Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for my early copy! I stayed up until midnight to finish because I could NOT put this book down.

I don’t read many romance of rom-com books, but the premise for this one sounded so good that I absolutely had to request it. I adored this book! I love that our main character Olive, is a woman in STEM, by a debut, female author who works in STEM. Olive’s struggles are relatable and authentic. So much so that I saw my law school self reflected in her.

Our male main character, Dr. Adam Carlsen was imperfect but on point in so many moments throughout this story. His desire to make the new generation of scientists better and contribute something relevant and new to the field was amazing. I loved how he was “antagonistic and unapproachable” to everyone, except Olive, and displayed a vulnerable side with her.

On a more serious note, and probably the most important thing I want to address about The Love Hypothesis…Hazelwood handled the issue of consent like a pro. As I said, I don’t read a lot of romance/rom-com books, but the limited few I have did not expressly mention consent. Hazelwood could have glossed over the fact that Adam was a tenured professor with millions in grants and Olive was a graduate student. However, she chose to not only acknowledge the power dynamic between the two, but actively wrote it into the story. Authors should take note that this is a very real life issue and it can be added to the story without distracting from the passion of the moment.

The Love Hypothesis is out Tuesday! Pre-order or make a pub day purchase. You won’t regret it!

Olive, trying to convince her best friend that she is over an ex, ends up spontaneously kissing the worst possible person, Or so she thinks in the beginning. This is one of my favorites, a fake-couple theme that unexpectedly start to have feelings for each other. I absolutely loved this book! I finished it in one sitting. The characters were so well=developed I almost felt like I was in the room with them. It's been a while since I fell in love with a leading man as deep[y as this! Adam was wonderfully flawed but owned it without apology which created a nice difference to a current romantic read. I will suggest this to every reader I have!

4.75 I guess. Not quite at five but somewhere above 4 stars

While anyone familiar with the most recent Star Wars films can identify it as an AU story, the only thing similar to the original story is character parallels, and sometimes just in appearance and vague similarity to overall vibe. Otherwise, this is a completely original and complete ADORABLE story with so many things I love: fake dating, pining, grumpy/sunshine, academia, STEM, and the quote “carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man”. There’s even a hint of hating to dating, with one big difference. And man, have I missed single POV romance! I didn’t think about it until I read a couple in a row. There’s something about being in Olive’s head, wanting to shake her, seeing what’s going on beyond her ken but still living inside of her own uncertainty.

And did I mention the pining?

I have one hang-up though: how does a basically career biological researcher never think to look up demisexuality? And how, when given all of the keywords, does the person she tells, who is one of the greatest scientists of their age, ALSO not think to look up Demisexuality? The mind boggles, but hey, there are people who go through their lives not knowing or labeling their own identities. I’ll give this one a pass, even if her language around it could be harmful. I’ll stick it in the content notes.

But overall? I could hardly put this book down. When the folks at the doctor told me I’d have to wait for possibly an hour because the hematologist had gone to lunch? I was like no matter, I have my book. (At least three people asked me what I was reading today. No one has asked me what I was reading in the three months I’ve been going every week or every other week.) I took a break to eat and watch Ted Lasso, but went right ahead and kept on going. I didn’t even notice when the sleep timer went off on the movie putting us to sleep because I was cheesing so hard at what was going on on my kindle. I would stop to tell hubs what was happening because I was making all of these little noises and giggles. It was just…a big old wonderful book. And now I have to wait a million years for the next one 😭

Content notes: past death of a family member to cancer; toxic education environment; sex on the page; sexual harassment on page; grief; discussion of even more toxic education environment; withholding of information by the love interest; potentially harmful discussion of demisexuality; gossip; physical violence (checked); green card jokes; dubious consent (kissing); enthusiastic consent (sex); pumpkin spice hatred (you never know who doesn’t want to see that); working out; slight age gap; student/professor relationship (no authority); ongoing Title XI jokes; banter; “I hate everyone but you”; failure to communicate; brief partial vision impairment; doing science; talking science; cancer research; academic bureaucracy

