Book Review - The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Going into this book, I had high expectations due to all the hype around this book right now. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and it met my expectations. I will admit that this book has A TON of cliches. Like the dark-haired, dark-eyed, broody, serious, and mysterious older man. And the more naive, playful, younger woman. Readers also get the fake-dating situation, where, you guessed it, they end up falling for each other. At several points, the two are forced to publicly display their "fake" affection by friends who are encouraging them, which honestly seemed a bit immature for PhD students. At times, it was too predictable that I couldn't help but roll my eyes, but what was refreshing about this book was that it was so cliche that it was practically making fun of itself. It took me back to the Wattpad fanfiction days but in the best way possible. It was predictable in a self-aware kind of way, which made it lighthearted and fun.

It was really interesting to have the whole story be set in academia, with the main character, Olive, being a PhD student and her love interest being hotshot professor Dr. Adam Carlsen who has a bad reputation. I haven't read a romance book set in this type of setting before and really enjoyed the scientific references strewn throughout the story

Olive and Adam do hit a few rough patches throughout their "fake" relationship, but they always seem to come back together and have each other's backs throughout everything.