The love hypothesis – review
“HYPOTHESIS: A heart will break even more easily than the
Olive
weakest of hydrogen bonds.”
Synopsis
In a desperate attempt to convince her best friend that she is dating, Olive, a third year Ph.D. student, ends up “assaulting” and kissing (without consent) Dr. Adam Carlsen, “a notoriusly, moody, obnoxious” Stanford professor. Everything escalates after the kiss, and the rumor that a grad student is dating a professor spreads across the entire campus.
Olive and Adam think that a fake relationship will benefit both of them, so they decide to keep pretending to be lovers. In order to mentain appearances, the two begin to spend some time together, every once in a while. The real problem starts when Olive realizes that she is falling for Adam, but she won’t reveal her feelings, thinking that her love is unrequited.
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – Book review
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood is definitely one of my favourite contemporary romance novels, a five stars reading. Although the novel has a fairly popular theme, namely fake dating, what impressed me the most was the writing style. Ali Hazelwood really knows how to write. Even though the narration is in the third-person (which I am not the biggest fan of), there is never a dull moment throughout the book. I couldn’t stop laughing while reading, the dialogue between the characters is hilarious. The first interactions between Adam and Olive are downright comic:
“You put in expired contacts?”
-Adam and Olive
“Just a little expired.”
“What’s ‘a little’?”
“I don’t know. A few years?”
Adam and Olive are the most lovable characters. Olive is sweet, smart, hardworking and always considerate. She is a little insecure, but this flaw makes her even more adorable. Adam is presented as a grumpy, moody, obnoxious man, but in Olive’s presence he is always attentive, kind and protective.
I totally recommend this book to readers who love the fake dating trope, grumpy-sunshine characters and a slow burn romantic story. Also, if you like steamy scenes, you will definitely enjoy reading Chapter 16 (which can also be easily skipped if you are not a fan of reading descriptive sex scenes in your books).
Considering the fact that The Love Hypothesis is Ali’s debut novel, I must admit that I was really impressed by it, so impressed that I added it in my top favourites.
Books similar to The Love Hypothesis
I thought a lot about similar books to The Love Hypothesis, but I couldn’t find any to match it. However, I can recommend you books with similar tropes as The Love Hypothesis.
If you love the grumpy-sunshine romance, with a little bit of slow burn, I think that The Hating Game by Sally Thorne or It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey, will be perfect for you.
If you are a fan of the fake relationship trope, I recommend you to read The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas.
And finally, if you are looking for a sweet nerdy heroine, I suggest you give it a try to The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (which is also a favourite of mine).
As I mentioned earlier, even though these books share similar tropes, I couldn’t find a perfect recommendation to match Ali’s novel, because what I liked the most about The Love Hypothesis was the humorous writing style combined with all these tropes. I would enjoy reading romances with similar writing style, so if you have any suggestions for me, please write them down in the comments.
Thank you!
