I went into this one on a complete whim bc I needed an eBook to read on my nightly walk, and it ended up absolutely blowing me away. Everything about this was honestly perfect. The writing, the characters, the chemistry (literal and figurative lol), THE SMUT. This was SO hot, but also SO cute and SO funny and I just loved absolutely every second spent in between these pages. I didn't know who Ali Hazelwood was before going into this, but I will now be anxiously awaiting every book she will ever publish because this was JUST SO GOOD YOU ALL NEED TO READ IT / ADD IT TO YOUR TBRS IMMEDIATELY! My heart!!!!!!!

CW: terminal illness (pancreatic cancer), death of a loved one, sexual harassment

Thank you @berkelyromance for a copy of the book. What a great debut book!! I adore the fake dating trope and add a grumpy mc, I am sold. The connection between Olive and Adam was amazing and full of laughs. I love all the pumpkin spice references and I totally agree with Adam on this one.

This was a great romance that also explores the challenge for woman in STEM field. I also love the friendship won’t Anh and Malcom to Olive.

This debut contemporary romance is a fake dating slow-burn story set in academia. Take a STEM heroine and a grumpy, misunderstood colleague and add some adorkable banter, vulnerability and steam and you have the formula for a fabulous read.

I absolutely loved how Olive's sexuality was treated with a tender hand. And communication AND consent? I am here for that.

I finished this book in three days and then immediately started to read it again.

The Love Hypothesis is exactly what I needed. It has humor and romance and a little bit of sexy to pull you in. Olive is a wonderful character. She is incredibly smart, humble and insecure which makes her instantly relatable and likable. She has he best friend's heart to consider after all - Ahn is attracted to Olive's ex and the only way to get Ahn comfortable with going out with him is to date someone else! Enter Adam.

I was getting some really strong Adam Driver vibes and it was not at all bad. Tall, dark, intense and a known ass, Adam goes along with Olive's scheme for his own reasons. I love how brilliant they both are with a very solid layer of socially awkward. Oliver is the perfect blend of cute and slightly strange to get Adam out of his shell. Adam is hard to read but painfully tries to make an effort with Oliver. I love how different they are and how they come together despite their differences, even enjoying the things that make them different. (Pumpkin spice latte anyone?)

I also love the story itself, not just the romance. As Olive tries to expand her research and her career, Adam is there to be supportive. As the story moves forward, intensifying as their relationship becomes more real and Olive has to really weigh her relationship with Adam vs. her research, I love how she didn't sacrifice her principals. I don't want to give anything away, but I loved the ending. These two are so well written.

The Love Hypothesis is one of those fun, romantic steamy stories that you will want to pick up and read again and again. I loved it so much, most of my friends are eating copies for Christmas. :)

They will thank me later.

Well this was an absolutely adorable rom com. It did veer off into cheesy territory at times but it made me smile.

This was one of my most anticipated romance releases. I have to admit that it had cute moments but won’t become a new favorite.

What dragged my rating down was the miscommunication (one of my most hated things) and Olive’s unwillingness to grasp that Adam would be attracted to her. There isn’t much to say about the miscommunication. It sucked and I wish they would have come clean to each other about the misunderstandings long before they did.

Olive’s character was hit and miss for me. I liked her but she did irritate me at times. I can understand her reasoning behind some of the things she did, but it was so obvious that Adam liked her! Maybe that’s what was so frustrating because the only other thing he could have done was write it on his forehead. Everyone saw it but she was unwilling to even think it was a possibility. Times like these make me wish for a dual POV. I would have loved to read about what was going on through Adam’s head throughout the whole fake dating scenario.

As far as the characters together, I think they made a good couple. The best part about them was the banter. Goodness, I love good banter and they had it waves. Even though their personalities were quite different, it worked for them. Also, this was quite steamer than I expected! I love some steamy scenes and was so glad that this wasn’t fade to black. Adam asking Olive for her consent every step of the way made me so happy. I will say that I wish we could have gotten more moments with them as an actual couple though.

As you can see, my thoughts are all over the place with this one. It had its cute moments and I liked the couple together. However, that couldn’t erase all of my frustration. All in all, even with the issues, it was written well and I’ll be looking to read more from this author in the future.

4.5 stars -- Fake dating + characters in STEM professions + slow burn +. shared hotel room? Add in a lovely writing style and one of the most satisfying comeuppances for a villain I've read in quite some time? Sold. This is just my trope candy, 1000%, and this is definitely one of my favorite 2021 contemporary releases

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing an eARC for review.

