Review of ‘Love by the Numbers’ by Karin Kallmaker (Audiobook)
Nicole Hathaway is a behaviorist scientist and professor unexpectedly embarking on a book tour after her research was taken as a love recipe book. After she managed to make three assistants quit, her publisher gives her an ultimatum and sends one last assistant, Lily Smith. This temporary job is a blessing for Lily. She has been in the public eye because of her parents’ Ponzi scheme and now is bankrupt and forced to stop the studies needed to become a diplomat.
The two women seem to not have many things in common and Nicole finds herself dreading the intrusion on what has always been a self-sufficient life. The only problem is that they both do end up enjoying each other’s company. Nicole quickly starts depending on Lily’s social talents and soon she can’t think about anything else. Can the woman who wrote about love be able to identify it when it comes knocking on her door?
This traditional lesbian romance book was charming with fantastic dialogues that just appealed to the nerd in me. I may be paraphrasing here but, ‘it was the dopamine’s fault’ and ‘you are a serotonin addict’ were simply phenomenal lines!
The book tour starts in Europe, with some adventure in Russia and back to the United States before a family emergency makes things too obvious to ignore. The trip was entertaining for the most part instead of dull or just informational. There was only a small part towards the end of the trip where the author started to lose my attention, but otherwise, it was good and served the purpose of bringing the two characters together.
The mains definitely had chemistry. The secondary characters were well done and entertaining too. Nicole’s mother, from India and living with Nicole, was great. There was some tension generated as Nicole’s sexuality was not known to her family and well, that was one hurdle to overcome. There was also the hurdle about Lily’s negative fame and how it would impact her life moving forward. I thought both were well done and with enough significance that made me think about it when imagining a future for our gals.
This was another audiobook experience for me and available through Audible Escape. It is narrated by Kathleen Roche-Zujko, who did a wonderful job and I would listen to again in a flash.
I have to give Judith Fellows a shoutout for her cover design, just because I love covers! Simple, but relevant and still eye-catching, I imagined this is what Nicole’s book looked like as she traveled around signing copies of it.
I have to thank Goodreads’ Bugs for the recommendation. This may be an example of the traditional romance you were talking about Bugs! This is my first book by Ms. Kallmaker and it definitely will not be my last.
Overall and good, smart romance. 4.5 stars
