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The Love Hypothesis

Quick recap & summary by chapter.

The Quick Recap and Chapter-by-Chapter Summary for The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood are below.

Quick(-ish) Recap

Three years prior, Olive Smith talks to a guy when she's in the bathroom fixing her contacts (and can't see) after her Ph.D. candidate interview. She tells him about her passion for her research. She doesn't catch his name but remembers the conversation distinctly and wonders about the guy she met.

In present day, Olive is a biology Ph.D. student researching early detection methods for pancreatic cancer. She kisses a guy randomly in order to trick her best friend into thinking she's dating someone (so that her best friend Anh won't feel bad about dating Olive's ex). That guy turns out to be Dr. Adam Carlson , a young, handsome and highly-respected tenured faculty member in her department. He's also known for being hypercritical and moody.

Meanwhile, Adam's department chair is worried that he's planning on leaving for another university and has frozen some of his research funds. So, Adam he agrees to pretend to be in a relationship with Olive in order to give the impression he's putting down "roots" here, in hopes they will unfreeze the funds.

As Olive and Adam fake-date, they get to know each other. Olive sees that Adam is demanding and blunt towards his students, but not unkind or mean. Olive confides in him about her mother getting pancreatic cancer, which is why she's doing her research.

Olive soon realizes that she has feelings for Adam, but she's afraid to tell him. When he overhears her talking about a crush, she pretends it's about someone else. Olive also hears someone else refer to a woman Adam's been pining after for years and is surprised at how jealous she feels.

In the meantime, Olive needs more lab space and has been talking to Dr. Tom Benton for a spot at his lab at Harvard. When Tom arrives in town, it turns out he's friends with Adam. Adam and Tom are friends from grad school, and they have recently gotten a large grant for some joint research that Adam is excited about. After Olive completes a report on her research for Tom, he offers her a spot in his lab for the next year.

Olive and Adam's relationship continues to progress until they attend a science conference in Boston. Olive's research has been selected for a panel presentation, while Adam is a keynote speaker. There, Olive is sexually harassed by Tom, who makes advances on her. When she rejects him, he accuses her of someone who sleeps around to get ahead. He also says that he'll deny it if she tells anyone and that they won't believe her.

While Olive does finally sleep with Adam at the conference, she soon tearfully breaks things off since she doesn't want to complicate things with Adam's joint research project with Tom. Adam is also in the process of applying for a spot at Harvard.

Olive is certain no one will believe her about Tom until she realizes that the accidentally recorded the conversation where he made advances and threatened her. Meanwhile, Olive's roommate Malcolm has started seeing Dr. Holden Rodriguez, a faculty member who is a childhood friend of Adam's. Olive and Malcolm turn to Holden for advice, who encourages them to tell Adam about the recording. He points out that he thinks the main reason that Adam is considering a move to Harvard is because Olive is supposed to be going there.

Olive finds Adam and shows him the video. He is incensed at Tom and reports it to their faculty. When Adam returns from Boston, he reports that Tom has been fired. Meanwhile, Olive has been reaching out to other cancer researchers for spots at other labs, and she's gotten promising responses. Olive tells Adam that she loves him and that she never liked anyone else. Adam admits that he remembered her from the day he met her in the bathroom and that she's the one he's been interested in for years.

Ten months later at the anniversary of their first kiss, Olive and Adam re-create the kiss to mark their anniversary.

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Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

Olive Smith is an applicant for Stanford’s biology Ph.D program. After the interview with Dr. Aysegul Aslan , she ends up in a bathroom nearby unable to see and trying to wash out her eyes because she put in expired contacts.

She meets “The Guy” there, who she assumes is a Ph.D student there. As they strike up a conversation, she tells him that her name is Olive and talks about why she’s applying to the program. She tells him that she wants to do it in order to research a specific topic.

A few weeks later, Olive is accepted into the program.

Years later, Olive is now 26 and a Ph.D. student in Dr. Aslan’s lab. Olive has just kissed a random stranger (in order to trick her best friend, Anh , into thinking she’s on a date) — only to realize that the “stranger” is actually Dr. Adam Carlson , a 34-year-old tenured and highly-respected professor in her program with a reputation for being notorious moody, mean and hypercritical.

After they pull away, Adam accuses her of assaulting him. Olive insists she asked him and he said yes, but he says he merely snorted. Finally, she explains that her friend Anh had hit it off with a guy she’d been dating, Jeremy. Olive broke things off with Jeremy, but Anh felt too bad to go out with Jeremy. To make Anh feel better about it, Olive lied to Anh about dating someone and being on a date tonight. When Anh showed up at the lab, Olive needed to kiss someone so Anh would believe she was on a date.

Finally, Olive apologizes and leaves. She doesn’t notice that Adam had called her by her name (which she hadn’t brought up in this conversation).

A few days later, Olive is still embarrassed by what happened. However, she figures that she’d never crossed paths with Adam before then, so perhaps she wouldn’t cross paths with him again. Meanwhile, Olive is preoccupied with needing to find more lab space for her research on early detection of pancreatic cancer. Today, she also finds out Tom Benton , a well-known cancer researcher and an associate professor at Harvard, is interested in potentially allowing her to carry out her research at his lab at Harvard. He’s going to be in town in two weeks and wants to meet with her.

When Anh sees her, she confronts Olive about kissing Adam Carlson. Olive thinks back to how they met since they were the only two non-cis-white-male students in their class. Beyond that, Anh was her biggest support and best friend.

Today, Anh demands to know why Olive is dating Dr. Carlson. This conversation is interrupted when Adam walks in. He plays along and pretends that he and Olive are together. After they make formal introductions, he tells her to call him Adam, in case her friend Anh is around. Later, when Olive talks to Anh again, Olive continues to pretend she’s dating Adam, and she once again encourages Anh to date Jeremy.