When her best friend falls hard for her ex, Olive Smith desperately wants to see them happy together and is determined to convince Anh that she is dating someone new. As a Ph.D candidate, Olive spends a lot of time in the lab and ends up kissing the first man she sees when Anh unexpectedly shows up in the hall while Olive was supposed to be on a date. Adam Carlsen is a young professor notorious for making grad students cry and the last person that Olive expects as a co-conspirator in a fake relationship, but he has his own reasons for pulling off their charade. Through coffee dates and campus events, the line between what is fake and what is real begin to blur.

THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS is nearly everything that I want in a romcom. The banter, chemistry, and angst between Olive and Adam is off the charts. The story itself is highly self-aware, poking fun at the fake relationship, forced proximity, and grumpy hero/sunshiney heroine tropes. Deception and miscommunication are essential components of any fake dating plot and can be difficult to execute, but here they are done with aplomb—in large part because of the narrative’s cognizance of the ethical considerations behind their relationship.

Both Olive and Adam are characters for whom the ends justify the means. Olive wants to improve the screening process for pancreatic cancer and Adam wants to cultivate competent scientists. Olive wants to see her best friend happy, and Adam wants to secure funding for his lab. They do what it takes to reach their goals. Structurally, every chapter starts with a hypothesis that Olive formulates based on the events of the chapter. This contributes to the passion that Olive has for her research and provided the perfect teases to keep me hooked until the last page.

This is the type of read that leaves you warm and gooey inside with smart and funny romance. If you’re looking for a fun and flirty romance featuring an endearing pair of Stanford scientists, definitely check this one out!

This book is exactly what I needed. It's an academic romance that doesn't require an advanced degree to appreciate! The characters are endearing and intellectual and oblivious and terrible at letting their true feelings out. It's a slow burn with a great payoff and this book flawlessly carries off all of my favorite tropes: fake dating, enemies to lovers, shared room/one bed!

Ali Hazelwood is one to watch and has now been added to my auto-buy list!

This book is absolutely hilarious! And steamy! And probably the best representation of what academic life/grad school is like that I've ever read. Hazelwood's voice sparkles with wit that makes the funny scenes all the funnier, while not draining a bit of heft from the more emotional bits of the story. Olive is an adorable hot mess, Adam is acerbically brooding, and the villain is (sadly) believably creepy. A perfect escape!

I absolutely ADORED this book. Olive is adorable and funny and quirky and Adam is the brooding and serious type with a heart of gold, which is one of my favorite types of characters! The whole premise behind this story, combined with the world of academia and science, was such an escape into my inner nerd fantasy (one where my humanities brain could even comprehend science) and it was exceptional. I melted, I was indignant, I was surprised, and I was amused! Plus the motley crew of friends and colleagues just brightened the story even further! Definitely pick this one up if you want a story that will keep a grin on your face for most of the book with how much you’re enjoying it! Loved it!

Loved it! Loved it! LOVED IT!   The Love Hypothesis is funny, sweet and delightful.

Olive Smith is a grad student at Stanford. Until Olive made friends with Ahn and Malcom, she was orphaned and alone in the world. So Olive would do anything for her friend's happiness. Olive can tell that her friend Ahn really likes Olive’s date but she knows that Ahn would never steal Olive's boyfriend.   So all Olive needs to do is convince Ahn that she isn’t truly interested in Jeremy, which she isn't.   She tells Ahn she has a date and goes off to her lab to get some work done but when she sees Ahn walking toward the obviously dateless Olive, Olive turns and kisses the first man she finds.  She realizes too late that it happens to be Dr Adam Carlsen, the most hated professor at Stanford. Now Olive has to convince her friends that there is more to Adam then a grouchy professor who is out to ruin student lives. Unfortunately for Olive she also realizes that there’s a lot more to Adam then she ever realized, and she’s falling very fast and very hard for her fake-date.

One of my favorite tropes is the fake date. I love that it gives the characters time to get to know each other and truly fall for each other. In the story Olive is amazing but she doubts her own self-worth because she’s been alone for so long.  Normally a character that’s always apologizing for forcing people to spend time with them would be a turn off but Olive is just so sweet and she simply doesn’t see her own worth.   When she first approaches Adam to fake-date, she doesn't want to impose on him and she feels she needs to convince him to spend 10 minutes with her a week in a public place getting coffee or such.

