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袚褨锌芯褌械蟹邪 泻芯褏邪薪薪褟
欧宝娱乐 Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Romance (2021)袨谢褨胁褨褟 小屑褨褌 鈥� 斜褨芯谢芯谐懈薪褟, 褟泻邪 屑褉褨褦 薪械 锌褉芯 褉芯屑邪薪褌懈褔薪褨 褋褌芯褋褍薪泻懈, 邪 锌褉芯 写芯泻褌芯褉褋褜泻懈泄 褋褌褍锌褨薪褜. 袗谢械 褖芯 褉芯斜懈褌懈, 泻芯谢懈 薪邪泄谢褨锌褕邪 锌芯写褉褍谐邪 薪械 写邪褦 褌芯斜褨 褋锌芯泻芯褞 蟹 芯褌懈屑 泻芯褏邪薪薪褟屑 薪褨 胁写械薪褜, 薪褨 胁薪芯褔褨? 袟胁褨褋薪芯 卸, 蟹薪邪泄褌懈 褏谢芯锌褑褟, 褟泻懈泄 胁写邪胁邪褌懈屑械 谢褞斜褔懈泻邪. 袧邪 褑褞 褉芯谢褜 谐芯写懈褌褜褋褟 薪械 邪斜懈褏褌芯, 邪 屑芯谢芯写懈泄 褨 谐邪褉褟褔懈泄 锌褉芯褎械褋芯褉 袣邪褉谢褋械薪: 屑-屑-屑, 斜褨芯谢芯谐褨褟, 小褌械薪写褎芯褉写, 锌芯褑褨谢褍薪泻懈... 袧械锌芯谐邪薪懈泄 锌芯褔邪褌芯泻, 锌芯谐芯写褜褌械褋褟! 袨谢褨胁褨褟 屑邪褦 褔褨褌泻懈泄 锌谢邪薪 褨 薪械 褔械泻邪褦 胁褨写 褋谢邪胁薪芯谐芯 薪邪 胁褋褞 泻邪褎械写褉褍 袗写邪屑邪 芦袚械写蟹褟禄 袣邪褉谢褋械薪邪 褉芯蟹褍屑褨薪薪褟 褔懈 锌褨写褌褉懈屑泻懈. 袗谢械 锌褨褋谢褟 褨薪褑懈写械薪褌褍 薪邪 胁械谢懈泻褨泄 薪邪褍泻芯胁褨泄 泻芯薪褎械褉械薪褑褨褩 袗写邪屑 褋褌邪褦 薪邪 褩褩 斜褨泻. 袉 褉邪锌褌芯屑 写褨胁褔懈薪邪 锌芯屑褨褔邪褦, 褖芯 褩 褩 芯斜褉邪薪械褑褜 薪械 谢懈褕械 褉芯蟹褍屑薪懈泄, 邪谢械 泄 褔褍泄薪懈泄 褨 胁褉褨胁薪芯胁邪卸械薪懈泄 褏谢芯锌械褑褜鈥� 褨蟹 泻褍斜懈泻邪屑懈 锌褉械褋褍 (芯 斜芯谐懈!). 些芯泄薪芯 屑邪谢械薪褜泻懈泄 械泻褋锌械褉懈屑械薪褌 胁懈褏芯写懈褌褜 蟹-锌褨写 泻芯薪褌褉芯谢褞, 邪 褌械芯褉褨褟 褉芯屑邪薪褌懈泻懈 褉芯蟹斜懈胁邪褦褌褜褋褟 薪邪 写褉褍蟹泻懈, 褟泻 袨谢褨胁褨褟 褉芯蟹褍屑褨褦: 写芯褋谢褨写卸械薪薪褟 胁谢邪褋薪芯谐芯 褋械褉褑褟 锌褨写 屑褨泻褉芯褋泻芯锌芯屑 斜褍写械 褋泻谢邪写薪褨褕懈屑 蟹邪 谐褨锌芯褌械蟹褍 泻芯褏邪薪薪褟!
416 pages, Hardcover
First published September 14, 2021
40.4k people are currently reading
1m people want to read
About the author
Ali Hazelwood
21听books146k听followersI'm Ali, and I write contemporary romcom novels about women in STEM and academia.听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 欧宝娱乐 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 欧宝娱乐 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 170,798 reviews
March 4, 2022
I want to say this is a case of 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the book, it鈥檚 me.鈥� But then again, isn鈥檛 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 not American (she鈥檚 Canadian), she鈥檚 not male, and she鈥檚 pretty young (26). Most of these end up being boundaries for young folk pursuing PhD careers in America, and it鈥檚 impressive to see representation like this. This was probably my favorite part of the book because Olive tells us how it鈥檚 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鈥檚 a young woman in a predominantly male-dominated curriculum. While I鈥檓 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 work for me. You could say he needed much more seasoning.
