The Book:
Title: The Love Hypothesis
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Published September 14th 2021 by Berkley Books
Genre: Romance, Comtemporary, Fiction
Pages: 352
“As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs.
Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.” –Goodreads
My Review:
I listened to this book over the course of two days and omg this was amazing.
Just like my review of One of Us Is Dead, I think this book uses modern-day speak without being super cliche and cringey.
The romance in this book was everything. I loved how there was not some big denial of feelings. The main character did not repeatedly say “I don’t like this man and I never will.” She realizes her crush and accepts it. I love the fake dating trope, but the whole not being truthful about your own feelings that run rampant in this genre gets on my nerves.
Adam Carlson was an amazing dream boyfriend. He is an academic. He is large and broody. He is rude to anyone but the girl, that is literally my favorite. And he has money!
The protagonist, Olive is sweet and charming. She is a good friend even though she goes about helping her friends in a weird fake dating your professor way.
I love how this book discusses some really important topics like the rampant sexism in academics, especially in STEM fields. There is a speech given by to Olive about how she is just a woman and must sleep with men to get higher in her field. This is a common thing in many fields. Men take advantage of women wanting to further themselves and force them into having sex with threats of blacklisting them. I was really impressed that Hazelwood bring this fact to light.
This book balanced everything so well. The science talk was not too much so that non-scientific readers would be confused, but the scene is still set. The romance was the main part of the story, but it didn’t override Olive’s life. She did not let her studies suffer because of her romance, which is something I always see and I hate.
I loved this book a lot. It was a really interesting and pleasing read. I wish I had more, but I am also happy with where the story left off.
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie
Star Rating: 4.5