(It’s almost 2am so this list might be more ridiculous than it might have the next day)

Thanks to Berkley for an advanced copy! (Note: Berkley is my publisher)

Believe the hype... THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS is one to add to your TBR, wishlists, shopping carts, library reserves!⁣
⁣
*chef's kiss*⁣
⁣
✔ fake dating trope at it's finest⁣
✔ next level banter⁣
✔ all the feels & laugh-out-loud moments ⁣
✔ memorable leads & supporting characters⁣
✔ STEM setting⁣
⁣
Adam and Olive are the latest addition to my #FavouriteCouples list and I'm claiming Adam as my new #BookBoyfriend 🥰⁣
Their grumpy hero/sunshine heroine dynamics & dialogue is one of the best I've come across. Gah, I'm still thinking about the witty, nerdy & playful banter, all that delicious tension and those laugh-out-loud moments.... total book hangover here (sigh)⁣
⁣
I binged #TheLoveHypothesis⁣
in one sitting, it was that darned good! After reading an eARC thanks to @berkleyromance I quickly hit that paperback preorder button and will definitely be re-reading it again.⁣
⁣
I thoroughly enjoyed the STEM academia setting and how @alihazelwood⁣
explores the ups & downs and challenges faced by women in this environment. There's so much more to this charming, fresh and funny #romcom and I thought the professor/grad student romance was handled really well.⁣
⁣
I cannot recommend this one enough!

When a book drops that is super hyped I admit I worry. Whether it is a young adult or romance, I get scared the hype will kill my love for the story. It has happened before and I know it will happen again. The hype effect is real and I fear it. So when literally everyone on my Instagram timeline and in stories was talking about The Love Hypothesis I was scared. Was the hype effect ready to strike? Then I got my copy. Safe to as there was no hype effect. Everything people were saying about The Love Hypothesis was true. The book was delightful and I’m so happy I read it.

The Love Hypothesis is what happens when a fake relationship leads to read feelings. It’s the story of Adam, a hot shot professor at Stanford, and Olive, a 3rd year PHD candidate. When Olive realizes that her BFF likes her ex she kisses the first guy she sees in order to pretend she is over her ex and has a new man; that new man being Adam. He is grumpy and a lab tyrant, but he goes along with Olive’s game and even helps her when a big conference almost jeopardizes her career. But the more time the spend together the closer they get and soon fake doesn’t feel so fake. Especially to Olive who has sworn she would never get romantically attached. Guess someone forgot to tell her heart.

The one thing I loved the most about The Love Hypothesis was the chemistry, and I’m not talking science. Adam and Olive oozed chemistry from the moment they met. Sure it was whacky that she Stephanie Zinone’d him (If you haven’t seen Grease 2, watch it!!!) but their first interaction was gold and showed their immediate connection. Adam comes across as abrasive and mean, but with Olive he is anything but sweet and respectful which just lead even more to their chemistry. Don’t get me wrong, they both had things to work out. Olive was terrified to get close to someone since she lost everyone in her past and Adam was not great with the communication, but they were so good together.

All in all The Love Hypothesis was a delightfully nerdy rom-com with characters you will love. Adam and Olive carry the story, but the side group is just as good. If you feel this is too hyped, take my word for it and read it. It’s so great you won’t be sorry!

I’m breaking away from my usual review style for this book. I have trouble CAWPILE-ing romance books. They don’t have all the elements of fantasy and my CAWPILE system is geared more towards fantasy. So I decided to just go stream of consciousness for this one. I don’t have the words to describe how much I love this book anyway.

What I Liked
The Love Hypothesis is the BEST book I’ve ever read. Honestly, just the best. I don’t know what else to tell you. Why is it so hard to write reviews for books you love?

This book just ticked all of my boxes. Student/Professor, grumpy/sunshine, FAKE DATING. I love it. A university setting is my absolute favourite setting. There’s just something about it that makes me so nostalgic.

