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The Love Hypothesis
The Instant New York Times Bestseller and TikTok Sensation!
As seen on THE VIEW!
A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021
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.
As seen on THE VIEW!
A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021
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.
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Community Reviews
I absolutely love Ali’s writing. As a woman in STEM it adds a relatable layer not often found in romances. Olive was not the most self aware of heroines. It was a bit frustrating at times but I loved getting her inner thoughts and rationalizations. Adam was phenomenal. I loved his dryness, surliness, and inexperience just as much as his assertiveness when he finally got what he wanted.
I can’t wait to read the interconnected books.
I picked this up on a whim. I loved that it revolved around women in STEM. Smart women can have romances, too.
The bonus chapter at the end showed part of the book from the male love interest's point of view. Very interesting take on it. I am glad that the book didn't alternate POV, since it would have given away a lot of the story. The reader was better off being in the dark, just like the main character was.
This was a fun read. I would recommend it.
The bonus chapter at the end showed part of the book from the male love interest's point of view. Very interesting take on it. I am glad that the book didn't alternate POV, since it would have given away a lot of the story. The reader was better off being in the dark, just like the main character was.
This was a fun read. I would recommend it.
I was not expecting to have so many issues with this book.
Multiple times I had to physically put my book down to compose myself because Olive is so cringe. She needed to fake date someone so her friend would feel okay with breaking girl code? It felt so childish. The lack of communication on that made me question whether these characters are adults.
This made the main love story even more jarring because Adam is 8 years older than Olive. He acknowledges Olive's naiveté and still finds her attractive? That's deeply unsettling to me. Paired with the unequal student/teacher power dynamic, it was difficult to get invested in their relationship.
Then, many of their early interactions include Adam threatening to file a title IX complaint on Olive which I just did not find funny at all. Those comments did not make Adam seem endearing or charming. Title IX complaints are a very serious thing and I don't like that a professor is joking about them in this way...
Adam has very few redeeming qualities to his personality. As described in the book, Adam is moody, arrogant, antagonistic, and unapproachable. At the beginning of the story, Olive sees a student run out of Adam's office in tears and Olive remarks about how this aligns with Adam's reputation of "needlessly harsh" professor feedback. He does this again to one of Olive's classmates later in the story, in which Adam comments on this by saying "it's not my job to manage his emotions" and "I don’t hide criticism in praises, I don’t believe in that Oreo cookie feedback crap, and if they find me terrifying or antagonizing because of it, so be it".
Where is Adam's humanity? Have we not all had a professor make us cry? Haven't we all encountered someone who consistently neglects to take responsibility for the impact of their actions on others? I find myself frustrated as to why this kind of behavior is characterizing a main love interest in a popular modern romance book.
So many moments are contrived AF. There are no more seats in the auditorium at an academic conference, and Olive just so happens to get pushed into sitting on Adam's lap. The contrived part aside, how is that professional or appropriate to do in such a setting? I can't enjoy a scene like that when it makes no sense in reality.
Olive feels as though this decision is inconveniencing Adam, and he responds "you weigh nothing, I don't mind". Is this supposed to make me swoon? What kind of message is being sent to readers when romantic moments in a book include comments about someone's weight like that?
I wanted to like this book because I enjoy the breath of fresh air that is a female main character in STEM. But gosh this was just really disappointing.
Multiple times I had to physically put my book down to compose myself because Olive is so cringe. She needed to fake date someone so her friend would feel okay with breaking girl code? It felt so childish. The lack of communication on that made me question whether these characters are adults.
This made the main love story even more jarring because Adam is 8 years older than Olive. He acknowledges Olive's naiveté and still finds her attractive? That's deeply unsettling to me. Paired with the unequal student/teacher power dynamic, it was difficult to get invested in their relationship.
Then, many of their early interactions include Adam threatening to file a title IX complaint on Olive which I just did not find funny at all. Those comments did not make Adam seem endearing or charming. Title IX complaints are a very serious thing and I don't like that a professor is joking about them in this way...
Adam has very few redeeming qualities to his personality. As described in the book, Adam is moody, arrogant, antagonistic, and unapproachable. At the beginning of the story, Olive sees a student run out of Adam's office in tears and Olive remarks about how this aligns with Adam's reputation of "needlessly harsh" professor feedback. He does this again to one of Olive's classmates later in the story, in which Adam comments on this by saying "it's not my job to manage his emotions" and "I don’t hide criticism in praises, I don’t believe in that Oreo cookie feedback crap, and if they find me terrifying or antagonizing because of it, so be it".
