The Love Hypothesis Book Review

Title: The Love Hypothesis
Author: Ali Hazelwood

Synopsis: 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.

My Rating: ★★★★★

When I read that author Ali Hazelwood writes all of her books in the setting of academia I added all of her books to my amazon book wish list. The fact that this book was centered around a young grad student in the realm of science was so cool to me. Having women in STEM as the leading characters was great! Then adding love in the mix of academia is the absolute cutest.

Olive was a blast to follow throughout this story. However, I did not like Olive’s reasoning for wanting to fake date Dr. Adam Carlson. I personally feel that if Anh (her best friend) did not comprehend that Olive didn’t like Jeremy, and she gave both of them the green light to date then maybe she shouldn’t be in a PhD program. That truly made me mad, but the fake dating turned out to be a good thing for both Olive and Adam. 

To me I figured the foundation of their relationship was going to be revealed towards the end, but it was very cute to see their likeness blossom into something true. I can relate to Olive wanting to go into a career for personal reasons. Hearing her story was very touching and I was rooting for her! She doubted herself and did not feel as though she was adequate to be in the program. When the tension arose with who she was dating she felt even more unqualified. She had to learn how to be confident and believe in herself and her work. I love how Adam was there to support her, and since he was a known asshole to have him encourage her made me yell “relationship goals.” 

Adam was a bit mysterious himself. For saying he was known to be so rude to his graduate students, but Olive saw a different side of him was confusing. He had all these things to say about being in the program and how he understood how she felt, but it’s like why can’t you empathize with your own students like that. Hearing his story about his graduate years made me sympathize with him in that regard. 

I enjoyed this book to say the least. How Ali writes it was easy to picture certain scenes. One thing I did not like was the sex scenes. I was like whoa that was very blunt, and it made me realize that people’s personality can be different in the bedroom. How Adam was talking I could not believe that it was him. Other than that you have science, education conferences, women professors, coffee, and love; what's not to love?