Olive is also one of the best main characters ever. She’s demisexual, smart, funny, and carrying the crushing weight of academia on her shoulders. And Adam. Don’t even get me started on Adam. I can’t get into it, because I will go into a downward spiral because he is not real. HE IS PERFECT AND I LOVE HIM.

This review is an incoherent mess, I’m sorry. Olive and Adam’s relationship is just the best. This book has some great demi representation and I loved how the smut was handled. Overall, I just loved every minute of this.

What I Didn’t Like
There are a few things I didn’t like in this book, but I forgive Ali Hazelwood because it is otherwise a masterpiece. The characters would often talk over each other or there would be a lot of em dash use. It matches Olive’s personality though, and at some point, I did get used to it.

I also would have liked for Olive to spend a bit more time with her friends. Non-romantic relationships are important (and as a demisexual person, they are often most important) and I would have liked to see that dynamic. There was also a quote about sex that bothered me a little. I might just have read too much into it, but it seemed to imply that great sex was the be-all and end-all. But once again, that might just be my interpretation.

In conclusion, this book is amazing, please read it ASAP.

I could not put this book down!!! It definitely lives up to the hype and is a must read romcom!

Olive is a PhD student doing cancer research who starts fake dating a professor at her university in order to convince her friend that she is over her ex. Adam is the most well known professor at the university and has a reputation for being very critical of the students he works with. Olive and Adam barely know each other when they start fake dating, and they get to know each other by going on public dates and being forced into situations together by Olive’s friend, Anh. The banter between Adam and Olive is one of the best parts of the book, along with the fake dating and one bed tropes. Both characters are so lovable and it was great to see a romcom about a woman in STEM.

The Love Hypothesis was a great debut from Ali Hazelwood. I will definitely be checking out more of her books in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

If I could give this book 10 stars I would. It's been about 30 minutes since I finished reading this and I've just been staring blankly at my shelves ever since wondering how to move on from this amazing book.

Ali Hazelwood delivered it all - a fierce but relatable heroine, ride or die friendships, hilarious banter, perfect nods to classic tropes, and a heart bursting, swoon worthy romance for the ages. All while hitting on the ugly truths of what it's like to be a women in a stereotypical male field.

As someone who has spent her college and adult life in a (very) male-centric world (hi, I'm an electrical engineer turned computer programmer) so much of this hit me right in the feels. This book doesn't tip toe around something the terrible remarks, comments, and situations minority and female students face in these environments.

But at the same time, Hazelwood's humor really shines. I laughed so hard at the awkward moments, the science jokes, the witty banter. By the end of this book my checks hurt from the grin that had been plastered on my face all day reading.

Before I get to obvious star (the romance) I wanted to talk about how amazing the friendships were in here. Because the platonic love in here was just as wonderful as the romantic love. Olive's friends are true ride or die friends. The way these 3 supported and loved each other took my breath away.

But of course - the romance is what did me in. Because their chemistry was off the charts. I had to take frequent breaks to audibly swoon over how much I loved these two. I loved how slow burn this romance was - I was aching for them to be together by the end. I loved their missteps and blunders and awkwardness and how much they clearly loved each other.

I honestly cannot gush enough about how much I loved this book. I'm absolutely blown away that this is not only Ali Hazelwood's debut but that she is also a scientist and professor. I would honestly read 100 more books just following these characters around living their lives. But I'll settle for 100 more books by this author! 🖤🖤

