Totally binged on this book in one morning. A super cute love story backed by science and one super steamy scene. A must for all fans of romance!

Olive Smith is a third year Ph.D. candidate whose life is dedicated to her research. She has a very limited social life so her friends are very important to her. So when she realizes that her best friend Anh is really interested in the guy that Olive had a couple of mediocre dates with, she decides to make up a fake boyfriend. This way Anh knows she has moved on and doesn't feel guilty about going out with the guy. She also kisses the first random guy she sees when she knows Anh is watching to really cement the fact that she has moved on. The random guy turns out to be Adam Carlsen, the youngest, hotshot professor at the university. He's smart, good looking and almost universally disliked by his students. That's because he's brutally honest and doesn't believe in sparing any feelings. Imagine Olive's surprise when he decides to go along with the fake relationship. This is a sweet and sexy romance that will give you all the feels. Highly recommend!

3.5 - rounded up to 4 because some of true banter was really good.

I went back and forth on this while reading - there were parts I really loved and others that I just kind of plowed through. Overall - a cute, fun read.

A new book I can say is close to my heart.


I think the biggest reason why I loved this one was because of how much I related to olive. I’m still in undergrad but I want to become a scientist as well and I just loved all of the science related parts of this book so much. I’ve read a few books with nurses, doctors, psychiatrists etc, but I don’t remember reading one about a scientist before and it was so great!

I loved how this book talked about the patriarchy that still exists in STEM, I loved the friendships, and I loved the romance between Olive and Adam. I felt like it was super organic and well developed and I just loved their interactions!

This was a great debut and I’m so excited to read more books by the author!

Wow, what an incredible debut novel! Fake dating at its finest. Adam and Olive are very relatable characters and their chemistry (no pun intended) was out of this world. Finally a book with outstanding STEM representation and a storyline where sexual harassment is not tolerated. If I could give The Love Hypothesis more than 5 stars, I would. Will be recommending this one to my friends!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Pub for this arc

This book was absolutely adorable
As “almost” woman of science (I wanted to be a chemist until switching major to math how way through) I love how this story took how hard it is to be a woman in a men’s world seriously. But at the same time it was sweet and cute and HOT 🔥😂

Olive was a great main character: brilliant, a little awkward and definitely learned something about the world and herself by the end of the it

Adam was amazing as well. I love the fact that he was super hot wasn’t even on his radar about “things about me”. He was honest, and strong in his beliefs and I really liked how much he cared about making “the best scientists”

I love how it took them time to become friends first and slowly get to know each other.

One thing I wish for a little bit more at the end. Don’t get me wrong. I liked this book. I just wish we got to see Adam and Olive actually being together for a little longer.

In Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, all Olive is after, when she abruptly asks Dr. Adam Carlsen in the hallways of Stanford University if she can kiss him, is to give her friend Anh a chance at a happy ending. After going out on a lackluster date with Jeremy, the guy Anh likes, Anh is convinced that Olive must be in love with him and wishes to stay out of the way. The only way Olive can think to convince her that she’s not interested in Jeremy is to pretend that she’s in a committed relationship with someone else.

With limited time to concoct a plan, Olive runs to the first guy she sees: Adam Carlsen, who also happens to be a young professor at Stanford and who has a reputation for making his students cry. To Olive’s surprise, he agrees, not just to kiss her but to get involved in a fake-dating relationship long enough to convince Anh that Olive is not interested in Jeremy. As it turns out, Dr. Carlsen can also benefit from pretending to be in a committed relationship, as he hopes to convince the Dean that he’s serious about continuing his work at Stanford and hopes to have them release the funds for his grants.

Olive and Adam work out the details of their arrangement. When and where they’ll meet and how often, among other rules like Olive’s “no sex” rule. At first, hanging out with Adam proves to be a test within itself, as he seems to be the complete opposite of Olive. He deplores her taste for pumpkin lattes and other overly sweet forms of caffeine. (He takes his coffee black.) And just like his minimalistic tastes in drinks, he’s not much of a talker. But he and Olive have one big thing in common and that’s their love for science and academia. Slowly but surely, Adam begins opening up to Olive and they help each other grow–Adam helps her with her confidence and Olive helps Adam be less rigid with his students.

The inevitable happens, and Olive ends up falling head-over-heels over Adam, but their arrangement has an expiration date. When Adam gets a large grant and job offers in Boston, Olive must meet her end of the deal and end the relationship so that he’ll be able to move on with his life and pursue his plans.

The Love Hypothesis is a charming and sweet story about two complete opposites finding common ground and the tender bond that grows from opening up to new experiences, to seeing life from a different perspective. Hazelwood handles the narrative so that the fake-dating trope doesn’t feel old or rehashed. In fact, Olive and Adam often refer to their arrangement by its literary name, bringing a level of ironic humor to the reader as we follow these two characters who think they’re somehow exempt from the worldly rules of the trope.

The Love Hypothesis is an easy read that will keep any lover of contemporary romance entertained with Olive’s witty monologue, witnessing how she breaks through Adam’s walls and he breaks through hers. This is also the first novel I’ve seen to openly use a popular joke from The Office, and just for that alone, it deserves a read. (If you’re a fan of The Office, you’ll know immediately when you see it! *wink*)

A special thanks to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for procuring an advanced reading copy of this title for me!