On campus, Olive starts to notice that people are treating her differently and with some level of curiosity. When her roommate, Malcom , demands to know why she didn’t tell him about dating Dr. Carlson, Olive realize that everyone know about her lie. Olive goes to Adam’s lab to tell him what’s going on, and she apologizes to him for it.

Olive notes that he seems very at ease with everyone believing that they’re dating, and she wonders why. Finally, he admits that Stanford considers him to be a “flight risk” (that he wants to leave them for another institution) and that they’ve frozen some of his research funds because of it. Part of the issue is that he’s recently gotten a large grant with one of his collaborator’s at another institution, and the department is worried he’s planning on moving there. He hopes that the dating rumors will make them think he’s more likely to stick around since he’s dating someone here.

A few days later, Olive goes to Adam’s office and tells him she wants to proceed with pretending that they’re dating. Olive notices that she’s been treated much better by everyone since the rumor started. (Apart from Malcom, who dislikes Adam Carlson, and has been shunning her.) Adam explains that he’s looked into it and there’s no issue with it, though he can’t serve in any supervisory capacity for her or serve on her thesis committee or be a part of any decisions if she’s nominated for a fellowship or other awards.

They decide to set some ground rules for their fake-dating arrangement. They decide to be fake-dating while on-campus only, so no personal engagements. Olive stipulates that there’ll be no sex. They also agree not to date others in the interim, since it will make things messy. And they agree that they should get coffee or something regularly to make things believable.

They plan to continue their fake-dating until September 29, roughly a month from now, which is the day after the department’s budget review. Their first coffee “date” is planned for Wednesday at 10 AM.

Later, Olive talks to Malcom, who is still upset with her. Malcom comes from a long line of well-known scientists, and he dislikes that Adam Carlson’s criticism of his research had made his life so difficult. Olive confides in Malcom that they’re merely fake-dating and that she barely knows Adam. She says that he’s just helping her out with the Anh/Jeremy situation (and she doesn’t mention Adam’s reasons for participating).

On Wednesday, Olive and Adam have their first fake-date at the coffee house. They ask each other some basic questions, and Adam pays for her order.

The next week, they meet up again, though Olive is running late since she was getting ready for a meeting she has with Tom Benton later that day. Meanwhile, Adam is a little moody because his department chair has still not agreed to release his research funds. They discuss attending the fall biosciences picnic together so that his department chair can see that they’re together.

They’re interrupted when a friend of Adam’s walks in and greets him warmly. Adam introduces the man to Olive as his friend and collaborator — who turns out to be Tom Benton.

Dr. Benton reveals that he’s heard about Adam’s romantic exploits all the way at Harvard, and he’s surprised to hear the rumors about Adam’s new girlfriend being true. Olive also awkwardly tells Dr. Benton that they have a meeting planned for later that day. Tom is delighted to find out that his meeting is with Adam’s new girlfriend.

The three of them sit down to chat. As Tom asks her about her research, Adam rephrases it to help Olive organize her thoughts when he sees that she’s struggling to come up with an answer. Olive then tells Tom about her research on biomarkers in order to more easily and cheaply diagnose pancreatic cancer. As Tom inquires about her reasons for doing her research, Olive reluctantly admits that it’s because her mother had pancreatic cancer.

Finally, Tom asks Olive to spend two weeks writing up a report on the current state of her research. He says that he’ll make a determination of whether to give her the lab space and cover her research expenses depending on what he reads in that report.

When Tom steps away, Olive and Adam discuss that if she decides to go to Harvard then she needs to keep it a secret until the end of their arrangement, otherwise it’ll make Adam look worse. They also agree not to tell Tom that they’re only fake-dating.

The next day, Olive attends a well-attended talk that Tom is giving on campus. The auditorium is so packed that there’s no space anywhere. Anh convinces Olive to sit in Adam’s lap for the duration of the talk.

Afterwards, Olive and Anh head back to the biology building. Olive talks about the report she’s preparing for Tom and the presentation she needs to work on for a conference (the “SBD Conference”) coming up in Boston. Meanwhile, Anh is working on organizing an outreach event for BIPOC women in STEM for the conference.

As they walk back, they see that there’s a traffic jam involving a stopped car blocking an exit. Then they see Cherie , the department secretary, talking to Adam. Adam then proceeds to physically push a car out of the way to relieve the jam. Anh encourages Olive to go over and give him a kiss for his efforts. After some awkward negotiation with Adam, they kiss.

Olive is working on her report for Tom when Greg Cohen , one of Dr. Aslan’s other Ph.D. candidates, barges in, clearly agitated. Chase , another one of their lab mates, walks in uneasily after him. When Olive asks Greg what’s wrong, he angrily responds that Carlson is on his dissertation committee and he failed his proposal. They ask Olive whether she knew he was going to fail Greg, and Olive insists she didn’t know. Greg then yells at Olive and calls her selfish for not caring how Adam makes everyone’s lives miserable. Greg then storms off.

Later that day, Olive texts Adam. She asks him about failing Greg. She argues that he should be nicer, but Adam is unapologetic. He insists that his job is to make sure that students produce useful research. Olive gets frustrated texts profanity at him, and he doesn’t respond.

A few days later, Olive is on her way to the biosciences picnic, where she’ll be seeing Adam after their tense exchange. She, Anh, Jeremy and Malcom go together and are quite late. When they arrive, they see Adam playing Ultimate Frisbee shirtless, showing off his six-pack. Olive is surprised to find herself “viscerally attracted” to Adam.

As they put on sunscreen, Anh gives Olive way too much sunscreen. Meanwhile, the frisbee from the game lands near her. When Adam comes over to retrieve the frisbee, Anh offers Olive’s excess sunscreen to Adam. He accepts, and Olive rubs the sunscreen on him. Olive also apologizes for what she texted him the other day.

