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My Review:Title: Below Zero
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Series: The STEMinist Novellas #3
Published by: Penguin Audio
Release Date: April 5, 2022
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Savannah Peachwood
Length: 3 hours and 43 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iTunes ✩ Libro.FM
My rating:
Blurb:From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new steamy, STEMinist novella…
It will take the frosty terrain of the Arctic to show these rival scientists that their chemistry burns hot.
Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn…
Hannah’s got a bad feeling about this. Not only has the NASA aerospace engineer found herself injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station—but the one person willing to undertake the hazardous rescue mission is her longtime rival.
Ian has been many things to Hannah: the villain who tried to veto her expedition and ruin her career, the man who stars in her most deliciously lurid dreams…but he’s never played the hero. So why is he risking everything to be here? And why does his presence seem just as dangerous to her heart as the coming snowstorm?
4 stars — I found this one to feel a bit shorter than the other two novellas, and I will admit I wish I had a bit more time of Hannah and Ian together. Partially because I really loved the moments where they bonded in the past on that one day, and would have loved to see more and more…
This narrator was good, but I enjoyed the other 2 much more. I found she had a good voice for Ian, but that her distinct voices for Mara and Sadie just weren’t as solid, so it was hard to keep track of who was speaking especially near the end.
Is it just me, or did Hannah come across with a different personality in the previous 2 novellas? I’m not sure if that was the other 2 narrators, or the writing or what. Or maybe her friends didn’t really know her? Maybe I need to relisten to them now that I know them all.
Either way, Hannah took me by surprise from the start. Once I settled in to this new view of her, I enjoyed her. She was so distinctly different from Sadie and Mara. She was forthright and confident, very driven, and I appreciated that she wasn’t a natural brain, but her curiosity drove her to excel in academics. I don’t think we get to see that often enough with “smart” heroines. She was definitely damaged, and she had quite a bit of growth waiting for her. I will admit I wish we’d gotten to see a bit more of that growth on page…it felt like some of it would have happened along the way, otherwise I’m not sure I saw enough to prompt the changes, you know?
Ian was kind of adorable. As with all the stories by this author, we don’t get his POV. Honestly, I do miss it. Especially because I think Ian would be really intriguing. But I do think we get to see enough through Hannah’s eyes to get the gist.
I really LOVED their connection and bantering, both in the near and far past. I could feel their chemistry, and how it went beyond lust. And there was a nerdy aspect that just made me smile.
While not my favourite in the trilogy, it still did a pretty good job as a novella…I just wanted a teensy bit more. But maybe I’m greedy.
This was my least favorite in this series of novellas, but I still liked it. I’m glad you did, too!