Of course we learn that Adam has had his eye on Olive since before she started the program but he too doubts his own self worth, at least in a non-scientific fashion since he is a bit of a scientific rockstar, and he’s afraid to ask her out.  When she approaches him to continue with this fake date scheme for awhile at least until her friends starts dating, he jumps at the chance wanting to spend more time with Olive and probably hoping they can eventually have a real date.

I found the whole story delightful.   I just loved Olive and Adam.   Olive wasn’t afraid of Adam, in fact she teases him about his grumpiness.  Actually, she teases him about everything and he doesn't mind.  In fact,  Adam will do anything to spend more time with Olive. I like the story so much that as soon as I finished the last page, I turn back to page 1 and started again.   The story does not come out until September but you really need to mark your good reads list or pre-order list and get yourself a copy

Olive has her best friend Anh, her best roommate Malcom, and science. Since a chance, blind encounter during her grad school interview with a wise, guardian angel, she's been a penniless grad student attending every event on campus with free food. But also absolutely doing what she loves. Then one well meaning lie meant to give Anh the push she needs to fall in love has Olive sort-of-not-really, accidentally, kissing the cranky department head. A man who is strangely (wisely?) familiar...

This is a 3-star book wrapped in a 5-star reading experience. Incredibly compelling voice and setup, delightful heroine and overall charming novel, but it has too many contrivances, and although I’m all for insecure, neurotic characters who are terrible at communicating and being emotionally open, this book is the definition of one honest conversation would’ve solved all their issues and ended the book in chapter two. I guess my main complaint is that all the contrivances used to stretch the book and hit all the tropes are also used at the end during the denouement, and it cheats us out of that emotional catharsis we get when the leads finally open up to each other.

That said, I literally could not stop reading it and even went back and reread some scenes. It’s one of those books where it’s so clear that the author knows and loves the genre and all its conventions, so most of the time reading it felt like I was handed a joyful gift.

As an aside, I hear this book is Star Wars fanfic, so if that is true (and, I mean, just look at the cover LOL) I feel kind of weird that the guy’s name is Adam.

Content notes: sexual harassment; the heroine’s mother died of cancer.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The Love Hypothesis has so much to like. Olive is a crazy-smart, successful female science grad student with a great group of friends. In an effort to convince said friends that she is dating, she grabs and kisses Adam, a guy who happens to be walking by in the lab. He turns out to be a notoriously unapproachable scientist who is infamously hard on grad students. This beginning leads to a fake dating pact and the plot develops from there. This book ticks all the boxes for me: good characters, witty but realistic dialog, interesting plot, believable romance. The setting in academia adds yet more depth, providing a look into the politics and competitiveness in the world of scientific research. There is the fact that Olive isn’t very perceptive regarding her relationships with men and can’t quite seem to get out of her own way, but hey— it’s a fake relationship trope. That kind of goes without saying. This is a top notch rom-com.

I couldn’t put this book down. Olive is one of the most adorable, scattered rom com heroines I’ve ever read about. I love a good fake relationship trope, and this one seemed the most realistic. Both main characters were a bit awkward, and the graduate school setting was interesting. I highly recommend this book to rom com lovers

Olive is a third-year Ph.D. candidate. She is focused on one thing - her research on early detection of pancreatic cancer - and she has no time for anything else, including dating. When she has to convince her best friend that she is dating someone, she kisses the first guy she sees, who happens to be the notorious Dr. Adam Carlsen. The professor and research guru has a reputation for being an antagonistic and cold tyrant. After Olive reveals why she kissed him, Adam surprisingly agrees to fake date Olive to help her with her friend and to also achieve some of his own goals. Their fake dating scheme slowly develops into a chemistry that will eventually combust.

THIS BOOK WAS PERFECTION!!! I pretty much knew from the first scene of the book that I was going to love it. The dialogue was smart and silly and I wanted to get to know quirky Olive. And then the scene of their first kiss...how did Ali Hazelwood build so much chemistry and fire between two characters in just a few moments??? It was an exciting introduction to their relationship!

I loved Olive and Adam's characters! Olive is focused and highly intelligent but humble. I connected with the way that she had feelings of imposter syndrome because it's something I feel even fifteen years into my career. Olive is a little neurotic like me - her internal dialogue always went to the worst case scenario and it was hilarious. Adam is a sexy nerd who has a soft side that he doesn't show many people. How can a smart and caring man not make you swoon? The two of them together were so cute with their smart banter and teasing and I couldn't get enough of them.