Tom then comes over and brings up that Adam will be going to Boston soon for a few days.

Olive is in the break room at night when she runs into Adam next. Olive is working on her report for Tom, but there’s a section she’s having trouble with since her lab equipment seems to be messing up. They chat and share snacks. Olive finds herself wondering why he’s single.

Olive also finds herself telling him about her mother and her death. She describes how, when she was 15, her mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer too late and only had a few weeks left to live by then. Olive also says that her father was never in the picture and her grandparents were deceased, so she was sent into the foster system until she was emancipated at 16.

When she mentions needing to get back to work, Adam offers to let her use his lab equipment if she needs it. He also gives her some advice on the Western blot she’s working with to make sure she’s doing it correctly. Before Olive leaves, she asks Adam why he’s single, but before he can really answer, Jeremy walks in and interrupts them.

On Saturday, Olive sends in her report to Tom. He responds by asking her to meet to talk about it at Adam’s house (where he’s staying) on Tuesday before he leaves for Boston. At Adam’s house, she and Tom chat about her report for about 20 minutes. Before she leaves, Tom offers her a spot at Harvard for the next year, and Olive is thrilled.

Adam gives her a ride back to campus. He talks about how excited he is about the research he and Tom are working on. As they chat, Adam says something that The Guy she’d met in the bathroom all those years ago had said to her. Olive realizes then that Adam was The Guy she’d met. She marvels at how she’d wondered about The Guy for years. Olive then suggests that go celebrate her lab spot and him and Tom’s grant.

They agree to get coffee. Before then, she convinces him to go with her to get flu shots at the setup on campus, all the while she teases him for his fear of needles.

On Wednesday, Olive and Adam are texting and teasing each other when Anh comes in and comments on how in love with Adam she is. Anh says that she feels better about dating Jeremy, since she sees how much Olive likes Adam. As Anh leaves, it dawns on Olive that Anh is right.

Olive soon texts Malcolm asking to talk. When they get together, she tells him about how she thinks she’s fallen for Adam. She also tells him that she thinks that Adam was The Guy that she met all those years ago. Malcolm suggests that perhaps Adam feels the same way. Olive doesn’t think that’s the case, but moreover, she says scared of being vulnerable and possibly giving up the friendship she and Adam currently have if she’s wrong. Olive also says that everyone she cares about ends up leaving her — citing her mother, father and grandparents.

Olive says she’s certain she doesn’t want to say anything to Adam about her feelings — but then she turns around and sees Adam standing there.

When Adam acknowledges that he overheard her, Olive quickly lies and said she was talking about some other guy she has a crush on. Their conversation is interrupted by Dr. Holden Rodriguez , who is going to Boston with Tom and Adam. Dr. Rodriguez knows Olive since he was on her graduate advisory committee her first year.

As they talk, Holden explains that he and Adam are old friends. They grew up together because their parents were all diplomats. Holden tells Olive about how his boyfriend dumped him just before prom, so Adam went as his date instead.

After Holden leaves, Adam comments that Holden speaks highly of Olive and her research. Adam also explains a comment Holden made about Tom, saying that the two don’t really get along. He then tells Olive that she should just tell Jeremy how she feels, incorrectly assuming that the mystery crush Olive was referring to is Jeremy.

Malcolm continues trying to convince Olive to admit her feelings to Adam, but Olive refuses. With Adam out of town, she feels his absence. When Adam finally texts her on Sunday, she feels even worse about her stupid lie about liking someone else.

On campus, she runs into Holden, who mentions how glad he is that Adam and Olive got together. Holden days that Adam had talked about someone he wanted to ask out for years, and he’s glad Adam finally did it. When he says that, Olive thinks about how there must be someone else out there that Adam likes, then, since they only really met a couple weeks ago.

Holden also warns her to watch out when it comes to Tom and to watch Adam’s back, since he doesn’t trust Tom.

A little later, Olive is informed that her research has been accepted for the SBD conference as a panel presentation with faculty. Olive feels overwhelmed, since graduate students very rarely are selected for oral presentations. She goes to her advisor, Dr. Aslan, and explains that she’s terrible at talking. Of course, Dr. Aslan just gives her some encouragement and tells Olive she’ll help her practice her presentation.

Afterwards, Olive tells Malcom and Anh, who also volunteer to help her practice. They also mention, however, that they each got invited to stay with people in Boston for the conference (Anh with Jeremy and Malcolm with some friends who had a spare room), so they won’t be rooming with Olive. Anh says she figured Olive would stay with Adam.

Olive is trying to sort out some living arrangements for Boston when Adam, who is back in town now, comes up to her. She tells him about having trouble finding accommodations in Boston. Adam comments that there’s probably not anything left in the vicinity by now, but she could stay in his room at the conference center. He adds that he has the room for the whole conference, but he will only be using the room two nights, so they’ll only overlap for one night most likely.

When she tells him about her presentation, he offers to look over her slides. She also invites him to her talk, and she thinks about how one of the reasons she likes him is that she always feels like he’s on her side.

At the hotel in Boston, Olive takes the empty bed, and she rehearses the talk she’s about to give in a few hours. When Adam arrives, she thanks him for all the help he gave regarding her presentation.

He asks when her presentation is so he can attend, but it turns out it overlaps with the Keynote speech, which he is giving along with two other people. She offers to show him the recording of it afterwards.

When Olive goes to do her panel presentation, she sees that Tom is on the same panel. She gives her portion of the talk, and it goes well. Malcolm and Anh are there to cheer her on.

Afterwards, the room empties out, and it’s just her and Tom. As they talk, she notices him moving closer until he tries to kiss her. When she pushes him away, he keeps trying. Finally, he says that she’s clearly someone who sleeps around to get ahead, and so they both know she’ll sleep with him, too, for the same reason. He also says that she only got on this panel because someone wanted to kiss-up to Adam Carlson.

