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The Love Hypothesis
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Romance (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. And 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.
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. And 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.
356 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2021
48613 people are currently reading
1204546 people want to read
About the author
Ali Hazelwood
24 books163k followersI'm Ali, and I write contemporary romcom novels about women in STEM and academia. I love cats, Nutella, and side ponytails. I'm also currently learning to crochet, so as you can tell I'm a super busy gal with an intense and exciting life!
I only use Goodreads as a reader, to review and hype books that I've loved (many of these book are ARCs received from fellow authors).
I only use Goodreads as a reader, to review and hype books that I've loved (many of these book are ARCs received from fellow authors).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184,407 reviews
March 4, 2022
I want to say this is a case of “It’s not the book, it’s me.” But then again, isn’t that the case for every book we end up disliking that everyone else enjoyed?
The Love Hypothesis follows Olive, a PhD student who wants to prove to her best friend that she has moved on and is dating. With no way to prove it, she kisses the first man she sees, which ends up being none other than Dr. Carlsen, known as one of the most unapproachable and critical professors. With his own reasoning, he agrees to become Olive’s fake boyfriend. But what starts as a fake relationship and fake feelings later turns into what Olive wishes were real instead.
Olive is a woman in STEM, but that is really all she is. I admit, I loved this representation, and her experience as a scholar conducting research felt realistic, especially considering she’s not American (she’s Canadian), she’s not male, and she’s pretty young (26). Most of these end up being boundaries for young folk pursuing PhD careers in America, and it’s impressive to see representation like this. This was probably my favorite part of the book because Olive tells us how it’s been difficult for her to participate in a rigorous program like this, from being denied opportunities, not being believed in, to being seen as inferior, all because she’s a young woman in a predominantly male-dominated curriculum. While I’m not a STEM student, I even see it myself in the political field I study in. Men teach most classes, most advisors and major professors are also male, most students in classes end up being men, and everything else is usually male-dominated.
Other than that, there was nothing.
One part of the problem is Adam himself. Adam felt very, very bland. It was difficult to understand his personality and the type of person he was other than moody and sullen because it’s something we are constantly and repeatedly told, especially from Olive. I usually like fictional men like him, even if the way he acts and looks is nothing new, but this case didn’t work for me. You could say he needed much more seasoning.
Not only that, but by visualizing what I read, I couldn’t picture Olive for the life of me. All I remember from her is that she is a PhD student in the Biology Department at Stanford University, is Canadian, 5”8, and I guess she has brown hair based on the cover. And . . . yeah, that’s it. Visually, I could envision Adam more than Olive, yet we spend the entire book in Olive’s mind (since it’s told from her point of view). This all ties back to the writing and how difficult it was to enjoy the book more because of how little description was given to the characters. Adam, for instance, felt like he needed more personality. I understand him being sullen and broody is part of it (which, as I’ve said before, is perfectly fine with me and understandable), but I feel like it has to do less with that and more with just the mere fact that Adam is just . . . Adam. The whole book, we don’t really know what Olive looks like or what she likes, and all we know about Adam is that he is a young, hot-shot professor who hardly ever smiled and went through tough situations as a PhD student himself. Oh, and we can’t forget that he’s big, especially when you’re reminded every fucking page.
That was it.
Speaking of, Olive’s personality also felt a little childish sometimes. The situation that led to Olive kissing Adam (without knowing, of course) is completely unrealistic, so it’s one you need to put your logic to the side for. It made no sense to me how a PhD student, one who is researching pancreatic cancer in one of the best Biology departments of the United States, would kiss a random man she saw in the hallway because she wants to prove to her best friend that she truly is over the boy her best friend wants to date. Because . . . yeah, that’s the actual situation. Olive’s best friend, Anh, wants to date Jeremy, Olive’s ex. Olive is over him and wants nothing to do with him, but Anh thinks it’s breaking the girl code by dating Jeremy, even though Olive knows Anh really likes Jeremy. So to prove that she’s over him and is dating someone else, she kisses Adam when she sees the opportunity that Anh can see them.
Pretty unrealistic scenario for a PhD student, if you ask me.
Also, it’s not exactly stated, but Olive may or may not be in the asexual spectrum, specifically demisexuality. It’s briefly mentioned in the beginning (even the term is used) and when she and Adam are about to have sex, she mentions to Adam, “It’s not that I want to not have sex. I just . . . don’t particularly want to have it. There is something weird about my brain, and my body, and—I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I don’t seem to be able to experience attraction like other people. Like normal people. I tried to just . . . just to do it, to get it over with, and the guy I did it with was nice, but the truth is that I just don’t feel any . . .” She closed her eyes. This was difficult to admit. “I don’t feel any sexual attraction unless I actually get to trust and like a person, which for some reason never happens. Or, rarely. It hadn’t, not in a long time, but now—I really like you, and I really trust you, and for the first time in a million years I want to—” For starters, I literally got second-hand embarrassment, and second, I can’t help but wish it was was expanded more on. It was as if the author just wanted to add more to Olives lacking personality so she sprinkled some pretty damn humiliating ace representation.
Many people might not realize how ignorant it really is when you take a misrepresented and underrepresented sexual orientation and make your character say “there is something wrong with [her] brain,” making it seem like she “isn’t normal” because she experiences sexual attraction differently than “normal people”. Saying this is stereotypical, ignorant, and generally rude.
Part of these quibbles made the romance more unrealistic and less believable. I had everything I love: professor x student, grumpy x sunshine, and fake dating. But all good things must come to an end. Because of the inability to imagine Olive, not appreciate an unseasoned broody man, and express concern over a PhD student's attitude at certain times, the romance also failed. There were definitely some of the good moments I love in a romance: the first real kiss, feeling the comfort of the other’s touch, realizing you’re falling for for someone you thought you would only see for 10 minutes, but the chemistry felt off. It takes a while for the two to kiss with real feelings inside the two, and while I love a slow-burn, I am still always about that emotional connection, and Olive and Adam felt like they didn’t have it. I firmly believe part of it has to do with the fake dating itself. Some of their moments felt awkward and even forced that I wondered how the two would develop feelings. They were also in moments where they had been “dating” for a while now, in a way the two would really know what to expect, yet they still fumbled like two teenagers experiencing love for the first time. In a way, they were, but I didn’t like how it played out for a PhD student and professor with a PhD. It just made it too unrealistic. There weren’t enough moments between them that made me root for them as a real couple and hope for the best. I even feel as if they weren't friends just because everything they were doing together was part of their whole “We're dating, so we need people to see us” scheme. Their moments felt completely forced, and not even because they’re fake dating. They just felt boring.
While I had no problem with the writing style itself, I expected to be told more about Olive and Adam. I couldn’t understand how or why Adam liked Olive. Other than her being nice and intelligent, there wasn’t anything to appreciate.
Olive first had a crush on Adam, but based on her inner monologue, that crush quickly turned into “I love him” mode, which I was unable to understand where it came from. Most of the moments Adam and Olive have are part of their fake dating scheme (they want Anh, other students, and faculty to see them for reasons. Don’t ask). While they talk professionally and personally, it made her crush on Adam realistic and understandable (a crush is easily made, anyway), but the whole love thing felt like it came out of the blue.
And the sex scene? We don't talk about it.
I wish I could say I laughed at the humor, but I truly didn’t laugh at anything. Well, I did laugh at the stupidity of this book.
The side characters also felt too immature for me, especially Anh. She forced Olive to interact with Adam, like the sunscreen situation, the car situation, and the lap situation. Some of the situations (like miscommunication) were ridiculous and could have been solved easily if they literally just talked like the ‘adults’ they were.
Overall, The Love Hypothesis had zero appreciation from me. I hoped to see some of the relationship development grow on me, but it just felt tedious. I hardly found myself smiling and laughing (like an idiot), which I usually do with books like these, but this one only felt dull. So if you’re still interested in reading this, please ignore me and my emotionless heart right now and give it a chance. You might end up finding a new favorite if you think about it. If not, then you can join me, and we can question our feelings together.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Love Hypothesis follows Olive, a PhD student who wants to prove to her best friend that she has moved on and is dating. With no way to prove it, she kisses the first man she sees, which ends up being none other than Dr. Carlsen, known as one of the most unapproachable and critical professors. With his own reasoning, he agrees to become Olive’s fake boyfriend. But what starts as a fake relationship and fake feelings later turns into what Olive wishes were real instead.
Olive is a woman in STEM, but that is really all she is. I admit, I loved this representation, and her experience as a scholar conducting research felt realistic, especially considering she’s not American (she’s Canadian), she’s not male, and she’s pretty young (26). Most of these end up being boundaries for young folk pursuing PhD careers in America, and it’s impressive to see representation like this. This was probably my favorite part of the book because Olive tells us how it’s been difficult for her to participate in a rigorous program like this, from being denied opportunities, not being believed in, to being seen as inferior, all because she’s a young woman in a predominantly male-dominated curriculum. While I’m not a STEM student, I even see it myself in the political field I study in. Men teach most classes, most advisors and major professors are also male, most students in classes end up being men, and everything else is usually male-dominated.
Other than that, there was nothing.
One part of the problem is Adam himself. Adam felt very, very bland. It was difficult to understand his personality and the type of person he was other than moody and sullen because it’s something we are constantly and repeatedly told, especially from Olive. I usually like fictional men like him, even if the way he acts and looks is nothing new, but this case didn’t work for me. You could say he needed much more seasoning.
Not only that, but by visualizing what I read, I couldn’t picture Olive for the life of me. All I remember from her is that she is a PhD student in the Biology Department at Stanford University, is Canadian, 5”8, and I guess she has brown hair based on the cover. And . . . yeah, that’s it. Visually, I could envision Adam more than Olive, yet we spend the entire book in Olive’s mind (since it’s told from her point of view). This all ties back to the writing and how difficult it was to enjoy the book more because of how little description was given to the characters. Adam, for instance, felt like he needed more personality. I understand him being sullen and broody is part of it (which, as I’ve said before, is perfectly fine with me and understandable), but I feel like it has to do less with that and more with just the mere fact that Adam is just . . . Adam. The whole book, we don’t really know what Olive looks like or what she likes, and all we know about Adam is that he is a young, hot-shot professor who hardly ever smiled and went through tough situations as a PhD student himself. Oh, and we can’t forget that he’s big, especially when you’re reminded every fucking page.
That was it.
