The Unbalanced Equation

An Enemies-to-Lovers Romantic Comedy (Hot Mess Trilogy, Book 1)

By: H. L. Macfarlane

Narrated by: Broghanne Jessamine

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 savior, 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, Book Lovers 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.

The Unbalanced Equation is the first book in the Hot Mess Trilogy: a series of standalone but connected rom-coms set in Glasgow. Happy Ever After guaranteed with no children, marriage or unexpected pregnancies involved!

©2022 Macfarlane Lantern Publishing (P)2024 Macfarlane Lantern Publishing

Slow start

This has a bit of a slow start and it took me a bit to get into the story but once it gets into it, it's a sweet fun listen with good characters and banter. I rarely find a book that I think would be a better listen than read but in all honestly the narration is why I stuck with it at first it really brought the story to life in a way had I been reading I probably would have started to skim,

Stem

I love a book about stem it really did remind me love hypothesis vibes which I enjoyed. I first started listening to this on audio, but I wasn't enjoying it I was enjoying the story not the narrator I would have dnf if I didn't get a kindle copy. Tom and Liz banter was perfect. I did want to smack tom a few times throughout, but it was okay.

Professor/Student

Tom and Liz meet, and were attracted to each other. Right after, Tom learns Liz will be his student. Since he is a professional, he could not pursue a relationship with his student. In order to prevent their romantic relationship from developing, Tom goes overboard in being a jerk to discourage Liz. Upon graduation, Liz lands an excellent position, only to find out due to a fire, Tom will be sharing her bench. They just cannot get away from each other. That chemical attraction is still there, simmering. I could feel the tension between these two. I could easily see both Tom and Liz’s perspectives to their situation. I so badly wanted to tell Tom to knock it off, and tell Liz how he feels and why he is acting as he was. This was a fun story. The narration was good. I received a free copy of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving my review.

sweet

This was a sweet story, but I felt like the problems were solved too quickly - I would have liked to see more friendly animosity in an enemies-to-lovers plot.
The narrator herself was good, but at times the accent was too difficult to understand.
Also, when there are several POVs, I prefer to have more than one narrator.
I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Great Banter!

Loved the banter in this book! The narrator had me laughing one moment and turned on the next! Definitely nailed the Scottish humor and flirtatious gibes. Give it a listen

Co-existing

I love that the name of the series is The Hot Mess Trilogy! It fits perfectly... Liz's life is an absolute hot mess!

The banter between the characters kept me entertained and waiting to see what would come next.

The accent of the narrator fit the story perfectly and added to the listening experience.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Not for me.

Not bad by any means, but very slow-paced, riddled with more 'telling' than 'showing', and lacks originality.
I had to force myself to keep picking it back up, it just ... it wasn't fun, it was work. Which clearly means it isn't for me.

The audio was great - excellent narration and perfect overall sound quality.