He also says that Adam is the reason he accepted Olive into his lab. When Olive threatens to tell Adam about this, he says that Adam won’t believe her word against his. Olive also says she won’t go work in his lab, but Tom says she knows it’s the best option for her, and if she doesn’t then he’ll just replicate her research since he already knows all about it.

When Adam gets back to the hotel, Olive is crying. She tries to pretend nothing is wrong, but fails at it. Finally, she lies and tells him that she’s upset because she overheard someone saying that her research was “derivative” and that she was only chosen because of Adam.

Adam comforts her, and then he says he has an idea for where they should go instead.

Holding her hand, they walk past all the people at the department social and instead head out to dinner. Adam asks what she wants to eat, and Olive sees an all-you-can-eat sushi place and wants to go.

After dinner, as they head back, Olive’s heels are hurting her, so Adam gamely picks her up and brings her to their room. She then suggests that they watch a movie. Olive goes to grab a quick shower, and Adam offers her a t-shirt since she forgot to pack pajamas.

When Olive’s mind wanders back to being called mediocre (by Tom, though she doesn’t tell Adam that), Adam tells her about how his advisor had once told him he wouldn’t amount to anything because of a mistake he made. He says that he had started preparing applications for law school as a result, since the comment shook his confidence. However, Holden and Tom (who also trained under the same advisor) convinced him to stick with science.

Adam says that later he realized that his advisor was abusive and a bad mentor who created a toxic environment. Comparatively, Adam says that he is critical since he wants students to be better, but it isn’t about belittling them as people or cutting down their self-worth. Adam also says that no one ever reported his advisor’s behavior because he was short-listed for a Nobel Prize, and they didn’t think anyone would listen. Adam also mentions how Tom had helped mediate thing with him and his advisor, so he was grateful to Tom for that.

Adam then tells Olive that the abstracts submitted to SBD go through a blind review process, so they definitely didn’t choose her because of him.

Finally, Olive moves to kiss Adam, but before anything can happen, he stops her. He points out that she’s upset and staying in his room and that the situation feels coercive to him. When Olive says she’s fine, he points out that she said she was in love with someone else and that he doesn’t want to regret this later.

Olive convinces him that she’s fine with the situation, and soon things get intimate.

They have sex.

Afterwards, Olive asks Adam about a book he’s reading. He says it’s in Dutch and that he learned it as a kid. He also says that his parents were busy all the time and that he was mostly raised by au pairs. They then talk more about their childhoods.

As they chat, Adam finally tells Olive that he might be going to Harvard. The reason he’s leaving the conference early is to go interview with them. He thinks that working together with Tom in the same lab would make them much more productive. He also mentions that he could show her around Boston when she’s there.

Olive wakes up to a barrage of texts from Anh and Malcolm. When she finally talks to them, it turns out the Malcolm hooked up with Holden at the department social. Malcolm also says that Holden mentioned that Adam’s funds had been released (though Adam hadn’t mentioned it to Olive).

That night, Olive meets up with Adam. He wants to go out and have dinner, but Olive breaks things off with him, since she doesn’t know what to do about the Tom situation. She thinks that taking herself out of the equation is the best thing for him.

As she starts to leave, they end up kissing, but he pulls away, and she leaves.

Olive spends the next day crying. Then, determined not to send up at Harvard, Olive takes Adam’s advice to reach out to people through her advisor and asks Dr. Aslan to e-mail various people she’d met at the conference to see if they’d be interested in her research.

Dr. Aslan agrees, and also asks to see her speech. As Olive edits the video recording, Malcolm talks about how he went on a first date with Holden, but they ended up running into his entire family (since they are all science junkies who attend science conferences).

As she’s editing, Olive realizes she recorded her upsetting conversation with Tom. Malcolm and Anh hear her listening to it. Once they’ve listened to the whole thing, they insist that Olive needs to tell Adam about it. Finally, Malcolm fills Anh in on what was really going on with Olive and Adam. However, they both agree it’s clear that Olive has feelings for Adam and that Adam would want to know about this. Still, Olive knows how important the collaboration with Tom is to Adam, and she is reluctant to complicate things for him.

They decide to call Holden to ask for advice. Olive asks Holden what he thinks about Adam moving to Boston and working with Tom. Holden says that he doesn’t trust Tom. He says he thinks there was a weird dynamic where Tom was secretly sabotaging Adam during grad school and then defending him. He thinks that Tom likes Adam’s loyalty towards him and having influence over him. Holden also tells them that he thinks Tom and Adam’s collaboration benefits Tom more than Adam. Finally, Holden implies that he thinks the only reason Adam is considering leaving Stanford is because Olive is going to Harvard.

Olive tracks down Adam’s location at a dinner with some Harvard people, including Tom. When he sees her, he gets up and asks what’s wrong. Tom comes over to try to get Adam to sit back down, but Adam insists on talking to Olive. Finally, Olive starts playing the video. Adam grows furious as he realizes what happened. He tells Tom that he’s going to kill him and goes after him, but Olive tells Adam that he’s not worth it.

As the Harvard people demand an explanation, Adam ignores them and kisses Olive. He then tells Olive to send him the recording immediately and then goes to talk to the Harvard people.

A few days later, Olive is back home, and Adam is on his way back to San Francisco. Meanwhile, Olive has received responses from four cancer researchers who are all interested in her research.

When Adam gets back, Holden insists on a double date. Adam reluctantly agrees. When they all sit down, they address the fact that Malcolm still has misgivings about Adam because of Adam’s harsh criticism of his work. Adam tells Malcolm that it wasn’t personal.