I don't know much about biology or research but this book incorporates concepts from those areas in ways that doesn't bog down the story. The analogies that compared scientific research with life were the ultimate wrap up to a fantastic story of two scientists who fall in love.

This is a must-read slow-burn fake-dating romance for 2021!

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥
⚠️: grief, cancer, sexual harassment

This book was the exact kind of pallet cleanser I needed for Romance books.
Adam and Olive brought the awkwardness that new relationships can have, and the tension that lustfullness of a fake relationships can have. Everything just felt more based in reality.
I'm a sucker for a "I hate everyone but you" character, and Adam delivered in full.

“Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man”

Rep: demisexual MC, Vietnamese sc, mlm side relationship
CW: parental death due to cancer (in the past, off-page), sexual harassment in the workplace (on page)

Tropes:
- Fake dating
- “I hate everyone but you”
- Grumpy/sunshine
- Banter
- “I see the way he looks at you”

I picked up this book because I was ignoring my TBR and here I am 2 sittings later obsessing over it. The Love Hypothesis centers a woman in STEM, PhD student Olive. When her best friend catches feelings for one of the guys she used to date, but hesitates to get with him because she's worried about Olive's feelings, Olive lies and tells her that she's dating someone else. And when that lie is about to backfire and her best friend is about to catch her red-handed, Olive panics and kisses the first guy she sees. That guy happens to be Dr. Adam Carlsen, a professor who doesn't have the best reputation around campus (people think he's a bit of an asshole). But surprisingly, Adam is willing to play the part of fake boyfriend, and so the fake relationship begins.

I was immediately hooked by this story. I love Olive and Adam so incredibly much, and their dynamic was simply immaculate. They had so much chemistry (pun slightly intended, except they're both bio people) and their BANTER AND THE TENSION UGH YES PLEASE. I just love their relationship so much, and Adam always made sure that Olive was 100% comfortable. This man would move heaven and earth so she was happy and safe, we already know. Ultimate swoon. ALSO the side characters were such a highlight. Not only were they well-rounded and super supportive of Olive, but they were responsible for me laughing out loud on multiple occasions. They are just too funny like ugh please let me be friends with them.

I loved the discussion of women in STEM (I'm a WOC in STEM and I've never read a book so centered on women in STEM)! Olive encounters frustration, difficulty, feelings of insecurity, and people wanting to tear her down, but she also experiences triumph and has a support system that would hold her up no matter what. Olive's best friend, Anh, is super passionate about diversity in STEM, especially when it comes to WOC in STEM. Absolutely love all of that.

Critiques!! There's only one line that I wanted to point out. For context, Olive is demisexual, which I just want to say I was so happy to see because I've only read one other instance of demisexual rep. When Olive and Adam are about to ~~do the deed~~, Olive explains how she doesn't feel sexual attraction unless it's a person that she trusts and has an emotional connection to. Olive is kind of flustered/rambling explaining this and also says, "There is something weird about my brain, and my body, and—I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I don’t seem to be able to experience attraction like other people. Like normal people". Although Adam is completely accepting of Olive being demisexual and all he wants is for her to feel comfortable and safe, I would've liked for there to be some sort of a direct verbal rebuttal to Olive's comment. Demisexuality is completely normal and doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you, and I wish there would've been a more direct acknowledgment of that. Again, Adam does some things non-verbally to ensure that Olive is comfortable being sexually involved with him, but a little "there's nothing wrong with you, Olive" would maybe help. However, I'm not demisexual and I don't want to be speaking over anyone in that community so please feel free to correct me. Also, if you're an ARC reader and noticed that I may have missed something when it comes to this line, please also do correct me.

Overall, I really really enjoyed The Love Hypothesis, and you should definitely pick it up! Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars.

Thank you to Berkley Pub and NetGalley for a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

First of all, can we talk about how cute the cover is!?! I saw a lot of fellow romance lovers rave about this book so I was so excited when I got sent a copy of the ARC. I can't believe it's a debut novel! If you are into nerdy angsty romance, this one is definitely for you!

What I liked:
- I loved that the setting is academia, you definitely don't see a lot of romance novels with that setting.
- Fun nerdy banter - the witty banter between Adam and Olive as well as Olive and her friends Ahn and Malcolm are to die for. I also love Adam's bff Holden.
- Diverse cast - lots of representation and I'm here for it!

What I didn't like:
- I think I wanted more of Adam. He's a broody male that could use a bit more development. We learn a lot about Olive in this novel but not much about Adam. I think dual perspective would have helped a lot.

Overall, it was fantastic and I highly recommend it!