Speaking of, Olive’s personality also felt a little childish sometimes. The situation that led to Olive kissing Adam (without knowing, of course) is completely unrealistic, so it’s one you need to put your logic to the side for. It made no sense to me how a PhD student, one who is researching pancreatic cancer in one of the best Biology departments of the United States, would kiss a random man she saw in the hallway because she wants to prove to her best friend that she truly is over the boy her best friend wants to date. Because . . . yeah, that’s the actual situation. Olive’s best friend, Anh, wants to date Jeremy, Olive’s ex. Olive is over him and wants nothing to do with him, but Anh thinks it’s breaking the girl code by dating Jeremy, even though Olive knows Anh really likes Jeremy. So to prove that she’s over him and is dating someone else, she kisses Adam when she sees the opportunity that Anh can see them.
Pretty unrealistic scenario for a PhD student, if you ask me.
Also, it’s not exactly stated, but Olive may or may not be in the asexual spectrum, specifically demisexuality. It’s briefly mentioned in the beginning (even the term is used) and when she and Adam are about to have sex, she mentions to Adam, “It’s not that I want to not have sex. I just . . . don’t particularly want to have it. There is something weird about my brain, and my body, and—I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I don’t seem to be able to experience attraction like other people. Like normal people. I tried to just . . . just to do it, to get it over with, and the guy I did it with was nice, but the truth is that I just don’t feel any . . .” She closed her eyes. This was difficult to admit. “I don’t feel any sexual attraction unless I actually get to trust and like a person, which for some reason never happens. Or, rarely. It hadn’t, not in a long time, but now—I really like you, and I really trust you, and for the first time in a million years I want to—” For starters, I literally got second-hand embarrassment, and second, I can’t help but wish it was was expanded more on. It was as if the author just wanted to add more to Olives lacking personality so she sprinkled some pretty damn humiliating ace representation.
Many people might not realize how ignorant it really is when you take a misrepresented and underrepresented sexual orientation and make your character say “there is something wrong with [her] brain,” making it seem like she “isn’t normal” because she experiences sexual attraction differently than “normal people”. Saying this is stereotypical, ignorant, and generally rude.
Part of these quibbles made the romance more unrealistic and less believable. I had everything I love: professor x student, grumpy x sunshine, and fake dating. But all good things must come to an end. Because of the inability to imagine Olive, not appreciate an unseasoned broody man, and express concern over a PhD student's attitude at certain times, the romance also failed. There were definitely some of the good moments I love in a romance: the first real kiss, feeling the comfort of the other’s touch, realizing you’re falling for for someone you thought you would only see for 10 minutes, but the chemistry felt off. It takes a while for the two to kiss with real feelings inside the two, and while I love a slow-burn, I am still always about that emotional connection, and Olive and Adam felt like they didn’t have it. I firmly believe part of it has to do with the fake dating itself. Some of their moments felt awkward and even forced that I wondered how the two would develop feelings. They were also in moments where they had been “dating” for a while now, in a way the two would really know what to expect, yet they still fumbled like two teenagers experiencing love for the first time. In a way, they were, but I didn’t like how it played out for a PhD student and professor with a PhD. It just made it too unrealistic. There weren’t enough moments between them that made me root for them as a real couple and hope for the best. I even feel as if they weren't friends just because everything they were doing together was part of their whole “We're dating, so we need people to see us” scheme. Their moments felt completely forced, and not even because they’re fake dating. They just felt boring.
While I had no problem with the writing style itself, I expected to be told more about Olive and Adam. I couldn’t understand how or why Adam liked Olive. Other than her being nice and intelligent, there wasn’t anything to appreciate.
Olive first had a crush on Adam, but based on her inner monologue, that crush quickly turned into “I love him” mode, which I was unable to understand where it came from. Most of the moments Adam and Olive have are part of their fake dating scheme (they want Anh, other students, and faculty to see them for reasons. Don’t ask). While they talk professionally and personally, it made her crush on Adam realistic and understandable (a crush is easily made, anyway), but the whole love thing felt like it came out of the blue.
And the sex scene? We don't talk about it.
I wish I could say I laughed at the humor, but I truly didn’t laugh at anything. Well, I did laugh at the stupidity of this book.
The side characters also felt too immature for me, especially Anh. She forced Olive to interact with Adam, like the sunscreen situation, the car situation, and the lap situation. Some of the situations (like miscommunication) were ridiculous and could have been solved easily if they literally just talked like the ‘adults’ they were.
Overall, The Love Hypothesis had zero appreciation from me. I hoped to see some of the relationship development grow on me, but it just felt tedious. I hardly found myself smiling and laughing (like an idiot), which I usually do with books like these, but this one only felt dull. So if you’re still interested in reading this, please ignore me and my emotionless heart right now and give it a chance. You might end up finding a new favorite if you think about it. If not, then you can join me, and we can question our feelings together.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 28, 2021
idk what kind of drugs y’all are on but i evidently did not receive my portion
maybe manvi is right and i just really hate popular books
but, this was just… not good?
the pure agony of having to read this. yes, i was held at gun point and forced to finish it, do not ask questions, i am not allowed to talk about it
i actually picked this to have something fun and easy to read in-between studying but instead i got this infuriating reading experience and a massive spike in my heart rate just from sheer annoyance. you will hear from my cardiologist, believe me, he’s not happy.
this was just plain boring. do i care about the couple? no. they could have not ended up together and it would have made no difference to me. why would i root for people who can’t manage to open their goddamn mouth and just talk to each other about their feelings? how does anyone even have relationships? the miscommunication in this was just *chefs kiss* and not in a good way. everyone and their mum knew that adam was in love with olive and yet. yes this man who let’s you coat him in sunscreen and buys you your disgusting pumpkin spice latte (yes, i am with adam on this one. but. hear me out: i’m allergic, so.) and looks at you like the sun shines out of your ass is definitely head over heels for another woman. makes sense.
also, the whole spiel about adam being this huge asshole when in reality he a. wasn’t and b. was actually right in that one specific instance and just doing his job of „raising“ good future scientists by giving them pointers how to do good research. and yet i had to sit through that whole drama of „buhu, how dare you date this mean prof, who made me do actual work on my dissertation, i will now hate you, because you are enabling him by dating him“. first of all, have you considered that you’re just doing shit work. second, how the fuck is it olive’s problem. why did i have to read this. it was such an unnecessary conflict.
there’s this thing in romance books where they have to hyperfocus on one of the man’s physical attributes and if it’s not the eyes it’s his fucking size. we get it. adam is big. HUGE. ENORMOUS. A FUCKING GIANT. HE HAS MUSCLES. I GET IT!!!!!! HIS FINGERS ARE MASSIVE AND SO IS HIS DICK. GREAT.
you didn’t have to tell me in every paragraph though. i know i have shit memory but i am not close to dementia yet. once or twice would have been enough. like what do you want me to do? shall i applaud him? good job growing, i guess you ate your carrots as a kid, go you!
have i mentioned that this book could have been 350 pages shorter if they had just talked to each other? communication, so important.
this book started every chapter with a hypothesis except that most of them weren’t actually hopotheses but who cares. who cares. wait… my test theory prof is calling and i think he does.
other than that, the science was actually the best part of the book. also the criticism of the bad working conditions of phd students was very well done. i’m only a master’s student but a phd might be in my future plans and i can already feel the poverty, so #relatable.
there were only two chapters i liked: chapter 16 and chapter 20. small spoiler ahead.
chapter 16 is the sex chapter and in chapter 20 a certain character gets called out on their behaviour and adam does this sexy thing of nearly beating them up.
having read another review that has quoted chapter 16 though… ugh… cringe. idk what i was on reading this. in my defense i haven’t seen my boyfriend in a week so maybe i was feeling touch starved.
also, there's this very fine line between finding your partner so sexy that you can't control yourself and premature ejaculation. i am not saying that adam belongs in the second category. but i am.
i still stand by my opinion that chapter 20 was sexy.
i did actually like adam even though he’s a very stereotypical grumpy-only-drinks-black-coffee-and-eats-broccoli kind of character. he is definitely kinda bland. but maybe i just like my men bland *shrugs*.
i have like zero opinions on olive though. she was there i guess.
all in all: i don’t think this book has done anything new or swoon worthy. the characters were average. the story was average. the writing was average. i don’t really get why everyone is so crazy about it. i guess the STEM aspect was fun but even that has been done before i think?
overall, i was mainly bored and infuriated by the amount of unnecessary drama and height descriptions. you all do you i guess. but i’ll do me: 1.5 stars
maybe manvi is right and i just really hate popular books
but, this was just… not good?
the pure agony of having to read this. yes, i was held at gun point and forced to finish it, do not ask questions, i am not allowed to talk about it
i actually picked this to have something fun and easy to read in-between studying but instead i got this infuriating reading experience and a massive spike in my heart rate just from sheer annoyance. you will hear from my cardiologist, believe me, he’s not happy.
this was just plain boring. do i care about the couple? no. they could have not ended up together and it would have made no difference to me. why would i root for people who can’t manage to open their goddamn mouth and just talk to each other about their feelings? how does anyone even have relationships? the miscommunication in this was just *chefs kiss* and not in a good way. everyone and their mum knew that adam was in love with olive and yet. yes this man who let’s you coat him in sunscreen and buys you your disgusting pumpkin spice latte (yes, i am with adam on this one. but. hear me out: i’m allergic, so.) and looks at you like the sun shines out of your ass is definitely head over heels for another woman. makes sense.
also, the whole spiel about adam being this huge asshole when in reality he a. wasn’t and b. was actually right in that one specific instance and just doing his job of „raising“ good future scientists by giving them pointers how to do good research. and yet i had to sit through that whole drama of „buhu, how dare you date this mean prof, who made me do actual work on my dissertation, i will now hate you, because you are enabling him by dating him“. first of all, have you considered that you’re just doing shit work. second, how the fuck is it olive’s problem. why did i have to read this. it was such an unnecessary conflict.
there’s this thing in romance books where they have to hyperfocus on one of the man’s physical attributes and if it’s not the eyes it’s his fucking size. we get it. adam is big. HUGE. ENORMOUS. A FUCKING GIANT. HE HAS MUSCLES. I GET IT!!!!!! HIS FINGERS ARE MASSIVE AND SO IS HIS DICK. GREAT.
you didn’t have to tell me in every paragraph though. i know i have shit memory but i am not close to dementia yet. once or twice would have been enough. like what do you want me to do? shall i applaud him? good job growing, i guess you ate your carrots as a kid, go you!
have i mentioned that this book could have been 350 pages shorter if they had just talked to each other? communication, so important.
this book started every chapter with a hypothesis except that most of them weren’t actually hopotheses but who cares. who cares. wait… my test theory prof is calling and i think he does.
other than that, the science was actually the best part of the book. also the criticism of the bad working conditions of phd students was very well done. i’m only a master’s student but a phd might be in my future plans and i can already feel the poverty, so #relatable.
there were only two chapters i liked: chapter 16 and chapter 20. small spoiler ahead.
chapter 16 is the sex chapter and in chapter 20 a certain character gets called out on their behaviour and adam does this sexy thing of nearly beating them up.
having read another review that has quoted chapter 16 though… ugh… cringe. idk what i was on reading this. in my defense i haven’t seen my boyfriend in a week so maybe i was feeling touch starved.
also, there's this very fine line between finding your partner so sexy that you can't control yourself and premature ejaculation. i am not saying that adam belongs in the second category. but i am.
i still stand by my opinion that chapter 20 was sexy.
i did actually like adam even though he’s a very stereotypical grumpy-only-drinks-black-coffee-and-eats-broccoli kind of character. he is definitely kinda bland. but maybe i just like my men bland *shrugs*.
i have like zero opinions on olive though. she was there i guess.
all in all: i don’t think this book has done anything new or swoon worthy. the characters were average. the story was average. the writing was average. i don’t really get why everyone is so crazy about it. i guess the STEM aspect was fun but even that has been done before i think?
overall, i was mainly bored and infuriated by the amount of unnecessary drama and height descriptions. you all do you i guess. but i’ll do me: 1.5 stars
January 22, 2024
once upon a time, i read this book, and despite the fact that i have a heart of darkness (sorry joseph conrad) and am full of hate and vitriol (makes me a fun gossip though) and eat romance novels for breakfast (as in am very picky about them - i'm actually not a big breakfast eater)...
i enjoyed it.
and then i read everything else that this author has ever written, and i hated all of it.
and when to came time to revisit...
well, welcome to judgment day.
i hated this too.
maybe most of all.