Not only that, but by visualizing what I read, I couldn鈥檛 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鈥�8, and I guess she has brown hair based on the cover. And . . . yeah, that鈥檚 it. Visually, I could envision Adam more than Olive, yet we spend the entire book in Olive鈥檚 mind (since it鈥檚 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鈥檝e 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 forget that he鈥檚 big, especially when you鈥檙e reminded every fucking page.
That was it.
Speaking of, Olive鈥檚 personality also felt a little childish sometimes. The situation that led to Olive kissing Adam (without knowing, of course) is completely unrealistic, so it鈥檚 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鈥檚 the actual situation. Olive鈥檚 best friend, Anh, wants to date Jeremy, Olive鈥檚 ex. Olive is over him and wants nothing to do with him, but Anh thinks it鈥檚 breaking the girl code by dating Jeremy, even though Olive knows Anh really likes Jeremy. So to prove that she鈥檚 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鈥檚 not exactly stated, but Olive may or may not be in the asexual spectrum, specifically demisexuality. It鈥檚 briefly mentioned in the beginning (even the term is used) and when she and Adam are about to have sex, she mentions to Adam, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that I want to not have sex. I just . . . don鈥檛 particularly want to have it. There is something weird about my brain, and my body, and鈥擨 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 wrong with me, but I don鈥檛 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鈥檛 feel any . . .鈥� She closed her eyes. This was difficult to admit. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel any sexual attraction unless I actually get to trust and like a person, which for some reason never happens. Or, rarely. It hadn鈥檛, not in a long time, but now鈥擨 really like you, and I really trust you, and for the first time in a million years I want to鈥斺€� For starters, I literally got second-hand embarrassment, and second, I can鈥檛 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 鈥渢here is something wrong with [her] brain,鈥� making it seem like she 鈥渋sn鈥檛 normal鈥� because she experiences sexual attraction differently than 鈥渘ormal people鈥�. 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鈥檚 touch, realizing you鈥檙e 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鈥檛 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 鈥渄ating鈥� 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鈥檛 like how it played out for a PhD student and professor with a PhD. It just made it too unrealistic. There weren鈥檛 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 鈥淲e're dating, so we need people to see us鈥� scheme. Their moments felt completely forced, and not even because they鈥檙e 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鈥檛 understand how or why Adam liked Olive. Other than her being nice and intelligent, there wasn鈥檛 anything to appreciate.
Olive first had a crush on Adam, but based on her inner monologue, that crush quickly turned into 鈥淚 love him鈥� 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 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 鈥榓dults鈥� 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鈥檙e 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 not American (she鈥檚 Canadian), she鈥檚 not male, and she鈥檚 pretty young (26). Most of these end up being boundaries for young folk pursuing PhD careers in America, and it鈥檚 impressive to see representation like this. This was probably my favorite part of the book because Olive tells us how it鈥檚 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鈥檚 a young woman in a predominantly male-dominated curriculum. While I鈥檓 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 work for me. You could say he needed much more seasoning.
Not only that, but by visualizing what I read, I couldn鈥檛 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鈥�8, and I guess she has brown hair based on the cover. And . . . yeah, that鈥檚 it. Visually, I could envision Adam more than Olive, yet we spend the entire book in Olive鈥檚 mind (since it鈥檚 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鈥檝e 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 forget that he鈥檚 big, especially when you鈥檙e reminded every fucking page.
That was it.
