Book Review: The Love Hypothesis

Last week I shared my top 10 books of the year so far and included The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood.

In the novel, Olive Smith, is a third year Ph.D. student at Stanford. Se has no interest in dating, but her best friend Anh is quite the opposite. Anh and Jeremy – a guy Olive briefly dated – have had crushes on each other for a while, but feel weird pursuing anything because they think it will upset Olive. Olive does not have any feelings for Jeremy, but she feels like the only way she can convince her best friend to date Jeremy is if she is dating someone else thus proving to Anh that she has moved on. The problem is she isn’t dating anyone.

One night when Olive had lied and said she was going out on a date, she went to her lab instead to do work. As she is walking through the hall she sees Anh in the distance and panics, grabbing the guy in the hallway with her and kissing him so that if Anh does see her she can say she hadn’t been lying about a date. Anh does see them and to Olive’s complete mortification the guy she kissed is none other than Dr. Adam Carlsen, a professor, brilliant scientist, and well-known jerk.

After apologizing profusely, Olive and Adam realize that pretending to be in a relationship could benefit them both. Olive could get Anh off her case about dating and allow her best friend the chance to be happy with Jeremy. Adam is waiting for Stanford to release funds for his lab. They have been dragging their feet because they know a lot of other institutions like Harvard and private companies want Adam to work for them and they are afraid that this guy with no roots in the area could decide to leave them. But, if he has a serious girlfriend that would show Stanford that he is committed to someone who lives in the area and they don’t need to worry about him leaving. But what happens when these two players/scientists spend time together and put on a show for everyone?

I thought this book was so cute! I loved Olive and Adam together. I was amused with how awkward they both were at times and the situations Anh put them in when they were in public. This was a fun read and I really enjoyed their love story. Total Adam Carlsen fan now!

Read this if you like rom coms and fake dating tropes!

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