As a misguided Reylo shipper, I am devastated to report that Kylo Ren in this version is incredibly boring, and judging by the mega cringe sex scene, also not good in bed (an ability to fit a whole b@@b is one's mouth ain't all that). What a bummer.

P.S. I generally hate fanfic (except maybe some of the P&P stuff), so, people, write original fiction instead of stealing other people's creations. PSA over

This is a great debut romance and I'm so glad I picked this one up! Here are a few things I loved about this book:
◻️ Challenges women may face in a STEM academia setting
◻️Not many romances take place in an academic world and I really liked seeing change from the norm
◻️ Fake romance trope / slow burn workplace
◻️ Strong, supportive friendships for each of the main characters
◻️ Fun banter that made me smile and laugh

I would have loved to see a second POV from Adam or even a chapter at the end but I understand why it was more Olive's story. Adam's character just didn't seem as developed and super broody throughout!

* I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. All opinions in this review are my own.

I haven't been a big reader of Romance novels but this book has resparked my love for this genre. It is cute and the storyline is not to far fetched. For the most part is it just a light fluffy fun little adventure with some cute romantaic interactions but nothing to sexual, until it is (Chapter 16 and the begining of 17 are very sexual). If you like light romance that isn't too much you can really just skip chapter 16, not really any plot develpement there besides they had sex. The outcome of the story was obvious but it was so much fun waiting to see when the characters themselves would realize what was happening. This novel was so cute and I highly recoomend it to those that likes more adult romances! Not recommended to a younger audience unless they can handle sexual subject matter.

I recently learned that this book was originally a Reylo fanfic on AO3. This goes to show that fanfic writers are truly the unsung heroes in literature.

Okay, I’m having a disclaimer before anything. I’m not a fan of the Rey/Kylo Ren (Reylo) pairing, nor am I a fan of Adam Driver. But I hope Reylo fans and I would agree that The Last Jedi is the best movie in the sequel trilogy. 😉

But here’s the thing, I really found The Love Hypothesis amazing! It’s a cute STEM rom-com between a grumpy professor and a timid ball of sunshine Ph.D. candidate that will surely hit all your sweet spots!

In an attempt to convince her friend, that she’s over her ex, Olive kisses Dr. Adam Carlsen. That kiss turns into a fake dating contract that includes Wednesday coffee dates, smartass banters and some SPF slathering action. Surprisingly, Adam agrees for his own reason: to get enough funds for his research. So Olive convinces Anh that she’s over Jeremy and Adam secures his research grant. It’s a win-win! Except when feelings get involved, things get a little bit messy.

At first glance, this seems like a professor-student relationship but the technicalities were tackled in the book. So the tl;dr version is Olive isn’t a student/advisee of Adam so we can at least rule out the power dynamics for them. Besides, it seems like Adam was a little indifferent from the start like the true grumpy cat he is. I love how the book pokes fun at different tropes both for the story and the characters. Okay, actually it was Olive doing the poking 😂.

Speaking of Olive, is it possible to fall in love with a character from page one? Because that’s exactly what I felt about her from the moment she puts on expired contacts 🤣. Even with her timid personality, she managed to be a ball of sunshine to complement Adam’s brooding and grumpy personality. Her insecurities and impostor syndrome really resonated with me. She was just too damn relatable.

I also enjoyed the small moments they shared slowly opening up to each other. And the little tidbits showing Adam truly cared about Olive were just super kilig-inducing! Although, the story was generous enough to give us clues that Adam actually likes Olive, and as it turns out he’s secretly in love with her! PLEASE CAN IT GET MORE KILIG??????

Since we’re on the kilig topic, can I just say how delicious (for a lack of a better term) and gratifying the romantic scenes are in this book? It started with the little things like the coffee dates, playful banter, their support for each other, up to the hot steamy action!

Calling back at the “poking fun at the tropes” earlier, and one of the tropes I love is the famous “there is only one bed” and I love how it played out in this book! I feel like I’m running out of words to fully express my undying love for Olive and Adam. I just really enjoyed their mutual pining. Mostly from Olive but as I mentioned earlier, there were enough cues for the readers to conclude Adam’s feelings.