Where is Adam's humanity? Have we not all had a professor make us cry? Haven't we all encountered someone who consistently neglects to take responsibility for the impact of their actions on others? I find myself frustrated as to why this kind of behavior is characterizing a main love interest in a popular modern romance book.
So many moments are contrived AF. There are no more seats in the auditorium at an academic conference, and Olive just so happens to get pushed into sitting on Adam's lap. The contrived part aside, how is that professional or appropriate to do in such a setting? I can't enjoy a scene like that when it makes no sense in reality.
Olive feels as though this decision is inconveniencing Adam, and he responds "you weigh nothing, I don't mind". Is this supposed to make me swoon? What kind of message is being sent to readers when romantic moments in a book include comments about someone's weight like that?
I wanted to like this book because I enjoy the breath of fresh air that is a female main character in STEM. But gosh this was just really disappointing.
Rom-Com in the lab..
Giro e sobretudo há um certo grau de realismo do que é tentar fazer carreira na ciência ! Toda gente fica muito impressionada com o facto de ter feito um doutoramento e por ser investigadora ("deves ser um crânio"), sem imaginar que muitas das vezes fazemos muito para além de ciência e que constantemente vivemos com síndrome do impostor e a pensar em desistir ou porque raio escolhi viver disto?!? É engraçado pensar que a minha primeira impulsionadora a seguir ciência foi a minha professora de matemática do secundário para evitar que tomasse a decisão de ser também eu professora de matemática, porque segundo ela tinha um cérebro que não merecia ser condicionado e ficar preso ao sistema educacional, que estava a declinar, para além de ficar com uma vida e carreira instável e precária nos primeiros anos.. e agora essas palavras dão-me muita vontade de rir porque instabilidade, precariariedade e falta de perspectivas é tudo o que caracterizam exactamente estes últimos anos da minha "carreira" !
Olho para trás e percebo que as mágoas durante o doutoramento estão a anos luz do que é acordar e sentir todos os dias que não sabemos nada, inclusive qual a melhor opção a seguir para não nos arrepender-mos passados escassos meses ou semanas! São 4 anos de segurança em que podemos explorar e crescer, em que nos achamos ao mesmo tempo, uma merda perante os nossos orientadores e os maiores perante todo o mundo no laboratório, são 4anos que parecem intermináveis mas que passam depressa demais e são 4anos que parecem ser o pior das nossas tormentas, mas que são efectivamente os melhores anos de quem segue esta via.
Giro e sobretudo há um certo grau de realismo do que é tentar fazer carreira na ciência ! Toda gente fica muito impressionada com o facto de ter feito um doutoramento e por ser investigadora ("deves ser um crânio"), sem imaginar que muitas das vezes fazemos muito para além de ciência e que constantemente vivemos com síndrome do impostor e a pensar em desistir ou porque raio escolhi viver disto?!? É engraçado pensar que a minha primeira impulsionadora a seguir ciência foi a minha professora de matemática do secundário para evitar que tomasse a decisão de ser também eu professora de matemática, porque segundo ela tinha um cérebro que não merecia ser condicionado e ficar preso ao sistema educacional, que estava a declinar, para além de ficar com uma vida e carreira instável e precária nos primeiros anos.. e agora essas palavras dão-me muita vontade de rir porque instabilidade, precariariedade e falta de perspectivas é tudo o que caracterizam exactamente estes últimos anos da minha "carreira" !
Olho para trás e percebo que as mágoas durante o doutoramento estão a anos luz do que é acordar e sentir todos os dias que não sabemos nada, inclusive qual a melhor opção a seguir para não nos arrepender-mos passados escassos meses ou semanas! São 4 anos de segurança em que podemos explorar e crescer, em que nos achamos ao mesmo tempo, uma merda perante os nossos orientadores e os maiores perante todo o mundo no laboratório, são 4anos que parecem intermináveis mas que passam depressa demais e são 4anos que parecem ser o pior das nossas tormentas, mas que são efectivamente os melhores anos de quem segue esta via.
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