what is love hypothesis based on

'The Love Hypothesis' won Amazon's best romance book of 2021, has a near-perfect rating on Goodreads, and is all over TikTok. Here's why it's such a unique love story.

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• " The Love Hypothesis " grabbed the attention of romance readers everywhere in 2021.
• It was named Amazon's Best Romance Novel of 2021 and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award.
• This book checks off all my boxes for a great romance read and is definitely worth the hype.

This year, Amazon named " The Love Hypothesis " by Ali Hazelwood the best romance book of the year. Even though it was only recently published in September 2021, "The Love Hypothesis" has quickly become a fan-favorite, with 88% of Goodreads reviewers giving it four- or five-star-level praise .

It was also nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award and is hugely popular amongst Book of the Month members , with only 1% of readers giving it a "disliked" rating.

"The Love Hypothesis" is about Olive Smith, a third-year Ph.D. candidate studying pancreatic cancer at Stanford. In an attempt to convince one of her best friends that she's moved on from an old crush, she impulsively kisses Dr. Adam Carlsen, the department's notoriously brutal (but undeniably attractive) professor. After the kiss, Adam and Olive agree to fake a relationship so she can prove to her friend that she's happily dating and he can convince their department that he isn't planning to leave anytime soon.

I'm a little picky about my romance novels , so giving this read every bit of a five-star review didn't come lightly. My standards are high because the best romance novels have the potential to expose readers to authentic and imperfect relationships and offer new topics of discussion without making us feel like it's a story we've already read. 

With all the hype surrounding this new romance read, I couldn't resist picking it up.

Here's why "The Love Hypothesis" is one of my favorite recent romance books:

1. the story focuses a lot on olive and adam's lives outside their romance, making their love story more believable and interesting..

Romance novels tend to fall into a few popular tropes such as " enemies-to-lovers " or "forbidden love." "The Love Hypothesis" combines two of the most popular tropes right now, "Fake dating" and "grumpy/sunshine," really well — I loved the contrast between Adam's serious attitude to Olive's bright and sugary one. 

But despite following these tropes, the story feels fresh because it's also largely about Olive's work and its meaning to her. The only other romance book I've read featuring a STEM heroine is "The Kiss Quotient" , so I loved seeing that representation and learning about something new. 

The story honestly reflected the challenges Ph.D. candidates face in academia and that authenticity — deepened by the author's personal experiences — brought the characters, the settings, and the romance to life even more as Olive and Adam faced challenges with funding, time-consuming research, and questioning their sense of purpose.

2. The steamier scenes are also awkward and realistic, which made them even better.

In romance books, there are a few different levels of how graphic a steamy scene can get , from little-to-no detail to explicitly outlined movements. (I personally prefer mine to "fade to black.")

There was only one chapter with adult content, and it was definitely graphic. While I made a ton of ridiculous faces while reading and tried to skim past the parts that made me audibly gasp, I loved that it wasn't a movie-made, perfect sex scene with graceful movements and smooth dialogue. The scene was a little awkward, imperfect, and full of consent and conversation, making it refreshingly real.

3. The book deals with other topics besides the main love story, making it a much deeper read.

While it's wonderful to get swept up in the magic of a romantic storyline, having a secondary plot that addresses real issues is what makes a romance novel truly great . 

Mild spoilers and content warnings ahead: While "The Love Hypothesis" is a fun romantic read, it also addresses the pain of familial death, power differentials, intimacy challenges, and, most prevalently, workplace sexual harassment. 

Love is beautiful, fun, and amazing, but "The Love Hypothesis" takes the opportunity to also include conversations about serious issues. While these topics may be tough for some readers, I think these plot points, hard conversations, and complicated emotions take "The Love Hypothesis" to the next level and make it a five-star read. 

The bottom line

"The Love Hypothesis" has everything I personally look for in a romance novel: A unique storyline, authentic characters, and an important message. If you're looking for a perfectly balanced romance read, "The Love Hypothesis" is worth the hype and definitely one of the best romance books to come out in the past year.

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The Love Hypothesis (Review, Synopsis & Summary)

By ali hazelwood.

Book review and synopsis for The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, a delightful rom-com about a fake relationship between a biology Ph.D. student and a professor.

In The Love Hypothesis , Olive is a third-year biology Ph.D. candidate who shares a kiss with a handsome stranger in order make her friend think that she's in a relationship. She's horrified when she realizes the "stranger" is Dr. Adam Carlson, a prominent professor in her department who is known for being a hypercritical and moody tyrant.

She and Adam each have reasons for needing to be in a relationship, and they agree to pretend to date for the sake of appearances. Of course, as she gets to know Adam, it's only a matter of time before she starts feeling something for him, and it becomes clear that her little experiment in fake-dating just might combust...

(The Full Plot Summary is also available, below)

Full Plot Summary

Three years prior, Olive Smith talks to a guy when she's in the bathroom fixing her contacts (and can't see) after her Ph.D. candidate interview. She tells him about her passion for her research. She doesn't catch his name but remembers the conversation distinctly and wonders about the guy she met.

In present day, Olive is a biology Ph.D. student researching early detection methods for pancreatic cancer. She kisses a guy randomly in order to trick her best friend into thinking she's dating someone (so that her best friend Anh won't feel bad about dating Olive's ex). That guy turns out to be Dr. Adam Carlson , a young, handsome and highly-respected tenured faculty member in her department. He's also known for being hypercritical and moody.

Meanwhile, Adam's department chair is worried that he's planning on leaving for another university and has frozen some of his research funds. So, Adam he agrees to pretend to be in a relationship with Olive in order to give the impression he's putting down "roots" here, in hopes they will unfreeze the funds.

As Olive and Adam fake-date, they get to know each other. Olive sees that Adam is demanding and blunt towards his students, but not unkind or mean. Olive confides in him about her mother getting pancreatic cancer, which is why she's doing her research.

Olive soon realizes that she has feelings for Adam, but she's afraid to tell him. When he overhears her talking about a crush, she pretends it's about someone else. Olive also hears someone else refer to a woman Adam's been pining after for years and is surprised at how jealous she feels.

In the meantime, Olive needs more lab space and has been talking to Dr. Tom Benton for a spot at his lab at Harvard. When Tom arrives in town, it turns out he's friends with Adam. Adam and Tom are friends from grad school, and they have recently gotten a large grant for some joint research that Adam is excited about. After Olive completes a report on her research for Tom, he offers her a spot in his lab for the next year.

Olive and Adam's relationship continues to progress until they attend a science conference in Boston. Olive's research has been selected for a panel presentation, while Adam is a keynote speaker. There, Olive is sexually harassed by Tom, who makes advances on her. When she rejects him, he accuses her of someone who sleeps around to get ahead. He also says that he'll deny it if she tells anyone and that they won't believe her.

While Olive does finally sleep with Adam at the conference, she soon tearfully breaks things off since she doesn't want to complicate things with Adam's joint research project with Tom. Adam is also in the process of applying for a spot at Harvard.

Olive is certain no one will believe her about Tom until she realizes that the accidentally recorded the conversation where he made advances and threatened her. Meanwhile, Olive's roommate Malcolm has started seeing Dr. Holden Rodriguez, a faculty member who is a childhood friend of Adam's. Olive and Malcolm turn to Holden for advice, who encourages them to tell Adam about the recording. He points out that he thinks the main reason that Adam is considering a move to Harvard is because Olive is supposed to be going there.

Olive finds Adam and shows him the video. He is incensed at Tom and reports it to their faculty. When Adam returns from Boston, he reports that Tom has been fired. Meanwhile, Olive has been reaching out to other cancer researchers for spots at other labs, and she's gotten promising responses. Olive tells Adam that she loves him and that she never liked anyone else. Adam admits that he remembered her from the day he met her in the bathroom and that she's the one he's been interested in for years.

Ten months later at the anniversary of their first kiss, Olive and Adam re-create the kiss to mark their anniversary.

For more detail, see the full Chapter-by-Chapter Summary .

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Book Review

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood came out a few months ago, and I didn’t really pay much attention to it. However, people seem to really be enjoying this book, and after reading The School for Good Mothers , I was really in mood for something light and fun.

In the Love Hypothesis, Olive is a third-year biology Ph.D. student at Stanford who ends up fake-dating a young and handsome tenured professor in her department. All the usual rom-com shenanigans ensue.