Also, I’d like to highlight the demisexual rep in the book. Olive is demisexual and I love that explored open conversations about it. This was actually the first time I’ve read a book with a character that identifies as demi, so that was really refreshing for me!

The execution, even if there was the dreaded miscommunication, was truly amazing!

As a STEM graduate, STEM romance is something I’m always on the lookout for and this was the main selling point. I love seeing women rise and succeed in this field, but alas, we can’t always get rid of the ignorant misogynists. I think Hazelwood made a really compelling take on the issue of misogyny, gender inequality, and sexual harassment in The Love Hypothesis.

Olive and Adam’s miscommunication and 3rd-act break-up stemmed from this. And as much as I was annoyed, I understand where Olive was coming from. It’s the hard truth women face every day in their careers. So it was definitely satisfying to see how the offender was handled in the story.

The Love Hypothesis really deserves all the hype! And for sure, it’s going to be one of the best books I’ve read this year!

The story was well-paced, the writing style was entertaining, and the characters were well fleshed-out, including the minor ones. I wish I could forget this book just so I could read it again for the first time. I really had a great time reading this book! 🥰

Do I recommend it? Hypothesis: The probability that I will say hell yes is 100%!

I loved The Love Hypothesis so much! The story opens up with Olive in the most awkward of situations, planting a kiss on the first guy to come along and the fun begins!

Olive doesn’t want to be the reason her best friend doesn’t date her ex, Jeremy. It’s not like she really felt much for him, but Ahn holds herself back because of the girlfriend code. Olive lies to Ahn by saying she’s already moved on and a fake romance is born with the most hated professor in the department: Adam Carlsen. He’s got a reputation of being unapproachable, intimidating, and a straight-up ass, yet he’s anything but with Olive. Adam has his own reasons for wanting a fake romance, and they agree to keep up the pretense. Of course, they draw closer, and Olive is surprised at his thoughtfulness, how much fun she has with him. They click in a profound way, and she finds herself falling for this moody, broody guy. Is she setting herself up for heartbreak? Olive doesn’t imagine he could feel the same.

The Love Hypothesis had me cracking up with all the awkward situations, rooting for Olive as she digs herself in deeper. It was obvious to me that Adam had it bad for Olive, but of course she’s more than a little obtuse picking up on the clues, and there were many. They had oodles of chemistry and were playfully antagonistic, their relationship was just so much fun! I just wanted to just smoosh these two together! But trust…, they get their time together and it is worth the delay!

I had such a huge smile on my face while reading! The Love Hypothesis was a phenomenal debut! Multi-layered characters, clever, fun dialogue, and romance full of giddiness and longing. Definite re-read material!

I am a sucker for rom coms and love really good fanfiction (this story was originally Star Wars fanfiction). The Love Hypothesis takes them both and becomes a fun romance that I highly enjoyed. The premise uses one of my favorite rom com tropes- fake dating- and runs with it in an academic setting, which I found unique. Although this won't change the world, this book really hits the mark with fun banter, brooding hero, and plucky heroine. I will be looking for more books by Ali Hazelwood in the future.

If you are a romance fan, chances are you've at least seen the cover for The Love Hypothesis if not heard the hype surrounding it. I hate to admit it, but I was hesitant to read it. I had kind of been avoiding it because of said hype and the fact that illustrated covers tend to dupe me at times. Basically, I wasn't planning to read it. Then, the 5 star reviews started rolling in. Some of my most trusted blogger and reader friends started reviewing it. All said it was worth the hype. What I was reading in reviews made me change my mind, so I read it. IT WAS SO WORTH THE HYPE. So worth it. 

I adored The Love Hypothesis. I was immediately pulled into Olive's world. I'm not the biggest fan of third person narration, but it worked for me here. Olive, with her doubts and insecurities, was totally relatable. I loved how she wanted to make sure her friends were happy, but also felt for her with what she was willing to do to make sure that happened. Olive was a smart, nice, and overall good person. I loved her.

