Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first book by Ali Hazelwood that I read, and I absolutely loved it. I will definitely read any book that Ali publishes because this one was so much fun. I really enjoyed both Olive and Adam as characters and I feel like Olive was definitely a really relatable main character which made this book even more enjoyable.

This book definitely rekindled my love for romance books, and I can't wait to read the rest of Ali Hazelwood's books.

This book wasn’t for me. It was too tropey, and I found myself skimming through the sec scenes. I read it an somewhat enjoyed it, though in time I have soured towards it.

Awkward, sweet, lonely Olive is working towards her Ph.D in biology, and her research focuses on early detection for pancreatic cancer. When her best friend Anh falls for Jeremy, the fellow grad student that Olive has been sort of dating, she’s more than happy to step aside, but Anh won’t believe her until Olive invents a fake relationship. Desperate for proof when she lies about a date, she spontaneously kisses Dr. Adam Carlsen in a hallway. Who kindly kisses her back, says he didn’t have a chance to consent (even though she asked) and teases her with a Title IX threat. It turns out the professor, known for being antagonistic, unapproachable, and maybe even down right mean due to his rigorous approach–has a sense of humor, is passionate, and has an ulterior motive of his own. His research funds are frozen, because he has no roots at Stanford and has been deemed a flight risk; having a local girlfriend might convince his funders he has no plans to bail from CA. The two plot out a series of coffee dates, get to know one another, and inevitably become friends. When Olive gets invited to present on a panel at a conference in Boston and her friends make alternative housing plans under the assumption that she will room with her “boyfriend” — you can guess what happens next.

Science + romance is often a win-win for me–the author perfectly captures the pressure (and broke-ass-ness) of graduate school, and the academia and research details give depth to the story and shouldn’t be lost on anyone who completed their required high school biology lab. This romance also gently pokes fun at itself with a healthy awareness of fake dating and just one bed tropes, Hallmark movies and bad YA novels. The characters are the best of stereotypes: fit, smart and beautiful people, but real; Adam is practically Clark Kent, in a pushing a giant truck out of the way moment. They are also healthily nuanced, with very human flaws, backstories with a dose of trauma, and sometimes unsavory behaviors (lies and deceit!). They are also very funny, and seem to share the same sense of humor. Every word of the book serves to further the plot and build character. The sex is languorous, detailed and includes check ins and consent, but not condoms. Finally, I think Olive is of a orientation not often represented: she doesn’t feel attraction, and cannot engage in physical intimacy unless she completely trusts her partner and has developed emotional intimacy. And when she is able to be unguarded and honest with Adam, he is gentle, respectful, and responsive to her demisexuality.

Triggers for some may include parental loss, sexual harassment, and misogyny, none of which is far fetched, gratiutous, or rewarded; in fact, a villainous and dastardly colleague, but he gets his comeuppance in very satisfying way.

I received a free advance reader’s copy of #TheLoveHypothesis from #NetGalley last year, devoured it, and forgot to write a review. It was just as excellent on the re-read through Libby.

Ok, now I get why all the hype!
It feels like ever since The Love Hypothesis came out the world went mad about it. And I don’t talk only about bookish online community. I literally talk about the world.
Even in my country, where books are really just a side hoby for only few people who enjoy reading, this book is all over the media and in every bookstore window.

Ever since I got the book for review I knew it would probably be my jam, and I will confess that I gave it a try as an audiobook back in December, but for some reason I couldn’t understand half of things characters were talking about. At time I blamed my English skills, but now when I read an ebook I think it was the lack of concentration (and, once again, I will call my post covid card).

Fast forward to July, I read The Love Hypothesis, had no problems with understanding the story whatsoever, loved it and now I understand why everyone and their mothers recommend this novel.
I am now one of them (and their mothers) too.

