The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships — but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor — and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
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This was such a cute and fun love story! It definitely was written based on Reylo, the similarities were impossible to miss and I absolutely loved it. Was there a lot of cheesy science puns? Yes, just read the synopsis, it’s littered with them. Did it strangely work without being super cheesy? Also yes. I loved the academia setting to this and I felt like a lot of work was put in to make sure all academic references were legitimate and relatable. The main character was very oblivious to her self-worth which allowed for a lot of character development and some fun misunderstandings as well. And the love interest? Picture Adam Driver and you’ll be won over in a heartbeat. It sounds like a nerdy love story but it was honestly so good and even being academia based, could relate well to personal struggles of being an adult, balancing a relationship, and advancing your career. It was an excellent read!
This book had everything that a romance needs to have lately. Fake dating trope? Check. Academic setting? Check. Tall, dark haired, grumpy love interest? Check. One room at the inn? Check, Check, Check!! Olive ropes the professor with the worst reputation at her school into a fake dating scheme not only to convince her friend that she’s in a committed relationship, but it benefits him as well and will help him prove to his colleagues he isn’t a flight risk. But to make this believable, they have to be seen together, and often. It doesn’t help that their friends are fooled and push them into awkward situations time and time again. It’s no wonder that feelings start to catch. We also had a really good roadblock in the romance. Typically like 3/4 of the way through romance novels there’s something that pulls the two apart, this one was gold and I really loved how it was handled. There was a villain which is rare in contemporary romances so that was fun.
The only issue I had with this was the miscommunication trope which I LOATHE ENTIRELY. However, it was short-lived, and even with the misunderstandings, the two main characters were still supportive and caring of one another. It wasn’t the kind of miscommunication that caused super toxic behaviour, they were friends first and foremost and that theme carried through which I absolutely loved. So, yes it was a trope I don’t like, but the author handled it so beautifully that I didn’t mind it so much in this book. I only yelled out loud to the characters to smarten up while reading like 6 or 7 times! It was very immersive.
Definitely one of my favourite romance reads. It had substance and plot and a very healthy relationship as the focus. It definitely has strong Star Wars fanfic vibes but that’s not surprising since that’s where the author got her start and the writing was extremely relatable and immersive. 5 star read on this one!