(well, almost most of all. a love interest putting our protagonist's entire boob in his mouth is still not quite as terrifying and unsexy and jail-worthy as j*cking *ff into the discarded bra of the girl you s*xually *ssaulted, a real thing that happens multiple times in an actual ali hazelwood novella.)
i am an adult woman. i am tall. my hair is a normal, non-neon or -pastel color. i own zero pairs of knee-high socks with lisa frank prints on them, i am capable of feeding myself, and i do not live my life between instances of awe-inspiring misogyny from men that only other men can rescue me from.
this is a relatively typical list of traits, i think, and yet these details completely prevent me from enjoying even a moment of any given ali hazelwood I-Big-You-Small-Let's-Spend-40-Pages-Talking-About-How-I-Can't-Fit-Inside-You "romance."
c'est la vie.
bottom line: i officially give up on sunshine, rainbows, love, and happiness. and also this author.
---------------------
original review
---------------
tbr review
science nerds fake dating!!!!!!!!!!!
i enjoyed it.
and then i read everything else that this author has ever written, and i hated all of it.
and when to came time to revisit...
well, welcome to judgment day.
i hated this too.
maybe most of all.
(well, almost most of all. a love interest putting our protagonist's entire boob in his mouth is still not quite as terrifying and unsexy and jail-worthy as j*cking *ff into the discarded bra of the girl you s*xually *ssaulted, a real thing that happens multiple times in an actual ali hazelwood novella.)
i am an adult woman. i am tall. my hair is a normal, non-neon or -pastel color. i own zero pairs of knee-high socks with lisa frank prints on them, i am capable of feeding myself, and i do not live my life between instances of awe-inspiring misogyny from men that only other men can rescue me from.
this is a relatively typical list of traits, i think, and yet these details completely prevent me from enjoying even a moment of any given ali hazelwood I-Big-You-Small-Let's-Spend-40-Pages-Talking-About-How-I-Can't-Fit-Inside-You "romance."
c'est la vie.
bottom line: i officially give up on sunshine, rainbows, love, and happiness. and also this author.
---------------------
original review
---------------
tbr review
science nerds fake dating!!!!!!!!!!!
January 28, 2025
Ah, scientists in love! Be still, my heart!
Olive is a third year Ph.D. candidate, filling her pipettes and titrating like a boss, when she somehow manages to land herself in a fake relationship with the ever glowering Dr. Adam Carlsen. She really can't believe her bad luck. Unfortunately, she has spun her lies, so she has no choice but to see them through. But the more time they spend together, the more Olive starts to realize he might just be the one she's been looking for all along.
This was just a hoot and a half! A lot of romcoms manage to get the romantic part exactly right, but The Love Hypothesis hits the comedy bit out of the park too. Olive's dialogues are witty and snarky, and she pretty much cracked me up from beginning to end. I couldn't stop giggling and snorting, even while reading in public, which definitely got me some weird looks from strangers.
I absolutely loved that Ali Hazelwood chose a woman in STEM as her main character and highlighted the difficulties they encounter as part of this story. As a woman in STEM myself, it warms my heart to see someone like me take center stage in a romance. A lot of what Olive went through, including how intimidating it is to be in a field surrounded by men and how unsure she is of her worth and her ability, I understand intimately.
The romance between Olive and Adam developed slowly, with plenty of tension and sizzle. The premise to set up the trope of fake dating was a little silly, but once you get past that, the rest is nothing short of sweet and satisfying. Adam is reticent in the beginning, but he soon thaws and warms up to Olive's relentless cheer and good-natured teasing. His support of her in their shared field is particularly touching and it made me root even harder for this couple.
With romances, there's always the question of whether it contains explicit, open-door scenes. And whichever way the book chooses to go, it inevitably alienates half of the readership who wants it the other way. That's why I was particularly fond of the way it was handled in this book. All those scenes are in one contiguous chunk (spread across two chapters), so it's easy to skip if that's not your thing and you can still enjoy the rest of the story without having to worry about missing anything crucial.
This story totally checks all the boxes for me. It's sweet, smart, and uproariously funny, and it touched my heart and my mind. No doubt about it, anything Ali Hazelwood writes from now on will be devoured by me posthaste.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
Love on the Brain
Love, Theoretically
The STEMinist Novellas:
Under One Roof ✧ Stuck with You ✧ Below Zero
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
✧ This was a pick for my BOTM box. Get your first book for $5 here.
Olive is a third year Ph.D. candidate, filling her pipettes and titrating like a boss, when she somehow manages to land herself in a fake relationship with the ever glowering Dr. Adam Carlsen. She really can't believe her bad luck. Unfortunately, she has spun her lies, so she has no choice but to see them through. But the more time they spend together, the more Olive starts to realize he might just be the one she's been looking for all along.
This was just a hoot and a half! A lot of romcoms manage to get the romantic part exactly right, but The Love Hypothesis hits the comedy bit out of the park too. Olive's dialogues are witty and snarky, and she pretty much cracked me up from beginning to end. I couldn't stop giggling and snorting, even while reading in public, which definitely got me some weird looks from strangers.
I absolutely loved that Ali Hazelwood chose a woman in STEM as her main character and highlighted the difficulties they encounter as part of this story. As a woman in STEM myself, it warms my heart to see someone like me take center stage in a romance. A lot of what Olive went through, including how intimidating it is to be in a field surrounded by men and how unsure she is of her worth and her ability, I understand intimately.
The romance between Olive and Adam developed slowly, with plenty of tension and sizzle. The premise to set up the trope of fake dating was a little silly, but once you get past that, the rest is nothing short of sweet and satisfying. Adam is reticent in the beginning, but he soon thaws and warms up to Olive's relentless cheer and good-natured teasing. His support of her in their shared field is particularly touching and it made me root even harder for this couple.
With romances, there's always the question of whether it contains explicit, open-door scenes. And whichever way the book chooses to go, it inevitably alienates half of the readership who wants it the other way. That's why I was particularly fond of the way it was handled in this book. All those scenes are in one contiguous chunk (spread across two chapters), so it's easy to skip if that's not your thing and you can still enjoy the rest of the story without having to worry about missing anything crucial.
This story totally checks all the boxes for me. It's sweet, smart, and uproariously funny, and it touched my heart and my mind. No doubt about it, anything Ali Hazelwood writes from now on will be devoured by me posthaste.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
Love on the Brain
Love, Theoretically
The STEMinist Novellas:
Under One Roof ✧ Stuck with You ✧ Below Zero
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
✧ This was a pick for my BOTM box. Get your first book for $5 here.
August 31, 2025
OMG! Look at that cover—it totally screams Reylo vibes (Kylo and Rey disguised in lab coats, kissing each other breathless)! Two nerdy, adorable characters pretending to be a couple: a rigid, grumpy, but undeniably charismatic 34-year-old professor and a sweet, quirky, gold-hearted PhD student on a mission to cure pancreatic cancer? I’m sold!
The banter is nerdy, sexy, and wildly entertaining—but I have to scream into the void every time hot professor Adam calls Olive smart ass! Couldn’t he have picked something sharper, catchier, maybe even more affectionate?
Olive Smith is an orphan, an insecure yet hardworking and brilliant biologist who spends most of her time in the lab, pouring her heart into research and emailing colleagues for funding to support her breakthrough cancer project.
After losing her loved ones at a young age, she struggles with relationships. Her comfort zone? Science, her friends, and her work. There’s nothing she wouldn’t sacrifice for the people she loves.
So when she breaks up with a boyfriend she didn’t even like and realizes her bestie Anh has feelings for him, Olive decides to prove she’s so over it. Her solution? Kiss the first guy who walks by while Anh is watching so she can date him guilt-free.
Simple plan, right?
Except that guy turns out to be Adam Carlsen—the hotshot, notoriously terrifying young professor everyone in the department curses under their breath.
But instead of flipping out over her impulsive stunt, Adam surprises her. He actually agrees to fake-date her—because it might help him secure funding for his own research. It’s a win-win… until Olive finds herself looking forward to their Wednesday coffee dates a little too much. And drooling over his six-pack abs definitely wasn’t part of the plan.
For someone dubbed “the professor from hell,” Adam treats her with kindness and respect—and maybe he’s enjoying this fake relationship as much as she is?
But Olive needs to put on her big-girl pants and face the truth: she’s falling for him. Hard. Will she be brave enough to confess her feelings? Or will she risk more than just a broken heart?
⸻
Overall Thoughts
• I adored the nerdy heroes and their sweet, science-filled banter.
• The chemistry between Olive and Adam? Off the charts.
• The way the book handled #MeToo themes, emotional, and physical abuse was sensitive and well done.
• Holden and Malcolm completely stole my heart as supporting characters.
• The academic romcom setting was chef’s kiss!
I wavered between 4 and 5 stars but rounded up to 5 stars because Adam totally earned it after the final revelations. He’s the sweetest kind of grumpy hero.
This book made me smile so wide it basically lit up my entire week.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this digital copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts!
The banter is nerdy, sexy, and wildly entertaining—but I have to scream into the void every time hot professor Adam calls Olive smart ass! Couldn’t he have picked something sharper, catchier, maybe even more affectionate?
