Book: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Read From: 12th January - 17th January 2022
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: 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. To convince Anh that she is dating, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is 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.
Aaaannndd... The Love Hypothesis slots it’s way into the ‘hyped books are hyped for a reason’ category (much to my surprise)! I’ll be completely honest, I was very apprehensive about this one. With the exception of Talia Hibbert’s novels romance isn’t usually a stand-out genre for me and this, accompanied by the obvious fact that everyone and their dog adores this book, meant that I went in with low expectations as to avoid disappointment. Thankfully I didn’t need to worry, because this book was brilliant. I loved it!
I definitely have a love-it-or-loathe-it relationship with romance, I think because of its predictability, tendency to be a bit ‘mushy’ and heavy character focus. While these elements were definitely there in The Love Hypothesis, it didn’t break the book - it made it. I loved that a woman in STEM featured at the forefront of this book, accompanied by discussions of misogyny within this field of work/academia. Yes it was predictable and could sometimes be mushy but it’s a romance novel after all and there are times when this is exactly what you’re craving (which was definitely the case for me here)!
I wouldn’t say that Olive and Adam are my favourite fictional couple, but I really enjoyed the grumpy X sunshine dynamic and adored seeing their relationship develop and their feelings towards each other grow. Perhaps more importantly, the spice was also top tier and I LOVED how consent was approached in this book which is an element I feel is often (regrettably) ignored in a lot of books that feature romance.
I don’t think there’s anything I can say about The Love Hypothesis that hasn’t already been said by the plethora of glowing reviews already out there! This is just one more positive review in a sea of positive reviews telling you to read this book (especially if you love romance)!