Speaking of, Olive鈥檚 personality also felt a little childish sometimes. The situation that led to Olive kissing Adam (without knowing, of course) is completely unrealistic, so it鈥檚 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鈥檚 the actual situation. Olive鈥檚 best friend, Anh, wants to date Jeremy, Olive鈥檚 ex. Olive is over him and wants nothing to do with him, but Anh thinks it鈥檚 breaking the girl code by dating Jeremy, even though Olive knows Anh really likes Jeremy. So to prove that she鈥檚 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鈥檚 not exactly stated, but Olive may or may not be in the asexual spectrum, specifically demisexuality. It鈥檚 briefly mentioned in the beginning (even the term is used) and when she and Adam are about to have sex, she mentions to Adam, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that I want to not have sex. I just . . . don鈥檛 particularly want to have it. There is something weird about my brain, and my body, and鈥擨 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 wrong with me, but I don鈥檛 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鈥檛 feel any . . .鈥� She closed her eyes. This was difficult to admit. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel any sexual attraction unless I actually get to trust and like a person, which for some reason never happens. Or, rarely. It hadn鈥檛, not in a long time, but now鈥擨 really like you, and I really trust you, and for the first time in a million years I want to鈥斺€� For starters, I literally got second-hand embarrassment, and second, I can鈥檛 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 鈥渢here is something wrong with [her] brain,鈥� making it seem like she 鈥渋sn鈥檛 normal鈥� because she experiences sexual attraction differently than 鈥渘ormal people鈥�. 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鈥檚 touch, realizing you鈥檙e 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鈥檛 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 鈥渄ating鈥� 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鈥檛 like how it played out for a PhD student and professor with a PhD. It just made it too unrealistic. There weren鈥檛 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 鈥淲e're dating, so we need people to see us鈥� scheme. Their moments felt completely forced, and not even because they鈥檙e 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鈥檛 understand how or why Adam liked Olive. Other than her being nice and intelligent, there wasn鈥檛 anything to appreciate.
Olive first had a crush on Adam, but based on her inner monologue, that crush quickly turned into 鈥淚 love him鈥� 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 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 鈥榓dults鈥� 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鈥檙e 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.
August 20, 2023
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Update: I made a TikTok about this book!
Previous review: Why does that look like Kylo Ren and Rey wearing lab coats tho
I have a reputation for being a harsh reviewer, but honestly-- I'm just immune to hype. If I like a book, I like a book, whether it's popular or not. Usually, I find myself not liking hyped books, so I tend to avoid them, but as someone who works in STEM and did lab research, something about the premise of this book was constantly beckoning me. I NEEDED it.
Now that I have read the book, I have some thoughts.
LIKES
鉁旓笍 The STEM angle. I did get the impression while reading this that the author was on comfortable and familiar territory. I felt that way about reading LOVE ON THE BRAIN, too. It blends into the narrative in a really nice and satisfying way. You get the, "Oh yeah, I'm reading about science! SCIENCE RULES!" vibe, but it never feels inaccessible. You're in on the joke. That's not always easy to do with technical writing, so I admired that in this romance.
鉁旓笍础诲补尘. Look, he might have the personality of a sour glass of milk, but do we stan a gentle giant of a consent king? Yes the fuck we do. I'm starting to suspect that Ivy League Professor love interests are basically celebrity romances for stuck-up dark academia girlies. The way people swoon in this man's presence like they're at a Daisy and the Six concert in Daisy and the Six just cracks me up.
鉁旓笍The food descriptions. I'm a sucker for a food-friendly romance. And if you're going to have a book set in Palo Alto, you gotta dig in (literally! nom nom nom) to the California food scene. Which this book did. To my appreciation.
鉁旓笍 The weird cheap dates. They're students and supposed to be broke. So I don't know, I thought it was kind of cute how one of their dates was a stereotypical coffee date and another was a trip to get their flu shots together. I don't know, it just felt very college. (Plus, pro-vaccine!)
鉁旓笍 The sex scenes. Were honestly fine! But BookTok would have you believe that this is Fifty Shades of Science, though, and it is not. On the spice scale, this ranks so low that a Midwestern housewife might actually use it to season her mashed potato casserole. This isn't even a chili. It's black pepper with a kick. Yes, it's open door, but it's very vanilla and pretty brief.
DISLIKES
鉂岋笍 My sense of disbelief has been thoroughly snapped. The entirety of this book hinges on Olive kissing Adam (not consensually) to trick her friend into thinking she's over a guy. Then they fake date to (1) continue this ruse of lying to her friend and (2) trick Adam's superiors into thinking that he isn't going to move away and get a better job. I haven't read this much pathological-lying-for-fun-and-profit since Sophia Kinsella's Shopaholic series. Lying is not just a cute little misunderstanding. I know people can be nonconfrontational but this really did feel pathological.
鉂岋笍 The demisexual(?) rep. Olive appears to be coded as demisexual because at one point she tells Adam that she has a low sex drive and can't really have sex with people unless she feels an emotional connection. But then, ofc, she becomes a total size queen who's horny for Adam... and it starts to feel kind of like she was "cured" by sex. I will not understate the value of a sexual relationship that makes you feel emotionally and psychologically "seen," but if Olive was demisexual, I wish she had used the label and there had been more context for her sexuality, and why she feels the way she does.
鉂岋笍 He can fit her whole boob in his mouth. I did not need to know this. But now, alas, I do. Also she's the tiniest smol-smol pixie girl to ever stand at a mighty 5'8" and there's like several mentions of how Adam's monstercock and monsterhands are so BIIIIIIIG that he might, idk, snap her like a wishboner. I rolled my eyes over all of this a lot. I know it's a kink, but it's not mine.