Olive Smith is an orphan, an insecure yet hardworking and brilliant biologist who spends most of her time in the lab, pouring her heart into research and emailing colleagues for funding to support her breakthrough cancer project.
After losing her loved ones at a young age, she struggles with relationships. Her comfort zone? Science, her friends, and her work. There’s nothing she wouldn’t sacrifice for the people she loves.
So when she breaks up with a boyfriend she didn’t even like and realizes her bestie Anh has feelings for him, Olive decides to prove she’s so over it. Her solution? Kiss the first guy who walks by while Anh is watching so she can date him guilt-free.
Simple plan, right?
Except that guy turns out to be Adam Carlsen—the hotshot, notoriously terrifying young professor everyone in the department curses under their breath.
But instead of flipping out over her impulsive stunt, Adam surprises her. He actually agrees to fake-date her—because it might help him secure funding for his own research. It’s a win-win… until Olive finds herself looking forward to their Wednesday coffee dates a little too much. And drooling over his six-pack abs definitely wasn’t part of the plan.
For someone dubbed “the professor from hell,” Adam treats her with kindness and respect—and maybe he’s enjoying this fake relationship as much as she is?
But Olive needs to put on her big-girl pants and face the truth: she’s falling for him. Hard. Will she be brave enough to confess her feelings? Or will she risk more than just a broken heart?
⸻
Overall Thoughts
• I adored the nerdy heroes and their sweet, science-filled banter.
• The chemistry between Olive and Adam? Off the charts.
• The way the book handled #MeToo themes, emotional, and physical abuse was sensitive and well done.
• Holden and Malcolm completely stole my heart as supporting characters.
• The academic romcom setting was chef’s kiss!
I wavered between 4 and 5 stars but rounded up to 5 stars because Adam totally earned it after the final revelations. He’s the sweetest kind of grumpy hero.
This book made me smile so wide it basically lit up my entire week.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this digital copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts!
September 23, 2021
The Love Hypothesis is the kind of book that I think is better for newbie romance readers. For me, with thousands of romance books under my belt, it became painful to read by the end.
I started out reading The Love Hypothesis feeling giddy and elated. I *adored* the geeky, surly professor and poor grad student dynamic, and the narration by Callie Dalton was bangin'. I was 100000% sure that I was going to love this book, and I started recommending it to everyone. But slowly, slowly, things starting creeping in.
I will be the first to admit that The Love Hypothesis is an impressive debut from Ali Hazelwood. I'm impossibly excited to read her future work, but I dearly hope she changes a few things about how she crafts romance books for her second novel.
This book is *excruciating* at times. The number of miscommunications and misunderstandings and deliberate withholding of information truly boggles the mind. With such a skilled narrator and such a great start to the book, you would think I would be riveted to the story, but by the end I had to speed up the narration a ton just to force myself to finish. I wanted to smack both characters in the head. Repeatedly.
It is a huge pet peeve of mine when authors rely on miscommunications for the whole tension and plot of a book, and by 50% of the way in, it became abundantly clear that this is what we were facing. I was pretty upset that what had seemed so promising took such a sideways turn.
Look, maybe you'll love this book and eat up every morsel, but I was actually angry by the end of this book. Your mileage may vary with this one.
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October 23, 2021
it gave what it was supposed to give and 10x more!
this shit is a literary masterpiece! flawless! perfection! excellent! splendid! and above all epic…
these characters have bewitched me body, mind, soul! these bad bitch scientists had me acting all submissive and breedable 🛐
Olive- pumpkin spice loving bad bitch was so inspiring and all around an enjoyable MC to read about. this book proves ANYONE (especially nerdy girls like me and olive) can girl boss, gate-keep, and gaslight!!
she’s a bad bitch that deserves the world !!! but i’m also jealous of her because she has Adam !? like um sharing is caring #SelfishScientist
anyways…
Adam- this mfing dadddddy! had me screaming, clutching my pearls, and aggressively ripping my shirt off! i fucking love this strong, needle phobic, 6 foot something KING!! he’s a fucking thot y’all! don’t even fight me on this. he had my legs fucking divorced in chapter 16; his pov and Olive’s
the plot and writing were excellent! yes this is fiction but it’s written so realistically ya know? it ain’t fabricated. the emotions were raw. my heart was swelling for these characters. bruv why did i read this so MFing fast?!?! i don’t want it to be over.
overall this book had me trembling, gasping for oxygen, sweating through my hairline, weak in the MFing knees, and pinned down to the ground.
i had so much fun reading this. it had my attention from cover to cover! ain’t no one doing it out here like queen Ali Hazelwood!! Ali deserves the world for birthing this. She fucking DELIVERED 👏🏽 she deserves to get her kitty cat meow meow eaten out from the front to the back, up & down, side to side, in & around!! she deserves the world!!
this is yet another book that hit me from the back, ate me out, and gave me a kiss on the forehead. let’s gooooooo 😈
this shit is a literary masterpiece! flawless! perfection! excellent! splendid! and above all epic…
these characters have bewitched me body, mind, soul! these bad bitch scientists had me acting all submissive and breedable 🛐
Olive- pumpkin spice loving bad bitch was so inspiring and all around an enjoyable MC to read about. this book proves ANYONE (especially nerdy girls like me and olive) can girl boss, gate-keep, and gaslight!!
she’s a bad bitch that deserves the world !!! but i’m also jealous of her because she has Adam !? like um sharing is caring #SelfishScientist
anyways…
Adam- this mfing dadddddy! had me screaming, clutching my pearls, and aggressively ripping my shirt off! i fucking love this strong, needle phobic, 6 foot something KING!! he’s a fucking thot y’all! don’t even fight me on this. he had my legs fucking divorced in chapter 16; his pov and Olive’s
the plot and writing were excellent! yes this is fiction but it’s written so realistically ya know? it ain’t fabricated. the emotions were raw. my heart was swelling for these characters. bruv why did i read this so MFing fast?!?! i don’t want it to be over.
overall this book had me trembling, gasping for oxygen, sweating through my hairline, weak in the MFing knees, and pinned down to the ground.
i had so much fun reading this. it had my attention from cover to cover! ain’t no one doing it out here like queen Ali Hazelwood!! Ali deserves the world for birthing this. She fucking DELIVERED 👏🏽 she deserves to get her kitty cat meow meow eaten out from the front to the back, up & down, side to side, in & around!! she deserves the world!!
this is yet another book that hit me from the back, ate me out, and gave me a kiss on the forehead. let’s gooooooo 😈
September 16, 2021
**Spoiler Alert**
The best part about this story is the focus on women in STEM everything else is a blurry, one-dimensional mess that left me with way too many questions.
1. What if Olive hadn't fake kissed Adam? Would he have continued to wait even more years before engaging with her?
2. Olive kissing a random guy instead of properly communicating with her supposed 'best friend' is outlandish. Their motivation for keeping up the lies (and yes, they were both lying) was unconvincing.
3. How did Olive go (within a span of 2 hours) from being a victim of sexual assault to joking about bad sushi and inconsequential things. That scene could have been so powerful yet it was poorly handled by Hazelwood.
4. Anh, the 'best friend', is such a cliche character. Ugh
5. Hazelwood threw in asexuality to tick a box, not because she wanted to actually write an asexual character. Olive trying to explain her sexuality while Adam was going down on her was one of the funniest non-funny scenes I've ever read. Like, girl, stfu.
6. Finally, what exactly does Olive look like??!!! I knew she was 5'8" and skinny. For that matter, I know more about Adam's henleys and plaid shirts than I do him.
Overall, I was left feeling dissatisfied especially the fact that I didn't laugh even once. Isn't this meant to be a rom-com?
September 3, 2021
It is IMPOSSIBLE and downright HORRIBLE for this book to get anything under a 5 star rating 💀
ITS SOOOO FUCKING GOOD and I’m in such a hangover now i literally do not know what to do with myself.
Start to finish HOLY SHIT. You’re hook line and sinker baby.
Not one dry page here.
Adam is one of the MOST WHOLESOME CHARACTERS IVE EVER READ Jesus Christ I’m so in love with this man. And OLIVE?!? My dedication to these two is downright unhealthy.
I’ll ride hard for this book forever. It goes down as one of my top reads this year.
SOOOO MANY GREAT THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK.
The banter.
The SPICE. Wait on chapter 16 JUST WAIT ON IT!!!
The friendships.
ADAM BEING SCARED OF NEEDLES.
Olive wrangling out an ice cream sandwich from him.
HIM LETTING HER!!
WOMEN. IN. SCIENCE.
I was a weeee bit scared that the science talk would confuse me because science is definitely not my strongest subject but easy peasy.
I’m just obsessed. Rightfully so.
This book is phenomenal and I REALLY REALLY need an Adam POV.
That epilogue was amazing. The layout of the book is amazing.
I’m thrilled about this. Holy crap. What else can I say to convince you…. absolutely top notch.
ITS SOOOO FUCKING GOOD and I’m in such a hangover now i literally do not know what to do with myself.
Start to finish HOLY SHIT. You’re hook line and sinker baby.
Not one dry page here.
Adam is one of the MOST WHOLESOME CHARACTERS IVE EVER READ Jesus Christ I’m so in love with this man. And OLIVE?!? My dedication to these two is downright unhealthy.
I’ll ride hard for this book forever. It goes down as one of my top reads this year.
SOOOO MANY GREAT THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK.
The banter.
The SPICE. Wait on chapter 16 JUST WAIT ON IT!!!
The friendships.
ADAM BEING SCARED OF NEEDLES.
Olive wrangling out an ice cream sandwich from him.
HIM LETTING HER!!
WOMEN. IN. SCIENCE.
I was a weeee bit scared that the science talk would confuse me because science is definitely not my strongest subject but easy peasy.
I’m just obsessed. Rightfully so.
This book is phenomenal and I REALLY REALLY need an Adam POV.
That epilogue was amazing. The layout of the book is amazing.
I’m thrilled about this. Holy crap. What else can I say to convince you…. absolutely top notch.
October 12, 2021
Re-read 10/12/21: Reached that point of fall when all I want to do is re-read my favorite romances and I am so!!!! happy to report that this one has joined the ranks. Adam and Olive are perfect I will be accepting zero (0) criticism at this time
Original read 7/1/21: I went into this one on a complete whim bc I needed an e-book to read on my nightly walk, and it ended up absolutely blowing me away. Everything about this was honestly perfect. The writing, the characters, the chemistry (literal and figurative lol), THE SMUT. This was SO hot, but also SO cute and SO funny and I just loved absolutely every second spent in between these pages. I didn't know who Ali Hazelwood was before going into this, but I will now be anxiously awaiting every book she will ever publish because this was JUST SO GOOD YOU ALL NEED TO READ IT / ADD IT TO YOUR TBRS IMMEDIATELY! My heart!!!!!!!