The Love Hypothesis is an unapologetically cheesy rom-com novel — with an upbeat attitude, meet cutes, fake-dating tropes, etc. — but it’s also a genuinely fun and often funny book. It hits a lot of familiar notes if you’re familiar with this genre, but somehow Ali Hazelwood has arranged them in a way that ends up being delightful and entertaining.

The book is super melodramatic at parts, uses so many tropes I couldn’t even list them all here if I was inclined to do so and is predictable in the way that rom-coms are always kind of predictable. That all said, I still had a fantastic time reading it and it flew by.

This is a short review because honestly it’s not that complicated to explain that this book is super cheesy and super fun.

Read it or Skip it?

If you like “chick lit” and rom-coms, you should definitely look into this book. I tend to be a little hypercritical of books in this genre, but I really enjoyed The Love Hypothesis . I found myself smiling and chuckling quite a bit as I read it.

This book is a straight-up cheesy rom-com — it is funny, melodramatic and fun as hell. I thought it was great.

See The Love Hypothesis on Amazon.

The Love Hypothesis Audiobook Review

Narrated by : Callie Dalton Length : 11 hours 8 minutes

I listened to about half of this on audiobook. I think the audiobook is solid. The narrator is easy to listen to and does a good job with it.

Hear a sample of The Love Hypothesis audiobook on Libro.fm.

Book Excerpt

Read the first pages of The Love Hypothesis

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As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

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Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe thx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The Love Hypothesis

By ali hazelwood on tour, by ali hazelwood on tour read by callie dalton and teddy hamilton, category: contemporary romance, category: contemporary romance | audiobooks.

Sep 14, 2021 | ISBN 9780593336823 | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 --> | ISBN 9780593336823 --> Buy

Sep 14, 2021 | ISBN 9780593336830 | ISBN 9780593336830 --> Buy

Sep 14, 2021 | 712 Minutes | ISBN 9780593457573 --> Buy

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Sep 14, 2021 | ISBN 9780593336823

Sep 14, 2021 | ISBN 9780593336830

Sep 14, 2021 | ISBN 9780593457573

712 Minutes

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About The Love Hypothesis

The Instant New York Times Bestseller and TikTok Sensation! As seen on THE VIEW! A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021 When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman’s carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding…six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Now see Adam pine for Olive in a special bonus chapter! The Instant New York Times Bestseller and TikTok Sensation! As seen on THE VIEW! A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021 When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman’s carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding…six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Listen to a sample from The Love Hypothesis

Also by ali hazelwood.

About Ali Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis, as well as a writer of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy,… More about Ali Hazelwood

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An Indie Next Pick! “A literary breakthrough… The Love Hypothesis is a self-assured debut, and we hypothesize it’s just the first bit of greatness we’ll see from an author who somehow has the audacity to be both an academic powerhouse and divinely talented novelist.”— Entertainment Weekly “ C ontemporary romance’s unicorn: the elusive marriage of deeply brainy and delightfully escapist… The Love Hypothesis has wild commercial appeal but the quieter secret is that there is a specific audience, made up of all of the Olives in the world, who have deeply, ardently waited for this exact book.”—Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author “Funny, sexy and smart, Ali Hazelwood did a terrific job with The Love Hypothesis .”—Mariana Zapata, New York Times bestselling author “This tackles one of my favorite tropes—Grumpy meets Sunshine—in a fun and utterly endearing way…I loved the nods towards fandom and romance novels, and I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended!”—Jessica Clare, New York Times bestselling author “Pure slow-burning gold with lots of chemistry.”—Popsugar “A beautifully written romantic comedy with a heroine you will instantly fall in love with, The Love Hypothesis is destined to earn a place on your keeper shelf.”—Elizabeth Everett, author of A Lady’s Formula for Love “Smart, witty dialog and a diverse cast of likable secondary characters…A realistic, amusing novel that readers won’t be able to put down.”— Library Journal, starred review “Hilarious and heartwarming, The Love Hypothesis is romantic comedy at its best…a perfect amalgamation of sex and science, sure to appeal to readers of Christina Lauren or Abby Jimenez.”—Shelf Awareness “With whip-smart and endearing characters, snappy prose, and a quirky take on a favorite trope, Hazelwood convincingly navigates the fraught shoals of academia…This smart, sexy contemporary should delight a wide swath of romance lovers.”— Publishers Weekly

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The Love Hypothesis Review: The Perfect Contemporary Romance for Science Lovers

September 23, 2021 by Jenna | 4 stars , Books , Reviews

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Ever since I first heard about  The Love Hypothesis  early this year through Nick @ The Infinite Limits of Love , I’ve been waiting with bated breath for it to be released. The book follows Olive, who is a PhD candidate in biology, and Dr Adam Carlsen, an academic in her department, which got me super excited because I have a PhD in psychology and it sounded like a story that I could really relate to. And I absolutely did!

The novel begins with Olive planting a kiss on a stranger late one night in the hallways of Stanford’s biology department, to mislead her best friend into thinking that she’s happily in a relationship. But when said stranger turns out to be the infamous grump and star researcher of the department,  and  agrees to fake-date Olive to help her out, things start getting a little weird. Olive didn’t expect Adam to be nice to her and she certainly didn’t expect to develop feelings for him either…

I really really enjoyed  The Love Hypothesis.  It was such an accurate depiction of academia (the good, bad and in-between), which isn’t surprising since the author herself is a professor in neuroscience. I just related to all of the different aspects, including the fear of having to give a conference talk over a poster, the lack of funding, the late nights, the imposter syndrome, the absent advisor (and sadly the abusive one). I loved all of it, though I do have to say that I’ve never ever EVER seen anyone sit on someone else’s lap at a colloquium talk before! I’ve read many books about STEM romances and scientists but I can truly say that this is the first one that has truly and accurately depicted the experience of a female in STEM research for me.

I guess it goes without saying that I also really related to Olive and Adam because they’re just my type of people. I felt such a strong kinship with Olive and was 100% in her corner throughout the entire book. And because Adam was also firmly in Olive’s corner, I connected with his character as well. I really enjoyed reading about their developing relationship and thought they had such a supportive and positive relationship.  The Love Hypothesis  is an open-door romance and has one quite smutty scene, but what I really appreciated about the scene was the way it tackled Olive’s demisexuality… and the fact that it was kind of awkward – because sex is sometimes just really awkward and not at all like what’s described in romance novels!

I really really loved  The Love Hypothesis  and thought it was a wonderful debut for Ali Hazelwood. I’ve read the sneak peek to her next novel (coming 2022) and I’m super excited for all that it has to bring! If you’re looking for a great STEM romance, look no further than The Love Hypothesis.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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Tags: 2021 reads , contemporary

6 responses to “ The Love Hypothesis Review: The Perfect Contemporary Romance for Science Lovers ”

I HIGHLY recommend this one Tasya! The story is as cute as the cover.

Ohhh thanks for the review Jenna! I’m going to definitely pick this one up for sure!

Hope you enjoy it Jeann! I really loved it and super excited that the author has more books coming.

I’m so happy that you also loved it Hasini! It’s probably in my top 10 reads of the year as well.

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The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | Book Review

Posted August 12, 2021 by Jana in Adult Fiction , Book Review / 4 Comments

When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

So. I’m really not the best at reviewing books I absolutely loved because I don’t have many words! We all know I love fake dating romances, and I loved the idea of a STEM romance because science is cool and I really love and miss Big Bang Theory (and no, this isn’t like that per se, it’s just got super smart people spouting off science facts). Anyway, I immediately gravitated toward The Love Hypothesis because it sounded fresh and funny and unique. It was all those things and more! As always, my main points are bolded.

1. This book is so, so nerdy and I loved it. The people are a little awkward and extremely smart. There’s strong women in science, and I loved learning a little bit about the challenges women face in this field. Every chapter starts off with one of Olive’s hilarious little scientific hypotheses about love and life, each one teasing a bit about what’s coming up in that chapter. These made it very hard to stop reading because I’d get to the end of the chapter and decide to read and then BOOM. I’m intrigued again and must continue reading. Very clever. A lot of the book takes place on campus in the labs, and I thought it was such a fun setting with people working late and running experiments because science doesn’t wait for people to sleep or eat. There’s lots of science talk, there’s a science convention and people get all excited about presenting posters and attending talks and it’s all just so much fun. It reminded me a bit of Ross’s paleontology convention from Friends, just no Barbados.