Grumpy/sunshine, student/professor, "I hate everyone but you," and fake dating all find their way into this perfect storm of a romance book!

Olive and Adam are both incredible protagonists and I loved them from the start. Olive is struggling her way through grad school, and Adam is the stern older professor (not ~her~ professor, but a professor in her department nonetheless). She kisses him to cover up the lie that she didn't ~actually~ go on a date when she told her best friend she was, and he agrees to fake date her to keep the ruse up for her friends (while he gets a little something out of it too).

Speaking of friends, all of Olive's friends are incredible and supportive of everything she does, and they jump to push her budding romance at every turn. They're funny, protective, and so encouraging like all good friends are.

This book honestly had the hottest steamy scene I've read in years as well. It lasts two whole chapters and the tension building was so perfect that by the time this couple actually gets together I was squealing while reading!

The ending was satisfying, not just for the main couple, but for all the other characters introduced in the book as well. I can't wait to see what Ali Hazelwood writes next!

This is one of the strongest debut novels I have ever read!

This story does an excellent job with some controversial topics (student/professor dynamic, title XI, sexuality).

I think this stories greatest asset is how realistic it feels. There aren't many moments where readers need to convince themselves for the sake of the story that something may have happened a certain way. There was an excellent balance of plot and romance. The slow build and burn of the relationship didn't drag out to long. The grumpy/sunshine dynamic was balanced perfectly, it was so easy to imagine the couple in real life.

My only complaint is that I think this story could have really benefitted from a dual POV. I love the focus on Olive and her schooling, but Adam was a really complex character and I would have loved even just a few chapters that let us in his head and showed us Olive as he saw her.

I will definitely keep an eye out for more work from this author.

I want to start out by saying that this book was a cute and fun, quick little romance read that I am sure most everyone will enjoy! I love the emphasis on women in STEM. The graduate school campus setting in this story is somewhat accurate to the world of academia and many of the themes are realistic and it brought me back to my college days.
I also enjoyed that this character is discovering unique qualities about herself , highlighting real world inner questions and thoughts about one's sexuality.

That being said, I really wish I enjoyed this book just a little bit more. The development in Olive's character and personality started to really turn me off to her. Though she is an independent but very stressed out graduate student, she just started getting way too whiny for me. It's almost like her personality flipped about two-thirds into the book. It was hard to want to stay connected to her character after a while. She's likeable in general. I just wish that her character would have played out a little stronger and less of the damsel by the end. But maybe those are just my particular preferences.

As far as professor hottie, I enjoyed the slow development of this character and loved the little plot twists sprinkled throughout the book. However, there were times where his personality seemed dull and would never catch up in the story, but eventually it evened out. Maybe he really is just the antisocial, introverted science guy at face value. He wasn't so much of a focal point but rather the icing on the cake. What's weird though is that this story is about Olive and yet I can see him more clearly in my mind than her.

I just can't put my finger on it, but this read didn't quite fit the bill for me this time around. The sexy and flirtatious scenes saved it for me.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone 18+ who enjoys fun, flirty romance books, especially those featuring women in STEM and also for those who enjoyed 'The Kiss Quotient' by Helen Hoang.

There are so many reviews on this one so I will skip the synopsis in favor of telling you why I liked it. 1) Science and that grad school life. I don’t know that anyone else is writing about female science grad students. It is a peek into a life of passion, dedication and discipline that I loved. One of my best friends went through a masters program in bio and this really echoes what she had told me about the journey. There are even resources at the end for support of women in STEM.
2) The humor! Out of so many funny moments, the sunscreen scene was my favorite. I was listening to the audiobook driving home from work and felt like I was going to die either of mortification on Olive’s behalf or from laughter. SO. DAMN. GOOD.
3) The romance. Fake dating is now a trope that I enjoy. Also, for those that like a steamy scene… don’t say that I didn’t warn you.
4) Olive. I just love her! She reminds me of Izzy from Grey’s Anatomy- gorgeous and brilliant but doesn’t know it, with a bit of an inferiority complex. And her position as a grad student definitely means she is an underdog. I love underdogs.
I could go on but will just leave it with one last thing: after I finished reading it, I IMMEDIATELY wanted to reread it. This is THE HIGHEST PRAISE that I can offer as I never reread books.

