The Love Hypothesis

This is the book I compare all other fake-dating books to. The meet-cute sucked me in. In a panic, Olive kisses the closest (and only) man she sees, hoping her friend will believe she’s on a real date in a biology lab. Now, her friend thinks she’s dating Adam, the smug young professor who seems to hate graduate students.

Let the conflict begin. I love that Olive is a STEM graduate student searching for a method of early detection of pancreatic cancer—the kind that killed her mom. She’s smart and passionate about her work. And I fell for Adam hard.… show more.

This novel is about a PH.D. candidate, Olive, who fake-dates a professor to make her best friend feel better about falling in love with her ex-boyfriend. It’s a wild premise, but I love suspending my own beliefs and falling into a romance novel.

This is another one of those single point-of-view books where the main character is incredibly dense, and we KNOW her fake boyfriend, Adam, is so in love with her.

There are also hints of sexism in the STEM field, which is very realistic, and this story touches on it exactly how a romance novel should, with a… show more.

If you’re looking for something a bit more light-hearted, The Love Hypothesis is definitely for you.

Although it explores the enemies-to-lovers trope very well (my favourite type of trope to write and read!), it also takes on comedic undertones that give the story such a refreshing feel. Hazelwood is a great romance novelist (and a seriously smart STEM worker) and someone I look up to when it comes to the intricate creation of her plot.

The book was impossible to put down! I love reading her work so that I can improve upon my own enemies-to-lovers plotlines. 

Okay, not exactly a classic enemies-to-lovers novel, but super-hot and super-grumpy scientist Adam Carlsen is the nemesis of every grad student, in other words, he’s not really anyone’s friend. And when Olive Smith manages to find herself fake dating said Scientist, life gets that little bit more complicated. She’s young and idealistic, he’s an arrogant ass. What could go wrong? 

I love that this is set in Academia. Hazelwood writes movingly and convincingly about a world I know very little about, adding plenty of humor. I also adored that Olive isn’t your typical romantic heroine, that she not only has… show more.

What’s not to love about Olive, who is quirky, spontaneous, and brilliant? While working on her PhD, she makes a foolish move by kissing the star professor, Adam, just so her best friend, Anh, will finally go out with Olive’s ex-boyfriend. But maybe that’s the best move she ever makes, as it starts off a series of events that keeps you turning the pages to find out if Olive and Adam will end up together. Not to mention a rare moment of validation in the science field for Olive that seals the deal. It’s not often you see women in… show more.

This wonderful novel has more spice than my other recommendations, but it is still totally sweet. It opens strong, with third-year PhD candidate Olive Wood desperately kissing the first man in sight. She has her reasons, but only when the dust settles does she realize the gravity of what she has done and who exactly she just kissed: Adam Carlson, a young hotshot professor who is known for his ruthless and grumpy attitude. When they discover that pretending to date could be beneficial for them both, they carry on with the ruse but end up finding something entirely more real… show more.

Medical researchers, nerdy humor, mistaken cues, and missed romantic opportunities—sign me up! I love this book for its smart heroine, but also for its humor and the reminder that brainy STEM women deserve to be main characters. Hazelwood’s book is funny, human, quirky, swoony, and delicious from page one.