witchbuns

Hannah Brohm, 2026

4.5 Stars for Overachieving

This is the STEM-iest of STEM novels and I ate it up. It’s a must-read, must-own for any fans of STEM storylines and romance. Hannah Brohm hits the beats of a rom com: fake dating, exes in the workplace, slow burn enemies to lovers, but she roots it in neuroscience and academia, and there is no frivolity here, only stern discussions on truth and experiment design while two people catch the feels, deny the feels, and then analyze the feels together.

The romance is between a floppy haired American hunko who is kind of terrible at confronting conflict and a brilliant German loner female who is kind of terrible at letting people in. I rooted for Frances from the beginning because she was vulnerably ambitious, and I rooted for Lewis because he was so divided internally between choosing kindness and truth. I didn’t see their conflicts as miscommunication as much as it was fear and doubt from their histories with their families and past relationships. I loved that Francis built friendships with other women over the novel and that her sister was an important character. All the scenes of being in nature, rock climbing, and swimming were a lovely balance to the academic storylines because we see the characters have actual time to internalize events before the plot moves forward. I also felt relief that Frances and Lewis do share their feelings and we’re not waiting on big reveals because the characters are too smart to leave ambiguity, and much of the focus driving decisions is getting lab space and funding in a country that can become home. 

I cannot wait to read more from Hannah Brohm. Do I want a sequel focusing on Brady, or do I want a new book that is essentially Brady’s werewolf romance? I’ll take em both. 

Thank you to Atria books and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.