Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis is a cute, albeit frustrating read that stands stronger to its status as an ode to women and their place in academia than it does as a romance book. You may have been recommended it by BookTok for the Olive/Adam relationship, but really, it’s literally everything else squeezed into the margins that makes the book enjoyable.
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.
The Love Hypothesis is perfectly structured on paper. In terms of plotline and character development, it hits all the boxes for how to build a believable relationship. But the story itself just didn’t click for me. I felt drawn more to the romances and hardships of the side characters of this book than the main ones. Olive, despite having so much energy, felt so unalive in terms of her romantic relationship. Adam, even though he’s described as having loved Olive all along, didn’t seem to be a 3D character able to experience complex emotions outside of those relevant to the plotline.
It’s the book's hype, specifically the hype around the romance, that really chokes it. I came into the story expecting way too much, having been recommended it by pretty much anyone and anything that can recommend a book—friends, bookstores, BookTok and Bookstagram, literal advertisements on my phone. But the entire time I was reading, I just kept thinking of all the comments I saw: a perfect romance, endearing, steamy. I was searching for those things, but all I found were miscommunication, badly done oblivious tropes, and an overabundance of abs and coffee.
Outside of the romance, though, The Love Hypothesis lets itself breathe in ways I’ve rarely seen other media do. The focus on women in STEM and the nuances of the hardships they go through is amazing. The conversations about the gritty truths of academia—like Adam’s relationship with his old advisor, Anh’s work creating support systems for BIOPIC women, Rodriguez’s struggles watching a friend be subtly manipulated and not being able to do anything about it—are important, and honestly felt more gripping to me than the attempted tension of Olive and Adam's relationship.
I wish I could've seen Anh and Malcolm's subplots delved into more deeply. They may not have been Olive’s story to tell, but I think interwoven plotlines of friends trying to figure their issues out together would have made everything run smoother, possibly even boosting the romance by providing a richer understanding of Olive and Anh’s relationship and why Olive would go so far for her happiness. But as it's a romance book, and as the whole premise relies on fake dating and oblivious characters, those interesting intersections and character support systems really fell flat. They truly could only really stay surface level, and Anh and Malcolm’s stories felt less like they're involved in the story and more so happening around the same time that Olive and Adam’s mediocre romance plays out.
In general terms, I still think The Love Hypothesis functions well, but it's really just not for me. Perhaps my expectations were too high, or perhaps I found interest in the aspects of the plot that were functionally unnecessary to the core story, but, at the end of the day, it just didn't click for me.
Ali Hazelwood is a multi-published author—alas, of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the U.S. to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies her. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, crocheting, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her two feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband). You can find more of Hazelwood’s work at her website, https://alihazelwood.com/.
Comments
Post a Comment