CW: terminal illness (pancreatic cancer), death of a loved one, sexual harassment
Original read 7/1/21: I went into this one on a complete whim bc I needed an e-book to read on my nightly walk, and it ended up absolutely blowing me away. Everything about this was honestly perfect. The writing, the characters, the chemistry (literal and figurative lol), THE SMUT. This was SO hot, but also SO cute and SO funny and I just loved absolutely every second spent in between these pages. I didn't know who Ali Hazelwood was before going into this, but I will now be anxiously awaiting every book she will ever publish because this was JUST SO GOOD YOU ALL NEED TO READ IT / ADD IT TO YOUR TBRS IMMEDIATELY! My heart!!!!!!!
CW: terminal illness (pancreatic cancer), death of a loved one, sexual harassment
July 12, 2022
Hypothesis: Maybe I really am just a lonely bitch who only finds happiness in seeing fictional couples get their HEA? And that's okay? Just kidding lol, but also definitely not?
I genuinely didn't think that I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did, especially with the obscene amount of hype it has received all over the internet....but DAMN was I wrong. The Love Hypothesis melted my stone cold heart and made me experience every single human emotion possible in 385 pages, so intensely that I have very few words to say about it that can be typed without keyboard smashing.
If you need me, I'll be busy sitting in the corner physically restraining myself from rereading this book & weeping over the fact that fictional love is fictional (asjkfgsdjakls).
September 3, 2021
for a book about science there was some dubious physics at play (see: hero fitting heroine’s entire boob in mouth)
this was cute though. heroine did irritate me at times but i’m a curmudgeon when it comes to quirky heroines. she did stand up for herself in the end though and despite the aforementioned whole boob snafu, the sex was 🔥
this was cute though. heroine did irritate me at times but i’m a curmudgeon when it comes to quirky heroines. she did stand up for herself in the end though and despite the aforementioned whole boob snafu, the sex was 🔥
August 31, 2021
I don’t think reylos deserve human rights sorry
September 3, 2021
In the words of Adam Driver….
“👌🏼Good soup”
4.5⭐️
“👌🏼Good soup”
4.5⭐️
September 26, 2021
I'm blocking everyone who said this was good on booktok.
October 10, 2021
Bruh. This book just about killed me. Top 3 romance books this year. Ali hazelwood is a new immediately buy any book she ever writes author.
October 13, 2021
if you want happiness: read this book🤌🏻✨
November 5, 2021
*sigh* when is it my turn to be happy?
November 5, 2021
did i devour this book or did this book devour me?
December 5, 2021
the rumours are, in fact, trumours.
this book really is as adorable as everyone is saying.
this book really is as adorable as everyone is saying.
December 8, 2022
he had her whole boob in his mouth. i’m scared.
February 12, 2022
someone forgot to take the wattpad out of this book 💀
November 22, 2022
Oficialmente en mi TOP 5 libros de romance favoritos. Ahora le rezo (y le lloro) a Adam Carlsen.
No le pongo rating porque es sorpresa para cuando haga el video.
No le pongo rating porque es sorpresa para cuando haga el video.
August 8, 2025
Olive plants a giant kiss on a random person in the hallway. Her friend, Anh, has a crush on a guy that Olive went out with one time, and she wants to convince Anh that she is free to go after her one-date wonder. However, the random guy in the hallway turns out to be a world famous scientist and a very grumpy, mean one at that. He is the famous Adam Carlsen. Will Olive and Adam be able to convince everyone that they are a couple? Will they discover any real feelings? Plus, Olive is about to graduate....
As far as romance novels go, this one was pretty sweet and funny. It was also a quick read. Although I do wish that Adam wasn't always described as essentially an underwear model. Isn't it enough just to be ridiculously smart with a decent job? Do you have to have six-pack abs too? Setting expectations a little high? This might have alienated some readers but if Adam and Olive are both scientists, why don't they have more scientific discussions? I'm not a very scientific person, but I would assume that it would be like two literary buffs quoting book phrases to each other.
Overall, this was an enjoyable book with some quality plot development. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
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As far as romance novels go, this one was pretty sweet and funny. It was also a quick read. Although I do wish that Adam wasn't always described as essentially an underwear model. Isn't it enough just to be ridiculously smart with a decent job? Do you have to have six-pack abs too? Setting expectations a little high? This might have alienated some readers but if Adam and Olive are both scientists, why don't they have more scientific discussions? I'm not a very scientific person, but I would assume that it would be like two literary buffs quoting book phrases to each other.
Overall, this was an enjoyable book with some quality plot development. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Insta My Bookstore at Pango
September 15, 2021
– 4.5 stars
I heard this book started out as a Wattpad story and people weren't impressed with the writing, but honestly I'd take that as a back-handed compliment. Have you read the right Wattpad stories? Some of them are masterpieces and no, I don't take criticism. And no, I'm not talking about After either 😌
The Love Hypothesis will go down as the biggest surprise of this year and no one is more surprise than me. This book has been EVERYWHERE I go. I couldn't outrun this book, even if I wanted to. And you know with hype comes great expectations. And with great expectations comes even greater disappointments. Therefore, I made it my mission to go into TLH expecting nothing and received everything.
I've read the prologue and I WAS HOOKED!!! When do you ever stumble into a stranger's bathroom blinded, because you're wearing lenses that has been expired for years and said stranger is going to be your biggest motivator for the years to come? Olive and Adam's meet-cute already had me on a chokehold.
Followed, the story was brimmed with so many rom-com tropes. SO MANY. Maybe Ali Hazelwood tried a little bit too much to bring all of these tropes in one story and maybe it was a bit too much. Personally, I didn't mind it, cause every Olive x Adam interaction just made me smile like a fool. But here is a list of all the tropes, you can expect when reading The Love Hypothesis:
💫 age gap (Olive, 26 & Adam, 34)
💫 sunshine-grumpy
💫 fake-dating
💫 slow-burn
💫 workplace romance
💫 Ph.D student x professor (but it's not forbidden)
💫 mutual pining
💫 friends-to-lovers also known as dumbasses-to-lovers
💫 one-bed trope (kinda)
💫 Hero sees heroine in his clothes and is can't talk for a second
💫 guy simping for the girl first
💫 dimples
💫 asshole-ish Hero who is only soft for his girl
💫 endless banter and teasing
I'll spare the subpar summary of this book, cause y'all can read the blurb for yourself and jump right into everything else 😂
｡･ﾟﾟ･ The Romance ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Just look at the list above. It literally has all of my favorite tropes in one book. From the first interaction between Adam and Olive I was clued to the pages. I love their easy banter with each other. Olive teasing him about his age. Adam's hate about everything sugary (but especially Pumpkin Spice Latte).
Adam is notoriously known as the campus asshole professor who makes every grad student piss their pants. He's super strict when it comes to research and calls his student out on their bullshit when someone is not good enough. But when it comes to Olive, he is a soft harmless kitten. He believes in her so much. Adam always encourages and praises Olive for her brilliant work. Adam Carlsen is Olive's #1 fan.
Women in STEM are underrepresentated and it was refreshing to see Olive being one of the few women working there and making a difference with her research on pancreatic cancer. It was interesting to read Olive's frustrating with being a grad student.. all the struggles and insecurites that come with it. All these priviliged white men that think they are some hot shot, but doing the bare minimum work.
Olive's smart, a great friend, but you know when I fell in love with her? When Olive and Adam went on their first fake coffee date and Adam offered to pay for her coffee, cuz he knows she's a poor student and what does that girl do? Adds chocolate chip cookie, a banana and a pack of gum to her coffee 😂😂😂 the audacity lmao yes girl get that luxury package lunch 😂
The Love Hypothesis was very low on the heat level, but that one sex scene we got. I looooved it 🥵🥵🥵 Every time a Hero has such a big dick that the heroine doesn't know if she can take it and he assures her that she can I'M SCREaMINg 🥵🥵🥵 When Adam tells her that he wants to go down on her until she passes out 🥵🥵🥵🥵 When Adam asked Olive if he can fuck her... I'm on my knees for my consent king 🛐🥵
Adam Carlsen, ik hou van jou 🛐🛐🛐
｡･ﾟﾟ･ The Friendship between Olive and Anh ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Anh is Vietnamese and I never see Viet rep in romance book so ofc I'm going to love this girl. Not biased or anything. Anh was a queen anyway and it wasn't hard to stan her 💅
Find yourself a best friend who would marry you if she thinks you will get deported back to Canada and need a green card. 🥺
You don't understand how much I love Anh. She was probably my favorite characters from this whole book (no offense to Olive and Adam, cause I love them a lot).
My love for her already started that she didn't want to date Jeremy, because Olive dated him and gave her approval. This girl knows the girl code too well and it's for her that Olive had to come up with this ridicilous idea of kissing the first guy she sees in the hallway to convince Anh that she's over Jeremy, so these two can get it on. But then, Anh is also the best wingwoman without knowing. All of her demands for Olive and Adam to show their PDA (Olive using Adam has her chair ✔️ Olive putting sunscreen on a half naked Adam ✔️ Olive kissing Adam ✔️) The list of sexual harassment Adam could compile, I'd love to see it. 😇
｡･ﾟﾟ･ The Side-Characters ･ﾟﾟ･｡
The rest of the secondary characters like Holden and Malcolm were awesome too. I love Adam and Holden's friendship. How Holden tries to embarass Adam and Adam pretending to be annoyed and tolerating him even tho their bromance is more than solid. Most of all Holden has Adam's back.
Malcolm and Olive had a cute friendship too. Loved how Malcolm was so support of Olive's feeling for Adam even tho he didn't like him. Malcolm with Anh probably the only characters with some brain cells. He gave Olive some good dating advise, but did she listen noooo.
｡･ﾟﾟ･ A Book not without its faults ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Like the clown that I am, I really thought this book might be a 5 star read after only reading the prologue lmao that's how much I loved Olive and Adam's first meeting 😂 But of course I jinxed myself, cause there were a couple of things that I annoyed me.
I call this book dumbasses-to-lovers for a reason. Olive and Adam had clearly feelings for each other, but were too chicken shit to confess them. Olive had confessed to Malcolm that she was falling in love w Adam and Adam heard it and when Olive said she was talking about someone else, that dumbass really believed her. I mean it makes for good angst for exacly 3 seconds cause I could feel my boy's pain, but how could he not known it was him all along. Same with Olive and her thinking the "amazing girl" Adam was pining for all these year was some random women in his faculty like 😭😭😭 guys I thought you were SMART 😭
And that ending was so unsatisfying. I hate it when a romance doesn't have a proper love confession scene. I know Adam loves Olive and he told it to other, but we never got his "I love you" that he said to Olive. There was her confession and then it was cut right to the epilogue that wasn't all that satisfying either..
