Thank you to the author for sharing an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Iris Oxtabee has managed to navigate the tricky world of unspoken social interactions by reading everything from neuroscience journals to Wikipedia articles. Science has helped her fit the puzzle pieces into an understandable whole, and she’s sure there’s nothing it can’t explain. Love, for example, is just chemistry. Her best friend Seth, however, believes love is one of life’s beautiful and chaotic mysteries, without need for explanation. Iris isn’t one to back down from a challenge; she’s determined to prove love is really nothing more than hormones and external stimuli. After all, science has allowed humanity to understand more complex mysteries than that, and Iris excels at science. The perfect way to test her theory? Get the popular and newly-single Theo Grant, who doesn’t even know Iris exists, to ask her to prom. With prom just two weeks away, Iris doesn’t have any time to waste, so she turns her keen empirical talents and laser-focus attention to testing her theory. But will proving herself correct cause her friendship with Seth—and the tantalizing possibility for something more—to become the failed experiment? This sweet spring romance is perfect for anyone seeking a fluffy YA contemporary with an experimental side. Iris Oxtabee believes love is all chemicals, and her understanding of neurochemistry and evolutionary biology is all she needs to get a prom date. Of course, life gets in the way. I loved this one! Let me start by saying I love the neurodiversity rep here—Iris has NVLD, a learning disorder that affects her understanding of social cues. I don’t share her diagnosis, but have a condition that can also affect socializing and induce anxiety. We don’t get a lot of neurodiverse rep in YA romance, and it’s something I always love seeing more of. At the end, there was a particular plot point that relied on Iris's humiliation which I didn't love, but LaBar handled it very well and it's clear to readers no joke was had at Iris's expense for that. Her scientific approach made her an interesting narrator, and the dramatic irony from some of her obliviousness to her own romantic attraction was actually kind of sweet. She made some poor choices (experimenting on other people, for a start) but Iris had so much heart that I couldn't help but root for her. Iris's science experiments were a favorite part of mine! I'm a future scientist, and I’m actually taking some classes related to her research right now, so it was doubly interesting for me because of that. I know non-scientists may not love the mentions of hormones and evolved chemical responses to stimuli, but I found them charming (and educational). I don’t entirely believe Iris is right—love can be a spiritual and emotional experience not entirely quantifiable—but the concept of the book hooked me from the start and I was eager to see where Iris’s conclusions led. If you liked Meredith Goldstein's Chemistry Lessons, you'll like Prom Theory. Check out my STEM YA list for more recs! Believe me, it’s hard to spoil a romance novel, so let me just say that I was swooning for the love interest. I think you can tell from the synopsis that this is a childhood friends to lovers novel. Seth is the absolute sweetest, and clearly cares so much for Iris. All their little habits, and the way they’re so protective towards each other made every page they weren’t together truly angst-filled. Esther, their other best friend / occasional third wheel, was so much fun and a great foil to Iris. I liked that her side plot had depth and she wasn't dismissed for her knowledge of the stereotypically "feminine" things that Iris dislikes. Overall, I'm giving Prom Theory 4.5/5 stars as an adorable new romance release which you should definitely pick up! Out today!
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The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
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