Goldstein
Pub. Date: June 19, 2018
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 256
From advice columnist Meredith Goldstein, a dazzling, romantic, and emotionally resonant YA debut about a teen science whiz in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who tries to crack the chemical equation for lasting love and instead wreaks havoc on herself and the boys in her life.
For seventeen-year-old Maya, the equation for happiness is simple: a dream internship at MIT + two new science nerd friends + a perfect boyfriend = one amazing summer. Then Whit dumps her out of the blue.
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. Can she learn to trust the unmeasurables of love and attraction instead?
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My Review:
4 Out Of 5 Hearts
Genre: Romance, Teen--
Maya thinks her life is on track, she will attend MIT in the fall, she has a great internship and new friends and she will lose her virginity to her boyfriend Whit in a month. Except, her boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her because "there is someone else". Heartbroken, Maya plans to wallow. That is until her aunt reminds her of her mother's research...her secret research about love and pheromones. What if Maya can figure out her mother's research and get what she wants? After all, what is love except a chemical equation?
I found Chemistry Lessons to be a fast, cute and super quirky romance. Perfect for older teens and adults, it was easy to jump into this read and blow through it in just one sitting. I related to the science and theories thrown around maybe since I have a degree in biology, but I think that anyone could get behind the idea of creating love and lasting relationships through a formula or pill- an easy fix for a difficult problem. I think Meredith created the perfect blend of heartache and grief mixed with love and hope to deliver a great YA contemporary romance about how to get over heartbreak- with a plan and some smarts!
I really enjoyed getting to know Maya and how her very factual and scientific brain would break down every situation and problem, making it into a math or science equation instead of an emotional issue. Of course a blooming scientist would try to cure her heartbreak with science and it was fun for me to watch her struggles and personal realizations. It was so realistic how hyper focused she became on this one goal, that she could not see other kinds of truths right in front of her until they smacked her in the face with the truth. I found Maya interesting since she was a little socially awkward yet tried hard to make new friend and be a good friend in return.
The side characters and Maya's relationships with them I think really helped to make the story feel so real. Her best friend Bryan was probably my most favorite character in the book, with his grounded approach to life, random playlists, complete understanding of Maya and the way he casually interacted with her dad (and everyone else in the book!). He really was the best friend a girl could have and his get over heartbreak playlist idea really was genius. He may have not been one of her scientists, but he was the smartest person she knew towards her. The other side character helped Maya to discover tidbits about herself and life that helped push the plot forward and make the story endearing and fun.
This book had been popping up everywhere I looked a few months ago (the eye catching cover kept luring me in), all over social media, Goodreads and Netgalley so I took it as a sign when I was handed a copy of it at YallWest that we were meant to be. And yep, reading Chemistry Lessons was a great idea. There was heart, there was humor, there was love of all kinds and there was friendship- the perfect formula for an enjoyable read (sorry, couldn't resist the nerdy comment!).
Author Bio:
Meredith Goldstein is an advice columnist and entertainment reporter for The Boston Globe. Her first novel “The Singles,” was released by Penguin/Plume on April 24, 2012.
In March of 2016, Grand Central Publishing acquired a memoir based on her column, Love Letters. It is scheduled to be released by Spring of 2018.
Meredith was born in New Jersey, raised in Maryland, went to Syracuse University, and now lives in Roxbury, Massachusetts with a carnival-size cotton candy machine that she bought for herself on her 30th birthday.
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Week One:
6/18/2018- The Heart of a Book Blogger- Review
6/19/2018- Sincerely Karen Jo- Review
6/20/2018- Novel Novice- Guest Post
6/21/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review
6/22/2018- Riddle’s Reviews- Review
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Week Two:
6/25/2018- Book Briefs- Review
6/26/2018- BookHounds YA- Interview
6/27/2018- Dani Reviews Things- Review
6/28/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review
6/29/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Excerpt
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Review tour provided by Rockstar Book Tours
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