The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
One woman’s well-considered beliefs on love are turned upside down when a fictitious relationship between two scientists and the irresistible pull of attraction collide.
Olive Smith, a third-year Ph.D. student, doesn’t think long-lasting love relationships exist, but her best friend does, which is how she ended up in this predicament. It was always going to take more than just hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks to persuade Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after. Scientists need evidence. Olive panics as a result and kisses the first man she sees, just like any self-respecting biologist.
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
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Adam Carlsen, a hotshot young professor and notorious ass, is the one and only. Because of this, Olive is delightfully shocked when Stanford’s top lab tyrant offers to be her pretend lover and keep Olive’s farce a secret. However, when a significant scientific conference goes awry, Olive’s career is put on the back burner, and Adam shocks her once more with his unwavering support and even more unwavering…six-pack abs.
Their small experiment feels as though it might explode at any moment. Olive also learns that examining her own heart is the one thing that is trickier than a hypothesis on love.
The Love Hypothesis is unabashedly a romantic comedy. It begins with a kiss, evolves into a phoney romance, and progresses to much more. The book is funny, endearing, and heartwarming—everything a rom-com should have.
Each chapter begins with a claim that might not be particularly scientific or even testable, but which will unavoidably be supported by Olive’s experiences. She is assisted in proving her theories by Dr Adam Carlsen and her graduate school friends.
Adam is not a particularly friendly person. Him, the phrase “destroyer of research careers” has been used. Though Olive won’t understand them until the end of the novel, there are explanations for why he is the way he is.
When Olive unexpectedly kisses Adam in the hallway without recognizing who she was kissing, Adams notices. This might be extremely beneficial or detrimental.
Olive and Adam believe they are really only pretending to be dating because there is so much uncertainty. They are in love with each other, as their friends and readers are aware. An evil man is coercing them into working together on a research project at a scientific nerd convention.
Olive is a graduate student in the STEM department who is investigating novel theories for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Professor Adam Carlsen is a brooding, towering, handsome man. They learn they can assist each other out by “faking dating” for a few months after an awkward first encounter. Adam wants a girlfriend to demonstrate that he is staying at Stanford and is deserving of the money from the research grant that is being held, and Olive needs to persuade her roommate that she is welcome to date Adam’s ex.
This is a grumpy/sunny, fake dating, sweet tale about two completely different people who, over time, begin to see past their outward differences and form a friendship. You have one hell of an amusing narrative when you combine it with Olive’s shyness and lying brought on by her dread of allowing Adam to get close to her, some miscommunicated emotions, and the treachery of Adam’s friend/coworker.
All of the characters were interesting to me, especially Adam’s best friend and fellow professor, Holden, as well as Olive’s pals and other scientists. They are all involved in Olive and Adam’s romance, which you will cheer for from the start.
The wording of The Love Hypothesis is pretty straightforward, and I don’t mean that negatively. Because of the writing’s simplicity, the leisurely flow moves along steadily without any of those moments when you want to skip entire pages or chapters in search of where the story is going. The Love Hypothesis is one of the best books I’ve read this year and doesn’t need all of the glitz and glam that some books exude. In my opinion, sometimes when the writing is very over-the-top it’s a way of trying to compensate for the book lacking in some area, from world-building or character development. Despite the fact that reaching those conclusions is anything but straightforward, it serves to represent how STEM areas view their work in a fairly black-or-white manner.
Adam’s reactions and Olive’s actions are just hilarious because she is one of the very few people who can make him feel something other than his usual broodiness. Anh wouldn’t make a move because of the bestie code, so Olive found herself pretending to date Adam in an effort to convince her that she is over her ex-Jeremy so they can begin dating. Adam just so happened to be in the right place at the right time when Anh was walking through the building when Olive grabbed him and kissed him very unexpectedly.