｡･ﾟﾟ･ Conclusion ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Should I study for an exam that I have tmrr and instead have read this book? Yes. (1)
Will I fail said exam because of this book? Also yes. (2)
Will I blame Ali Hazelwood and fictional characters for my inability to manage my life? Y-E-S. (3)
Would I do it all over again? See answers (1) to (3)
No regrets, I love Olive and Adam so much and The Love Hypothesis will be in my favorite books I've read this year. ♥️
P.S. this book taught me to carry myself with the confidence of a medicore white man if I wanna reach my goal and I'll always remember that. I'll go into the exam with that mentality, I'm suing if I'm still going to fail 😌
I heard this book started out as a Wattpad story and people weren't impressed with the writing, but honestly I'd take that as a back-handed compliment. Have you read the right Wattpad stories? Some of them are masterpieces and no, I don't take criticism. And no, I'm not talking about After either 😌
The Love Hypothesis will go down as the biggest surprise of this year and no one is more surprise than me. This book has been EVERYWHERE I go. I couldn't outrun this book, even if I wanted to. And you know with hype comes great expectations. And with great expectations comes even greater disappointments. Therefore, I made it my mission to go into TLH expecting nothing and received everything.
I've read the prologue and I WAS HOOKED!!! When do you ever stumble into a stranger's bathroom blinded, because you're wearing lenses that has been expired for years and said stranger is going to be your biggest motivator for the years to come? Olive and Adam's meet-cute already had me on a chokehold.
"It's fine." She waved a hand. She'd have rolled her eyes, if they hadn't been on fire. "The burning usually lasts only a few minues."
"You mean you've done this before?"
She frowned. "Done what?"
"Put in expired contacts."
"Of course. Contacts are not cheap."
"Neither are eyes."
Followed, the story was brimmed with so many rom-com tropes. SO MANY. Maybe Ali Hazelwood tried a little bit too much to bring all of these tropes in one story and maybe it was a bit too much. Personally, I didn't mind it, cause every Olive x Adam interaction just made me smile like a fool. But here is a list of all the tropes, you can expect when reading The Love Hypothesis:
💫 age gap (Olive, 26 & Adam, 34)
💫 sunshine-grumpy
💫 fake-dating
💫 slow-burn
💫 workplace romance
💫 Ph.D student x professor (but it's not forbidden)
💫 mutual pining
💫 friends-to-lovers also known as dumbasses-to-lovers
💫 one-bed trope (kinda)
💫 Hero sees heroine in his clothes and is can't talk for a second
💫 guy simping for the girl first
💫 dimples
💫 asshole-ish Hero who is only soft for his girl
💫 endless banter and teasing
"Come on. Maybe we're lucky and the chair will spot us. And I'll buy you an ice cream sandwich afterward."
"Will I be paying for this ice-cream sandwich?" He sounded resigned now.
"Likely. Actually, scratch that, you probably don't like ice cream anyawy, because you don't enjoy anything that's good in life." She kept on walking, pensively chewing on her lower lip. "Maybe the cafeteria has some raw broccoli?"
"I don't deserve this verbal abuse on top of the flu shot.
I'll spare the subpar summary of this book, cause y'all can read the blurb for yourself and jump right into everything else 😂
｡･ﾟﾟ･ The Romance ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Just look at the list above. It literally has all of my favorite tropes in one book. From the first interaction between Adam and Olive I was clued to the pages. I love their easy banter with each other. Olive teasing him about his age. Adam's hate about everything sugary (but especially Pumpkin Spice Latte).
"Are you going to be less harsh, then?"
"Unlikely."
She sighed. "You know, when I have no more friends and everyone hates me because of this fake-dating thing, I'll be super lonely and you are going to have to hang out with me every day. I'll annoy you all the time. Is it really worth being mean to every grad in the program?"
"Absolutely."
Adam is notoriously known as the campus asshole professor who makes every grad student piss their pants. He's super strict when it comes to research and calls his student out on their bullshit when someone is not good enough. But when it comes to Olive, he is a soft harmless kitten. He believes in her so much. Adam always encourages and praises Olive for her brilliant work. Adam Carlsen is Olive's #1 fan.
"I wish you could see yourself the way I see you."
Women in STEM are underrepresentated and it was refreshing to see Olive being one of the few women working there and making a difference with her research on pancreatic cancer. It was interesting to read Olive's frustrating with being a grad student.. all the struggles and insecurites that come with it. All these priviliged white men that think they are some hot shot, but doing the bare minimum work.
Olive's smart, a great friend, but you know when I fell in love with her? When Olive and Adam went on their first fake coffee date and Adam offered to pay for her coffee, cuz he knows she's a poor student and what does that girl do? Adds chocolate chip cookie, a banana and a pack of gum to her coffee 😂😂😂 the audacity lmao yes girl get that luxury package lunch 😂
"You're so big." He groaned into her neck. His entire body was vibrating with tension.
"You can take it."
The Love Hypothesis was very low on the heat level, but that one sex scene we got. I looooved it 🥵🥵🥵 Every time a Hero has such a big dick that the heroine doesn't know if she can take it and he assures her that she can I'M SCREaMINg 🥵🥵🥵 When Adam tells her that he wants to go down on her until she passes out 🥵🥵🥵🥵 When Adam asked Olive if he can fuck her... I'm on my knees for my consent king 🛐🥵
Adam Carlsen, ik hou van jou 🛐🛐🛐
Adam: My arm hurts
Olive: From the flu shot?
Adam: It's really painful.
Olive: Oh, Adam. I'm so sorry.
Olive: Should I come over and kiss it better?
Adam: You never said it would hurt so bad.
Olive: As someone once told me, it's not my job to work on your emotin regulation skills.
Adam: 🖕
｡･ﾟﾟ･ The Friendship between Olive and Anh ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Anh is Vietnamese and I never see Viet rep in romance book so ofc I'm going to love this girl. Not biased or anything. Anh was a queen anyway and it wasn't hard to stan her 💅
"No matter how many pounds of spoiled shrimp cocktail you projectile vomit, you can trust me. We're a team, you and I. And Malcolm, when he's not busy screwing his way though the Stanford population. So if Carlsen is secretly an extraterrestrial life-form planning a takover of Earth that will ultimately result in humanity being enslaved by evil overlords who look like cicadas, and the only way to stop him is dating him, you can tell me and I'll inform NASA–"
Find yourself a best friend who would marry you if she thinks you will get deported back to Canada and need a green card. 🥺
You don't understand how much I love Anh. She was probably my favorite characters from this whole book (no offense to Olive and Adam, cause I love them a lot).
My love for her already started that she didn't want to date Jeremy, because Olive dated him and gave her approval. This girl knows the girl code too well and it's for her that Olive had to come up with this ridicilous idea of kissing the first guy she sees in the hallway to convince Anh that she's over Jeremy, so these two can get it on. But then, Anh is also the best wingwoman without knowing. All of her demands for Olive and Adam to show their PDA (Olive using Adam has her chair ✔️ Olive putting sunscreen on a half naked Adam ✔️ Olive kissing Adam ✔️) The list of sexual harassment Adam could compile, I'd love to see it. 😇
｡･ﾟﾟ･ The Side-Characters ･ﾟﾟ･｡
The rest of the secondary characters like Holden and Malcolm were awesome too. I love Adam and Holden's friendship. How Holden tries to embarass Adam and Adam pretending to be annoyed and tolerating him even tho their bromance is more than solid. Most of all Holden has Adam's back.
"I have access to your Google Calender, asshole. You're not busy. If you don't want to hang out with me, you can just be honest."
"I don't want to hang out with you."
"You little shit. After the wee we just had. And on my birthday."
Adam recoiled slightly. "What? It's not your birthday."
"Yes, it is."
"Your birthday is April tenth."
"Is it, though?"
Adam closed his eyes, scratching his forehead. "Holden, we've talked daily for the past twenty-five years, and I have been to at least five Power Rangers-themed birthday parties of yours. The last one was when you turned seventeen. I know when your birthday is."
"You always had it wrong, I was just too nice to tell you."
Malcolm and Olive had a cute friendship too. Loved how Malcolm was so support of Olive's feeling for Adam even tho he didn't like him. Malcolm with Anh probably the only characters with some brain cells. He gave Olive some good dating advise, but did she listen noooo.
｡･ﾟﾟ･ A Book not without its faults ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Like the clown that I am, I really thought this book might be a 5 star read after only reading the prologue lmao that's how much I loved Olive and Adam's first meeting 😂 But of course I jinxed myself, cause there were a couple of things that I annoyed me.
I call this book dumbasses-to-lovers for a reason. Olive and Adam had clearly feelings for each other, but were too chicken shit to confess them. Olive had confessed to Malcolm that she was falling in love w Adam and Adam heard it and when Olive said she was talking about someone else, that dumbass really believed her. I mean it makes for good angst for exacly 3 seconds cause I could feel my boy's pain, but how could he not known it was him all along. Same with Olive and her thinking the "amazing girl" Adam was pining for all these year was some random women in his faculty like 😭😭😭 guys I thought you were SMART 😭
And that ending was so unsatisfying. I hate it when a romance doesn't have a proper love confession scene. I know Adam loves Olive and he told it to other, but we never got his "I love you" that he said to Olive. There was her confession and then it was cut right to the epilogue that wasn't all that satisfying either..
｡･ﾟﾟ･ Conclusion ･ﾟﾟ･｡
Should I study for an exam that I have tmrr and instead have read this book? Yes. (1)
Will I fail said exam because of this book? Also yes. (2)
Will I blame Ali Hazelwood and fictional characters for my inability to manage my life? Y-E-S. (3)
Would I do it all over again? See answers (1) to (3)
No regrets, I love Olive and Adam so much and The Love Hypothesis will be in my favorite books I've read this year. ♥️
P.S. this book taught me to carry myself with the confidence of a medicore white man if I wanna reach my goal and I'll always remember that. I'll go into the exam with that mentality, I'm suing if I'm still going to fail 😌
December 31, 2021
***TODAS LAS ESTRELLAS DEL UNIVERSO***
”I’m going to kill you. If you say another word about the woman I love, if you look at her, if you even think about her, I’m going to fucking kill you”.