鉂岋笍 There's a lot of hate for the sciences in a book that's supposed to be empowering to women. I wouldn't say this if it weren't also present in the other book by the author that I read, but... for a "STEMinist" book, it kind of feels like this book hates women in the sciences. Both this book and LotB had conflicts that revolved around the heroine suffering some HUGE (police-involvement-level) harassment campaigns as a result of her gender that interfered with her work. Both this book and LotB feature heroines who seem almost disillusioned with their work and aren't really sure they're in academia for the right reasons. Both this book and LotB kind of give the impression that it's every girl for herself in the science world, which P.S. sucks by the way, so it ends up giving not-like-other-girls.
鉂岋笍 BIG MISUNDERSTANDINGS EVERYWHERE. If you like this trope, you'll be happy. But I'm not a fan of big misunderstandings where both otherwise reasonable characters are deliberately and out-of-characteristically obdurate for the sole purpose of furthering the plot.
So overall, this book was fine. I'm surprised the author gets as much hate as she does for her books because they do what they set out to do. LOVE ON THE BRAIN is definitely a superior work, though, so I'm actually super curious about her most recent releases because she does seem to be improving with each subsequent book. My advice is to go into these expecting an airport chicklit sort of read, except with a hefty seasoning of some easily digestible science facts.
I know I'm probably forgetting to say more stuff but I think my review more than substantiates the rating.
2.5 to 3 stars
September 28, 2021
idk what kind of drugs y鈥檃ll 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鈥� 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 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鈥檚 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鈥檓 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鈥檛 and b. was actually right in that one specific instance and just doing his job of 鈥瀝aising鈥� good future scientists by giving them pointers how to do good research. and yet i had to sit through that whole drama of 鈥瀊uhu, 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鈥�. first of all, have you considered that you鈥檙e just doing shit work. second, how the fuck is it olive鈥檚 problem. why did i have to read this. it was such an unnecessary conflict.
there鈥檚 this thing in romance books where they have to hyperfocus on one of the man鈥檚 physical attributes and if it鈥檚 not the eyes it鈥檚 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 actually hopotheses but who cares. who cares. wait鈥� 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鈥檓 only a master鈥檚 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鈥� ugh鈥� cringe. idk what i was on reading this. in my defense i haven鈥檛 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 think this book has done anything new or swoon worthy. the characters were average. the story was average. the writing was average. i don鈥檛 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鈥檒l do me: 1.5 stars
maybe manvi is right and i just really hate popular books
but, this was just鈥� 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 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鈥檚 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鈥檓 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鈥檛 and b. was actually right in that one specific instance and just doing his job of 鈥瀝aising鈥� good future scientists by giving them pointers how to do good research. and yet i had to sit through that whole drama of 鈥瀊uhu, 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鈥�. first of all, have you considered that you鈥檙e just doing shit work. second, how the fuck is it olive鈥檚 problem. why did i have to read this. it was such an unnecessary conflict.
there鈥檚 this thing in romance books where they have to hyperfocus on one of the man鈥檚 physical attributes and if it鈥檚 not the eyes it鈥檚 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 actually hopotheses but who cares. who cares. wait鈥� 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鈥檓 only a master鈥檚 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鈥� ugh鈥� cringe. idk what i was on reading this. in my defense i haven鈥檛 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 think this book has done anything new or swoon worthy. the characters were average. the story was average. the writing was average. i don鈥檛 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鈥檒l 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 鉁� Stuck with You 鉁� Below Zero
~~~~~~~~~~~~
鉁� Connect with me 鉁� 鉁�
鉁� This was a pick for my BOTM box. Get your first book for $5 .
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 鉁� Stuck with You 鉁� Below Zero
~~~~~~~~~~~~
鉁� Connect with me 鉁� 鉁�
鉁� This was a pick for my BOTM box. Get your first book for $5 .
January 3, 2024
OMG! Look at the cover reminds us Reylo (Kylo and Rey disguised in lab coats, kissing each other till they get breathless), two nerdy adorable characters who were pretending as couple: a rigid-a.hole but also charismatic 34 years old professor and sweet, quirky, gold hearted Phd student who tries to find the cure of pancreatic cancer! I鈥檓 sold!!!
Banters are nerdish, sexy, entertaining but I have to scream at hot professor Adam鈥檚 face at each time he calls Olive smart ass! I wish he may have called her something smarter, catchy, more affectionate maybe?