2. Olive is sweet and strong. She’s smart and strong and totally dedicated to her cancer research. She’s looking for a lab that will accept her the following year so she can continue her testing with better equipment and proper funding. It matters more to her than pretty much anything. Everyone she’s ever loved has died, so she’s very reluctant to get too close to anyone except her two best friends. Relationships are scary and also a little confusing for her. It takes her a while to sort through her feelings and figure things out, and I loved watching her grow and evolve.

3. Dr. Carlsen (Adam) is a dreamboat. He’s seen as rude and lacking in compassion. He’s hard on his grad students, but it’s because he wants them to succeed. He’s super sexy and thoughtful and protective of those he cares about. He’s sarcastic, flirty, suave, and all the things I love in a hero. Olive is a little inexperienced in the love department, and there’s a scene where he puts all of his focus on taking care of her. Consent and comfort are so important to him, and the entire scene was him making sure she was ok. It just melted me, and I’ve never read another scene quite like this one.

4. The chemistry between Olive and Adam is insane. These two can throw the banter back and forth forever and get me laughing, but they can also build up a level of tension that makes you squirmy. There’s an age gap of about 8-9 years between these two, so Olive loves to make fun of him for being old. She also loves to make fun of his healthy eating habits. He likes to tease her about her love of sugar and poor taste in food. But then there’s a scene where Olive’s best friend kind of forces her to kiss Adam after he’s just pushed a car out of the road and is all sweaty, and wow. And then there’s a scene at the department picnic where Olive has no choice but to coat his muscley back in sunscreen (poor girl), and wow. Their relationship is sweet and spicy and tender, and I just love them.

5. Olive’s best friends, Anh and Malcolm, made me so happy. They are both scientists and work together, although their research is all different. Anh is the loyal best friend, who also mothers Olive and makes sure she doesn’t get skin cancer. Malcolm is Olive’s roommate, and he’s pretty much made of rainbows and sunshine. They love to discuss hot men and other fun things. I would love to be a part of this friend group. Adam’s friend, Holden, is another favorite character of mine. He gives great advice, really cares about his people, and is so happy all the time.

6. There’s some deeper issues at play that run throughout the story, including the #MeToo movement. All were treated with sensitivity and respect. 

7. There’s so, so much humor! I actually laughed out loud at one point, which never happens to me. I’ve been known to smile or silently laugh, but this was an actual audible laugh that startled me.

8. The writing is also spot on, and flowed so nicely that the pages practically turned on their own. 

All in all, this is a stunning debut for Ali Hazelwood. Strong women in science, a sexy doctor hero who values and supports those women, hilarious banter, strong friendships, and a very sweet love story all wrapped up into a glittery, sugary package. What’s not to love? I highly recommend The Love Hypothesis, and cannot wait to see what Ali Hazelwood does next!

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4 responses to “ The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | Book Review ”

“insane chemistry?” Sounds fun!

Great review. I’ve been waiting for this book and I”m so glad you liked it so much!

I can’t wait to read this one! It’s one of my most anticipated releases and reading your review just bumped it up to multiple spots haha! CANNOT WAIT! Hasini @ Bibliosini recently posted… Can Books Be Effective Horror? // Let’s Talk Bookish

Book was insightful and inspiring, right mix of teasing, drama, and nerdy science. Once picked up, the book just can’t be put down Check out @thehazelwoodfangpage on Insta

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Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

CW: sexual harassament/assualt

Did I read the same book as everyone else? Because this book was a big fat NO from me. I know a lot of people love The Love Hypothesis , but everything about it – from the writing to the characters, to the plot and even the romance – did not work for me. If this wasn’t a hyped book, I would have put it down after the first chapter and marked it as Did Not Finish.

I honestly don’t know where to start with this review.

To try to make this digestible, I’m going to structure this a little bit differently than my normal review with sections: 

Within the first page of The Love Hypothesis , I knew this book would not be for me because of the writing style. I know this was originally fanfiction, but I was expecting better writing since Berkely published it. 

First off, why are there SO MANY ITALICS in this book? You may be thinking, “oh, they’re for internal narration!” Nope. They were all italics used for emphasis. Dear Lord, there were five different words italicized for emphasis on the first page alone. As soon as I noticed the italics, it was all I could see. By my count, there were only about 47 pages in my ebook without italics. The story was only around 230 pages long. I just couldn’t with that.

The tone also missed the mark for me. I feel like Hazelwood was aiming for quirky and fun, but I found it childish and too cutesy for my tastes. It impacted my read on Olive as a character (more on that below on the characters).

And dear Lord, was this book lacking in descriptions. And the descriptions it did have were so repetitive. Did you know Adam was big, dark and huge? And did I mention he’s big? And he’s got a deep voice? I felt like I kept getting hit over the head with these same descriptors for Adam every time he was on the page. Meanwhile, with Olive, I felt like I knew nothing about what she looked like besides she was around 5’ 8” and that she’s Canadian. The only reason I pictured her as a brunette is because of the cover.

Finally, I felt like there were a lot of chunks of dialogue text where there were no attributes or tags to who was speaking, which sometimes made it hard to follow a conversation. When deployed properly, a lack of attribution during a conversation in a book can be a great writing device. Here it just caused confusion. 

This book has the dumbest reason for a couple to begin fake dating. And that’s not even touching the non-consensual actions that lead to it (more below in the romance section). Instead of talking to her best friend in the world like a normal person, Olive needs to lie about dating Adam to make her friend feel comfortable about now dating a boy that Olive went on a few dates with. Like what? WHAT? 

It’s like, “oops, I got caught kissing this guy. Guess we now need to pretend to be in a relationship, so my friend feels okay in her relationship.” In what world does that make sense? This whole book wouldn’t have happened if Olive had just stopped lying. Even Olive knows that as she says: “It would have been so easy to confess the truth.” 

I feel like the whole reason the plot of this book exists is summed up by this passage:

“This was what happened whenever Olive lied: she ended up having to tell even more lies to cover her first, and she was horrible at it, which meant that each lie got worse and less convincing than the previous.”

I just couldn’t deal with the weak premise for the fake dating and the plot. I threw the book across the room every time Olive told a new lie, and then at the end, she had the GALL to tell Adam, “ You didn’t need to lie, you know.”

Finally, the conflict at the end of the book made me so angry. It hinges on sexual harassment in academia. Up until that point, that had become a joke thanks to the treatment of Title IX earlier in the book. That rubbed me the wrong way for a lot of reasons. It’s a serious issue, but it was thrown in as a random plot point and not given the exploration it needed as it was there to purely introduce drama into Adam and Olive’s relationship. 

Additionally, Olive had proof of what happened on a tape recorder. Still, she forgot about it for multiple chapters and, of course, decides the only way to resolve the situation is to – you guessed it – lie. 

CHARACTERS:

Let’s talk about the characters. Our main female lead is Olive, and the book is primarily told from her perspective. Despite this, I felt like I knew relatively little about her.

Additionally, Olive came off as incredibly childish. Her actions read more like a high-schooler, not someone in her mid-20s in a Ph.D. program. Honestly, if this story featured two high schoolers, I might have bought it more as the fake dating premise would make more sense.

Also, I found it weird that Olive kept insisting she was all alone in the world. Yes, her parents are gone, but Olive has an incredibly close-knit friend group with her best friend Anh and Malcolm who have her back no matter what. Heck, even Adam is there for her, yet she insists she’s all alone. 

It does appear Olive is asexual in the novel, which I appreciate, but I also found it hard to know if she identified that way. There were a few throwaway lines earlier hinting at it and a bit more of an exploration of it later in the book, but it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity to explore that more.

Now on to Adam. Weirdly, I sort of liked him even though I found him bland and lacking dimension. Because the book is told from Olive’s point of view, I struggled to get to know him beyond the surface level as the two of them never had in-depth, genuine conversations. I know he’s big and huge and has a deep voice, but his personality seemed to be a bit non-existent.

There did seem to be a bit more to Adam than meets the eye, and I wish Hazelwood had explored that more. Everyone says he’s this mean person, but I felt like he was one of the few characters who was a voice of reason. While he might have cultivated a bit of a toxic work environment, it seems like he was coming from a genuine place of wanting to help others, not hurt them. I honestly didn’t find him as much of a bad person as all the characters in the book did.

Outside of Olive and Adam, the secondary characters felt very flat and like caricatures. They’re also supposed to be Olive and Adam’s friends, but boy, were they all terrible friends. 

Finally, our villain character was almost too evil villainy to be believable in a contemporary romance. He seriously gives a monologue like you’d see an old-school Bond villain do, and it just felt so out of place and a bit out of left field. 