As they joke around about pumpkin spiced flavored foods, Holden mentions how Adam has liked Olive for years. Olive corrects him, saying they’ve only been dating for a few weeks, but Holden says that they met three years ago and that he’s liked Olive ever since. Olive then realizes that Adam was definitely the The Guy (from three years ago) and that he did remember her.

After dinner, Olive and Adam head home. Adam tells Olive that Harvard is going to fire Tom and that there will be other disciplinary actions. Olive then tells Adam that she remembered him, too, from all those years ago. But she didn’t piece it together until later, and she admits that she didn’t say anything once she figured it out.

Finally, she tells him that she loves him (in broken Dutch).

Ten months later, it’s the 1-year anniversary of their first kiss. Olive and Adam go to the lab and recreate and their kiss at precisely the same time as last year.

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As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

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For Chapter 16, I think it’s important to include the part where Olive comes out to Adam as demisexual. But other than that this is a great summary.

this book is so good i couldn’t put it down. the only i wish is it was both POVS i would of loved to see what adam was thinking during all of this or have his thoughts on when they met each other during the bathroom scene. and i would of loved to see him actually hurting tom for saying that stuff to olive.

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My Book Brief .

Updated on October 17, 2023

The Love Hypothesis Summary: A Comprehensive Synopsis

Find this book on: Amazon | Thrift Books

Book Author(s):

Can love be quantified, tested, and proved through equations, or is it a force that defies scientific logic and transforms our lives in unexpected ways?

━ SYNOPSIS ━ “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood is a best-selling romance novel about Olive, a female scientist trying to find true love. The story follows Olive as she pretends to date her professor, Adam, to convince her best friend, Anh, that her dating life is going well. Olive and Adam put on a facade of being in love to convince everyone around them, but as they spend more time together, they develop real feelings for each other.

With a near-perfect rating on Goodreads and recognition as Amazon’s best romance book of 2021, “The Love Hypothesis” has captured the hearts of readers worldwide. This article will summarize the book’s plot, explore its major themes, and analyze its characters to help readers understand why this novel has become such a hit.

• 1 The Love Hypothesis: Overview
• 2 Main Characters
• 3 Plot Summary
• 4 Key Themes
• 5 Critical Analysis
• 6 Impact and Reception
• 7 Conclusion

The Love Hypothesis: Overview

“The Love Hypothesis” is a romantic comedy novel by Ali Hazelwood and published in 2021. The book follows the story of Olive Smith, a third-year biology Ph.D. candidate trying to convince her friend that she has moved on from an old crush. In an attempt to do so, she impulsively kisses a stranger, only to find out that he is Dr. Adam Carlsen, a professor in her department known for being hypercritical and moody.

The novel is a humorous and heartwarming story of Olive’s journey to true love, fraught with lies, tears, and awkward moments. It explores the themes of love, friendship, and the struggles of being a woman in a male-dominated field.

“The Love Hypothesis” was an instant New York Times bestseller and a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. It has received critical acclaim for its engaging characters, unique themes, and masterful writing style. The book is a must-read for anyone who loves a good romantic comedy with a touch of science.

Main Characters

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood follows Olive Smith, a female scientist, as she navigates her journey to finding true love. Along the way, she encounters several other characters who play important roles in her life.

The main character and protagonist of the story is Olive Smith. Olive is a brilliant scientist who struggles with self-image and tends to focus on her flaws rather than her accomplishments. She is driven by the desire to be less lonely, which stems from the loss of her mother ten years ago. Olive is also determined to prove herself in her field and earn the respect of her colleagues.

Another important character in the story is Adam Carlsen, Olive’s professor. Olive and Adam pretend to date each other to convince their friends that Olive’s love life is going well. However, as they spend more time together, they develop real feelings for each other. Adam is a charming and intelligent man dedicated to his work as a professor.

Anh Nguyen is Olive’s best friend and confidante. Anh is a supportive and caring friend who is always there for Olive when she needs her. She encourages Olive to take risks and pursue her dreams, even when they seem impossible.

Other notable characters in the story include Olive’s colleagues at the university, her ex-boyfriend, and her father. Each character plays a role in Olive’s journey to finding true love and discovering her self-worth.

Plot Summary

“The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood follows Olive Smith, a third-year biology Ph.D. candidate who shares a kiss with a handsome stranger at a bar to make her friend think that she’s in a relationship. However, she soon realizes that the stranger is Dr. Adam Carlson, a prominent professor in her department known for being a hypercritical and moody tyrant.

Despite their awkward introduction, Adam and Olive continue to cross paths, and Adam eventually offers her a spot in his lab for the next year. Olive accepts the offer but soon learns that Adam is difficult to work with. He is demanding, critical, and has impossibly high standards.

Olive discovers that there is more to him than meets the eye as she works with Adam. He is kind, caring, and passionate about his work. Olive begins to see Adam in a new light, and they start to develop feelings for each other.

However, their professional roles complicate their relationship, and they must navigate the challenges of academia and their own personal insecurities to make their relationship work.

Throughout the book, Olive also deals with her issues, including her strained relationship with her mother and her struggle to balance her personal life with her academic career.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood explores several key themes throughout the book. These themes include transitioning from a fake relationship to genuine love, female empowerment, and academic politics.

One of the book’s main themes is transitioning from a fake relationship to genuine love. The story follows Olive and Adam’s initial ruse, which evolves into true feelings. The book explores the complexities of relationships and how they can change over time.

Another important theme in the book is female empowerment. Through Olive’s character, the story reflects the theme of female empowerment as she navigates the male-dominated academic world and stands up for her work. The book highlights women’s challenges in male-dominated fields and the importance of standing up for oneself.

Academic politics is also a key theme in the book. The story delves into the cutthroat world of academia and the politics that come with it. The book highlights the pressure that academics face to publish and their sacrifices to further their careers.