BIG Thank you to Berkeley for sending me an early copy of what is now one of my favorites! This was ADORABLE AND SWEET AND GAVE ME ALL THE HAPPY FEELINGS!!!! I’m obsessed with Adam. Obviously I’m a big Reylo/Star Wars fan so I was super excited to read this with that cover and author!! I literally pictures Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver as Adam and Olive and it was perfection. Can I clone an Adam?? I fell completely in love with him in this book. He was GOALS.
Olive and Adam are quirky, endearing, awkward, and beyond sweet all mashed up together. And the TROPES IN THIS!!! I WAS LIVING MY BEST LIFE!! The fake dating!!! The forced proximity!!! The friends-to lovers!!! They way that Olive was slowly falling in love and learning how to find her footing was inspiring as well! Did I want to shake her a few times specifically at the 50% mark? YES!!! But did I understand where she was coming from? Also yes!! I wanted to give her the biggest hug and tell her how worthy she is of love and how GONE ADAM WAS FOR HER!!! He was legit Ben Solo, obviously he had his own personality traits but the Ben Solo “grumpiness for except for everyone except you” I was SWOONINGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! He’s just the sweetest and the way he stood up for Olive, I couldn’t!!! I also did appreciate the friendships, and I loved Malcom and Holden!
I’m so excited for whatever comes next for Ali Hazlewood!
DEFINITELY GRAB THIS WHEN IT HIT SHELVES! ITS HYPED FOR A REASON! All the love for this one!

I really liked this book!!

Olive was a fun character, smart, and caring. I loved the beginning of this book. It was hilarious and tripped you right into the story.

Adam, I loved. He reminded me a lot of my other favorite broody dark haired leading man (Josh). I love grumpy leading men, primarily because it makes them so much sweeter once they share their feelings.

I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, trope filled romance. It's excellent!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC!

The Love Hypothesis by @alizhazelwood is now home for my new favorite couple - Adam and Olive!

Guess what readers, science talk is SEXY as F***!

Olive, a PH.D student, finds herself in a fake dating relationship with Dr. Adam Carlsen, a known grumpy, unapproachable scientist on campus. Together, they discover their fake relationship can be mutually beneficial for both of their careers. With ground rules set, they embark on a series of hilarious rendezvous catching the eye of their friends and fellow scientists on campus.

This trope absolutely worked - Grumpy + Adorable for a solid romcom read. Don't be surprised when you learn what Adam houses under that lab coat. And, I love that they meet at Starbucks and their discussions about PSL - too funny!!

QOTD: Which are you Team Olive - Love PSL or Team Adam - loathe PSL? I happen to like PSL, but actual pumpkins make me dry heave when they get cut open

Thank you Berit @berittalksbooks, Kenzie @thephdivabooks and Deborah @dg_reads for hosting a buddy read of this book, and to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary ebook as well. Publishes September 14!

I read this in one sitting. By far and away this is one of my favorite romances I’ve ever read and I can’t wait to have a physical copy in my hands so I can mark it up and highlight all my favorite parts. My STEM heart is so happy and I am just so happy this book exists. Truly just so fun!

This might very well be one of the best debut romcoms I’ve ever read. Actually, scratch that. This might very well be one of the BEST ROMCOMS I’VE EVER READ! Debut or no, this was outstanding. It’s the kind of book you give up sleep for.

You guys, Olive and Adam. OLIVE AND ADAM!! I love those two so much I can’t even handle it. They’re such idiots for each other and it’s adorable.

A plea to my fellow romcom lovers: you absolutely have to, have to, HAVE TO pick this book up. Don’t even hesitate. Just do it.

This book was so great. I’m a sucker for a good fake dating trope, and if you throw in “unrequited” (but not really) love, and “there’s only one bed, I’m a GONER!

The chemistry between Olive and Adam is spectacular, and I was hooked on them from the very beginning! I loved the shy, subtle flirting, and even the pushy best friends. Holden and Malcom were my favorite!

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

As a scientist by trade myself, I absolutely loved this book. It was the perfect mix of romance, science, and comedy. This, in my opinion, is the perfect romance book. Not only were you rooting for the main characters, but you were also falling in love with the side characters too! I wanted more of the story and secretly hope there is something in the works down the line. Plus, a story about women in STEM? Heck yes!

Adam was so dreamy. The science/academia was a fantastic setting for this romance. I liked the banter and interactions between Olive and Adam and, honestly, between them and their friends. It was cute and fun but also had some very serious themes in it that I didn't expect going into it. It was a fast and easy read and a swoony love story.

Loved it! This has to be one of the best book couples I’ve read about this year.

Adam is a tall*, broody, sullen genius of a professor. Olive is a smart, ambitious third-year Ph.D. candidate.