Este libro es uno de los más bonitos que he leído en mucho tiempo. ¿Saben de esos libros que, cuando los leen, de verdad los hacen volver a creer en el amor? Pues, por muy cursi que suene, eso fue The Love Hypothesis para mí. Sí, leo un montón de libros de fantasía romántica que tienen unos ideales del amor espectaculares, pero a la vez se sienten tremendamente inalcanzables. Pero The Love Hypothesis es una historia de amor entre dos personas que no son perfectas, que comenten muchísimos errores, que tienen miedo de dejar sus sentimientos al alcance de cualquiera y que, sobre todo, se sienten muy, muy reales.
Aquí nos encontramos con Olive, una científica que está intentando encontrar fondos para su investigación sobre un tipo de cáncer y, al mismo tiempo, está tratando de que su mejor amiga se anime a salir con un chico que le encanta, pero que resulta que es su ex. Para impulsarla, Olive decide que su amiga debe verla feliz con un hombre, pero el problema es que su vida amorosa está más desolada que el desierto del Sahara. Sin embargo, un día, en un impulso y aprovechando que su amiga la está viendo, Olive se lanza a besar a uno de los profesores del departamento… que resulta ser nada más y nada menos que Adam Carlsen, a quien básicamente todo el mundo teme porque es frío y despiadado con los estudiantes. La cosa es que, contra todo pronóstico, Olive y Adam terminan entrando en un acuerdo de fake dating, cada uno con sus propios motivos, pero todos sabemos cómo acaba esto.
Si me conocen, saben que a veces suelo ser supremamente impaciente con los libros que tienen romances slowburn… y The Love Hypothesis es la definición de eso. Sin embargo, les juro que no había disfrutado tantísimo un libro en mucho tiempo. Toda la historia de Olive y Adam, la tensión que se fue desarrollando con cada encuentro incómodo, con cada situación loca en la que se metían, con cada malentendido, con cada escena en la que se notaba que ambos tenían un poco oxidados sus capacidades de relacionarse con otros seres humanos, con cada pequeña sonrisa que Olive le sacaba a Adam, con los chistes internos que empezaron a aparecer, con las miradas, con la angustia, con el miedo de estar enamorándose del otro y quizás no ser correspondido… wow, todo eso fue como una flecha que se me iba clavando cada vez más hondo en el corazón, que me recordaba eternamente mi desgraciada soltería y que me hacía quererlos a ellos cada vez más. Es absolutamente demente lo mucho que uno puede llegar a involucrarse emocionalmente con dos personas que ni siquiera existen. Pero esa es la magia de los libros, supongo.
Y sí, hubo momentos frustrantes en los que quería golpearlos a los dos y encerrarlos en una habitación para que dejaran de pensar cosas idiotas y, por fin, aceptaran que estaban locos el uno por el otro… En serio, hay momentos en los que me sacaban de quicio. Pero al mismo tiempo todo era hermoso y parte de sus procesos. Sobre todo con respecto a Olive. Y me gustaría muchísimo hablar de un aspecto de ella con el que me identifiqué a niveles estratosféricos, pero eso sería un spoiler, así que dejaré que lo descubran ustedes cuando lean el libro.
¿Y el final? ¿Qué puedo decirles? Esos últimos capítulos son perfectos, increíbles, spicy, llenos de sentimientos, de más malentendidos, de momentos épicos y, sobre todo, de muchísima, muchísima felicidad. No les puedo decir mucho más, pero sepan que The Love Hypothesis es uno de esos libros que, aunque te pueden frustrar por momentos y que pueden tener escenas tristes, siempre van a quedar como un highlight de felicidad en tu memoria.
”I’m going to kill you. If you say another word about the woman I love, if you look at her, if you even think about her, I’m going to fucking kill you”.
Este libro es uno de los más bonitos que he leído en mucho tiempo. ¿Saben de esos libros que, cuando los leen, de verdad los hacen volver a creer en el amor? Pues, por muy cursi que suene, eso fue The Love Hypothesis para mí. Sí, leo un montón de libros de fantasía romántica que tienen unos ideales del amor espectaculares, pero a la vez se sienten tremendamente inalcanzables. Pero The Love Hypothesis es una historia de amor entre dos personas que no son perfectas, que comenten muchísimos errores, que tienen miedo de dejar sus sentimientos al alcance de cualquiera y que, sobre todo, se sienten muy, muy reales.
Aquí nos encontramos con Olive, una científica que está intentando encontrar fondos para su investigación sobre un tipo de cáncer y, al mismo tiempo, está tratando de que su mejor amiga se anime a salir con un chico que le encanta, pero que resulta que es su ex. Para impulsarla, Olive decide que su amiga debe verla feliz con un hombre, pero el problema es que su vida amorosa está más desolada que el desierto del Sahara. Sin embargo, un día, en un impulso y aprovechando que su amiga la está viendo, Olive se lanza a besar a uno de los profesores del departamento… que resulta ser nada más y nada menos que Adam Carlsen, a quien básicamente todo el mundo teme porque es frío y despiadado con los estudiantes. La cosa es que, contra todo pronóstico, Olive y Adam terminan entrando en un acuerdo de fake dating, cada uno con sus propios motivos, pero todos sabemos cómo acaba esto.
Si me conocen, saben que a veces suelo ser supremamente impaciente con los libros que tienen romances slowburn… y The Love Hypothesis es la definición de eso. Sin embargo, les juro que no había disfrutado tantísimo un libro en mucho tiempo. Toda la historia de Olive y Adam, la tensión que se fue desarrollando con cada encuentro incómodo, con cada situación loca en la que se metían, con cada malentendido, con cada escena en la que se notaba que ambos tenían un poco oxidados sus capacidades de relacionarse con otros seres humanos, con cada pequeña sonrisa que Olive le sacaba a Adam, con los chistes internos que empezaron a aparecer, con las miradas, con la angustia, con el miedo de estar enamorándose del otro y quizás no ser correspondido… wow, todo eso fue como una flecha que se me iba clavando cada vez más hondo en el corazón, que me recordaba eternamente mi desgraciada soltería y que me hacía quererlos a ellos cada vez más. Es absolutamente demente lo mucho que uno puede llegar a involucrarse emocionalmente con dos personas que ni siquiera existen. Pero esa es la magia de los libros, supongo.
Y sí, hubo momentos frustrantes en los que quería golpearlos a los dos y encerrarlos en una habitación para que dejaran de pensar cosas idiotas y, por fin, aceptaran que estaban locos el uno por el otro… En serio, hay momentos en los que me sacaban de quicio. Pero al mismo tiempo todo era hermoso y parte de sus procesos. Sobre todo con respecto a Olive. Y me gustaría muchísimo hablar de un aspecto de ella con el que me identifiqué a niveles estratosféricos, pero eso sería un spoiler, así que dejaré que lo descubran ustedes cuando lean el libro.
¿Y el final? ¿Qué puedo decirles? Esos últimos capítulos son perfectos, increíbles, spicy, llenos de sentimientos, de más malentendidos, de momentos épicos y, sobre todo, de muchísima, muchísima felicidad. No les puedo decir mucho más, pero sepan que The Love Hypothesis es uno de esos libros que, aunque te pueden frustrar por momentos y que pueden tener escenas tristes, siempre van a quedar como un highlight de felicidad en tu memoria.
January 3, 2022
edit: 1 star.
The reason? Oh, well, I didn't enjoy this book whenever I think of it. And it makes me anxious to think that I rated it with 3 stars, lmao... After this, I might be able to rest in peace, knowing that I rated as I thought when I first finished it. Straight to "big hype, big lie" shelf. :D
Buckle up, bitches, there are some spoilers ahead!
I honestly haven't read a lot books with "miss sunshine and mister grumpy" trope, but I kind of know how the thing goes, so yikes.
For what I know, this book was a Reylo fanfic, so picturing Adam as Adam Driver wasn't complicated. But it made it hard for me because. . . Idk, it's not that I think he's ugly, but I don't think either that he's sexy. If you find him attractive and that stuff, then you know your reasons.
I've seen a LOT —y'all know that I don't lie with this— of hype for this book. *looks at booktok, booktwt, bookstagram* So, I had to give it a try. . . Every single day appears on my feed at least 6 times in a row friends' updates of this book, so, I thought "this book must be good".
Anyhow, I don't actually know how to feel about this book. . . It was. . . weird? Sweet? Awkward? Immature?
Idk, you name it.
I'm fan of nerd and smart people who're not smug, arrogant and assholes. Actually, there's more probability that I fall in love with some nerd (I'm not straight, so, lol) like Adam or Olive than for someone like Tom (he was hot, but he was such a fucking dick).
I had ZERO expectations from this book because lately "great" and overhyped books tend to disappoint me to the point of not wanting to have high hopes (don't start with the "then why do you read them?" because I'm not a nice person when it comes to insult people, lmao) aND YET, HERE I AM, WRITING THE REVIEW OF THIS BOOK.
I need to check up on my life choices. . . Which makes me go to the thing that drove me mad in this book: eVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME OLIVE WAS LIKE "YES, THIS IS MY LIFE BECAUSE OF MY DECISIONS", YES, SIS, WE GET IT. YOU'VE MADE SOME SILLY AND POOR DECISIONS, BUT BUCKLE UP, AND MOVE THE FUCK ON.
Also, I was so fucking tired of the “carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man” Yes, we get it, white men are mediocre. Most of them are. I just don't know why, but that phrase pissed me off.
Chapter 16 was so hyped. Bitch, no. It was awkward and it seemed very very very forced. It is mentioned (briefly, but there it is) that Olive might be asexual, which is fine and I don't judge that because I am ace and I totally get how it feels. Nevertheless, I did think that was forced: I perceived her uncomfortable doing that, despite the fact that she agreed. I honestly don't know how sex works, lol. Totally unnecessary. I get the hype for some things, but not for chapter 16. It wasn't spicy in any single way. It made me feel uncomfortable and I was cringing every 10 seconds. I thought that something good was gonna happen, and I was left with empty hands because I received nothing from that chapter.
Idk why, but Olive seemed VERY immature and Adam was flat? Yes, Mr. Grumpy and-I-hate-everything-black-is-my-color-because-black-is-my-soul-and-I-make-my-grades-cry. I get the trope, I really do, but give him some personality???
Adam it's perceived as someone complicated and who loves their own personal space (again, I don't judge because I enjoy my own personal space as no one) and Olive describes him as "antagonic and unapproachable" aLL THE TIME. If people told me that, I'd take it as a joke, but deep down that shit hurts, even as a joke or random comment, but, yeah, us, grumpy people, are like that. I get that Adam is huge, that have big ass hands, big body, big shoulders and big dick. wE GET IT. Just please stop repeating it every damn time the damn man appears.