And finally, we’ll close with my thoughts on the romance. This book lacked any sort of chemistry between Olive and Adam. I just did not see it at all. There was no spark, no fizz, no butterflies in your stomach. 

Now, I can see why some people love the romance in this. It is full of extremely popular tropes. You get fake dating with a splash of enemies-to-lovers, what is not to like? But the tropes were executed poorly, which hurt the romance. 

Let’s also start with the fact that their romance starts non-consensually. Olive literally grabs Adam and kisses him without his consent. The first chapter writes this act off in the first sentence:

“In Olive’s defense, the man didn’t seem to mind the kiss too much.” 

If the roles were reversed, we find that incredibly problematic, yet the book portrays it as an adorable meet-cute. Add in the fact that he’s a professor and she’s a student and you get a really weird power dynamic in play. The book tries to write it off as a non-issue, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. 

Additionally, all the scenes where we’re supposed to be building romantic tension fell flat for me. I found it so weird that she was sitting in his lap in an academic lecture in front of everyone and that her friend essentially forced Olive to make out with him afterward. 

And the sexy scenes were so not sexy. I was already dreading the sex scene as the book was not working for me, but it was even more cringeworthy than I imagined. 

First off, Olive kept on HER UNICORN KNEE HIGH SOCKS. That’s the opposite of sexy.  Second, Adam, of course, is BIG. It’s the only thing we know about it, so it obviously extends to his entire body. Finally, I actually threw the book down with this line:

“He could fit her entire breast in his mouth. All of it.” 

First off, how? Second off, why? That does not sound romantic to me at all. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a good sex scene. But this felt like it was in there just to add some smut (a term I hate!) and didn’t add much to the overarching story. It was also incredibly cringe in its writing, so I couldn’t wait to get past it. If they had better chemistry, it might have worked better.

Finally, let’s talk about the falling in love part of Olive and Adam’s relationship. I felt like she wasn’t actually in love with Adam as she had to be told by someone else that she loved him before she felt it. And then, when she realized she had feelings for him, she had to lie about it to him. I felt like Adam was much more invested in their relationship than she was. It was abundantly clear to everyone except Olive that the man was head over heels in love with her and would do anything for her. It took her far too long to realize that.

I wish we had a little more time with them as an actual couple, as they were in a fake relationship for most of the story. I’d have liked to see more of their real relationship as that was more interesting to me, and they seemed like they’d be cute together. 

I hope this review doesn’t come off as too harsh, but I had a lot of thoughts and feelings about why this did not work for me while I was reading it. I did want to like this one, but it was clear pretty quickly that this was not going to be the book for me.  I felt like I was hate-reading it to finish it, which is never a good sign.

Will I be reading more from Ali Hazelwood? At this point, probably not. 

Her next book Love on the Brain , sounds and feels way too similar to The Love Hypothesis to hold any appeal for me. As a relatively new author, I don’t want to write off someone completely, but I think she’ll need to write something drastically different for me to want to pick up one of her books again.  

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5 thoughts on “ Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood ”

I listened to this one and didn’t read it – so the writing stuff you mentioned I didn’t notice. I also don’t know if that helped me enjoy it more – but I did really enjoy this one. But, to each their own. I love that you even said “did everyone read the same book?”

Like Liked by 1 person

I was wondering if the audiobook experience would be better as I don’t think you’d notice some of the weird writing quirks. While I didn’t like this book, I can see the pieces of it that make it incredibly popular and respect that a lot of people love it. It’s so funny how people can react so differently to the same thing, which is what makes reading so fun. This one didn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for others!

If you finished the book, you did better than me. I also was ready to give up during the second chapter but pushed through until I read 1/3 of the book. I couldn’t force myself to read more and returned it to the library. The writing is extremely juvenile and so over-the-top, repetitive and unbelievable. Huge problems with the characters as well. Diverse character traits are great, but the protagonist flip-flops between being a genius and acting like an insecure child. Plot is also totally annoying and unbelievable. Every event she sets up in the most childlike way. I don’t even see this book working for a YA audience.

I honestly have no IDEA how I finished this book, let alone went on to read the next two books she wrote. I keep hoping they’ll get better, as I weirdly want them to work for me, but so far, they’ve all been not great, though I think The Love Hypothesis is the worst of the bunch.

[…] I find most of Hazelwood’s sex scenes to be super cringe and the least sexy things ever (see here, here, and here for examples), so it actually helped not to have to read it play out on the […]

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Anastasia J. Gustafson

Teacher – Artist – Coach – Writer

“The Love Hypothesis” Book Review: Why You Should Read It And Leave The Guilt Behind

When I was in middle school, I loved to read ‘trash’. What I mean by this is that people often used derogatory language when talking about the things I enjoyed reading. Twilight ? For dumb girls. Manga? For weird girls. Fanfiction? Don’t even get me started on the social implications for reading that in the era of The Lightning Thief , The Hunger Games , or Divergent –all books I loved, by the way, but also books that were considered more socially acceptable for reading than fanfiction, Twilight , or manga. 

But you know what? I’ve come to realize that the world just hates young girls for reading things that young girls love. So today, I’m writing a book review on a book that, maybe, someone out there would be afraid to outwardly say they’re in love with. Today, I’m going to tell you it’s ok to read ‘trash’. Because guess what? ‘Trash’ is literally my favorite thing in the whole wide world because it’s not trash at all. The books I love to read are precious to me, they make me laugh, they make me smile, and they even make me cry; sometimes, they literally give me the purest form of happiness since the invention of pumpkin bread. And I’m here to tell you that if you like reading these kinds of things, you are valid, you are not a ‘lesser’ kind of  reader, and you are absolutely my type of person.

I just finished reading a book called The Love Hypothesis. And by finished reading, I mean that I literally read it two times in a row because it did something for me that no book has done in a really, really long time. I could not put that thing down. It felt like it was 6th grade all over again; I was like a starved, dejected, bookworm. I voraciously consumed the entire novel, two times over, in less that 24 hours. 

The Love Hypothesis plays on the dating-a-teacher trope in a way that exceeds all of my preconceived expectations of the concept. Olive, our protagonist, ‘accidentally’ kisses the ‘known ass’, Dr. Adam Carlsen– in front of her best friend, Ahn, nonetheless, so that Ahn will feel less bad about dating Olive’s ex-boyfriend; to keep up the facade, Dr. Carlsen and Olive agree to a ‘fake dating’ contract for a month’s time so that Anh can date Olive’s ex guilt-free. 

I’m sure you can see where this is going. But I promise you, you’re right, but it’s also so much better than anything you could have ever expected.

Here are a few reasons I’ve come to love this novel. I hope they resonate with you. I hope they empower you. And I hope they affirm to you that a ‘good’ book doesn’t necessarily take on a certain form.

1. The relationship between Olive and Adam is the perfect mixture of sunshine meets grumpy. 

I fell in love with Olive quickly, and I found her sense of humor, her anxiousness, and her self-reliance very endearing. Every chapter starts with a hypothesis, and they worked as both a foreshadowing technique and also as an insight into Olive’s inner thoughts. The first hypothesis is relatable and hilarious. It reads:

“When given a choice between A, (a slightly inconveniencing situation), and B, (a colossal shitshow with devastating consequences), I will inevitably end up selecting B.”

I mean honestly, Olive, who hasn’t? But it was Adam who quickly stole my heart. (It helps that the cover alludes to his features as being almost identical to the very handsome Kylo Ren). After the kiss that started it all, we see the chemistry between the two building:

“‘Did you… Did you just kiss me?’ He sounded puzzled…There was simply no way Olive could get away with denying what she had just done. Still, it was worth a try.

‘Nope.’”  

We’ve all been there. Well, maybe not. But for some reason, the way author Ali Hazelwood writes about uncomfortable, romantic situations makes us all feel like we have. 

2. Hazelwood’s Take On This Trope Works To Address The Sexism It Usually Coincides With

What I like most about Hazelwood’s approach to this trope, however, is that Olive is not helpless. Sometimes, in books exploring the dating-an-older-professor trope, we see a powerless woman who is ‘saved’ by a big, strong, man. Not the case here. Olive is a graduate student at Stanford whose scientific work is thoughtful, unique, and important all on its own–without Adam’s intervention. She’s a woman in STEM, she’s a Canadian immigrant, and she’s also worked to overcome the many hardships experienced in her youth in order to be present at one of the most renowned science programs in the world. Does her life get easier in some ways while dating a revered, successful, and tenured professor with millions of dollars in funding for research? I mean, yeah. But only in little ways. Like not needing to take her bike home from classes everyday, and sometimes, on ‘Fake-Date Wednesdays’, she occasionally gets free pumpkin spice lattes and scones. 

