Book Review: The Love Hypothesis

by Ali Hazelwood

Rating: ⭐5/5⭐

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

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships—but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor—and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Review

After the massive success this book has had since it was released, and the countless reviews that have been written about it, I don’t think there’s much, or anything really, to say—or write—that hasn’t already been said.

If “smart is hot” was a book, it’d be this one.

I’ll always have a soft spot for STEM romances, especially those with heroines that are immersed in these types of fields, and that depict the struggles, disappointments and victories that are intrinsic to them. I went to college for a degree in a scientific field myself, so I inevitably feel right at home every time talk of labs, experiments and the inescapable failure tied to them comes up. I love nerd talk, what can I say?

I think one of the aspects that really stood out to me about The Love Hypothesis was the instant, amazing chemistry between Olive and Adam. Right from the very beginning during that fateful prologue in a random bathroom.

And as much as I loved Olive, I think Adam might just have barely surpassed her as my favorite character. I loved his dry, deadpan humor; his obliviousness to everything rom-com related, and how he was a complete softie when it came to Olive. It was adorable! Also, I found it hilarious how catastrophic and paradigm-shifting all of his grad students—and everyone in the biology department and Stanford University at large, for that matter—thought that him dating someone was. If that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about one Adam J. Carlsen PhD, I don’t know what will.

Another aspect I really liked and enjoyed was the depiction of Olive’s friendship with Anh and Malcom. Her relationship with each of them was unique and different, but so nuanced and fleshed out that they felt true and very realistic. Anh was the tough-love, driven and encouraging friend, while Malcom was the emotional support, shoulder to cry on type of friend. It was very satisfying how both of them meant different things to Olive, but how she still loved them both equally deeply.

The writing stye was very casual, breezy and funny, and I really vibed with it. And I think it was great that as predictable as this book should have been given that it was based on the fake-dating trope, while I knew the end destination it would deliver me to, the journey there kept me guessing at every turn. I’ll for sure be looking for more books to read by Ali Hazelwood very soon.

I had a really fun time playing around with AI generated images, and this is what I imagine Olive and Adam would look like in real life.