Sometimes, I disliked Anh. I didn't know if she was around 26 or 15. She basically forced Olive to do things that obviously she didn't wanna do, despite the fact that Anh thought that Olive and Adam were dating and she didn't know the whole truth. She was very flat and at the very end we didn't have a lot of her.
After the big disappointing that chapter 16 turned out to be, I was even more disappointed than ever. I mean, as I said: I had very little —if none at this point— expectations, but chapter 16 made it go from 0.01 to -00000000000000000000 in a span of 5 minutes, and I didn't wanna read anymore.
When Adam said, and I quote: "If you say another word about the woman I love..." I lost my shit. I was fucking melting and no, I am not ashamed of it, lol.
The romance was okay I guess??? I don't know why, but I expected more. Please don't ask me why, because even I don't know the answer to that... Perhaps it was all of the hype on booktok and bookstagram, but it was a flop to me, lmao.
Overall I guess it was fine? Idk dude, writing this review made me realize that I didn't like this book as much as I wanted.
Tho I'd fake-date / fake-marry someone to get out of Latin America (third world country issues, lol) and get the citizenship in another country, perhaps Europe or Canada? Idk, love can come with time, lol.
Tom was an asshole and I wish Adam would have punch him in the face :)
In overall, as I didn't enjoy a lot of romance (or think that actually was romantic, cute and that stuff) makes me think that I'm a heartless and cold bitch who can't feel a single thing or will never fall in love. bUT I'M ALSO A HOPELESS ROMANTIC. I NEED HELP.
previous review:
The only way I'm gonna live a rom-com story is gonna be when I fake-date or fake-marry someone to get mi citizenship in another country
The reason? Oh, well, I didn't enjoy this book whenever I think of it. And it makes me anxious to think that I rated it with 3 stars, lmao... After this, I might be able to rest in peace, knowing that I rated as I thought when I first finished it. Straight to "big hype, big lie" shelf. :D
“He’d clearly never seen a rom-com or read a romance novel in his life.”
Buckle up, bitches, there are some spoilers ahead!
I honestly haven't read a lot books with "miss sunshine and mister grumpy" trope, but I kind of know how the thing goes, so yikes.
For what I know, this book was a Reylo fanfic, so picturing Adam as Adam Driver wasn't complicated. But it made it hard for me because. . . Idk, it's not that I think he's ugly, but I don't think either that he's sexy. If you find him attractive and that stuff, then you know your reasons.
I've seen a LOT —y'all know that I don't lie with this— of hype for this book. *looks at booktok, booktwt, bookstagram* So, I had to give it a try. . . Every single day appears on my feed at least 6 times in a row friends' updates of this book, so, I thought "this book must be good".
Anyhow, I don't actually know how to feel about this book. . . It was. . . weird? Sweet? Awkward? Immature?
Idk, you name it.
I'm fan of nerd and smart people who're not smug, arrogant and assholes. Actually, there's more probability that I fall in love with some nerd (I'm not straight, so, lol) like Adam or Olive than for someone like Tom (he was hot, but he was such a fucking dick).
I had ZERO expectations from this book because lately "great" and overhyped books tend to disappoint me to the point of not wanting to have high hopes (don't start with the "then why do you read them?" because I'm not a nice person when it comes to insult people, lmao) aND YET, HERE I AM, WRITING THE REVIEW OF THIS BOOK.
I need to check up on my life choices. . . Which makes me go to the thing that drove me mad in this book: eVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME OLIVE WAS LIKE "YES, THIS IS MY LIFE BECAUSE OF MY DECISIONS", YES, SIS, WE GET IT. YOU'VE MADE SOME SILLY AND POOR DECISIONS, BUT BUCKLE UP, AND MOVE THE FUCK ON.
Also, I was so fucking tired of the “carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man” Yes, we get it, white men are mediocre. Most of them are. I just don't know why, but that phrase pissed me off.
Chapter 16 was so hyped. Bitch, no. It was awkward and it seemed very very very forced. It is mentioned (briefly, but there it is) that Olive might be asexual, which is fine and I don't judge that because I am ace and I totally get how it feels. Nevertheless, I did think that was forced: I perceived her uncomfortable doing that, despite the fact that she agreed. I honestly don't know how sex works, lol. Totally unnecessary. I get the hype for some things, but not for chapter 16. It wasn't spicy in any single way. It made me feel uncomfortable and I was cringing every 10 seconds. I thought that something good was gonna happen, and I was left with empty hands because I received nothing from that chapter.
Idk why, but Olive seemed VERY immature and Adam was flat? Yes, Mr. Grumpy and-I-hate-everything-black-is-my-color-because-black-is-my-soul-and-I-make-my-grades-cry. I get the trope, I really do, but give him some personality???
Adam it's perceived as someone complicated and who loves their own personal space (again, I don't judge because I enjoy my own personal space as no one) and Olive describes him as "antagonic and unapproachable" aLL THE TIME. If people told me that, I'd take it as a joke, but deep down that shit hurts, even as a joke or random comment, but, yeah, us, grumpy people, are like that. I get that Adam is huge, that have big ass hands, big body, big shoulders and big dick. wE GET IT. Just please stop repeating it every damn time the damn man appears.
Sometimes, I disliked Anh. I didn't know if she was around 26 or 15. She basically forced Olive to do things that obviously she didn't wanna do, despite the fact that Anh thought that Olive and Adam were dating and she didn't know the whole truth. She was very flat and at the very end we didn't have a lot of her.
After the big disappointing that chapter 16 turned out to be, I was even more disappointed than ever. I mean, as I said: I had very little —if none at this point— expectations, but chapter 16 made it go from 0.01 to -00000000000000000000 in a span of 5 minutes, and I didn't wanna read anymore.
When Adam said, and I quote: "If you say another word about the woman I love..." I lost my shit. I was fucking melting and no, I am not ashamed of it, lol.
The romance was okay I guess??? I don't know why, but I expected more. Please don't ask me why, because even I don't know the answer to that... Perhaps it was all of the hype on booktok and bookstagram, but it was a flop to me, lmao.
Overall I guess it was fine? Idk dude, writing this review made me realize that I didn't like this book as much as I wanted.
Tho I'd fake-date / fake-marry someone to get out of Latin America (third world country issues, lol) and get the citizenship in another country, perhaps Europe or Canada? Idk, love can come with time, lol.
Tom was an asshole and I wish Adam would have punch him in the face :)
In overall, as I didn't enjoy a lot of romance (or think that actually was romantic, cute and that stuff) makes me think that I'm a heartless and cold bitch who can't feel a single thing or will never fall in love. bUT I'M ALSO A HOPELESS ROMANTIC. I NEED HELP.
previous review:
The only way I'm gonna live a rom-com story is gonna be when I fake-date or fake-marry someone to get mi citizenship in another country
April 12, 2025
I loved this so much. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this giddy giddy over a book. The ending was slightly underwhelming but I couldn’t care less- I was in too deep by then. I can’t wait to devour everything Ali Hazelwood has ever written. Wow. Wow wow wow.
August 20, 2022
"Ik hou van jou, Adam." That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this book🥺🥰
The hype is justified. This was such a PERFECT book. I'm so in love with it. Damn, why did I not read this sooner 😩 Although I gotta say that epilogue was totally rushed.
Oliva and Adam make such a cute couple. I'll fight to protect them. I was for real giggling, blushing, smiling, jumping and laughing throughout my read.
To those who haven't yet read this- DO READ! You're missing out on something so beautiful and exceptional. Highly recommend!!
The hype is justified. This was such a PERFECT book. I'm so in love with it. Damn, why did I not read this sooner 😩 Although I gotta say that epilogue was totally rushed.
Oliva and Adam make such a cute couple. I'll fight to protect them. I was for real giggling, blushing, smiling, jumping and laughing throughout my read.
To those who haven't yet read this- DO READ! You're missing out on something so beautiful and exceptional. Highly recommend!!
March 6, 2024
“I've never been surer of anything. Except maybe cell theory.”
the love hypothesis is the best romance i've read in years. it's smart, funny, and oh so swoon worthy! and it was truly one of those books that reminded me why i love reading. i fell in love with both olive and adam so quickly, but i also found this to be one of the most believable fake dating romances, too. from the very first page, i was absolutely hooked and only felt more and more endeared throughout! (and even more late into the night when i desperately was signing up for the author's newsletter so i could unhingedly get an adam pov bonus chapter!)
this book deals with some heavy themes at times, so please use caution and i'll list some warnings below. i personally felt like the author does a thoughtful and important job at highlight what women of stem can face in many lab settings, while also always shining light on how much more noninclusive (and scary) that it can be for bipoc women and nonbinary people of stem. (the author note at the end with some resources was really amazing, too)
i just appreciated so much of this book and this author's words. this story was a little niche to me and my personal life, so i think that also helped me fall in love! (i'm not sure if i can blame it on why i was giggling a sickening amount into my pillow - but i will pretend!) and i also want to note, that the word is never on page, but there was some demi rep in this story that i found very relatable and it meant a whole lot to me too.
(if you'd like to learn more about pancreatic cancer research here are some that are near to my heart!)
trigger and content warnings: talk of cancer, loss of a parent in the past, talk of fear of needles, and sexual harassment, abuse of power, + bullying in work/college settings.
blog | instagram | youtube | kofi | spotify | amazon
♡ Love, Theoretically ★★★★
♡ Bride ★★★★
the love hypothesis is the best romance i've read in years. it's smart, funny, and oh so swoon worthy! and it was truly one of those books that reminded me why i love reading. i fell in love with both olive and adam so quickly, but i also found this to be one of the most believable fake dating romances, too. from the very first page, i was absolutely hooked and only felt more and more endeared throughout! (and even more late into the night when i desperately was signing up for the author's newsletter so i could unhingedly get an adam pov bonus chapter!)
this book deals with some heavy themes at times, so please use caution and i'll list some warnings below. i personally felt like the author does a thoughtful and important job at highlight what women of stem can face in many lab settings, while also always shining light on how much more noninclusive (and scary) that it can be for bipoc women and nonbinary people of stem. (the author note at the end with some resources was really amazing, too)
i just appreciated so much of this book and this author's words. this story was a little niche to me and my personal life, so i think that also helped me fall in love! (i'm not sure if i can blame it on why i was giggling a sickening amount into my pillow - but i will pretend!) and i also want to note, that the word is never on page, but there was some demi rep in this story that i found very relatable and it meant a whole lot to me too.
(if you'd like to learn more about pancreatic cancer research here are some that are near to my heart!)
trigger and content warnings: talk of cancer, loss of a parent in the past, talk of fear of needles, and sexual harassment, abuse of power, + bullying in work/college settings.
blog | instagram | youtube | kofi | spotify | amazon
♡ Love, Theoretically ★★★★
♡ Bride ★★★★
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