The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Genre: NA Realistic Fiction/Romance
Blurb (on back of 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.
MY OPINION: *****
Everyone and their mother fell head over heels in love with this book. I saw it all over social media, heard amazing things about it from my friends, observed the ever-increasing, impressive Goodreads rating; so, of course, I had to see for myself what all the hype was about. I ended up liking it so much more than I expected. Usually with overhyped books I end up setting very high expectations, resulting in a lower overall rating when those expectations are not met. However, my expectations were highly exceeded with this one and I completely understand all the extreme love and obsessions.
Keep in mind this is apparently a Star Wars Kylo Ren x Rey fanfiction turned romance novel. As an evolved fanfiction-to-fiction writer, I already was intrigued, even if I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan. I was also willing to overlook the fact that the main character is named Adam (and the actor of Kylo Ren is named Adam Driver). I honestly didn't put two and two together until I was pretty far into the book (though I'm not sure how since I love Adam Driver!).
I didn't know anything about the plot or the characters before starting the book. All I knew was that it was a fanfic and that it was to die for. I was pleasantly surprised by the beginning. We start somewhere before the actual time period of this book, which I'm always a fan of.
The book is a little bit insta-love but not in the sickening annoying way that usually results in my less-than-mid rating. Because it features the iconic fake-dating trope, the characters are not instantly in love by any means, despite the book opening with a kiss between our two main characters. It's more awkward than romantic, and I absolutely loved this unique introduction to the romcom genre, as most either start with pure "hatred" for the opposing character (though to be honest one of them never truly hates the other) or with some sort of slow burn, unrequited love kind of ploy. However, this one was very unique and I loved it!
The ONLY issue I slightly had with this book was the age gap between the characters. I am not a huge fan of age gaps but in this one, I am slightly more forgiving. The male hero is a professor (I believe early 30s?) and the female heroine is a grad student, which is definitely not as bad as an undergrad student. Also, he is not her professor so it's not like a student/teacher trope, which automatically would have made this book a 1-star read for me. I was willing to forgive the "power difference" between the two because it never really became an issue of him being "superior" to her in any way and was solely based on the attraction the two ended up feeling for each other as the book progressed.
There were times when I wasn't really feeling the chemistry between the two but then there would be scenes that would make up for it and make their love seem more believable. I loved all of the coffee shop scenes, the cute interactions the two had, the fake romantic gestures (that were actually very real), and the gradual admittance that they had fallen for each other for real.
Something you may not know about me is my absolute hatred of biology. I used to love the subject back in freshman year when I was taking simple Living Earth and thriving. Then I decided (by some devilish decision) to take AP Biology last year. When I tell you that nothing has traumatized me more than that class. I will say that it was nice to recognize at least some of what the characters in the book (who are all Biology majors) were referring to but it did send some minor form of PTSD through me every time words like "signal transduction" and "enzyme receptors" were mentioned (I'm not sure if those are the exact phrases, but just think of biology-things along those lines). I never thought I would willingly read a book centered around STEM academia but here I am with one under my belt that I actually loved.
Speaking of academia, I loved the way that the author showed the different aspects of it throughout the book. We see issues of plagiarism, stealing of ideas, lack of funding for proper experimentation, seminal work, the public speaking aspect of science (presenting your ideas), the faculty support, and all of the other facets that make up academics. I think the author presented each new level of academia and its successes and flaws very beautifully (and heartbreakingly).
I loved all the characters in this book (except THE one, if you read it, you'll know who I am referring to), which is a rare occurrence for me. I generally have a dislike for main characters, especially the "quirky" ones who are just so bumbly and awkward and silly but I found Olive's flaws and fumbles quite endearing, another rare experience. I also loved Adam and his two sides: his professor side and his boyfriend side. I think he played both parts very well, even though I know I would be one of his students crying after his disparagement of my every piece of work. Haha.
Overall, I would highly recommend this one (alongside the voices of thousands of other romance fanatics begging you all to read this book) to anyone looking for a cute, dramatic, beautifully written romance novel.
Main Character: Olive, Adam
Sidekick(s): Friends, etc
Villain(s): THAT one (who I will not spoil), plagiarism, misunderstandings, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
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