I also loved Adam. He might have been the most hated professor on campus with his blunt deliveries, but I loved that he was unapologetic about it and was trying to better the grad students. What I loved most about him, though, was how he treated Olive with so much care. 

Olive and Adam were cuteness overload. I couldn't get enough of their fake relationship -- especially the more real it got. Their interactions were constantly making me swoon. I could go on and on about how perfect Olive and Adam were for each other.

As with any good romance novel, there were some amazing side characters. Olive's best friend Anh and her pushiness cracked me up. Malcolm and basically everything he did made me smile. Adam's friend Holden was another fun character. I wouldn't mind a book for either Anh or Malcolm. I would love for this to be a series! I don't know if that's planned, but it would make me happy.

I was a little worried going in that all the STEM and academia stuff might overwhelm the story, but it was worked so well into the story and felt subtle despite it being a major topic. It was actually kind of fun to learn more about the grad school and academic life since I didn't go that route. And I loved how Olive and Adam's love of science and experiences in the field brought them closer together. 

Yeah...I could probably go on and on about this book. It's definitely a new favorite debut romance novel and one that you will most likely find on my list of favorite books for 2021.

How do I say anything about this book that hasn't been gushed about already?

If you're somehow living under a rock and haven't discovered / heard of this amazing debut from Ali Hazelwood, I'm here to tell you that not only will it live up to the hype, but you'll be a swooning puddle of goo over Olive and Adam.

Are you a Reylo fan? CHECK out that cover. Does Hazelwood manage to extend fanfic writing into one of the best debuts I've ever read? Did she make me love Kylo Ren + Rey even more, and want to live in a world where only other fandom lovers live with me? YES, yes she does. & she may just be the sweetest person on the world to boot. Not only did we get to read this one as a book club thanks to our very own lady in Stem Izzy (@ilashreads) but I got to meet up with her for her book signing at Joseph Beth and I am just a forever fan.

"That's the thing with science. We're drilled to believe that false positives are bad, but false negatives are just as terrifying." She swallowed. "Not being able to see something, even if it's in front of your eyes. Purposefully making yourself blind, just because you're afraid of seeing too much."

Who KNEW I could love science so much?! Olive and Adam are everything, the fake dating, the laughs, the tough topics, the perfect amount of steam - EVERY moment of this book made me feel something, and it will remain one of the best books I've read this year for sure.

Not only is the romance just chef's kiss perfection, but the friends that make up this cast are everything, and added so much to the story. I don't know how Ali's going to top this one, but I cannot wait to read more from her!

Thank you Ali, and Berkley Romance for my advance reader copy of this incredible book, I just cannot think of enough amazing things to say about it, I've been gushing about it to anyone who will listen or who somehow hasn't heard about it!

This will be one of my favorite romances of the year. Let’s start by saying I read it in less than 24 hours- the only reason I didn’t read it in one sitting was because it was a work night and I was already way past my bedtime! It’s a book I was going to just read a couple pages of and couldn’t put it down!

I love fake dating and slow burn romance- those are two of my favorite tropes. So this is right in my lane!

I loved the setting- Stanford science post-graduate program and research labs. I loved getting an inside look at that (especially helpful b/c I have a HS senior thinking about Chemistry programs and talking a lot about research).

And I just loved the writing style- it was the whole package for me. Olive and Adam were a fantastic couple! Each chapter starts with a hypothesis which is a teaser for the chapter- lots of fun. And great backstories for both- they felt real and relatable and the side characters were also all that.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was just a really cute and enjoyable, nerdy, contemporary romance. The main character is super lovable and the love interest is delightfully grumpy in a Darcy-kinda way. Although this was a pretty light read, it did touch on some heavier themes, including sexual harassment. This really only added to the depth of the characters and story.

5 New Voice Stars
* * * * * Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
Years ago when I discovered Penny Reid, it was all I could talk about. The same thing happened when I found Helen Hoang. The new voice that I have found is Ali Hazelwood.