Olive Smith is an orphan, insecure, hard working, smart biologist spending the most of her time in the lab for her research and emailing colleges for funding to work on the cure of cancer with brand new method.
After losing her loved ones at young age she becomes insecure about relationships. She is happy with her research, spending time with her close friends. There鈥檚 nothing she cannot sacrifice for them.
As soon as she breaks up with her boyfriend she doesn鈥檛 even like, she realizes her bestie Anh likes her ex way too much. To prove a point that she already moved on her life, she decides to kiss the first guy passing through the corridor while Anh is watching so she can believe in her and date with her ex.
The plan was simple till the guy she randomly kissed turns out Adam Carlsen, a young, hotshot lab tyrant most of the students curse the day they met.
But interestingly he doesn鈥檛 get furious about her love triangle tantrum. Actually he agrees to pretend acting like lovers for his own reasons to get enough fund to finance his own researches. Both of the parties seem like benefit from this arrangement till Olive realizes she likes way too much their Wednesday coffee dates and don鈥檛 forget the fact that she keeps drooling over his six packs. Even though he鈥檚 named as professor from hell, he always treats her sweet, respectful and he seems like he also enjoys to spend time with her.
But Olive has to wear big girl pants to face with her true feelings even though her love is unrequited. Could she be brave enough to come clean with him? What if she has to risk at more than broken heart?
Overall: I loved nerdish heroes and their gibberish scientific sweet talks! I enjoyed their chemistry!
#metoomovement , emotional and physical abuse themes were sensitively added into equation.
Holden and Malcolm were my favorite supporting characters.
I loved the academic romcom premise!
I went back and forth between four and five sisters but finally I rounded up 4.5 stars to 5 because of my love for MCs. Especially Adam earned millions of brownie points after the final revelations. He鈥檚 sweetest kind of douchebag!
This book made me feel so good and put a long and wide smile on my face, made my entire week.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this digital copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.
Banters are nerdish, sexy, entertaining but I have to scream at hot professor Adam鈥檚 face at each time he calls Olive smart ass! I wish he may have called her something smarter, catchy, more affectionate maybe?
Olive Smith is an orphan, insecure, hard working, smart biologist spending the most of her time in the lab for her research and emailing colleges for funding to work on the cure of cancer with brand new method.
After losing her loved ones at young age she becomes insecure about relationships. She is happy with her research, spending time with her close friends. There鈥檚 nothing she cannot sacrifice for them.
As soon as she breaks up with her boyfriend she doesn鈥檛 even like, she realizes her bestie Anh likes her ex way too much. To prove a point that she already moved on her life, she decides to kiss the first guy passing through the corridor while Anh is watching so she can believe in her and date with her ex.
The plan was simple till the guy she randomly kissed turns out Adam Carlsen, a young, hotshot lab tyrant most of the students curse the day they met.
But interestingly he doesn鈥檛 get furious about her love triangle tantrum. Actually he agrees to pretend acting like lovers for his own reasons to get enough fund to finance his own researches. Both of the parties seem like benefit from this arrangement till Olive realizes she likes way too much their Wednesday coffee dates and don鈥檛 forget the fact that she keeps drooling over his six packs. Even though he鈥檚 named as professor from hell, he always treats her sweet, respectful and he seems like he also enjoys to spend time with her.
But Olive has to wear big girl pants to face with her true feelings even though her love is unrequited. Could she be brave enough to come clean with him? What if she has to risk at more than broken heart?
Overall: I loved nerdish heroes and their gibberish scientific sweet talks! I enjoyed their chemistry!
#metoomovement , emotional and physical abuse themes were sensitively added into equation.
Holden and Malcolm were my favorite supporting characters.
I loved the academic romcom premise!
I went back and forth between four and five sisters but finally I rounded up 4.5 stars to 5 because of my love for MCs. Especially Adam earned millions of brownie points after the final revelations. He鈥檚 sweetest kind of douchebag!
This book made me feel so good and put a long and wide smile on my face, made my entire week.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this digital copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.
