Book Review: "The Love Hypothesis" by Ali Hazelwood

4.5/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

What a cute little STEM romance The Love Hypothesis is! Romance isn’t my normal genre, but I was intrigued by the recommendations I had gotten, and the blurb seemed promising. So, it came home with me from the bookstore. I’m very glad that I got to read it!

“ ‘Olive,’ ” Dr. Aslan interrupted her with a stern tone. “ ‘What do I always tell you?’ ”

“Um . . . ‘Don’t misplace the multichannel pipette?’ ”

“ ‘The other thing.’ ” She sighed. “ ‘Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man.’ ” 

 

Olive is a third-year graduate student at Stanford University studying pancreatic cancer. She’s going to be graduating soon and is looking for a lab to continue her important work of finding early biomarkers of pancreatic cancer in the blood. (Pancreatic cancer took her mother away at a young age, so this is very much personal for her.) She hasn’t had much success on that front.

What’s also stressing her out is her best friend Anh and Olive’s desire for her to be happy. So, to convince Anh that Olive is over her ex, Jeremy, Olive finds herself initiating a kiss with the infamous Dr. Adam Carlsen. Known destroyer of graduate students’ hopes and dreams. (It is a bit of a silly premise, but just go along with it.)

“ ‘Did you… Did you just kiss me?’ ” He sounded puzzled, and maybe a little out of breath. His lips were full and plump and… God. Kissed. There was simply no way Olive could get away with denying what she had just done.

Still, it was worth a try.

“ ‘Nope.’ ”

Surprisingly, it seemed to work.

“ ‘Ah. Okay, then.’ ” Carlsen nodded and turned around, looking vaguely disoriented. He took a couple of steps down the hallway, reached the water fountain - maybe where he’d headed in the first place.

Olive was starting to believe that she might actually be off the hook when he halted and turned back with a skeptical expression.

“ ‘Are you sure?’ ”

But, to completely convince Anh to follow her heart and date Jeremy, it’s going to take some proof on her and Dr. Carlsen’s part. Plus, Dr. Carlsen hopes that demonstrating he’s in a committed relationship will convince Stanford to unfreeze some study funds he needs, showing that he won’t leave Stanford and go somewhere else. Thus, ensues the hilarious and heartfelt fake-dating-turns-real-dating trope.

I think Hazelwood executed this trope pretty well. Adam’s definitely the grumpy one of the pair, while Olive is the snarky sunshine.

Now, you may wonder, after all the hijinks that ensue, why Adam would even bother to help Olive? Well, turns out Adam is the one Olive met years ago when she was applying to get into graduate school, and he developed a bit of a crush on her. They meet in a bathroom, where Olive has gone to try and triage an expired contacts situation and doesn’t quite see Adam when she’s explaining the contacts and her self-doubt about pursuing graduate school. Adam helps convince Olive to commit to graduate school.

Me at both of them:

And anyone with eyes can see Adam had (has) a crush on Olive all along. It’s crazy that it takes Olive so long to realize it, and for Adam to get over his own fears about admitting his feelings to Olive. I suppose that’s just people, I guess. I know that sometimes (often) I’m blind to things that are right in front of me.

“Pretty fucking tragic twist of fate, but you don’t seem to remember that we first met years ago. An issue, since I remember a little too well. I like no one, absolutely no one, but I liked you from the start. I liked you when I didn’t know you, and now that I do know you it’s only gotten worse. Sometimes, often, always, I think about you before falling asleep. Then I dream of you, and when I wake up my head’s still there, stuck on something funny, beautiful, filthy, intelligent that’s all about you. It’s been going on for a while, longer than you think, longer than you can imagine, and I should have told you, but I have this impression, this certainty that you’re half a second from running away, that I should give you enough reasons to stay. Is there anything I can do for you? I’ll take you grocery shopping and fill your fridge when we’re back home. Buy you a new bike and a case of decent reagent and that sludge you drink. Kill the people who made you cry. Is there something you need? Name it. It’s yours. If I have it, it’s yours.”

(The above passage is from a bonus chapter in the paperback edition from Adam’s perspective. Oof, he’s pretty heads-over-heels.)

Turns out, Olive does remember the bathroom incident, but it takes quite a while to realize it was Adam who she met that day. It takes admitting to herself and then Adam her own feelings that have slowly developed through the book.

“I know it’s scary, being vulnerable, but you can allow yourself to care. You can want to be with people as more than just friends or casual acquaintances.”

 

Things to come to a head at a big biology conference Olive is selected to speak at. Things go awry. When Olive is at her most vulnerable, personally, and career-wise, will she turn towards the people closest to her for support? Or will she push them away?

No spoilers, although I’ll say The Love Hypothesis isn’t all fluff and dorks falling in love. It tackles heavy stuff, such as sexual assault, terminal cancer, and the obstacles women face in STEM. I tore through this book like I haven’t had in a while and I’m sad it’s over, but I am glad for the experience. This book made me feel the whole spectrum of emotions—it made me laugh, cry, and want to throw things at the stuff Olive and Anh and other women in STEM have to go through just to have science careers they love.

Probably going to add this one to my re-read pile.

Happy reading!

--BookOwl