This was fun and sweet and an easy lighthearted read. It made me glad I’m no longer dating! Loved the Sydney setting in particular

This one was a nice little rom com. Cute characters, although Romy had me rolling my eyes a little bit when she was worrying about missing the boat on her life partner when she is only 25! 🙄 But it was fun, and had some interesting theories and statistics on love and relationships. I liked the side characters and the love interest. The Sydney setting was perfection, and it left me with a big smile.

Romy is in her mid 20s and starting to feel like love is passing her by. Between her long hours at work and receiving well meaning advice from family and friends, she starts looking into mathematical and scientific theories about love and worries that she needs to find the one quickly. After a few disastrous Tinder dates, she thinks she can settle with Hans. But casual friend James keeps popping up and they have so much in common. Find out for yourself who she has chemistry with.

Romy is a young lawyer working in employment law in Sydney with two failed relationships under her belt. She's nearing her mid-twenties and feels it's time she takes the scientific way to find her true love. She gets advice from family and friends and checks a few books that have a bit to say about the science of finding love. Then she tries to put it into practice.

She meets Hans, an engineer from Germany and he truly meets her criteria. They hit it off from the start and soon end up in a relationship. But there's also James, who she meets through mutual friends and who meets none of her criteria. Still, a friendship develops where they meet occasionally and enjoy each others' company. And so the story is about how it all plays out between logic and the heart.

I really enjoyed this book even if I thought Romy was a bit of an idiot at times. I guess, though, that we all fall into this category some of the time. I thought the character was quite realistic, especially as regards the way we feel pressured by society and, to some extent, ourselves, to fall in line with our peers. Romy seems to want to avoid the heartache of another failed relationship by using the "science" of love to fast forward to the happily ever after. I think it's fair to say she learns life doesn't quite work quite so efficiently. Although this book is essentially about love, it also is about evaluating other aspects of our lives, like work. Romy has to figure out what she really wants out of life in order to get the one she really wants.

This was a well-written read and I give it a solid four stars. I want to thank Netgalley and Pan MacMillan Australia for sharing an advanced reader copy. This review has been provided voluntarily and under no obligation.

This may be the most relatable book I've read. Set in Sydney, woman in mid-20s looking for love, feeling the pressure of finding 'the one' - it's like Elodie Cheesman took a snapshot of my life. I enjoyed Romy as a narrator and found her musings on love, work, and life well grounded and a good representation of what finding love is like in this digital age. The only downfall was the actual romance. It felt like James was underdeveloped and Hans was quite flat. While I was excited for Romy's character growth, the eventual happily-ever-after felt underwhelming as there wasn't much tension created around it. All in all, a fun read.

I really enjoyed this read, first book after a reading break and I flew through it! The commentary on love and relationships was really interesting and more self aware than other romance novels, although you knew how it would end I enjoyed the road there!

Love, In Theory is a fun Aussie romance that offers a contemporary twist on the old adage: should you follow your head or your heart when it comes to love?

Romy is a 24-year-old lawyer in Sydney who decides to get serious about her love life when she discovers she is at her optimal stopping point (a theory that says she should select the next "best person" she meets in order to have the best chance at happily ever after). Technically, this should be reliable German engineer Hans, not charismatic graphic designer, James. Right?

I really enjoyed reading Love, In Theory. Thanks to Cheesman's detailed writing style, I could easily picture myself in Sydney alongside Romy (it helped to have visited only last month). She definitely goes on a journey across Sydney, visiting a plethora of suburbs and events. As for the characters, I loved seeing Romy's character grow and she was supported by a cast of likeable characters. For me, the only thing I wanted more of was chemistry, particularly between Romy and James. Otherwise, if you're looking for a sweet Sydney romance, I highly recommend checking out Love, In Theory.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
I'll be honest, it did take a while for me to really get 'pulled into' this book. I guess I was reading it, like how Romy was assessing her love life: being practical and careful.
It only became more angsty when Romy realised she may have feelings for James.
I liked the Australian setting and how Romy's life was a true reflection of life in general.
3.5 stars