September 23, 2021
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 feeling giddy and elated. I *adored* the geeky, surly professor and poor grad student dynamic, and the narration by 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 is an impressive debut from . 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.
goodreads|||
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鈥�
these characters have bewitched me body, mind, soul! these bad bitch scientists had me acting all submissive and breedable 馃洂
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鈥檚 a bad bitch that deserves the world !!! but i鈥檓 also jealous of her because she has Adam !? like um sharing is caring #SelfishScientist
补苍测飞补测蝉鈥�
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鈥檚 a fucking thot y鈥檃ll! don鈥檛 even fight me on this. he had my legs fucking divorced in chapter 16; his pov and Olive鈥檚
the plot and writing were excellent! yes this is fiction but it鈥檚 written so realistically ya know? it ain鈥檛 fabricated. the emotions were raw. my heart was swelling for these characters. bruv why did i read this so MFing fast?!?! i don鈥檛 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鈥檛 no one doing it out here like queen Ali Hazelwood!! Ali deserves the world for birthing this. She fucking DELIVERED 馃憦馃徑 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鈥檚 gooooooo 馃槇
this shit is a literary masterpiece! flawless! perfection! excellent! splendid! and above all epic鈥�
these characters have bewitched me body, mind, soul! these bad bitch scientists had me acting all submissive and breedable 馃洂
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鈥檚 a bad bitch that deserves the world !!! but i鈥檓 also jealous of her because she has Adam !? like um sharing is caring #SelfishScientist
补苍测飞补测蝉鈥�
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鈥檚 a fucking thot y鈥檃ll! don鈥檛 even fight me on this. he had my legs fucking divorced in chapter 16; his pov and Olive鈥檚
the plot and writing were excellent! yes this is fiction but it鈥檚 written so realistically ya know? it ain鈥檛 fabricated. the emotions were raw. my heart was swelling for these characters. bruv why did i read this so MFing fast?!?! i don鈥檛 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鈥檛 no one doing it out here like queen Ali Hazelwood!! Ali deserves the world for birthing this. She fucking DELIVERED 馃憦馃徑 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鈥檚 gooooooo 馃槇
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 馃拃
ITS SOOOO FUCKING GOOD and I鈥檓 in such a hangover now i literally do not know what to do with myself.
Start to finish HOLY SHIT. You鈥檙e hook line and sinker baby.
Not one dry page here.
Adam is one of the MOST WHOLESOME CHARACTERS IVE EVER READ Jesus Christ I鈥檓 so in love with this man. And OLIVE?!? My dedication to these two is downright unhealthy.
I鈥檒l 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鈥檓 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鈥檓 thrilled about this. Holy crap. What else can I say to convince you鈥�. absolutely top notch.
ITS SOOOO FUCKING GOOD and I鈥檓 in such a hangover now i literally do not know what to do with myself.
Start to finish HOLY SHIT. You鈥檙e hook line and sinker baby.
Not one dry page here.
Adam is one of the MOST WHOLESOME CHARACTERS IVE EVER READ Jesus Christ I鈥檓 so in love with this man. And OLIVE?!? My dedication to these two is downright unhealthy.
I鈥檒l 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鈥檓 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鈥檓 thrilled about this. Holy crap. What else can I say to convince you鈥�. 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鈥檚 entire boob in mouth)
this was cute though. heroine did irritate me at times but i鈥檓 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 馃敟
this was cute though. heroine did irritate me at times but i鈥檓 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 馃敟
August 31, 2021
I don鈥檛 think reylos deserve human rights sorry
September 3, 2021
In the words of Adam Driver鈥�.
鈥滒煈岎煆糋ood soup鈥�
4.5猸愶笍
鈥滒煈岎煆糋ood soup鈥�
4.5猸愶笍
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馃馃徎鉁�
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.
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.
November 5, 2021
*sigh* when is it my turn to be happy?
September 15, 2021
鈥� 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 馃槍
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:
馃挮 age gap (Olive, 26 & Adam, 34)
馃挮 sunshine-grumpy
馃挮 fake-dating
馃挮 slow-burn
馃挮 workplace romance
馃挮 Ph.D student x professor (but it's not forbidden)
馃挮 mutual pining
馃挮 friends-to-lovers also known as dumbasses-to-lovers
馃挮 one-bed trope (kinda)
馃挮 Hero sees heroine in his clothes and is can't talk for a second
馃挮 guy simping for the girl first
馃挮 dimples
馃挮 asshole-ish Hero who is only soft for his girl
馃挮 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 馃槀
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� The Romance銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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 馃槀馃槀馃槀 the audacity lmao yes girl get that luxury package lunch 馃槀
The Love Hypothesis was very low on the heat level, but that one sex scene we got. I looooved it 馃サ馃サ馃サ 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 馃サ馃サ馃サ When Adam tells her that he wants to go down on her until she passes out 馃サ馃サ馃サ馃サ When Adam asked Olive if he can fuck her... I'm on my knees for my consent king 馃洂馃サ
Adam Carlsen, ik hou van jou 馃洂馃洂馃洂
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� The Friendship between Olive and Anh銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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 馃拝
Find yourself a best friend who would marry you if she thinks you will get deported back to Canada and need a green card. 馃ズ
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 鉁旓笍 Olive putting sunscreen on a half naked Adam 鉁旓笍 Olive kissing Adam 鉁旓笍) The list of sexual harassment Adam could compile, I'd love to see it. 馃槆
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� The Side-Characters銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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.
