The Unbalanced Equation
Author: H.L. Macfarlane
Pages: 416 pages
Genre: Romance
Published: 15th September 2022
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Synopsis:
What do a bad landlord, a family wedding and a rogue Bunsen burner all have in common?
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.
On the same bench, no less.
For three whole months.
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 and The Love Hypothesis, The Unbalanced Equation is H. L. Macfarlane’s first foray into contemporary rom-com territory. She swears there are no faeries this time.
My Review of The Unbalanced Equation by H.L. Macfarlane
Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed The Unbalanced Equation. I don’t know what it is about STEM romances, but they hook me in!
When Liz first met Tom, there was most definitely a spark. Something that Liz thought may stem into something more, but when she starts her PhD and discovers Tom is her mentor, and he is nothing like the man she originally met, that dream is shattered. Liz hates Tom with her entire being as throughout all four years, he made her life hell. Now she is finally free of him and about to start her postdoc, or so she thought. After a fire in Tom’s lab, he has no choice put to work in his friend’s lab, which just so happens to be the lab Liz is working in. To make matters even worse, they have to share a bench until his lab is rebuilt.
‘I never knew how much I was waiting for you until I met you.’
This isn’t the only thing that forces Liz and Tom to spend time together and maybe think back to the first time they met. Turns out, Liz’s Dad and Tom’s Mum are getting married, much to the surprise of both of them. When Liz’s landlord kicks her out with no warning, she is given no choice but to move into Tom’s house with both her parents. This book has a lot of forced proximity but I adored it. It’s told from both Liz and Tom’s perspective so we do see why Tom was being an asshole to Liz during her PhD. The tension between these two was perfect and I was rooting for them constantly, as were many of the side characters!
This was a fun, STEM enemies-to-lovers romance that gave me everything I needed. It was a great, quick read and the chemistry between Liz and Tom was perfect.
Keep reading,
Georgia x
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