Review: Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Title: The Love Hypothesis

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Year published: 2021

Category: Adult fiction (romance)

Pages: 400 pages

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location: (my 2022 Google Reading map): USA (CA, MA)

Summary: When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.

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.

Review: I have seen reviews of this book around and I knew that it would qualify for one of my missing Popsugar categories so I thought I'd give it a try. And, I am always up for a contemporary romance.

I thought this novel was clever, fun, and fit the bill for what I like in a romance. I haven't read a fake dating novel before so that was a nice change even though you know how it's all going to end up (isn't that what's best about romances? Happy endings!).

I liked that each chapter started with a hypothesis about that chapter's events or ideas; I thought that was a cute way to tie into the title and theme of the book. I liked that the main character is smart, a PhD student, has wonderful friends, and is driven (though unsure of herself).

Overall I enjoyed this book. It's light (though it does bring in an important issue about two thirds of the way through), fun, romantic, and different from other romances I've read.

Challenges for which this counts: none