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� A Book not without its faults銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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 馃槀 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 馃槶馃槶馃槶 guys I thought you were SMART 馃槶
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..
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� Conclusion 锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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. 鈾ワ笍
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 馃槍
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 馃槍
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:
馃挮 age gap (Olive, 26 & Adam, 34)
馃挮 sunshine-grumpy
馃挮 fake-dating
馃挮 slow-burn
馃挮 workplace romance
馃挮 Ph.D student x professor (but it's not forbidden)
馃挮 mutual pining
馃挮 friends-to-lovers also known as dumbasses-to-lovers
馃挮 one-bed trope (kinda)
馃挮 Hero sees heroine in his clothes and is can't talk for a second
馃挮 guy simping for the girl first
馃挮 dimples
馃挮 asshole-ish Hero who is only soft for his girl
馃挮 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 馃槀
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� The Romance銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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 馃槀馃槀馃槀 the audacity lmao yes girl get that luxury package lunch 馃槀
"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 馃サ馃サ馃サ 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 馃サ馃サ馃サ When Adam tells her that he wants to go down on her until she passes out 馃サ馃サ馃サ馃サ When Adam asked Olive if he can fuck her... I'm on my knees for my consent king 馃洂馃サ
Adam Carlsen, ik hou van jou 馃洂馃洂馃洂
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: 馃枙
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� The Friendship between Olive and Anh銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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 馃拝
"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鈥�"
Find yourself a best friend who would marry you if she thinks you will get deported back to Canada and need a green card. 馃ズ
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 鉁旓笍 Olive putting sunscreen on a half naked Adam 鉁旓笍 Olive kissing Adam 鉁旓笍) The list of sexual harassment Adam could compile, I'd love to see it. 馃槆
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� The Side-Characters銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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.
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� A Book not without its faults銆赌锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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 馃槀 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 馃槶馃槶馃槶 guys I thought you were SMART 馃槶
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..
锝★渐锞燂緹锝� Conclusion 锝ワ緹锞燂渐锝�
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. 鈾ワ笍
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 馃槍
February 12, 2022
someone forgot to take the wattpad out of this book 馃拃
December 31, 2021
***TODAS LAS ESTRELLAS DEL UNIVERSO***
鈥滻鈥檓 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鈥檓 going to fucking kill you鈥�.
Este libro es uno de los m谩s bonitos que he le铆do en mucho tiempo. 驴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 m铆. S铆, leo un mont贸n de libros de fantas铆a rom谩ntica 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 much铆simos errores, que tienen miedo de dejar sus sentimientos al alcance de cualquiera y que, sobre todo, se sienten muy, muy reales.
Aqu铆 nos encontramos con Olive, una cient铆fica que est谩 intentando encontrar fondos para su investigaci贸n sobre un tipo de c谩ncer y, al mismo tiempo, est谩 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 est谩 m谩s desolada que el desierto del Sahara. Sin embargo, un d铆a, en un impulso y aprovechando que su amiga la est谩 viendo, Olive se lanza a besar a uno de los profesores del departamento鈥� que resulta ser nada m谩s y nada menos que Adam Carlsen, a quien b谩sicamente todo el mundo teme porque es fr铆o y despiadado con los estudiantes. La cosa es que, contra todo pron贸stico, Olive y Adam terminan entrando en un acuerdo de fake dating, cada uno con sus propios motivos, pero todos sabemos c贸mo acaba esto.
Si me conocen, saben que a veces suelo ser supremamente impaciente con los libros que tienen romances slowburn鈥� y The Love Hypothesis es la definici贸n de eso. Sin embargo, les juro que no hab铆a disfrutado tant铆simo un libro en mucho tiempo. Toda la historia de Olive y Adam, la tensi贸n que se fue desarrollando con cada encuentro inc贸modo, con cada situaci贸n loca en la que se met铆an, con cada malentendido, con cada escena en la que se notaba que ambos ten铆an un poco oxidados sus capacidades de relacionarse con otros seres humanos, con cada peque帽a 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 enamor谩ndose del otro y quiz谩s no ser correspondido鈥� wow, todo eso fue como una flecha que se me iba clavando cada vez m谩s hondo en el coraz贸n, que me recordaba eternamente mi desgraciada solter铆a y que me hac铆a quererlos a ellos cada vez m谩s. 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 s铆, hubo momentos frustrantes en los que quer铆a golpearlos a los dos y encerrarlos en una habitaci贸n para que dejaran de pensar cosas idiotas y, por fin, aceptaran que estaban locos el uno por el otro鈥� 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 gustar铆a much铆simo hablar de un aspecto de ella con el que me identifiqu茅 a niveles estratosf茅ricos, pero eso ser铆a un spoiler, as铆 que dejar茅 que lo descubran ustedes cuando lean el libro.
