Bee Königswasser

Bee Konigswasser is the optimistic, Marie Curie-obsessed neuroscientist protagonist of Ali Hazelwood's Love on the Brain — a researcher assigned to lead a prestigious NASA-adjacent neuroscience project who discovers that her co-lead is Levi Ward, a man she hated in graduate school for reasons she has never fully examined. Hazelwood writes Bee with the sunny warmth that contrasts with her grumpy heroes — she is genuinely enthusiastic about her work, genuinely kind, and genuinely confused about why Levi makes her feel what he makes her feel.

The NASA setting gives Love on the Brain a distinctive backdrop among academic romance novels — the specific culture of a government-funded scientific project, with its interdisciplinary teams and its institutional pressures, is rendered with the research depth Hazelwood brings to all her academic settings. Bee's Marie Curie obsession is a character note that also serves as a thematic frame for the novel's interest in women doing brilliant scientific work in difficult institutional environments.

Hazelwood's STEM romance books have built a large and enthusiastic readership among readers who want romance set in scientific academic environments. Love on the Brain can be read standalone but shares readership with The Love Hypothesis.

Begin with Love on the Brain (2022).