Love, Theoretically
"The reigning queen of STEM romance."âThe 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, sheâs 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, itâs a pretty sweet gigâuntil 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 mentorâs career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And heâs 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 butâŚthose long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when sheâs with him? Will falling into an experimentalistâs orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
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, sheâs 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, itâs a pretty sweet gigâuntil 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 mentorâs career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And heâs 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 butâŚthose long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when sheâs with him? Will falling into an experimentalistâs orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
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Community Reviews
âSomewhere along the way your wires got crossed. Your brain decided that you're not worth people's time and effort, and that if you ask for anything, they won't just say no, they'll also leave youâŚThat's not how love works, Elsie. But don't worry for now. I'll show you."
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.
Edit: okay so I watched "theoretical physicist reads: love, theoretically" on youtube and it really opened my eyes to some of the problematic aspects of this book. And not just the inaccuracies within academia which to some extent can be forgiven with suspension of belief, but also with things like the horrible portrayal of living with diabetes and using sex as an analogy to teach physics in a professional class setting as a part of a job interview... Furthermore as this youtuber was explaining the plot of this book, I was surprised to find out that it stole many series of events from her winter novella, like being trapped in a snowstorm and the male love interest having polaroid of the main character in his nightstand. Ali Hazelwood has written that creepy plot point in TWO of her books now? oh...
this was at one point the only Ali Hazelwood book I viewed positively, but at this point in time I will be slowly backing myself away from it... you never saw me here
OG review: Something I really enjoy about Ali Hazelwood novels are the STEM social justice topics she integrates in her stories. Before reading this book, I did not know much about exhausting academic job interviews, lack of financial and job security for STEM grads, the infighting in different STEM fields, or the abuse of power that is common in STEM mentor/mentee relationships. Using her romance novels as an educational tool for spreading awareness about certain issues is such a delight to me, and it makes her stories feel more real. I'm excited to see what Ali Hazelwood comes out with next
this was at one point the only Ali Hazelwood book I viewed positively, but at this point in time I will be slowly backing myself away from it... you never saw me here
OG review: Something I really enjoy about Ali Hazelwood novels are the STEM social justice topics she integrates in her stories. Before reading this book, I did not know much about exhausting academic job interviews, lack of financial and job security for STEM grads, the infighting in different STEM fields, or the abuse of power that is common in STEM mentor/mentee relationships. Using her romance novels as an educational tool for spreading awareness about certain issues is such a delight to me, and it makes her stories feel more real. I'm excited to see what Ali Hazelwood comes out with next
Different, but in a good nerdy way! Enemies to lovers, and self discovery all while chasing dreams and a dash of spice. I listened to it but finished in 4 days!! A little redundant at times but I really enjoyed it!
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