I liked this one, but overall I might have preferred to read it without all the hype going in ahead of time, because I think my expectations were raised and then a little diminished when the execution was less than what I had hoped for. Knowing the origins of this particular novel wasn't really the issue for me either; it was more that I noticed a lot of minor things in the narrative that felt very repetitive (like Olive almost too frequently commenting on Adam's size, or the two of them basically having two different versions of the same exchange within one conversation/scene), but I'm wondering if that might have been cleaned up in edits since I did receive an ARC. There were other details that seemed a little too farfetched to allow for suspension of disbelief, including the lap-sitting scene (which I can't imagine would have been acceptable between a grad student and a professor in a lecture setting), and Tom's heelturn into the villain felt more like something added in last-minute to create an external obstacle — which could have happened through something like Adam's funds or maybe even Olive getting an offer at another school and deciding whether or not to pick up everything and move? The book was cute, and I really liked the specific nods to romance tropes that were then subverted, but it didn't live up to all of the hype for me, unfortunately.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Olive Smith, a third-year PhD candidate studying cancer biology, needs to convince her best friend that she’s in a happy relationship by providing her with scientific currency (aka proof). And that’s how Olive finds herself in quite the pickle: fake dating Adam Carlson, the department’s young hotshot professor and resident ass. When these two scientist realize they each have something to gain from their fake relationship, they decide to continue their ruse, but can they actually fake love?

This book deserves everything: all the love ❤️ all the stars 🌟 It was perfection: the STEM representation, the scientific banter and flirting, the fake dating, the self-aware rom-com humor, the supporting characters, the LGBTQ representation, the steam! I couldn’t love it more if I tried, especially because this book perfectly captures what’s it is like to be a female scientist in academia.

🧫 Like Olive, I went through “the most notorious and soul-sucking circle of hell (i.e., a PhD)” not too long ago (and graduated with a PhD in cancer biology!), and this book brought be back to those days in a way I could smile and laugh at. Ali nailed it, the self-deprecating grad school humor, the special form of imposter syndrome that’s so entwined with being a grad student, the negative dollars that flow into your bank account, the lack of boundaries between your research and anything else in your life, your insecurities. BUT also the friendships, the camaraderie, and infinite support that will develop between your grad school cohort. Olive, Anh, and Malcolm were such a wonderful example of that.

This is easily one of my top 10 favorite books of all time. It was fantastic.

This was the perfect combination of witty banter, rom-com mishaps, and real life BS to make my heart soar.

Oh, and can we talk about chapter 16? Where things get a little . . . naked. It was fan-fucking-tastic. A) because of the naked parts but also B) because while it's not expressly stated on page, it's fairly clear that Olive is demi-sexual and like, I've never felt more validated in my dang life. It was just absolute perfection.

There was not a single solitary moment of this book where I wasn't just completely sold on it. I laughed so hard, literally cackling out loud while driving around. Olive and Adam are so wonderful together for a myriad of reasons and just... read it already.

I did receive an E-arc of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

SOOOO GOOD! has all the amazing tropes, grumpy / sunshine, fake dating, sharing a hotel.. I read it in one sitting and can't stop thinking about it! 10/10

Oh this book has it all! From the vest first chapter I was hooked and read the entirety in a 24 hour time period.

This quirky fake dating romance has such a fun wit. Olive's personality was just so much fun. I enjoyed seeing how she navigated life despite her hardships.

I would have loved to see more of Adam's side of things. Thats a personal opinion though and has zero criticism towards the overall story.

Five brilliant stars! Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

This book deserves ALL the stars! This romcom in a research setting was so perfect to me! My academic librarian heart loved every moment I read. The characters were wonderful and I wish the book was longer. I wanted more of Olive and Adam!

If this author writes another book, I'm definitely picking it up!

ADORABLE!

If I could get away with it, I would just say adorable, leave five stars and be done with it. That's all I want to say! 🤣
But this story deserves so many more words.
It was like this book was written just for me. I mean, I'm no university-genius-biology person, and I didn't understand anything when they talked about bio and smart people stuff (which they didn't do too much, don't worry!)
But still. The book was so cute and sweet and funny! I adored every tiny thing from the cover to the very last word!
I've never been to Stanford, so I had to google some photos. I wanted to be able to picture Olive and Adam walking across campus. And I did. I could picture everything so perfectly. Ali makes you feel like you're right in the middle of things. It was like sitting on the couch with some popcorn and booze and watching the most comforting and heartwarming rom-com.
I'm not telling you anything about the story. The blurb says a lot already.
You just need to know that it was a beautiful story. A rom-com set in the world of professors and grad students and biology. A story filled with characters that you immediately fall in love with. Olive and Adam. And Anh and Malcom and Holden.
There are so many cute and super-sparky moments - you just can't stop reading - you have to know how it all ends!
And the sexy moments?! As Blossom's Joey used to say: WHOA! I don't know if the sex scenes in my last few books were just super meh and fast-forward-worthy - but Olive and Adam ... they made the pages burn! It was hella erotic! Phew! 🔥😍

THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS was such a beautiful + sweet + funny + sparky + adorable University Rom-Com. I adored everything about it!
Run to your nearest amazon for your own Adam - he'll be sold out in no time!

READ THIS BOOK! It will be one of my top of 5 of the year I already predict it. I loved everything about it. I am a female in STEM getting my PhD so I obviously loved that POV. I thought the issues raised were important and well done and I loved the humor in the book. I also think the author did a great job painting what it is like as a grad student. I truly have nothing bad to say about this book, but I just didn't want it to end. I can't wait to see what Ali Hazelwood writes next. SIGN ME UP!!!

Amazing.

The story was so fun and the writing so enjoyable that I read this in one day, this one will go directly to my favorites of this year.

I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers stories and this one really hit me.