In my entire life I read only two fan fictions. The Royals Next Door (which was my favorite romance of 2021) and this one. I know it is way too few of them, but I feel like fan fictions are amazing.
Will I go to wattpad and subscribe to some of them? Well, now when Ezra Miller turned out to be a bad (but still very hot) guy probably not.
However, if I see that a traditionally published romance was previously written as a fan fiction, I will 100% grab it.

The Love Hypothesis was originally inspired by the actor Adam Driver. Even though I never wet my panties thinking about him, I can see why women would find him hot and tbh, if he was anything like Adam from this story then I am not sure my panties wouldn’t stay dry for long if I stumbled upon him in real life (yes, words written by a married woman, don’t judge me (or do)).

Anyway, joke on a side, let’s talk about the book now.
It was well written in third person following Olive’s perspective.

I like how it touched important subject of women trying their best in a men’s world and still having to prove themselves more then men, sometimes even robed for their ideas and work, or how men want to take advantage of them just because they think they can.
I loved the message and even if it was raw, I never felt like it was pushed on me.

The story had so many funny scenes where I smiled or laughed. Friendships were written well and characters were believable, while the chemistry between Adam and Olive felt real and hot.

The only thing I didn’t like was that scene where Olive has inner monologue about the size of Adam’s thing. When she touched the subject of birth giving the author lost me, but after some time, as everything else was well written, I decided to pretend that scene was erased, just like it should have been (but obviously I didn’t forget it when I decided to mention it in my review).

Once I heard there was a subgenre called “smart romance”. I don’t know if The Love Hypothesis would be considered to belong to it, but I can imagine that it would.

Nevertheless, if you are a romance reader, you have probably heard about this book by now, and there’s a big chance you added it to your tbr or you’ve maybe finished it already, I will still take this opportunity to recommend you The Love Hypothesis because it is hyped for a reason and, rating wise, it deserves all the stars in the world.

This book changed my brain chemistry. I mean it. To me, there is a distinctively Before The Love Hypothesis, and After The Love Hypothesis. Every part of the story worked for me. The characters were so real, so genuine, and I was rooting for them both together and individually the whole time. I was cheering at the end, it is one of those endings that felt earned and deserved and that is my favorite type in romances.

Olive and Adam just sizzled. Their chemistry was truly out of this world (lol, this is kind of a pun based on Reylo, I won't lie to you). I think that they both worked together so well, and I loved the will-they-won't-they of the plot while they were fake dating. Not to mention, the spicy scenes were scarce but AMAZING. 10/10. BRAVO. I loved them. I actually have gone back and reread them a few times... that's the power of this book.

Beyond the romance, a story of a woman in STEM and the challenges Olive faces because of that fact is truly great commentary. Hazelwood wrote these scenes so well even if they were hard to read. I have a lot of respect for a romance with such affecting social commentary.

All around, a nearly perfect book that I will surely reread until the end of time. 5 stars.

I absolutely loved this book!!

Olive plants a giant kiss on a random person in the hallway and she had no idea it’s the moody Adam Carlsen, whose a young hotshot professor. Olive is a third-year Ph.D. candidate, and she only kissed Adam because she wanted to convince her best friend Anh, that she’s dating and Anh is ok to date Olives ex. Olive is floored when Adam agrees to the fake dating , and he has own reasons he wants to get enough funds to finance his own research. They begin this fake relationship by meeting every Wednesday at the student Starbucks for a coffee, so the students body can see them. This moody professor begins to show his softer side and Olive begins to fall hard. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close and Olive is worried she may have bit off more than she can chew, is she brave enough to come clean and when lines are crossed is she able to face her future with or without Adam?

So cute! Saw this on the Novel Neighbor tiktok and zipped right through it in a day. I tell everyone to read it.