Overall, The Love Hypothesis explores several relevant themes in modern society. The book highlights the complexities of relationships, the challenges women face in male-dominated fields, and the politics of academia.

Critical Analysis

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood is a delightful romantic comedy novel that follows the journey of a female scientist to find true love. The book has received positive reviews from critics and readers alike. In this section, we will provide a critical analysis of the novel.

One of the strengths of the book is its engaging characters. The protagonist, Olive Smith, is a relatable and likable character driven by her passion for science. The male lead, Adam Carlsen, is a charming and intelligent professor who complements Olive’s character well. The supporting characters are also well-developed and add depth to the story.

The plot of the book is well-paced and keeps the reader engaged throughout. The fake relationship between Olive and Adam is a common trope in romantic comedies, but the author adds her unique twist. The scientific experiments and theories that Olive uses to test her hypothesis about love add an interesting layer to the story.

The writing style of the book is also noteworthy. The author has a witty tone that makes the book a joy to read. The dialogue between the characters is well-written and adds to the overall charm of the book.

However, one criticism of the book is that some conflicts and obstacles the characters face feel contrived and predictable. Additionally, some readers may find the scientific jargon and theories overwhelming and difficult to follow.

Overall, The Love Hypothesis is a well-written and entertaining romantic comedy that will delight fans of the genre. The engaging characters, unique plot, and witty writing style make it a standout novel in the genre.

Impact and Reception

“The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood was an instant NY Times bestseller, a BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021, and Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. The book has received positive reviews from readers and critics alike, with many praising its unique blend of romance and humor.

One of the key factors contributing to the book’s success is its relatable characters. Olive, the female protagonist, is a brilliant scientist who struggles with self-doubt and anxiety. In contrast, Adam, the male protagonist, is a charming professor dealing with his demons. Their hilarious and heartwarming interactions make readers root for their romance.

Another aspect of the book that has resonated with readers is its focus on the importance of communication and honesty in relationships. Throughout the story, Olive and Adam must navigate their feelings for each other while dealing with their insecurities and past traumas. By the end of the book, they learn to trust each other and communicate openly, which ultimately strengthens their relationship.

“The Love Hypothesis” has been well-received by readers and critics alike, with many praising its engaging characters, unique themes, and masterful writing style. It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a good romance novel with a healthy dose of humor and heart.

“The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood is an entertaining romance novel that follows Olive Smith, a PhD candidate in biology, on her journey to find true love. The book is a mix of comedy, tears, and awkward moments that will keep readers entertained from start to finish.

The author’s writing style is masterful and symphonic. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the plot is engaging and well-paced. The book perfectly blends heart and science, making it a must-read for anyone who loves both genres.

Readers will enjoy the witty banter between the characters, the fierce feminism that permeates the book, and the romance that defies the laws of science. The book is an effervescent beaker bubbling with intellectual banter that will satisfy and entertain readers.

“The Love Hypothesis” is a delightful read that will appeal to anyone who loves a good romance novel. The book is a perfect mix of heart and science that will entertain and satisfy readers.

If you liked this book summary, also check out All About Love (by Bell Hooks) Summary and The 5 Love Languages Book Summary

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The Love Hypothesis

48 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-11

Chapters 12-13

Chapters 14-15

Chapters 16-19

Chapter 20-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Different Types of Intelligence

Through the representation of academia , Olive’s difficulty to parse her emotions, and the differences between Olive and Malcolm , The Love Hypothesis shows how there are different types of intelligence. Olive, Adam, and others within the Stanford community possess intelligence, as evidenced by the fact they work in academia. Many of Olive’s thoughts about her experiment show how she understands the material and is always seeking new information with which to supplement what she already believes. Tom’s insults in later chapters reveal just how intelligent Olive is. While Tom also possesses a level of intelligence to remain in the field, even if that intelligence is only enough for him to copy and add to the work of others, his jealousy and view of Olive as a threat shows just how intelligent her thought processes are.

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Why I love using Hypothesis

April 5, 2021

This blog post is authored by Dr. Shira Klein , faculty in the Department of History of Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

“Hypothesis,” is a wonderful tool for making sure students have done the reading, or at least part of it. In disciplines where learning depends heavily on textual sources, ensuring that students are actually reading is crucial.

How do I use Hypothesis? Instead of assigning texts and hoping students read them, I upload the texts into Hypothesis, through Canvas, and require students to annotate them. I provide an annotation question, for instance, “Choose a passage in the text and explain how it shows _____.” Annotations are visible to anyone in the class, so I encourage students to read what their colleagues have written, and also to pick a passage nobody else has annotated.

Why is Hypothesis great for students? The annotations help students focus on the important points of the reading, which is especially useful with dense and detail-heavy texts. Because they can read one another’s annotations, students can benefit from seeing how other students have made sense of the reading. If you make each annotation worth very little of the grade, students experience less stress and anxiety when completing them.

How does Hypothesis help instructors? Hypothesis annotations are easy to evaluate, since the annotation clearly shows whether or not the student has done the reading. I grade the annotations as either “complete” or “incomplete,” which cuts down grading time and gives students credit for doing the reading. Because Hypothesis integrates into Canvas’s Speed Grader, grading annotations is fast and efficient.

Any downsides? Setting up the Hypothesis assignments takes time , and requires converting all readings to readable PDFs. Another major disadvantage is that Hypothesis does not enable anonymous grading .

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Teaching Resources

Resource Overview

Guide on using Hypothesis, a social annotation tool used for collaboration, interactive reading, annotation, and discussion.

For more ideas and technical support, email the EdTeam team  or schedule a consult . You can also reach out to Becky George, WashU Customer Support Specialist at Hypothes.is, to get individual help and ideas for using Hypothes.is by emailing her or scheduling a consult with her.

