Love, Theoretically

"The reigning queen of STEM romance."—The Washington Post

An Indie Next and Library Reads Pick!

Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.

 
The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
 
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.
 
Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

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Published Jun 13, 2023

400 pages

Average rating: 7.7

673 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Love, Theoretically* by Ali Hazelwood is a fun, fast-paced STEM romance with witty banter, relatable characters, and a refreshing enemies...

Karla
Apr 10, 2026
6/10 stars
I feel bad but this book dragged for me
DixieCan75
Aug 23, 2024
8/10 stars
Being a woman in the STEM industry I related to this book a lot.it was an easy fast paced read for me and loved following Elsie's journey to find herself.
Shat
May 07, 2024
8/10 stars
I enjoyed the comedy of this book first, then the romance. Even with all the science lingo and academia talk it was an excellent read as usual.
Jessica Wisdom
Apr 08, 2026
9/10 stars
As a type 1 diabetic, a chronic people pleaser, and a scientist, I was obsessed with this one!
BecksBooks
Dec 01, 2025
10/10 stars
super fast read i love it

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