If you know me, you know I do not believe in reinventing the wheel...so I will just say two things:

If you want to know more about this book, then Please read all of the terrific reviews out there.
Next, whatever you do, you should read this book because it will give you everything you could want in a romance, seriously, you will love it.

My co-blogger, Angela, told me that this was Reylo fic, and I was immediately like, “YES. SIGN ME THE FUCK UP.”

After finishing it, I thought Ange might have been led slightly astray by the people of Twitter, until I did some digging. The Love Hypothesis might have started as Reylo fanfic, but this published version doesn’t read like it. To me, the only thing that comes close is that the male lead, Adam Carlsen, is basically Adam Driver being grumpy for the entirety of the book.

The female lead, Olive Smith, is NOTHING like Rey. Okay, maybe she looks like her, but that’s it. And really, I can’t even be sure about that because her appearance is never actually described in detail, aside from her being 5’8″.

Instead of taking place long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, The Love Hypothesis unfolds at Stanford University, where Olive is pursuing her PhD. Adam is a tenured professor there and is pretty much the most feared man on campus. Science is his life. He has no time for anyone who takes shortcuts with their research or performs sloppy clinical trials. He also has no problem telling people what he thinks about their subpar sciencing (totally a word).

One night Olive is at the lab late, when she sees her bestie, Anh, who she’s been avoiding because – and this is admittedly super awkward – said bestie hit it off with the guy Olive was dating, and it’s obvious they both want each other and would already be tearing each other’s clothes off if not for the fact that Olive, like, exists.

Turns out, Olive never liked the guy she was seeing (Jeremy), and she wants Anh to just bonk him already, even though it would still be kind of awkward for her. So when Olive sees Anh walking toward her, she grabs the closest person with a penis and starts kissing him, hoping Anh will see that Olive has moved on and will therefore feel less shitty about breaking girl code by hooking up with Jeremy.

I know. It’s a lot to throw at you in the beginning of a review, but this all sets the stage for what’s to follow.

Who does Olive kiss but –

*pause for dramatic drumroll*

ADAM!

You totally saw that coming, didn’t you?

Luckily, instead of reporting Olive for sexual harassment, Adam is down with playing along. In fact, he suggests that they keep the ruse of them dating going because he wants the finance department at Stanford to think he’s setting down roots so they’ll give him more grant money.

Classic fake dating twist, amiright?

SPOILERS AHEAD

Before I get any further into this, I just want to state, for the record, that overall I enjoyed The Love Hypothesis. As a former aeronautical engineer, I am here for the women in STEM rep. But there are some things that kept my rating down that I haven’t seen many other reviewers discuss and I’m going to get into the weeds about some of my complaints for pretty much the rest of this review.

Consider yourself warned or whatever.

So Olive and Adam keep the fake dating facade up for several weeks, and here’s where I started to get slightly impatient with our girl Ol (yes, that is her nickname, and no, I was not a fan of it). It becomes increasingly apparent that Adam isn’t in it for the money. He likes Olive. A lot. It’s goddamn obvious to anyone following along. Except Olive.

Bear in mind that Olive is a super-bright doctoral student, so for her to not notice something this obvious is a bit unbelievable. I’ve seen other reviewers argue that she’s oblivious because she’s a sheltered “geek” and is socially awkward. BUT SHE ISN’T, THOUGH. In the beginning of the book, she’s able to successfully read the physical and verbal cues between Anh and Jeremy and immediately realize they’re both into each other even when they try to hide it. So how could she miss the fact that Adam displays 10x more interest in her?

If you want to argue this from a low self-esteem standpoint, fine, that could work. Olive definitely does suffer from that to some degree. She also has trauma from her childhood that makes her think that nothing good will ever happen to her because everyone will eventually leave her (her mother died of pancreatic cancer, leaving Olive completely alone in the world).

But I still had a tough time believing Olive’s ignorance, especially toward the end, where Adam was basically walking around with a lit-up neon sign over his head that read I HAVE A SERIOUS HARD ON FOR OLIVE SMITH.