            The relationship between Olive and Adam, while at first very awkward because of his position as a professor, doesn’t work within a power-imbalanced framework. Olive is not his student. She just so happens to be studying within the same department. Adam doesn’t do things so that Olive is more recognized or successful. Olive’s work naturally speaks for itself. 

The two characters are written in a way that empowers them both. Hazelwood is very careful about this aspect of the relationship, and as a woman in college, I appreciate this careful acknowledgement of women’s autonomy and power in the work without a man’s intervention. 

3. Romance That Keeps Me Coming Back For More (Sequel Please?)

One thing I appreciated in this book is that it had a story to tell about love, and by golly, it got right to it. As a reader, I’m not waiting around for the relationship to show up, for the circumstances to arise, or for Adam to interact with Olive. It’s right there from page one.

And for that, I just want to say one thing to Ali Hazelwood: Thank you. Thank you for giving me a romance novel that got right to the point. It was refreshing. But, it meant a few things for me as a reader:

• I read everything and didn’t jump around trying to find the parts of the book that were ‘actually interesting’. I didn’t do this because I didn’t have to. I didn’t do this because the way the text, the characters, and the relationships were written was done with care; it had me holding onto each and every word until the very last page. 
• Because I was reading every word, I was noticing more stuff. Little hints, allusions, motifs, themes, and symbols. It made the reading more enjoyable for me.

The romance story starts on the first page and it carries on until the very last. Are there other plot lines and stories and threads ongoing throughout the novel? Yes, of course. But I didn’t have to wait through the first 12 chapters to get there. Instead, I got a full 25 chapters (plus and epilogue and prologue) that did what they set out to do: explore this accidental, hilarious, and endearing relationship from one comedy-blended-with-suspense-filled-page to the next. In fact, It left me hoping for a sequel. 

A Final Note On ‘Trash’

This book slapped. I mean, it did everything a rom-com is supposed to do. And then it also dismantled some sexism, which is just extra cool, in general.

But the reason I wrote this book review is two-fold. Yes, this book was amazing. It got me excited in all sorts of nerdy, English-Major ways. But also, there are lots of people out there that, quite frankly, enjoy books like this. And more importantly, there are also lots of people–specifically women– who feel shame for liking texts like this because of the notion that texts like this are ‘trash’. 

To that, I want to say something kind of controversial. Here it goes:

Literary feminism is respecting women for their choices, whether those choices are to read/write texts that are considered universally acceptable or not. 

There is no male-directed equivalent to this book-shaming phenomenon. Men might be shamed, of course, for reading literature geared towards women. But that shame is also integral to liking something that is feminine. 

This phenomenon resides in the reality that society loves to shame women for liking things women tend to like: pumpkin spice lattes, boy bands, and yes, romance novels.

It’s pervasive in our culture and it also makes literally no sense to do that. This negativity cultivates a very unnecessary shame-culture around femininity. And honestly, I’ve been fed up since 6th grade.

So, if you need someone to tell you that you’re valid, that the books you like are OK to read–and that those books are probably even good reads–then look no further, because here I am!

 Go get that bread, read whatever you want, and pick up a copy of The Love Hypothesis so that you, too, may willfully oppose the patriarchy.

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Literature / The Love Hypothesis

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This novel contains examples of the following tropes:

• All Girls Want Bad Boys : Averted. Despite being good-looking, Adam isn't pursued by women due to his asshole-tendencies. In fact, people are appalled about their relationship, and ask Olive if she is alright because she is dating a known jackass.
• Amicable Exes : What Olive and Jeremy are. They went on a few dates, but broke up because he was more interested in Anh.
• Anh and Jeremy.
• Malcolm and Holden.
• Big Man on Campus : Adam is this. So much so, that even Tom at Harvard heard of him dating Olive.
• Break His Heart to Save Him : Olive tries to do this, and breaks up with Adam, so he can work with Tom. Once Holden tells her Adam could easily research without Tom, and that Tom is gunning for Adam's career for a long time, she shows Adam the proof of Tom blackmailing her.
• Casting Couch : Tom tries it with Olive, making it clear that he'll only fund her research if she sleeps with him. If not, he'll steal it .
• Character Tics : Olive is prone to silently weeping. “Apparently, weeping silently was her new baseline state.”
• Compassionate Critic : Adam actually does mean well with his harsh criticism, wanting his students to become great scientists. He may not care about protecting anyone's feelings, but he does care about his students producing quality work and being able to thrive in the field.
• Curves in All the Right Places : A male version in which Adam gets countless stares playing Frisbee shirtless. Apparently, his shoulders are swoon-worthy.
• Deadpan Snarker : Adam snarks with every sentence.
• Disappeared Dad : Olive's dad left before she was born. Once her mother died, she had to go to foster care.
• When Olive kisses Adam, she quickly asks him if it is alright, and thought she heard a yes, which he denies. Turns out, he probably did say yes, since he was pining for her for about 3 years.
• Anh asks Olive if Adam is blackmailing her to be in a relationship with him, which Olive thinks is ridiculous. Tom tries exactly that later to hurt Adam.
• Fake Relationship : The entire premise. Olive wants Anh to date Jeremy without feeling bad, and Adam wants Stanford to think he will not move on to Harvard because his “girlfriend” is in Stanford.
• Gay Best Friend : Olive and Adam have Malcolm and Holden respectively; they even end up becoming a couple. The two serve to give them some (sometimes biting) insight into their relationship and support them in times of strife.
• Got Volunteered : This happens to Adam on a frequent basis. He doesn't care about social gatherings, but as a professor, he is in a rotation and has to go once in a while.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold : Adam. He doesn't believe in coddling other people's feelings in an academic setting, thinking it is more effective to get straight to the point. However, privately he is a genuinely nice person, a great friend and wants only the best for Olive.
• Loophole Abuse : Professors dating students, even grad students, is very frowned upon. But, as Adam points out, since Olive is a grad student, she's not his advisee, and she's not a T.A. for any of his classes, them dating is technically not against regulations. He'd have to recuse himself in the event he was ever asked to review any of Olive's work if she was up for funding or something, but other than that, they won't cross paths academically.
• Manipulative Bastard : Tom Benton. He tried to tear down Adam as a Ph.D. candidate whilst pretending to be his friend, and wanted to blackmail Olive into having sex with him to take something from Adam, because he was annoyed at his accomplishments.
• Missing Mom : Olive's mom died of pancreatic cancer when Olive was a teenager, forcing her to live in foster care till she was able to emancipate herself. This is the reason she is studying this specific type of cancer.
• Really Gets Around : Malcolm believes dating is an Olympic sport and is out to get gold.
• Reasonable Authority Figure : Once the recording with Tom Benton's blackmail is in the hands of his boss, there are quick consequences.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn : Olive and Adam fall in love with each other for real.
• Adam has the reputation of one, being known for harsh and biting criticism and having a massive stick up his ass. However, as Olive gets to know him, she realizes it's not true; he may not like the majority of his grad students, but he does want the best for them, and his critiques are usually accurate.
• The real example would be Adam's adviser from back in his grad school days; cruel, domineering, abusive, and prone to messing with students just because he could and he liked having power over them. Adam is borderline traumatized by him.
• Single-Target Sexuality : Olive is gray asexual, and Adam is the first person she is attracted to.
• Stalker with a Crush : A mild example. Adam knows some things about Olive before they started fake dating. Turns out, he had a crush on her for the past couple years and was just too chicken to ask her out.
• Teacher/Student Romance : Downplayed. Olive is a grad student and Adam is a professor; however, he has no power over her academically and she was never in his classes as an undergrad.
• There Is Only One Bed : Discussed and ultimately averted. Olive is hesitant to share a hotel room with Adam because she's convinced they're going to end up with this trope. There are two beds.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel : Olive's more Thinks Like a Rom-Com. Having watched plenty of rom-com movies, she's already fully aware of the fake dating trope, There Is Only One Bed , and the like.
• The Topic of Cancer : Constantly at the back of the story, since Olive researches pancreatic cancer, which her mother died of.
• When She Smiles : Gender inverted with Adam. His usual version of a smile is slightly lifting the corners of his mouth. When he actually smiles, he is all dimples and teeth.
• Love Anthony
• American Literature (J To M)
• Love Letters to the Dead
• Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.
• Romance Novel
• Love in a Nutshell
• The Lost Metal
• Literature of the 2020s
• The Kiss Quotient
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A STEM love story! Read an exclusive excerpt of Ali Hazelwood's next novel, Love, Theoretically

We've got a juicy taste of Ali Hazelwood's STEMinist rom-com.

