What You Made Me Do by Kay Marie - STEM Romance Book Review

I’m going to be thinking about this book for the next few weeks, I LOVED it! Come for the carefree college nostalgia, stay for an emotional romance that dives straight into the deepest depths of trust and healing.

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Clara arrives at Swiftmore University ready to start a new life away from an accident that nearly destroyed her. She instantly makes new best friends, then finds an enemy in her best friend’s twin brother who discovers her phobia of water, and seemingly is the only person who can help her overcome it.

There’s a lot of hype around Off Campus right now, and though I haven’t read it yet, I’ve watched the series and this had such similar vibes. The characters felt young and carefree (aside from the heavier parts of the story that I’ll get to in a moment). I just really loved the college vibes this book had. It felt nostalgic, even to someone who didn’t go to college in the US. My uni years were pretty different to this as I didn’t have a tight friendship group, but it’s something I love to read and experience through someone else’s eyes.

There was a classic enemies to lovers story, plus best friend’s brother thrown in there too. And the STEM representation! So many tropes that I love, and all done SO well. I adore the nerdy aspect of the main characters being so passionate about something that it makes you interested in that topic too. I honestly wasn’t bothered about marine biology or the Olympics before this, but suddenly, I want to know more. I love when an author can do that to you in a romance book!

Then there was the darker side. Clara has a tragic backstory that has developed into a phobia of water, but that’s such a huge part of her future career. Nox, on the surface, seems to have it all together, but all is not as it seems. While helping Clara dive to the depths of her fear (quite literally!), he’s floundering. Then the relationship totally submerges them.
(Also I can’t believe how many water metaphors I got into that paragraph without quite meaning to!)

Their relationship is built on a deep level of trust, and with chapters interspersed from the future college reunion, we know that something is going to pull them apart at some point – we watch their relationship grow and twist. At points I couldn’t understand how they would ever get it together, then I couldn’t see how they would end up apart – but it’s done so well that it was realistic and believable.

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But the romantic relationship isn’t the only excellent one in this book. The little trio of Clara, Nox’s twin sister Nova and Willa is SO gorgeous. They simply emanate the beauty of female friendship. Then you throw Nox and his boys into the mix, and it just feels like such a fun friendship group who are there for one another.

Genuinely love this book, can’t wait for more of the series, and I’m heading to find out what else the author has written right now! This was a six star read for me and getting added to my 2026 favourites!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.