Interestingly enough, I avoided reading this book due to the hype around it. It’s so rare that I see a highly hyped up book that I end up loving. But the cover was so dang cute and the blurb sounded so good, that I decided to cave and take the chance. Sadly, reality won out, and I ended up feeling like I read a different book from everyone else. Such is my life. *Deep sigh*
It started out so strong. I was immediately hooked by the quirky and awkward Olive and the super grumpy professor Adam Carlsen. I love me a good fake dating trope, so there was that going for it. And quite honestly, I was riveted to the pages for the first 20% of the story, with a goofy smile on my face thinking I’ve found the book. Sadly though, that giddy feeling didn’t last for me. And while I didn’t necessarily dislike it, I just didn’t love it either. For me, it felt like a book a novice romance reader who’s just dipping their toe in the genre might enjoy. Now take that with a grain of salt. This is coming from someone that generally just doesn’t gravitate towards cute contemporaries, so this could very well have been the case of just me. And going off of reviews and just how many absolutely adored this book, I definitely feel like the black sheep here. But alas, it is what it is.
So let’s go with a good ole’ feedback sandwich here. I loved the STEM representation and the way it was written. I was afraid that the academia and science aspect of the story would bore me to death, but the author wrote it in such a way that it added to the story and kept even non academia readers engaged. I loved that about this. I also loved the trope and the quirky heroine meet grumpy professor aspect.
What was missing for me was the chemistry. I just didn’t feel it between these two. This is very much a slow burn, but the more time these two spent together, the less I felt it. The way they were thrown together into awkward situations by Olive’s friend Ahn, the more it felt that way…awkward. I also struggled with the way it was written. It was third person POV in Olive’s perspective, but it read like it should have been first person, if that makes sense. I still struggle to have a visual in my head on what Olive or any of the secondary characters looked like, there was almost no physical descriptions of them. As it was, all of the secondary characters just came across flat, rudimentary, and two dimensional. And it didn’t take long before the main characters came across that way too.
I did enjoy the ending and seeing Olive finally, FINALLY, stand up for herself and truly show growth as a character. I also loved seeing Adam’s fuzzy and soft side. There was some steam at the end that added, though not much for me, to the chemistry. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need steam to enjoy a book. But when the chemistry is already lagging for me, it just felt super lacking here.
So did I dislike it? No. Did I love it? Also no. Would I recommend it? Sure! It’s a cute, slow burn romance that I think plenty would love. I just wish I was one of them. So while it was an enjoyable read, it also won’t be anything I remember or come back to after finishing.

Hazelwood's books are about people in STEM, academia, and research, which I absolutely love, and she has the chops to pull it off. In addition to romance, she is the writer of peer-reviewed articles about brain science. Pulling a strong power imbalance relationship between her protagonists off as a debut book takes courage, and Hazelwood has it in spades. The heroine is a graduate student in the same department as the hero who is a professor. He is not her advisor nor is he on her PhD thesis committee, but it is still a power imbalance situation. With clever and yet seamless plot and character maneuvering, Hazelwood employs a cracking pace, witty banter, and fully accessible complex people to make it easy for the reader to take the leap and believe that this is a healthy, solid relationship. Highly recommended.

Review will be published on Cogitations & Meditations later this month at http://keirasoleore.blogspot.com.

Hazelwood writes fun and exciting romances and I can' t wait to read future ones. You didn't need to say more than smart woman in STEM to get my attention!

Olive is a graduate student working towards her Ph.D. in the STEM field at Stanford. She’s in the lab late one night when she bumps into Adam. Her best friend Ahn has just spotted her, and she asks if she can kiss him – and thus, a whole fake dating situation is born. Olive just got out of a short relationship with Jeremy, who she isn’t really interested in, but realizes Ahn has feelings for. She lied and said she was on a date that night, so when Ahn saw her in the lab, Olive had to make it seem like she was there with a romantic partner. She didn’t even think about who it was she was asking to kiss, and kissing Adam was certainly controversial. Not only is he a professor, but he’s known for making his students cry or even drop out because of how harsh his criticism can be! He’s never been one of Olive’s advisors or teachers and though they’re in the same department, won’t be at this point, so their romance is acceptable at the university. Better yet, a continued relationship with Adam will convince Ahn she can date Jeremy. And for Adam, dating someone will convince Stanford that he has roots in the area and is less likely to accept a position at another university, hopefully leading to them releasing funds for one of his projects that they currently have frozen.

