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The Love Hypothesis

Quick recap & summary by chapter.

The Full Book 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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BOOK REVIEW: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Synopsis: When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. 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.

The Love Hypothesis snuck up on me and captured my heart.  It was addicting, sexy, angsty and thoroughly intoxicating!  I’m sure a huge fan of the fake dating trope and it not only made this book a ton of fun but it had a lot of emotional power too.  With a broody male, a quirky girl and a story filled with science, contemporary romance lovers will fall head over heels in love with this book!

“Have you considered getting a real girlfriend?” His eyebrow lifted. “Have you considered getting a real date?” “Touché.”

The prologue quickly pulled me in.  Not only was the meet cute beyond adorable and memorable , but it was laced with emotion too.  When we jumped two years and eleven months into the future in chapter one, we found Olive fake kissing some random guy.  I was like what is even going on?!   But it was because she hoped that her best friend would see her liking someone else and would then start dating her ex, who she never had feelings for. So to prove to her bestie that she had moved on, she kissed the first guy she saw. And it was Adam Carlsen who was a professor at her school and a complete jerk. It led to them fake dating and there’s so much more to the story then this but eeps I loved every minute of it!

“People who date, they—they talk. A lot. More than just greetings in the  hallway. They know each other’s favorite colors, and where they were  born, and they . . . they hold hands. They kiss.” Adam pressed his lips  together as if to suppress a smile. “We could never do that .” A fresh  wave of mortification crashed into Olive. “I am sorry about the kiss. I  really didn’t think, and—” He shook his head. “It’s fine.”

Olive was a brilliant scientist in grad school, but she was a little unsure of herself at times.  It took me a little while to warm up to her, and I wanted to shake her a time or two about her lying.  I wanted her to be upfront and honest but as the story unfolded and we learned the whys behind her actions it was impossible not to love her.  Her past and present helped mold who she was nowadays and we get to know every part of Olive.  So during moments like when she explained why she was so passionate about her research, I got tears in my eyes.  I loved her determination and dedication! And when she found her voice and the courage to say and do what she wanted, I was so proud of how far Olive grew from that first page till the last!

Olive laughed, and the way he looked at her, kind and curious and  patient . . . she must be hallucinating it. Her head was not right. She  should have brought a sun hat.

Adam Carlsen was such an unknown besides his reputation as an arrogant asshole. Yet each time we learned a little something more about Adam, I kept falling harder and harder.  Adam knew how to take control and be in charge of a situation.  Yes it sometimes made him come across as a complete and total jerk but other times it came across so hot *fans face*.  He left me feeling beyond happy, giddy and counting down till his next interaction with Olive!  But with Adam, I loved how he commanded attention from others without even trying. I also loved how his humor was so subtle and effortless; each time he made me laugh out loud he snagged another piece of my heart. Adam was caring, strong, beautiful, someone so easy to become obsessed with and the moments he was thoughtful made my heart exploded. I was absolutely obsessed with this broody man who oh so easily got added to my book boyfriend list!

“We are friends, right?” His frown deepened. “Friends?” “Yes. You and I.” He studied for a long moment. Something new passed through his face,  stark and a little sad. Too fleeting to interpret. “Yes, Olive.”

Olive and Adam’s moments together created even more speculation and gossip of what was truly happening between them.  So it easily led to them fake dating. They both had reasons behind wanting to do that. So each time they were together, I desperately wanted them never to part. I was obsessed with their coffee dates or when they ran into each other. Because even the most simplistic moments between them, like listening to a presentation or a school picnic, made me have butterflies in my stomach. The chemistry between them was through the roof hot. And while I guessed how quite a few things would play out, it never once took away from my love of this story.  But one thing I didn’t guess correctly was how unbelievably sexy this book was.  Pages upon pages of scenes had me melting into a pile on the floor.  Together they were sigh worthy!

He took a deep breath. His shoulders rose and fell in time with the  thudding of her heart. “I wish you could see yourself the way I see  you.”

The Love Hypothesis was a mixture of steamy and adorable, and landed right on my favorites list! It was impossible not to cry tears or stop the smiles that constantly appeared on my face. Ohhh plus it was so cute that Olive kept thinking of them as a book trope, like the fake boyfriend, possible one bed, her wearing his shirt and he’s speechless.  It truly didn’t even matter that I’ve read so many of these tropes countless times, Olive and Adam made it feel unique on every single page. Now I now can’t wait to read whatever else Ali Hazelwood releases!

He tilted his head. “Standard protocol?” “Yup.” “How many times have you  done this?” “Zero. But I am familiar with the trope.” “The . . . what?” He  blinked at her, confused.

“It was good, wasn’t it?” Olive asked, with a small, wistful smile. She  wasn’t herself sure what she was referring to. Maybe his arms around  her. Maybe this last kiss. Maybe everything else. The sunscreen, his  ridiculous answers on his favorite color, the quiet conversations late  at night . . . all of it had been so very good. “It was.” Adam’s voice  sounded too deep to be his own. When he pressed his lips against her  forehead one last time, she felt her love for him swell fuller than a  river in flood. 

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March 16, 2022 at 11:05 am

March 23, 2022 at 12:09 pm

A million times yes! You’re making me want to re-read this one *sigh*!

March 21, 2022 at 11:05 am

March 23, 2022 at 12:11 pm

Thank you! I’m so happy to hear that it lived up to the hype for you, yay! This book was such a wonderful surprise, I was hoping to enjoy it and loved that I loved it so deeply!