The next gripe I had was that the one bisexual character in the book, Malcolm, was depicted as a highly promiscuous flirt who couldn’t make up his mind between boy/girl/boy/girl partners from literally one week to the next. Some super fun quotes:

• “And Malcolm, when he’s not busy screwing his way through the Stanford population.”
• “He did things that were unimaginable to most grads, like cooking real food! Going for hikes! Meditating! Acting in a play! Dating like it was an Olympic sport! “
• “Malcolm looked pleased – whether at the fact that he really did get around a fair bit or at Olive’s thorough understanding of his dating habits…”

First off, what a shitty way for someone to think about an alleged best friend. The subliminal slut-shaming in some of those quotes is gross, and I wanted to save Malcolm from Olive and Anh at some points. Secondly, I am OVER THIS DEPICTION OF BISEXUALITY. Maybe if I hadn’t seen this time and time again it wouldn’t irritate me so goddamn much, but ya’ll, it’s 2021. Bisexuality doesn’t equal promiscuity. It’s time to do better.

I also thought it was weird that Malcolm, is, like Olive, never really described, but then toward the end, there’s mention of his dark skin against hers, and … ? Was I supposed to read the name Malcolm and assume he was black? Is he even black? Latino? Indian? I have no actual idea, and that is pretty weird considering Adam is described in such great detail that I could tell you how many pores he has on his face.

My last big issue was the way the sexual harassment played out towards the end. Adam has a research partner named Tom. One of Adam’s other friends warns Olive to be careful around Tom, and Olive patently ignores that advice and just assumes that the friend is jealous or something, even though he’s a perfectly rational, well-adjusted college professor.

Mmkay then.

So Tom ends up sexually harassing Olive in an incredibly ugly, demeaning, disgusting way. It’s actually a little bit too much, if I’m honest. Like, it read like something a guy would say in the 80s, when there was zero fear of reprisal, not now, post #MeToo when these fucks should all be running scared. That’s in no way to say this shit doesn’t still happen – God knows I saw some ugliness working in the STEM field – but something about the way this was written just felt OTT to me.

After the harassment happens, Olive doesn’t tell anyone. Not her friends, and not Adam, who takes one look at her and knows something bad just went down. She doesn’t talk, because, and I can’t believe I’m typing this, she doesn’t want to hurt Adam’s relationship with Tom.

What. The actual. Fuck.

I mean, fine, yes, that’s something someone might do. The harassment was horrible and ugly and by exposing Tom, Olive would have to relive her trauma all over again, publicly, because he’s in a position of power, but then just write it that way. That, at least, is a reason most modern women readers could swallow. But because Olive doesn’t want to break up their friendship? Jesus Christ, they’re research scientists, not The Beatles. I am sick to death of reading depictions of women being attacked or harassed by men only to keep quiet because they don’t want to hurt the feelings of another man.

I don’t know. Maybe this is just me being a bitch who sometimes struggles with empathy. Or, maybe as a woman in STEM, I just CANNOT with the men in those fields anymore – LORD, do I have stories. But I felt like this was a missed chance to have Olive, who up until this point was incredibly passive and borderline doormatty at times with aggressive male colleagues (I told you she was nothing like Rey), stand up for herself and out Tom as the raging misogynist he is. But she didn’t, and if not for her friends overhearing an accidental recording of the incident, she might not have ever said anything.

Okay, so that concludes me bitching, and I feel like I should remind you that it could all just be me. Every reader experiences every book differently; this is just my perception of The Love Hypothesis.

And I do want to say, again, that it definitely isn’t all bad. The scientific aspects of this were all depicted incredibly well, with a ton of detail, and yet without ever feeling too cerebral. You don’t need a PhD to understand all of Olive’s research. The romance was sweet and believable and pretty steamy toward the end. And there really was a ton of rep and diversity in here, I just obviously wish some of it was handled a bit differently.

This book was absolutely amazing! It took off right out the gate and held strong for the whole novel. I'm in love with Adam and Olive, and the first thing I wanted to do when I finished the novel was flip back to the beginning and start it all over again.

