Book Review: Love Hypothesis
Original review written 3/5/22
Title: The Love Hypothesis
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Narrated by: Callie Dalton
What's it about?
3 years into her doctorate program and Olive Smith has created a research study that she's both passionate and excited about with the added perk of having some of the two best friends a quirky girl could ever ask for!
So when her best friend Anh falls for a guy Olive dated, Jeremy, Olive knows that the only way Anh will move forward with Jeremy and be happy is if she knows Olive is happy and totally over Jeremy...which she is because she was never really that into him anyway. So Olive does the only logical thing, she lies and says that she's going on a date to convince Anh that she's absolutely okay with Anh and Jeremy, and then she heads to the lab to work on her research sure that Anh will be none the wiser. But then, Anh makes her way to the lab department and in a desperate attempt to continue the lie, she kisses the first guy she sees who just happens to be a professor in her department! Thankfully, he's not one of Olive's professors or advisors so her embarrassment is limited to that of someone who kissed a random guy she doesn't know without his consent. But rumors spread fast and it soon becomes clear that continuing the charade would be beneficial for both parties...with some rules, of course. But some rules are made to be broken.
Favorites:
Favorite Character: Olive and Adam...and not just becuase they are the main characters.
Adam took a bit but when he grew on me...he grew on me. Yes, he's brooding. Yes, he's not a man of many words and yes, he can be a butt. All of which could go either way, good or bad, as far as I'm concerned. However, I happen to be a sucker for story lines that involve mysterious characters who form relationships with people, allowing those elite individuals to know them and this is Adam. There are a few people know him and everyone else gets this distant, brooding, unapproachable persona. I don't love the persona, but there's something about getting past that to know the real person.
Olive, however, needed very little time for me to warm up to. She's smart, quirky, funny and she's got great heart. I could totally be her friend!
Least Favorite Character: Tom takes this title. I'm not sure what it was, but there was just always something about him that I wasn't a fan of. I think it's that he just gave me this vibe of thinking a little too highly of himself which is not a quality I'm a fan of, especially when you can't back it up and I never felt like he could back it up.
Favorite Part: I'm going to have to go with the vaccination scene. I can't tell you why, not becuase of spoilers, but because I really don't know what it was about that scene, but it was the moment I went from Adam being okay to, "He is kinda cute!" which descended into a slight crush on the guy. Maybe it was the vulnerability that was there. But the email that came after sure didn't hurt my affection for the situation.
Any Other Thoughts?
I have decided that Rom-Coms are now my favorite genre of audiobooks, which may be no surprise as it's also one of my favorite genres of movies. Yes, I know that many rom-coms are superficial and often lack a deep, philosophical core and that they are so predictable that you pretty much know the story after experiencing five seconds of the synopsis. And The Love hypothesis is not really different in those respects. But I loved it!
There were so many things I liked about this story. So many!!! I loved that Olive is a woman rocking the science field with research that is personally meaningful to her without being overrun by feelings. I love that she is a women in a male dominated field and being successful without having to use the fact that she is a woman, but without ignoring the struggles that that causes and minimizes how this makes her a minority.
I loved how there were so many people represented from women in the science field, to other ethnic groups and sexualities in a natural way, which I think we need to see more of. Diversity and representation doesn't have to be in your face to be present, after all, and that each character was a character outside their race, gender and sexuality.
I was filled with emotion that the one sex scene had purpose and, while moved the story forward some, had a way of enhancing so much of the emotional side of things and character development. But more then that, I loved the respect shown by Adam to Olive that felt so intimate and meaningful beyond words and, honestly is what made that scene hot and spicy, rather then the act itself. As a women, I can't even tell you how hot that level of respect was!
And I was happy with the conflict, how it wasn't just emotional fear or confusion, but so much more. I loved that the idea of respect, harassment and consent were addressed, even if not in this huge, on every page compacity.
Is the book perfect? No. I would liked to have had more backstory on Olive, sure.
But l loved it! It hooked me so much so that I may have skipped doing work that I can't do while listening to and audiobook to listen to the last hour and a half of the book in content bliss. I laughed regularly and I've decided that I'm going to need my own physical copy of this book.
What do I rate this?
I give this book a
7
out of
10 Hypothesizes
But that's just me. What did you think? Are you crushing on Adam? Did you love the book or did you hate it? Let us know in the comments.