It’s all convoluted, but Ali Hazelwood does a great job of making the academic world just *make sense*. My interests lie in the humanities, and I’ve tapped out at my Masters degree, but I still totally understood what was going on throughout this novel. The author also does a great job of showing just how sexist and racist academia, especially in the STEM fields, can be. Ahn works on committees and teams to involve more BIPOC women in STEM, and ultimately Olive has to deal with sexual harassment that she struggles to report.

I gotta say, this was the deliciously slowest of slow burns. And when these two finally give in to their feelings, OOF it was hot. Probably the best cunnilingus scene I’ve ever read. *fans self*

If you are a Star Wars fan with a crush on Adam Driver, the hero in this one is literally Adam Driver as Ben Solo. He’s grumpy, six-foot-something, and HOT. And Olive is a stand-in for Rey, though I love how the author fleshed her out. She’s both shy and spirited, loving but guarded. Olive is also demisexual, and the representation is done really well. (On that note, Ahn is Rose, Malcom is Finn, and Holden is Poe. And yes, we get a Finn/Poe romance in the background.) Ultimately, this was a lovely read about two people fake dating, except… of course, it means something more to both of them! My only issues were how I felt the first few pages were just like, “THIS IS ADAM DRIVER.” And also, the use of “clean” to describe someone who doesn’t have STDs. 4 stars!

I really enjoyed this romance. I loved the smart women in grad school. Fake dating is one of my fav tropes and this romance does it great!

A splendid and nerdy Enemies to Lovers that is smart, absolutely adorable, and thoroughly deserving if its huge splash in the world of romance. Hazelwood presents believable characters and chemistry and never once falls into the pitfalls of the trope she is writing: rather presents a deeply vulnerable and human experience most wonderfully set apart by its placement in the world of academia.

Also, what an arresting voice! The chemistry sizzled and sparkled and the pages kept turning. Will definitely be reading more by Hazelwood!

An amazing book! Loved how Ali Hazelwood was able to bring STEM into romance! When you read romance, science not usually a forefront that lends itself to the plot/setting, but the way she combined the two was incredible.

I received a copy of the Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood for free from NetGalley. I enjoyed the fake dating and the snark of Olive and Adam. Olive is a graduate student who is not in Adam's lab or classes. Adam is the hot shot tenured professor. They can date because it doesn't interfere with Stanford's dating rules of student and professor. Adam seems amused by Olive but in a good way and Olive's friends seem to push the two together. I would recommend this book to others who like fake dating tropes.

This book gave me all the feels! From feeling for Olive who has been through a lot, to the hot and steamy romance between her and Adam. I wanted a happy ending for Olive and I was rooting the entire time!

This was such a fun read and even better because it's such a different setting than what I'm used to reading in a rom com. I LOVE that the main character is a STEM female academia as it was refreshing. There are some awkward scenes when the fake-dating troupe had to interact with each other, but it was also kind of endearing in a sense.

And Adam! UGH! SWOON-WORTHY!

Loved this science-focused love story! :)

Thanks Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with this earc for an honest review.

This book was just what I needed to read, perfect for the summer, fun and easy to read! Found myself laughing out loud and wishing for more of Olive, Adam banter. Only thing that would have made this a 5 star read for me was dual povs I’m a sucker for Dual POVs especially in faking dating tropes! Love love love this book can’t wait to read the next one!

I loved this story. It was very cute with likeable characters. However that sex scene was insane. It felt completely out of character for the characters. It almost felt like the author hired a ghost writer to write those pages. Other than that it was fantastic!

It's been a long time since I've been this invested in a rom-com. I could not put this one down. I've read a lot of rom-coms recently, and this one is definitely up there amongst my favorites. This one has all of the rom-com tropes you would expect, but it does it with a tongue in cheek style. I can't wait to see what else Ali Hazelwood and her unique perspective bring us. 18+