The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (Review)

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Published by Penguin on September 14, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Romance / Workplace
Pages: 384
Format: eBook
Source: Library

The Instant New York Times Bestseller and TikTok Sensation!

As seen on THE VIEW!

A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021

When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.

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.

We’ve all seen The Love Hypothesis bandied about since its release in 2021, but I am just now getting around to reading it. If you are sick of reading glowing, fan-persony reviews then go ahead and skip this because I’m basically going to be shrieking I LOVED THIS BOOK for the next few paragraphs. I waited forever to pick this up because I was worried that I wasn’t going to enjoy it even though it sports some of my favorite tropes. Its always a let down when the book community is so jazzed about a book and it falls flat for you. I’m excited to say that The Love Hypothesis delivered on the laughter and feels and delicious chemistry that I was hoping for.

I loved Olive! So delightfully awkward, intelligent, anxious, and loyal. She is so easy to root for and I desperately wanted to be her friend. Adam is aloof and a bit buttoned up and it made their pairing so much fun. This relationship has a delightful age-gap, healthy amount of pining on a certain someone’s part. It was just plain cute and the fake-dating trope was well-executed.

I don’t think there was a single character, including the villain, that wasn’t well-rounded with just enough depth without distracting from Olive and Adam.

Books featuring women in STEM always catch my eye, but throw in some of my favorite tropes and I am there.

I immediately put her other works on my hold list and each time one comes available I’ve put my other books on hold and immediately devoured them. I can’t get enough of Hazelwood’s smart, funny characters and the shenanigans that ensue and really look forward to her future work!