The Love Hypothesis (Spoiler-Free Review)
✰✰✰✰✰/5
🌶🌶🌶🌶/5
!Book content warnings: Cancer, Death of a parent (past), Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment
"You can fall in love: someone will catch you."
~Some Quick Stats~
Overall: 5/5 Stars
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot and Themes: 4/5
Awesomeness Factor: 5/5
I don’t think I can love this book any more than I do now. I honestly wish I could give it more than 5 stars, but Goodreads won’t let me. This book tackles the trope of Grumpy and Sunshine in a fun and absolutely stunning way. It was funny, smart, and literally, everything else that is good in the world can be found in this book. I could not put this down. Ali Hazelwood did a fantastic job with this book.
~The Book~
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.
~Plot~
This plot was just exceptional. I have never read, or heard of, a book with this type of plot. I loved the way that the author weaved in science and the study of pancreatic cancer without overwhelming the reader. It was very digestible information, and I also didn’t feel like it was too focused on, given this is a romance book. The plot definitely had many events within it, and it had a lot going on. However, it wasn’t chaotic, and transitions from one event to another were very smooth.
Another part of the plot that I liked loved was how this book addressed very important topics such as sexual assault, women in STEM, and sexism. The author worked it into the plot naturally, making it not seem forced. I also really enjoyed seeing how these things affected the characters and their reactions towards events in the plot.
~Characters~
I love these characters. Our main character Olive is a female scientist in stem studying pancreatic cancer. She has a love for all things pumpkin and makes a point of that during the story. I loved how her character was developed and evolved during the story. One of my favorite main characters of all time. Our love interest, broody lab tyrant Adam Carlsen is a professor who is known for being an ass. He despises all things pumpkin and makes a point of that during the story. These two had irresistible chemistry (Haha see what I did there) and even though they were literal opposites of each other, they fit together so well. I loved these characters and their dynamic together.
Now for the side characters, they were just as fantastic. Olive has two best friends, Anh and Malcolm, and both make multiple appearances throughout the story. I really liked the way they added to Olive's character and the story. I loved Malcolm, I think he was really sweet; however, I really didn’t like Anh, which is probably a little controversial. On Adam’s side of the story, he also had two friends who appeared a lot in the story, Tom and Holden. Tom was a really interesting character that definitely added to the plot in a way. His character arc definitely took a turn that I was not expecting. Now for Holden, I absolutely adored him. He was so sweet, and he seemed like a great friend. He also ended up in a relationship that I support 110%. I loved his addition to the story and through him, we were able to learn more about Adam’s past.
To sum it all up, go read this book right now. It was so freaking good. This was the highlight of my January, and I can’t wait to reread it.
So run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore or Amazon and read this right now!!!!!!!!
Follow The Author ➡️ https://alihazelwood.com/
Xoxo,
Opal
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