驴Y el final? 驴Qu茅 puedo decirles? Esos 煤ltimos cap铆tulos son perfectos, incre铆bles, spicy, llenos de sentimientos, de m谩s malentendidos, de momentos 茅picos y, sobre todo, de much铆sima, much铆sima felicidad. No les puedo decir mucho m谩s, 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.
鈥滻鈥檓 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鈥檓 going to fucking kill you鈥�.
Este libro es uno de los m谩s bonitos que he le铆do en mucho tiempo. 驴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 m铆. S铆, leo un mont贸n de libros de fantas铆a rom谩ntica 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 much铆simos errores, que tienen miedo de dejar sus sentimientos al alcance de cualquiera y que, sobre todo, se sienten muy, muy reales.
Aqu铆 nos encontramos con Olive, una cient铆fica que est谩 intentando encontrar fondos para su investigaci贸n sobre un tipo de c谩ncer y, al mismo tiempo, est谩 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 est谩 m谩s desolada que el desierto del Sahara. Sin embargo, un d铆a, en un impulso y aprovechando que su amiga la est谩 viendo, Olive se lanza a besar a uno de los profesores del departamento鈥� que resulta ser nada m谩s y nada menos que Adam Carlsen, a quien b谩sicamente todo el mundo teme porque es fr铆o y despiadado con los estudiantes. La cosa es que, contra todo pron贸stico, Olive y Adam terminan entrando en un acuerdo de fake dating, cada uno con sus propios motivos, pero todos sabemos c贸mo acaba esto.
Si me conocen, saben que a veces suelo ser supremamente impaciente con los libros que tienen romances slowburn鈥� y The Love Hypothesis es la definici贸n de eso. Sin embargo, les juro que no hab铆a disfrutado tant铆simo un libro en mucho tiempo. Toda la historia de Olive y Adam, la tensi贸n que se fue desarrollando con cada encuentro inc贸modo, con cada situaci贸n loca en la que se met铆an, con cada malentendido, con cada escena en la que se notaba que ambos ten铆an un poco oxidados sus capacidades de relacionarse con otros seres humanos, con cada peque帽a 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 enamor谩ndose del otro y quiz谩s no ser correspondido鈥� wow, todo eso fue como una flecha que se me iba clavando cada vez m谩s hondo en el coraz贸n, que me recordaba eternamente mi desgraciada solter铆a y que me hac铆a quererlos a ellos cada vez m谩s. 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 s铆, hubo momentos frustrantes en los que quer铆a golpearlos a los dos y encerrarlos en una habitaci贸n para que dejaran de pensar cosas idiotas y, por fin, aceptaran que estaban locos el uno por el otro鈥� 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 gustar铆a much铆simo hablar de un aspecto de ella con el que me identifiqu茅 a niveles estratosf茅ricos, pero eso ser铆a un spoiler, as铆 que dejar茅 que lo descubran ustedes cuando lean el libro.
驴Y el final? 驴Qu茅 puedo decirles? Esos 煤ltimos cap铆tulos son perfectos, incre铆bles, spicy, llenos de sentimientos, de m谩s malentendidos, de momentos 茅picos y, sobre todo, de much铆sima, much铆sima felicidad. No les puedo decir mucho m谩s, 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 鈥攜'all know that I don't lie with this鈥� 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 鈥渃arry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man鈥� 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 鈥攊f none at this point鈥� 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
鈥淗e鈥檇 clearly never seen a rom-com or read a romance novel in his life.鈥�
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 鈥攜'all know that I don't lie with this鈥� 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 鈥渃arry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man鈥� 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 鈥攊f none at this point鈥� 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
August 12, 2024
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!
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!
December 8, 2022
he had her whole boob in his mouth. i鈥檓 scared.
April 12, 2025
I loved this so much. I can鈥檛 remember the last time I鈥檝e been this giddy giddy over a book. The ending was slightly underwhelming but I couldn鈥檛 care less- I was in too deep by then. I can鈥檛 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馃ズ馃グ
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 馃槱 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 馃槱 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!!
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