Chemistry Lessons

April 23, 2018
In this novel of love and science, Goldstein plays with the possibility that romantic chemistry can be produced in a lab, and—once ingested—can foster an attraction that endures for decades. Maya, a talented MIT-bound scientist, follows in the footsteps of her mother, also an MIT scientist, who recently died of cancer. When Whit, Maya’s long-term boyfriend, breaks up with her for another girl, Maya is desperate to find a way to rekindle their romance. She turns to her late mother’s secret research—a serum that acts like a love potion, making the person who takes it suddenly attracted to the person who gives it to him or her. Maya convinces Ann, her mother’s former lab assistant, to help her with the experiment, and Ann agrees on the condition that Maya broadens the research by trying the serum on three subjects, not just Whit. Maya comes across as a rather distant narrator, but there is an intriguing premise at the heart of this romance, and Goldstein provides greater emotional weight as Maya comes to better understand her own grieving process and gain insight into the organic ebbs and flows of authentic love. Ages 12–up. Agent: Katherine Flynn, Kneerim & Williams Agency.

March 1, 2018

Gr 9 Up-Maya is working in what used to be her mother's lab the summer before her freshman year at MIT. She's doing okay after her mother's death because she has support from Whit, her boyfriend-that is, until he dumps her. Struggling to accept the end she didn't see coming, she goes back to her mom's research and discovers an off-the-books experiment that could fix everything between them-except her research partner wants to do a more controlled experiment with two other potential boyfriends first. This delightful romantic comedy doesn't shy away from exploring the ethical concerns of experimenting on friends and strangers, nor the aftermath of a parent passing away. Although the supporting cast is a little flat, Maya feels like a fully fleshed out character, confused and lost after her first breakup and floundering for a way out. She makes mistakes, owns up to them, and truly feels like a real person who would do anything to get their first love back. VERDICT Recommended purchase for a library with a romance fiction following, especially those who can't get enough of Sarah Dessen.-Stacey Shapiro, Tenafly Public Library, NJ

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018
The grief of losing a parent to cancer and the grief of a breakup--they may not be on the same scale, but for Maya, they feel connected.After her boyfriend, Whit, breaks up with her the summer before she starts college, Maya goes through her dead mother's scientific research papers and finds an experiment on romantic attraction. She decides to carry on the research herself, with help from her mother's former assistant. After all, if she can get Whit to remember what it felt like when everything was good between them, he'd want her back, right? In need of more test subjects, she plays with the hearts and minds of two other friends, Kyle and Asher, with little consideration for their feelings. Also given little consideration? Her decision to ingest the serum made from her subjects' DNA samples and other materials stolen from the lab. She keeps her two closest friends, Yael and Bryan, who are both gay, ignorant of her experiment in this science-y twist on the age-old tale of a broken heart. Some fun, quirky details give the story and its characters a boost, but in general, there is little to distinguish this novel from the rest of the teenage breakup genre. The characters are entertaining yet predictable, the action is well-paced but predictable, the premise is mildly interesting yet....The book assumes a white default.Another teenager-with-a-dead-parent-gets-their-heart-broken tale. (Fiction. 13-15)

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