Enemies-to-lovers, but with a STEM spin!

Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, is back with a new STEMinist love story, following Elsie Hannaway and Jack Smith-Turner. Read the official synopsis and an exclusive excerpt below!

The Love Hypothesis synopsis

"It's a rivalry as old as time: theoretical versus experimental physicists. Elsie Hannaway is firmly in the camp of theoretical physics—an adjunct professor by day, she toils long and hard to teach students about the laws of thermodynamics in hopes of landing tenure. But to make ends meet, Elsie takes on another role in her (very) limited spare time: fake girlfriend. In this career, Elsie can pretend to be anyone her client needs her to be… and while she's not supposed to go on more than one date with a guy, she develops a soft spot for one who really needs her help in front of his family. What could possibly go wrong?

"Here is what can go wrong: her client has an older brother. A very hot older brother. And, on an interview for her dream tenure-track position in MIT's physics department, Elsie learns that said older brother is a member of the hiring committee. And he also just so happens to be the very same experimental physicist who ruined her mentor's career and is the reason why the entire science field views theoretical physicists as wastes of space. Did we mention that he happens to be terribly sexy? And he thinks that Elsie is a librarian who has been dating his brother?

"Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage when her physics nemesis realizes that Elsie isn't who she had claimed to be. But…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she's with him? Will falling into an experimentalist's orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?"

Ali Hazelwood's Love, Theoretically hits stores June 13, 2023, but EW has an exclusive sneak peek below.

The Love Hypothesis excerpt

From Chapter 3

"Calm down," Jack murmurs against the shell of my ear, like he knows that I'm on the verge of popping an aneurysm."

"They're from the MIT table," I whisper under my breath.

"Shh." His giant paws tighten around my waist, as if to contain me and my panic. They span my waist. Our size difference sits somewhere between absurd and obscene. "Settle down."

I feel dizzy. "Why am I standing on the toilet?"

"I figured you'd rather Dr. Pereira and Dr. Crowley keep on chatting about superpolynomial speedups and not see your heels under the stall. Was I wrong?"

I close my eyes, mortified. This is not my life. I'm a discerning scientist with insightful opinions onspintronic tech, not this blighted creature clinging to Jonathan Smith-Turner's shoulders on top of alatrine.

Oh, who am I kidding? This is exactly my brand. Improbable. Cringeworthy. Botched.

"Settle down," Jack repeats, gruffly reassuring. We're way too close. I want his breath to be garlic and sauerkraut, but it's vaguely minty and pleasantly warm. I want his skin to smell ridiculous, like mango tanning mousse, but all my nose picks up on is good, clean, nice . I want his grip to be creepy and knee-in-the-groin worthy, but it's just what I need to avoid slipping in the toilet. Argh. "Stop fidgeting."

"I'm not—" Pereira and Crowley are still talking physics— can't believe all the fuss with the quantum Hadamard transform —with the added background of a stream trickling. Oh God, they're peeing. I'm eavesdropping on one of the world's foremost solar neutrinos scholars peeing . I can't comeback from this, can I?

"Elsie." Jack's lips graze my cheekbone. "Calm down. They'll leave as soon as they're done, andyou can go back to the table. Laugh at Volkov's puns till he votes for you. Tell a few more lies."

"I'm not lying. " I pull back, and our eyes are at the same level. The slice of blue in the deep brown is icy, weird, beautiful. "I can't explain, but this is . . . not the way you think it is. It's . . . different."

"From what?"

"From the way you think it is."

He nods. Our noses nearly brush together. "That was remarkably articulate."

I roll my eyes.

"Monica will love to hear about your secret librarian identity—"

"No!" I barely keep my voice down. " Please , just call Greg before you talk to Monica. He'll explain."

"Convenient, given that I can't get in touch with him while he's on his retreat, and he won't be backuntil your interview is over."

Crap. S---. I'd forgotten about Woodacre. "There must be a way to reach him. Can you tell him it's an emergency? That, um, he left his porch light on? You need his alarm code to go turn it off. Save the environment."

"No."

"Please. At least—""No."

"You're being absolutely unreasonable . All I ask is that you—"

"—you think about the girl? Hannaway, right?" one of the urinal voices asks. We both still and instantly tune in.

A mistake, clearly.

"CV's real good. Her two-dimensional liquid crystals theories . . . good stuff."

"I remember reading her stuff last year. I was very impressed. Had no idea she was that junior."

"Right? Makes you wonder how much of it is her mentor's." A vague hum of agreement that has my hands tightening around the balls of Jack's shoulders. None , I want to scream. It was my model . "She's young and beautiful. Which means that she'll get pregnant in a couple of years, and we'll have to teach her courses."

It's like a punch in the sternum, to the point that I almost slip butt-first into the toilet. Jack stops me with a hand between my shoulder blades, arm contracting around my waist. He's frowning like he's as disgusted as I am. Though he's not. He can't be, because Pereira, or maybe Crowley, adds:

"Doesn't matter. I'm voting for Jack's candidate. He's got influence, and he hates theorists."

"He does? Oh, yeah. Can't believe I forgot that article he wrote."

"It was brutal, man. And hilarious. Wouldn't want to be on his bad side."

A hand dryer goes off, muffling the rest. Jack's still holding me, eyes on mine, foreheads near touching. My nails dig into his chest—made of some granite-Kevlar blend, engineered by a task force of experimentalists to exude heat. He's a sentient weighted blanket, and I—

I hate him.

I've never hated anybody: not J.J. Not the Film Appreciation 101 professor who nearly failed me for saying that Twilight is an unrecognized masterpiece. Not even my brother Lucas, who had me convinced that I was adopted for over six months. I'm mild mannered, adaptable, unobtrusive. I get along with people: I give them what they want, and all I ask in return is that they not actively dislike me.

But Jack Smith. Jonathan F---ing Smith F---ing Turner. He's been hostile and unpleasant and suspicious since the day we met. He has shat upon my field and destroyed my mentor, and now stands between me and my dreams. For that, he lost the privilege that I afford every human being: to deal with the Elsie he wants.

The Elsie he's going to get is the one I care to give him. And she's pissed.

"I want this job, Jack," I hiss over the hand dryer. I actually need this job, but—semantics.

"I know you do, Elsie." His voice is low pitched and rumbly. "But I want someone else to get it."

"I know. Jack ."

"Then it seems like we're at an impasse. Elsie ." He articulates my name slowly, carefully. I'm going to lean forward and bite his stupid lips bloody.

No, I won't, because I'm better than that.

"You do not want to come at me," I hiss.

"Oh, Elsie." His hands on me are incongruously gentle, and yet we're on the verge of the academic equivalent of nuclear warfare. "I think it's exactly what I want."

The dryer turns off into silence and saves me from committing aggravated assault. "They left," I say. "Let me go ."

His mouth twitches, but he deposits me on the floor in some ludicrous reverse– Dirty Dancing move. His hands on my waist linger, but as soon as they leave me I'm scampering out of the stall, heels clicking on the tiles. I nearly lose my balance. With Jack's scent out of my nose, the stench of the place hits me anew.

"Talk to Monica if you want to," I bluff, turning back to him. "You'll see the good it does you."

"Oh, I will." He's clearly about to smile, like the angrier I get, the more amused he becomes. A never-ending vicious cycle that can end only in me holding his head in the toilet bowl.

"It's my word against the word of the guy with a decade-long agenda against theorists, after all."

He shrugs. "Maybe. Or maybe it's a physicist's word against a librarian's."

I scoff and stalk to the entrance, suddenly confident in my stilt shoes, determined not to be in his presence a second longer. But when I reach the door, something ticks inside me. I whip my head back toJack, who's standing there like the K2, studying me with an interested frown, like I'm an exotic caterpillar about to pupate.

God, I hope he has itchy, purulent ass acne for the rest of his natural life. "I know you have despisedme since the very first moment we met," I spit out.

He bites the inside of his cheek. "You do?"

"Yes. And you know what? It doesn't matter if you hated me at first sight, because I've hated you long before we ever met. I hated you the first time I heard your name. I hated you when I was twelve and read what you'd done in Scientific American . I've hated you harder, I've hated you longer, and I've hated you for better reasons."