• WashU licensed
• Seamlessly integrates with Canvas Assignments, Groups, and SpeedGrader
• Shared annotations and replies as well as private highlights and notes
• Use with webpages or searchable PDFs
• Can split students into small reading groups
• Ability to annotate with images, links, and videos
• Student resources, including instructions , tutorials , and guides on best practices and annotation types
• CTL managed and supported

Hypothesis makes reading active, visible, and social. A metanalysis conducted by Novak et al in 2012 suggested that social annotation tools can “lead to learning gains in higher education” (p. 47). In particular, the study found that social annotation activities contribute to “improved critical thinking, meta-cognitive skills, and reading comprehension” (p. 47). Preliminary findings in the same study also suggested that using social annotation “promotes motivation for reading and contributes to higher frequency of positive emotions and lower frequency of negative emotions” (towards the reading). In addition, Brown and Croft (2020) argue that social annotation is an inclusive teaching practice because of how it promotes collaborative knowledge building.

• Increase engagement on a reading assignment by asking students to share reactions, personal connections, or questions about a text. Such annotations make the reading experience social and spark conversations between students.
• Familiarize students with the expectations and objectives of your course by having them annotate the syllabus. This not only ensures that students read the syllabus, but also helps build community from the start .
• Help students read a difficult text together. In the instructions, ask students to raise questions about confusing concepts, share how they interpret the text, and add links to resources that define terms, provide examples or elaborate on concepts raised in the text.
• Help students do more close reading by asking probing questions or directing students to important parts of the text. Open the text in Hypothesis as a student would and add your prompts as annotations. Consider these 10 different types of annotations .
• Use a text or a section of a text to model how you would engage with it. Open the text in Hypothesis and add annotations to share your own responses, analyses, and meta-comments. You could also use this opportunity to introduce students to annotation etiquette , or best practices that make annotations more useful for others.
• Synthesize annotations using tags. Make sure that you and students add specific tags to your annotations such as by concept, topic, or comment type (e.g., “metaphor” “love” “resource” “follow-up”). This will allow you to search for this tag and quickly identify themes across annotations.
• Include multimedia in annotation by showing students how to add external images and videos in comments and replies. These can be immediately viewed in the comments window.
• Get ideas from the Hypothesis teacher community at Liquid Margins which meets regularly to discuss ideas for social annotation. All past recordings are available on YouTube .
• Discussion Board Alternative: Students benefit from conversations that take place within a text. This can keep their conversations specific and grounded. Students can post questions and then respond to other students’ questions OR you can place questions within the text for students to respond to.
• Comparative Activity: Students work to closely analyze a series of texts looking for commonalities, dissimilarities, or other points of importance for future discussion.
• Close Reading Practice: Students often fly through short complex texts too quickly. A Hypothesis activity can slow them down and encourage them to engage in slow, careful reading. Students may be tasked with adding definitions to unfamiliar words, grappling with passages that seem critical or patterns that stand out in the text, and linking to other texts or theories that a passage seems to allude to etc.
• Rhetorical Analysis: Students might be tasked with marking and explaining rhetorical strategies that they encounter in a text.
• Multimedia Writing: Students use Hypothesis to create a collaborative multimedia text by annotating a written text with images and video.
• Creative Writing Exercise: Students could respond creatively and collaboratively to a written text. It could also be used as an exercise (e.g. annotate “x” text in the voices of characters from a prior text).
• Syllabus Search : Students annotate for specific important course details such as due dates, course goals, and resources. This is a great beginning activity to build community and help students identify how your course relates to students’ personal and professional goals.
• Jigsaw Multiple Texts : Students are split into separate groups where each group reads a different text. After becoming “experts” on their assigned reading, they split into new groups with experts of other texts to teach each other about the text that they read.

• Brown, M. & Croft, B. (2020). “Social annotation an inclusive praxis for open pedagogy in the college classroom.” Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1-8.
• Novak, E. et al. (2012). “The educational use of social annotation tools in higher education: A literature review.” The Internet and Higher Education, 15, 39-49.

Get Started

Hypothesis is fully integrated into Canvas. You’ll find it under Assignments and External Tools.

Here’s a great page designed to walk faculty through social annotation and using Hypothesis: https://web.hypothes.is/getting-started-with-canvas/

Hypothesis Tutorials

• How to set up and grade a Hypothesis Activity
• Quick 2-page overview

Additional Tutorials from Hypothesis (external links)

• How to set up Hypothesis readings through Canvas Assignments  
• How to set up Hypothesis readings through Canvas Modules  
• How to set up Hypothesis reading groups in Canvas  
• How to grade Hypothesis annotations in Canvas  

Ideas for How to Use Hypothesis

• Starter assignment ideas
• User-submitted assignment ideas
• NEW! AI Starter Assignments with ChatGPT
• Instructions for Students
• A student guide to Hypothesis in Canvas
• An Illustrated Guide to Annotation Types
• Annotation tips for students
• How to sync Hypothesis readings for imported Canvas courses

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If you have suggestions of resources we might add to these pages, please contact us:

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Social Annotation and the Student Voice

By frannyfrench | 6 December, 2021

We often hear teachers talk about how they love social annotation. Ultimately, though, it’s students who benefit most when they seed the margins of assigned readings with comments, questions, answers, links, memes, GIFs, emojis, and more. So what do students consider the advantages of reading with social annotation? We looked through the many ways we hear from and about students to distill what they say into a few top benefits. Students say social annotation:

• makes reading more active and interesting
• helps their understanding
• leads them to make new connections between texts and ideas, within and across classes
• makes writing easier
• enables them to learn with and from their peers
• builds community and collaboration

Behind it all, students say they feel “less alone” while reading with social annotation. That’s great to hear because we believe that reading can be more powerful when it becomes a social, not just a solitary, act. In a time when some people are lamenting lost literacies, the idea that students appreciate reading in community inspires our work on tools and practices to make reading social.