What I liked: the witty banter, the fake dating trope, grumpy hero, funny scenes involving sunscreen, and the steamy scenes. Also, props to this book for such a great representation of women in STEM.

*What I didn’t like as much, the author kept mentioning how tall Adam was, several times in the first few chapters and more times throughout the book. It happened enough that it was noticeable and distracting.

All in all it was a fun summer romance read starring a great couple.

4.5 rounded up

Immediately upon finishing this book, I seriously contemplated making this my entire review and screaming it out loud for all to hear: I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH THAT I READ IT IN 1 DAY. WHEN I HAD TO PUT IT DOWN FOR A MOMENT, I COULDN’T WAIT TO PICK IT BACK UP. IF YOU LIKE ROMANCE NOVELS, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED WITH THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS. But I figured that people would want to know WHY I loved this book so much so I gathered my thoughts and wrote this review in the hopes that I will convince you to read this book when it’s released.

That this is Ali Hazelwood’s first book is honestly amazing. The cover of this book doesn’t hide the fact that this was a Reylo (Kylo Ren, Rey from Star Wars) fanfiction at some point, but the story is original and worked very well within the fake dating trope. Olive and Adam are both unique characters and their motivations for entering into their fake relationship was realistic. Too many romance novels try and create a situation that would never happen in real life and put their characters into situations you would only read in books. In the case of “The Love Hypothesis,” Olive loves her best friend so much and wants her to be happy that she will do anything to ensure that happiness, including convincing her she’s dating Adam Carlsen, the most hated professor on campus. How she chooses Adam takes place in a very rom-com worthy scene that is both funny and cute. For Adam, he has dedicated his life and career to science and is known as a brilliant asshole. When he finds out that Stanford may pull his funding because they think he may leave the school, he decides that a fake girlfriend may show them he has roots in the area and has no desire to leave the school. While they are both getting something out of this fake relationship, it’s not easy to pretend to like each other, especially when Olive’s fellow PHD candidates accuse her of using her relationship to get ahead and Adam realizes he has to open himself up to someone else for the first time in a long time. The situations they get themselves into are hilarious and their banter is intelligent and witty. I really enjoyed that this was a book with 2 very intelligent people respecting each other's intelligence and finding that attractive about each other. Their relationship, even though it's fake, starts to develop slowly because they genuinely begin to like each other as friends and confidantes and that was refreshing to read in a romance. I don’t want to give too much away about the ending but I will say that I couldn’t have imagined a better way for this book to end and all the little side stories came together perfectly. When a romance novel ends, I’m okay with knowing that the couple’s story has been told, but not this one. I would read a sequel about Olive and Adam in a heartbeat.

“The Love Hypothesis” manages to be a smart, sexy, and hilarious book all at the same time and the chemistry between Olive and Adam is unbelievably hot and leaps off the page. It was a joy to read from the first page to the last and will be a book I recommend to everyone. I can’t wait to hear what others think about it and to read whatever Ali Hazelwood writes next.

I was given an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Content-Two SOLID chapters of sexual scenes. (The good news is, this makes them pretty easy to skip.)

This story is so cute (minus the two chapters.) The relationship between Adam and Olive develops deeply and is based on friendship and respect. There's a healthy dose of romantic tension as well, which never hurts. I bought into it hook, line, and sinker. Throw in the more serious developments later in the story, the backdrop of academia, and two women rocking the scientific community and you've got a winner.

The Love Hypothesis is a DELIGHTFUL romance. It is filled with science, a fun, relatable heroine, fake dating, a misunderstood grumpy hero, swoony moments, grief, a rotten villain, LOTS of pumpkin spice lattes, laughs, vending machine snacks, and tenderness. I absolutely adored Olive and Adam and the rest of the characters. Plus, knowing that the main characters were inspired by Kylo and Rey made it even better! I can't wait to see what Ali Hazelwood writes next.
Thank you to the author, Berkley Books, and Netgalley for this advanced copy. Thoughts are all my own!