Jack doesn't look so amused anymore. This is new to me—talking to others like the me I really am. It's new and different and weird, and I freaking love it.

"I'm really good at hating you, Jack, so here's what I'm going to do: not only am I going to get this job, but when we're colleagues at MIT, I'm going to make sure that you have to look at me every day and wish that I were George. I'm going to make you regret every single little jab. And I'm going to single-handedly make your life so hard that you'll regret taking on me and Monica and theoretical physics, until you cry in your office every morning and finally apologize to the scientific community for what you did."

He is really not amused now. "Is that so?" he asks. Cold. Cutting.

This time I'm the one to smile. "You bet, Jonathan ."

From LOVE, THEORETICALLY published by arrangement with Berkley, an imprint of Penguin RandomHouse LLC. Copyright © 2023 by Ali Hazelwood.

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Why The Love Hypothesis Could Kickstart More Romance Film Adaptations

Ali Hazelwood's Star Wars fanfiction The Love Hypothesis is being made into a movie, and it could begin a trend of unconventional adaptations.

Ali Hazelwood's romance novel The Love Hypothesis took BookTok by storm in 2021 -- and part of its appeal was that it began as Star Wars fan fiction. Originally published in 2018 on Archive of Our Own as a work called "Head Over Feet," it detailed a modern interpretation of the relationship between Rey and Kylo Ren set against the backdrop of Stanford's graduate program. Though all the references to Star Wars were cut in the final draft of the novel, the similarities are still there, and it's been a major part of why the novel was so successful.

Successful enough, in fact, that in October 2022, it was announced that Bisous Pictures, which specializes in romantic films, acquired the rights to the novel. The film adaptation is currently in pre-production. Depending on how successful it is, The Love Hypothesis has the potential to pave the way for more romance adaptations -- especially those that originated in equally unconventional locations.

RELATED: Star Wars Visions Parallels Rey and Kylo's Bond - In A Twisted Manner

What Is The Love Hypothesis About?

The Love Hypothesis follows Olive, a graduate student at Stanford, after she enters a fake relationship with a professor, Adam Carlsen, in order to convince her best friend Anh that she is over her ex-boyfriend (who her best friend has feelings for). Neither of them is too enthused about this arrangement -- after all, Adam Carlsen is the bane of most graduate students' existence, and he's known throughout the program for his ruthlessness and, at times, rudeness.

However, as their relationship progresses, they each have to come to terms with their feelings, which are beginning to transcend far beyond what their initial arrangement entailed. It's a beautiful love story and one that's going to translate flawlessly to the big screen.

RELATED: Star Wars Rebels Foreshadowed Rey and Kylo Ren's Force Bond

The Love Hypothesis Could Pave the Way for Other Unconventional Adaptations

The Love Hypothesis is the most recent in a long line of movies adapted from fan works. City of Bones series (including the associated movies and Shadowhunters television show ) has its roots in Harry Potter . Increasingly, publishing houses are turning to well-known fan fiction authors to revise their works and send them out into the world. Often, these books sell well in part because of their obvious association with a better-known intellectual property, which then makes them prime candidates to be turned into films.

If fan fiction evolves into a prevalent source for movies, the possibilities for future adaptations are endless. Films and TV shows based on graphic novels, such as Nimona and Heartstopper, have recently gained traction . Video game movies, no matter how controversial they tend to be, are slowly making their way into the cultural eye with big titles such as Uncharted or the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy's . Though romantic movies in the past have been primarily based on published novels or entirely original, the increasing number of fan fiction and graphic novel adaptations could lead to a broader future for the romantic genre. If The Love Hypothesis is successful (which it likely will be), rom-coms may see a major renaissance, and perhaps the source material for them will be diversified as well.

'The Love Hypothesis' Film Adaptation Announced at Bisous Pictures

Reylos rejoice!

Reylo stans rejoice! Bisous Pictures have partnered with author Ali Hazelwood on an adaption of her New York Times Best Selling novel, The Love Hypothesis . Deadline reports that a deal was struck between Elizabeth Cantillon and MRC Film to adapt the Berkley-published book.

The Love Hypothesis is one of a growing number of titles which gained popularity through the 'BookTok' community on TikTok. It is a romance book set amongst academia which follows the story of a young, hot, dreamy and talented - naturally - professor named (more on this later) Adam Carlsen, and a Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith. The pair end up caught in a lie to portray a convincing and romantic couple, with the story portraying - and subverting - many tropes used in classic romance tales.

“Bisous Pictures is thrilled to be working with Ali to amplify her voice and bring this magical book to the screen,” said Cantillon, with Hazelwood adding: “It’s a true privilege to have Elizabeth and such a talented and experienced team of people working on adapting The Love Hypothesis , and I’m very excited for this next step in Olive and Adam’s story!”

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Looking more closely at the cover of the novel, however, and you would be forgiven for thinking you might have seen the couple before. Hazelwood began writing fan fiction for the Star Trek fandom, before moving on to Star Wars. And yes, if you haven't already figured it out, the main characters are based on Kylo Ren and Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Archive of Our Own is where The Love Hypothesis took flight, albeit under a different title, and where a legion of fans joined in Olive and Adam's romance.

In a 2021 interview with Collider's Carly Lane , the day after news broke that The Love Hypothesis officially became a New York Times bestseller , Hazelwood spoke at length about the freedom fan fiction offered. She explained how it was allowing writers to find their voice and express their feelings on mediums where they would find it harder to do in traditional publishing houses.

"I was really, really into writing fan fiction, first for the Star Trek fandom and then for the Star Wars fandom. And I loved it. It was just, it was this amazing community. I made a lot of friends and I was just having a lot of fun. And then what happened is that I started slowly thinking about trying to write something original, just to challenge myself and to do something different. And while I was in that kind of mood, my agent started reading my fan fiction on Archive of Our Own and then she reached out with a DM. She was like, "I saw that you wrote something about maybe pulling some of your fics and reworking them. And I wanted to tell you that I'm a literary agent and I would love to see you some of your manuscripts, if you're interested in it."

No release date has yet been announced for The Love Hypothesis, but the petition for Driver and Daisy Ridley to take on the lead roles is surely moments away from launching.

From Fanfic to Bookshop Pick: The Love Hypothesis

By Emma Regan and Jordan Maxwell Ridgway

This article is the first in a series exploring the world of fanfiction. Fanfiction has not only been growing in popularity amongst readers over the years, but it is also proving to be prime training for writers wanting to break into the industry. This week we will be discussing The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood and its success.

Fanfiction is typically unauthorised material written by fans and based on existing works. There has been a full range of responses from authors and copyright owners, both positive and negative. The earliest cited use of the term ‘fanfiction’ dates back to 1939 and has deep roots in the fantasy and science fiction genres. However, all literary buffs are aware that writers, such as Shakespeare, were known to ‘borrow’ and put their own spin on existing characters and plots.

Today, fanfiction can be found on sites such as Wattpad and Archive of Our Own (AO3), amongst others. Fanfiction is believed to have a largely female-based reader and author demographic, but a growing portion of the transgender and non-binary or genderfluid community are reading and producing works of their own too. Fanfiction also appears to appeal to young people as a way to reimagine the content they love and hone their craft.

As Ali Hazelwood said in an interview with Collider , “It's great, like you said, to find your voice, to explore things that you usually don't find in traditional publishing.” In the same article, Hazelwood expresses her joy that publishing houses are taking a growing interest in fanfiction and its marketability, and how this is lending further “legitimacy” to the medium. Fanfiction has, over recent years, felt like a pejorative: a disclaimer to suggest the work should not be taken seriously in its own right. This likely stems from the work not being purely original, cited as enough cause for dismissal. But it could be said that Shakespeare may have created the term ‘star-cross’d lovers,’ but he hardly invented the trope.

It is notable that fanfiction is often based on the trials and tensions between characters from popular franchises, and so it is unsurprising that a lot of the successful examples of fanfiction translated into original works fit into the romance genre. Despite its profitability and demand, it is still a genre that can be dismissed as ‘fluff.’ Considering this fact, along with the dismissal of fanfiction, as well as its demographic, it’s hard not to see the compounded odds stacked against its favour in its quest for legitimacy, surely making successful transitions even more rejoiceful.

The Love Hypothesis is one of many book titles which have gained popularity via TikTok, through the ‘BookTok’ community. It is a romance book set in academia which follows the story of Ph.D. candidate Olive Smith and “young, hotshot professor” Adam Carlsen, as they manage to find themselves caught up in needing to portray a convincing, romantic relationship and includes various other tropes used in romance novels (with quite a few of those being subverted too).