This book 100% lives up to the hype.
Going into this book I did not expect much, mainly because I wanted to keep my expectations as low as possible. Best decision I ever made.
I did not want this book to end! It was the right balance of funny, charming, and just overall very heartwarming.
Olive was such a great heroine. Although it was a bit annoying having her doubt Adam's feelings towards her this is only normal and I think it added to the plot of the book.
The writing was extremely funny and quirky without being cringy which is a huge plus.
Additionally, the demis*xual rep in this was much appreciated and extremely relatable.
Overall, a great book!

My my my. I loved this, I really did. I wish I had a concise and analytical review for you but honestly, this is Adam Driver written into a book. WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED?!

i would literally puke if any of my students looked at me like this but that aside this book was really cute and fun and i do want SOMEONE to look at me like that but not one of my students, ya dig?

I genuinely loved this book. It made me miss research and honestly even stats?? I didnt know that was possible..

Sometimes I just want to leave it at “this was just wonderful” because I want readers to experience this book the way I did. Just a recommendation from a fellow reader to dive in.

This book was everything. From the shy, whip-smart, funny heroine who made some questionable choices along the way but you just can’t help but love her, to the equally whip-smart, brooding, aloof hero who grows on you so fast because of the way he treats the heroine. How Adam really sees all of Olive and how she changes her opinion about Adam, that he isn’t quite the asshole everybody thinks he is.

“Olive.” He pulled her closer, pressing his lips against her forehead. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is that you’re crying about, I will fix it. I will make it right.”

I adored every single page of this story. Add a STEM background to it and this is my catnip. I geeked out with all the science talk. We also get a fabulous supporting cast and I especially loved Malcolm and Holden, the two LBGTQ characters who made me snort-laugh.

Ali Hazelwood’s voice is incredibly engaging. It feels like she has that amused twinkle in her eyes while writing, gleefully smiling because of the antics of her characters. I really loved that. And this is a debut author. Yes, people. A.DEBUT.AUTHOR. I can’t wait for all the books by her – I have a feeling I’ll love them just as much.

“I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”

For all those who need a trigger warning: there is a scene of sexual harassment.

Oh, THIS BOOK. So dang good. If you’re a fan of The Kiss Quotient, The Hating Game, or Bridgerton… then this book is for you.

✨I absolutely loved the main character, Olive—she’s so intelligent, driven, sarcastic, and relatable. Adam is a hottie of a male lead and I adored their chemistry together. If you’re looking for a well written, fun romcom with witty banter, a sunshine and a grump, endearing side characters, and all the warm fuzzies, then this book is for you. I’ll definitely be buying more of Ali Hazel wood’s books in the future, I’m sold!!.

Olive Smith has a problem: she needs to convince her best friend Anh that she isn’t into Anh’s crush Jeremy. Her solution? Fake date the grumpy and mysterious professor Adam Carlsen. Olive is shocked when Adam goes along with her fake dating plan, but he seems to have his own reasons for needing to fake date someone. The only thing left to do is not fall for the person you are fake dating…

I’m so blown away by this book, I can hardly believe it’s a debut novel. And, it mixed to tropes together almost perfect with faking dating and grumpy hero/sunshine heroine. I’m actually kind of kicking myself for not reading this book the moment it hit my kindle. I read somewhere that this book was Reylo fanfic and while I am not a huge shipper of that duo, I can see how those characters inspired this book. Adam in the book was well, Adam Driver, and Olive was Daisy Ridley in my mind.

I loved the dynamic between Adam and Olive, I’m a sucker for when the hero is a jerk to everyone but the heroine and this book was stuffed to the gills with that. In addition to that, this book had some pretty decent character development that I appreciated, both Olive and Adam helped the other one grow and become a better version of themselves, even while fake dating.

Absolutely loved this book, it came to me right at the perfect time during a horrible book slump, and now the only thing to do is wait very impatiently for another book by Ali Hazelwood to come along.

The Love Hypothesis is a clever romantic comedy with scientists who fake a relationship. The witty banter between good-natured Olive and a broody Adam created a slow burn romance. I enjoyed all the science and academia jargon.