Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah BrohmMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Dr Frances Silberstein is a neuroscientist, her interest was sparked when her sister was injured on a skiing holiday and developed amnesia, from which she luckily subsequently recovered.
After breaking up with a former boyfriend who assumed Frances would be willing to support his research and just be named as a collaborator forevermore, Frances has led a peripatetic life, moving every few years from lab to lab, always seeking funding which would allow her stay in one place and perform her own experiments, putting everything else in her life on hold, including her sister Karo, in the pursuit of academic recognition.
A perpetual thorn in Frances' side is Dr Lewis North, years ago they corresponded on a piece of research but when it came to publication Lewis didn't mention Frances at all, when she should have been listed as one of the authors. The research paper has been cited numerous times by other scientists and it has bolstered Dr North's career, whilst not being named has been to Frances' detriment. Ever since then, for which she never received an apology, Dr North has always been one of the first to comment on anything Frances publishes, often critically. Frances is sure that he is one of her two peer reviewers - the mean one.
Frances is terrified of flying, so when a series of Murphy's Law coincidences means that she is without her sleeping pills on a turbulent flight to New York from her lab in the Netherlands, she is comforted by the cute guy seated beside her, until she realises that it is none other than Dr Lewis North, also flying to New York for the same conference, the Sawyer's Summer Seminars, which just happens to be hosted by Frances' very successful ex-boyfriend Jacob.
When Jacob's fiancée accidentally assumes that Frances and Lewis are a couple when they turn up together for a welcome dinner, Frances leans into the misconception - before realising that being outed as a liar could destroy her professional career, so she begs Lewis to fake date for the two weeks of the conference.
I was enjoying this until about halfway. But like so many books which on the surface feature clever women, it felt like Lewis was given a free ride for what he did/does whereas Frances has to grovel to absolutely everyone. Similarly, and maybe its a real-life facet of the misogyny of academia, why is it always the men who get the grants and the success in these books and it is only because they are gracious and step aside that the women get recognised?
So, I struggled with the second half of the book, the inevitable big drama/misunderstanding in which once again (in my opinion) Lewis was in the wrong but gets to act like the injured party was just irritating and what had started out as a four star read got knocked down to three stars.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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