However, you might notice the two people depicted on the book’s cover look eerily like characters from a popular franchise. Ali Hazelwood started off writing fanfiction on Archive of Our Own (AO3), first for the Star Trek fandom before moving onto writing Star Wars - if you haven’t figured it out yet, the main characters of The Love Hypothesis are based on Kylo Ren and Rey Skywalker from the latest Star Wars trilogy. AO3 is where The Love Hypothesis first started (although it was under a different title then) amongst all her other fanfiction. It was there where Hazelwood found a community of other ‘fanfic’ writers and gained a strong following of readers that were enamoured by her work. Soon after, Hazelwood started to consider the process of moving from fanfiction writing to producing original content, when a literary agent, who had been reading her work, reached out to her via social media and asked to read some of her manuscripts. It was then a process of working out which pieces of fanfiction Hazelwood had written that would be the easiest to adapt into an original novel.

The Love Hypothesis doesn’t shy away from its origins though. As mentioned above, the cover of the book distinctly shows who the main characters, Olive and Adam, are based on by using fanart that was produced when the story was merely fanfiction, something the author was adamant on. Adam Carlson is also close to the name of Kylo Ren’s actor, Adam Driver, so the links to the original piece of work are there. This shows just how much traditional publishing is embracing the concept of fanfiction and that it isn’t afraid to look at it for up-and-coming authors.

Moreover, We’d Know By Then by Kirsten Bohling is another book that has been recently published with origins as another ‘Reylo’ fanfic, this time, using the soulmate trope.

Could this be the new trend within traditional publishing? Or do you think original fanfiction is the best place to get your dose of romance?

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How the Total Solar Eclipse Will Affect Your Mood, Based on Your Zodiac Sign

Though some areas might not see the solar eclipse firsthand, you will likely still experience its astrological effects on April 8

Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty

The sky will be going dark this month as the total solar eclipse occurs on April 8. 

Dubbed the "Great North American Eclipse," the solar eclipse will occur along a narrow path of totality in the United States from Texas to Maine, per NASA . 

Though some areas might not see the solar eclipse firsthand , you will likely still experience its astrological effects. 

To determine how the solar eclipse will affect each zodiac sign, PEOPLE spoke with astrologer and bestselling author Lisa Stardust to get their readings.

As Stardust points out, the upcoming eclipse falls in Aries and is referred to as the “ Ring of Fire ” eclipse as “the sun's outline will create a ring around it in the sky.” Stardust adds that, “from an astrological standpoint, this eclipse will push us out of our comfort zones and encourage us to take steps towards healing.” “This is due to its alignment with Mercury , which will be in retrograde in Aries, and the healing centaur Chiron,” Stardust continues. The alignment will provide people with the opportunity “to address our old wounds and emotional pain,” and lead some to feel “inspired to lend a helping hand to ourselves and others.” 

Here’s what the solar eclipse could mean for you, based on your zodiac sign. 

Don’t get too defensive, Aries. With the eclipse and mercury retrograde currently affecting your Sun, Stardust says that you may find it hard to “articulate” your “thoughts or feelings.” Instead of rushing into anything, Stardusts suggests you “take a moment to gather your thoughts before responding,” adding that you should “consider what you want to say and how to convey it effectively.”

Taurus, use this time to reflect and heal. Stardust says the upcoming solar eclipse is “an excellent opportunity for growth and transformation as you work towards mending your heart and moving forward with a new and evolved mindset.” They add that while “facing fears and phobias head-on can be intimidating, it's important to remember that you are strong enough to fight them.” 

Gemini, you may find yourself reconnecting with friends during this time. If you’ve been questioning your “core group,” Stardust advises you to reach out “to people from your past” and build “a new connection with them, especially if they have shown care and support towards you.” They add that Geminis should “stay open to rebuilding and restoring relationships because many people are willing to support you and have your back.” 

Don’t let your chaotic work life deter you, Cancer. Instead, lean in! Stardust says Cancer signs should use this time “to step up and help your coworkers and boss navigate any miscommunications that might come up.” They add that all of your hard work could come with major payoffs, including a “well-deserved promotion or raise.” 

Take a deep breath, Leo. Stardust suggests the solar eclipse is a great time to focus on your mental health and “discover new ways to rejuvenate, unwind, and replenish your mind.” Though you may be struggling to “find a sense of peace,” Stardusts adds that “it is achievable with consistent effort.” 

Are you feeling that solar eclipse energy, Virgo? Stardusts says that the upcoming astrological event will have you feeling “your most powerful,” meaning you can “take on anything that comes your way.” They add that Virgos will be “stronger than ever” during this time and “your mind has the prowess to understand things from a different perspective.” They add that “you will be able to get to the bottom line of matters, allowing you to stop overthinking and overanalyzing things.” 

Believe in yourself, Libra! If you’re entering a new collaboration or partnership during this time, Stardust advises you to “trust your instincts and approach the new endeavor with caution.” They say that you should remember to take “small steps towards socializing” as it “can lead to new friendships and connections.” 

Scorpio, you might be feeling overwhelmed during this time. However, Stardust notes that it’s totally natural with “all the daily mishaps happening due to Mercury’s planetary backstroke.” To combat the stress, Stardust suggests you take a moment to “catch your breath” and have “a fulfilling experience, regardless of any minor inconveniences or travel issues that may arise.” Above everything, “enjoy the journey” by being “present in the moment” and letting “go of your worries,” they advise.  

Sagittarius 

Romance is on the horizon, Sagittarius, though Stardust warns to “take your time” with your budding relationship: “If you're planning a date for the evening of the eclipse and some unexpected issues come up or your companion is delayed, try to find the humor in the situation instead of getting annoyed." Most importantly, take this time to “relax and have fun with your loved ones.”

Capricorns might experience some issues with their work-life balance. “You may need to attend to a personal matter at home, which will require you to devote more time to your family than work,” Stardust suggests, adding that some home renovations may require your attention. “The eclipse is reminding you that it's not sustainable to be a workaholic around the clock,” Stardust adds, noting that you should divide “your time equally between your personal and professional life” in order to “feel a sense of harmony in your life.”

Aquarius, be mindful of other people’s boundaries during this time. Stardust specifically notes that you should “avoid getting into an argument with someone due to your strong beliefs” during the solar eclipse, adding that “interacting peacefully with the people you care about in your social circle is possible by setting limits and avoiding conflicts.” 

Pisces, prepare to see green! Stardust says this period could provide a substantial income for you, but warns not to overspend. Instead, they suggest you “set aside a portion of the cash you receive in your savings account so that you aren't constantly anxious.” They add that you’ll want to “save your tax refund for a rainy day” to act as “your safety net” in the event of an emergency.

The Love Hypothesis

48 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-11

Chapters 12-13

Chapters 14-15

Chapters 16-19

Chapter 20-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 16-19 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 16 summary.

Adam rips his shirt off and pulls Olive to him, kissing her and running his hands over her body. The touches spark a range of sensations Olive’s never felt before, making her squirm. Adam tries to slide one finger inside her, but her tightness makes it difficult. She admits to having sex only a few times in college, which makes Adam recoil because she’s practically a virgin. She babbles on about how virginity works, which makes him laugh and draw her in for another kiss. Less flustered, Olive explains that she doesn’t “feel any sexual attraction unless I actually get to trust and like a person” (267), and he’s the first person she’s gotten close enough with to want sex.

Since Olive is inexperienced and tight, Adam starts by giving her oral sex until she orgasms. It takes some more work to get her open enough for intercourse, but once she is, they make fast, desperate love. Adam climaxes while muttering about how long he had wanted this and how he can never let Olive go. Olive climaxes right behind him, shivering with pleasure.

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Someone Like You

Based on the novel by #1 NYTimes bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, "Someone Like You" is an achingly beautiful love story. After the tragic loss of his best friend, a grieving young archit... Read all Based on the novel by #1 NYTimes bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, "Someone Like You" is an achingly beautiful love story. After the tragic loss of his best friend, a grieving young architect launches a search for her secret twin sister. Based on the novel by #1 NYTimes bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, "Someone Like You" is an achingly beautiful love story. After the tragic loss of his best friend, a grieving young architect launches a search for her secret twin sister.

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• Trivia Robin Lively and Bart Johnson play a married couple in this movie, and they are married in real life.

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• Runtime 1 hour 58 minutes

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