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A review by nikkihrose
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
5.0
I cannot believe this is a debut novel. This book is everything – it’s one of the few that just as I finished reading it, I knew I needed to reread it again. And soon.
With a desire to protect her friend’s heart, Olive pretends to be dating someone at random – since her friend is in love with Olive’s ex and won’t consider dating him if Olive is still hung up on him. Luckily, it seems to work, but unfortunately, Olive hadn’t managed to plan ahead when it came to needing to fake date someone – and she grabbed the closest person to kiss. Turns out this “random” person happened to be one of the most hated professors on campus in her Ph.D. program, since he was often considered arrogant and unapproachable. And yet… Olive hadn’t had a problem approaching him. With her lips. Without (much) warning.
In an attempt to keep their charade going, Professor Carlsen agrees to help her out – since there’s something he needs too. The agreement could work for both of them, especially since it’s not like it would interfere with Olive’s love life – since she has practically vowed never to have one. Besides, she started this Ph.D. program because she had a question and needed to answer it – wasn’t that what she had told the mysterious man she met in the bathroom during her visit before being accepted to the program? For some reason, she always returned to that moment – the moment he helped her decide that this program was the right thing for her. And she didn’t even know his name.
But, as in any good romcom, when one doesn’t expect to fall in love, you can pretty much guarantee emotions of some kind are going to surface. Navigating that with Professor Adam Carlsen seems far too tricky, though – especially once his close friend divulges that he’s been pining after someone for years. There’s no way it could work, so backing away from it is her only choice.
I loved this book. I cannot stress it enough. It highlights women in STEM and the struggles they face alongside the challenges of academia and doctoral programs altogether. Truthfully, this is just a beautiful book – one I’d recommend to everyone.
With a desire to protect her friend’s heart, Olive pretends to be dating someone at random – since her friend is in love with Olive’s ex and won’t consider dating him if Olive is still hung up on him. Luckily, it seems to work, but unfortunately, Olive hadn’t managed to plan ahead when it came to needing to fake date someone – and she grabbed the closest person to kiss. Turns out this “random” person happened to be one of the most hated professors on campus in her Ph.D. program, since he was often considered arrogant and unapproachable. And yet… Olive hadn’t had a problem approaching him. With her lips. Without (much) warning.
In an attempt to keep their charade going, Professor Carlsen agrees to help her out – since there’s something he needs too. The agreement could work for both of them, especially since it’s not like it would interfere with Olive’s love life – since she has practically vowed never to have one. Besides, she started this Ph.D. program because she had a question and needed to answer it – wasn’t that what she had told the mysterious man she met in the bathroom during her visit before being accepted to the program? For some reason, she always returned to that moment – the moment he helped her decide that this program was the right thing for her. And she didn’t even know his name.
But, as in any good romcom, when one doesn’t expect to fall in love, you can pretty much guarantee emotions of some kind are going to surface. Navigating that with Professor Adam Carlsen seems far too tricky, though – especially once his close friend divulges that he’s been pining after someone for years. There’s no way it could work, so backing away from it is her only choice.
I loved this book. I cannot stress it enough. It highlights women in STEM and the struggles they face alongside the challenges of academia and doctoral programs altogether. Truthfully, this is just a beautiful book – one I’d recommend to everyone.