Given our priority to protect student privacy, it’s not often we are able to quote students directly. To enable everyone to see what students say in their own words, we have secured consent to publish a few anonymous testimonials about their experiences with social annotation.

Student voices

I really like how you can highlight and annotate on any site. It helps me to understand what I’m reading.

I like to see my thought process on paper so this is a great tool for breaking down my thought process online.

I love sharing my thoughts using annotations and reading other people’s annotations. Using Hypothesis helps me become more interested in what I’m reading. I think I might continue to use Hypothesis, even after I finish school.

Annotation is indispensable to active reading and active readers. To actively read is to actively think about, and even challenge, what is being read. Hypothesis helped me to do that. Thank you!

Hypothesis broadens the idea of close-reading a passage and makes it more interesting and interactive.

I love the ability to include images and direct links. Having visual aids adds more to the text.

I think it’s a good way to see the ideas of classmates before entering the classroom, which in turn generates good discussions.

I love how Hypothesis allowed me to interact with all my classmates!

It’s really cool to read everyone else’s thoughts and viewpoints on the same texts, because it really opens your eyes to things that you might have not seen prior to the annotations, and I just think it’s a really really rad way to learn and connect with all of your other fellow thinkers and scholars.

I loved using Hypothesis to annotate class readings — it was especially helpful when annotating with my classmates because they made extremely insightful comments that made me think more critically about the passage.

This is a really amazing tool for research. I will definitely be using Hypothesis for my work in the future. It helps to streamline and simplify my note taking process which allows me to conduct more research in a short amount of time.

Hypothesis has been really helpful to me and has allowed me to organize my thoughts and ideas. It has given me an opportunity to formulate my argument through marking and annotating relevant evidence. It lets me quickly jot down an idea so I can use it later when I’m writing an essay.

Hypothesis is a perfect learning tool for going beyond the classroom — students can research material only briefly mentioned in the text more deeply. Links to videos or other websites can also be included for supplementary material.

Student viewpoints from educators

Educators aren’t shy in speaking out about the benefits their students experience using social annotation. Our social streams are full of teachers posting about what their students say and how social annotation transforms classroom experiences, online and off.

So that’s it. TL:DR — Students experience JOY when they can engage with each other, contribute to a larger purpose, and feel a sense of relatedness. I’m trying to avoid mimicry & encourage authentic engagement instead. Bonus TL;DR — Students are awesome in moments of JOY! — David Buck , Professor of English, Howard Community College

Students in my Viewing Black Girlhood class mentioned my use of technology was the best they’ve ever experienced. Hypothesis was a great tool. One student declared, “annotation is collaboration.” Love to hear it! Vimeo’s video review was also a great way to annotate/collaborate. — Daye Rodgers , Assistant Professor of Film, Emory University

Thanks to collaborative tasks some of my students have also changed their mind concerning the value of asynchronous tasks. Besides this one, work with Hypothesis has been what they seemingly enjoyed the most in this context. — Katrin Horn , Assistant Professor of American Studies/Anglophone Literatures and Cultures, University of Bayreuth

I’m finding that my students really seem to like online texts that lend themselves to social annotation, so they feel less alone when doing the readings and actually engage in dialogue (voluntarily!) before class discussion. Hypothesis is a hit. I wish I had it in law school. — Raina Haque , Professor of Practice of Technology, Wake Forest University

Reading course evaluations from the Spring, and Hypothesis is — as usual — getting a lot of love from my students. What a great resource. — Spencer Greenhalgh , Assistant Professor of Information Communication Technology, University of Kentucky

I introduced students in my linguistic anthropology class to Hypothesis today. I too had been a little uncertain of how it would work. It took us a few minutes to figure it out. But they really liked it! They understood the value. Thanks! — Susan Blum , Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame (and author of “Ungrading”)

As if I needed another reason to love Hypothesis I really hope my uni keeps their blackboard integration, but even if they don’t, I’ll still use it. It was by far the tool my students loved the most this semester! — Tawnya (Ravy) Azar , Assistant Professor of English, George Mason University

Researching student viewpoints

Beyond all the informal, qualitative evidence that students are finding benefits in social annotation, we are also working with scholars in the AnnotatED community to deepen our understanding of social annotation and student outcomes with formal studies of pedagogical practices. Among other things, we seek to understand the specific ways students feel and think about social annotation through our multi-year research project in collaboration with Indiana University Bloomington (IU) to investigate how social annotation improves reading and writing practices for undergraduates in core English literature and composition courses for majors and non-majors. Instrumental in this study is a research team at Indiana University headed up by Justin Hodgson and in coordination with Dr. Remi Kalir, Hypothesis’ first Scholar in Residence.

Simon Fraser University

Researchers at other institutions are also looking into student engagement with social annotation. Outcomes from a study conducted by the Scholarly Communications Lab led by Juan Pablo Alperin, Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University, found that greater than 70 percent of students said that social annotation helped them learn, over 70 percent said that it helped them understand different points of view, and more than 65 percent said that it inspired them to think about the course content outside of the classroom. The data also revealed that students “relied on the tool for interpretation, using Hypothesis to draw hypotheses or conclusions, summarize information, or suggest problem solutions.” To get the most current data from this research project, see the study outcomes that are now published formally.

Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

For Spanish speakers, hear directly from students talking about their experiences with social annotation in classes led by Rosario Rogel-Salazar, Profesora-Investigadora in the Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.

Future research directions

With over 31 million annotations across nearly two million different documents made by over a million annotators, we now have one of the world’s largest collections of evidence about what people do while they read, and we have only just started to explore what it can tell us. In keeping with the ethical practices we’ve laid out , we will continue to conduct research as well as support, contribute to, and follow others’ studies on social annotation. And, whenever possible, we will elevate student voices speaking for themselves about their own reading and annotating.

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