March 23, 2022 at 2:16 am

March 23, 2022 at 12:23 pm

Personally I’m not a fan of the cover at all *shrugs and then hides face* lol. But it was the fake dating trope that pulled me in and I’m so glad I did because the story was so fun and the chemistry was amazing!

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Book Reviews

Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

At the end of 2021 my brain – which had read approximately 430 books – just wanted some happy ending assured reads. So I read a lot of romance books. And finally I caved to the Tiktok pressure and picked up The Love Hypothesis . This review is what follows. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.

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.

TW: assault

Everyone I know on Tiktok is talking about The Love Hypothesis so I caved. This is another of the, “Books BookTok Made Me Read”. TBH so far I’ve been happy with how it turned out because The Love Hypothesis was loads of fun. To be fair, Adam was 100% only Adam Driver in my mind. Someone had told me this was Kylo Ren fanfic or something and so the image was cemented. Am I mad about it? Not really, but it did make for some VERY interesting images.

The Love Hypothesis is like a fake-dating trope lovers dream. I loved Olive from the beginning and when she said she wears expired contact lenses, my love affair was cemented. WHY WOULD I THROW THEM OUT? WHO HASN’T DONE THIS? This book was all sorts of fun – both steamy and emotionally. I loved how Hazelwood included this little ‘hypothesis’ at the beginning – it was a fun way to bring in the STEM and title. You can always hook me with STEM, academic settings, and fake dating.

Not to mention that The Love Hypothesis has serious grumpy meets sunshine vibes. I’m a sucker for a gruff, kind of grumpy, protective love interest. The Love Hypothesis just kind of ticked off all my trope boxes. Additionally watching them open up to each other, see pieces of each other no one else does? I melted. With fake dating, I always love how the line between real and fake begins to blur. The banter is chefs kiss and the chemistry is sizzling. I 100% get why the internet loves this one.

(Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. For more information you can look at the Policy page. If you’re uncomfortable with that, know you can look up the book on any of the sites below to avoid the link)

The Love Hypothesis swept me away and I had to finish this one in basically a day. I rooted for Olive hard and it’s a perfect slump buster. Find The Love Hypothesis on Goodreads , Amazon , Indiebound , Bookshop.org & The Book Depository .

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2 thoughts on “ review: the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood ”.

I finally read this one last week myself and I loved it! I also finished it in just about one day. Can’t wait for more by this author. Great review!

I immediately preordered the novellas after finishing!

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'The Love Hypothesis' won Amazon's best romance book of 2021, has a near-perfect rating on Goodreads, and is all over TikTok. Here's why it's such a unique love story.

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• " The Love Hypothesis " grabbed the attention of romance readers everywhere in 2021.
• It was named Amazon's Best Romance Novel of 2021 and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award.
• This book checks off all my boxes for a great romance read and is definitely worth the hype.

This year, Amazon named " The Love Hypothesis " by Ali Hazelwood the best romance book of the year. Even though it was only recently published in September 2021, "The Love Hypothesis" has quickly become a fan-favorite, with 88% of Goodreads reviewers giving it four- or five-star-level praise .

It was also nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award and is hugely popular amongst Book of the Month members , with only 1% of readers giving it a "disliked" rating.

"The Love Hypothesis" is about Olive Smith, a third-year Ph.D. candidate studying pancreatic cancer at Stanford. In an attempt to convince one of her best friends that she's moved on from an old crush, she impulsively kisses Dr. Adam Carlsen, the department's notoriously brutal (but undeniably attractive) professor. After the kiss, Adam and Olive agree to fake a relationship so she can prove to her friend that she's happily dating and he can convince their department that he isn't planning to leave anytime soon.

I'm a little picky about my romance novels , so giving this read every bit of a five-star review didn't come lightly. My standards are high because the best romance novels have the potential to expose readers to authentic and imperfect relationships and offer new topics of discussion without making us feel like it's a story we've already read. 

With all the hype surrounding this new romance read, I couldn't resist picking it up.

Here's why "The Love Hypothesis" is one of my favorite recent romance books:

1. the story focuses a lot on olive and adam's lives outside their romance, making their love story more believable and interesting..

Romance novels tend to fall into a few popular tropes such as " enemies-to-lovers " or "forbidden love." "The Love Hypothesis" combines two of the most popular tropes right now, "Fake dating" and "grumpy/sunshine," really well — I loved the contrast between Adam's serious attitude to Olive's bright and sugary one. 

But despite following these tropes, the story feels fresh because it's also largely about Olive's work and its meaning to her. The only other romance book I've read featuring a STEM heroine is "The Kiss Quotient" , so I loved seeing that representation and learning about something new. 

The story honestly reflected the challenges Ph.D. candidates face in academia and that authenticity — deepened by the author's personal experiences — brought the characters, the settings, and the romance to life even more as Olive and Adam faced challenges with funding, time-consuming research, and questioning their sense of purpose.

2. The steamier scenes are also awkward and realistic, which made them even better.

In romance books, there are a few different levels of how graphic a steamy scene can get , from little-to-no detail to explicitly outlined movements. (I personally prefer mine to "fade to black.")

There was only one chapter with adult content, and it was definitely graphic. While I made a ton of ridiculous faces while reading and tried to skim past the parts that made me audibly gasp, I loved that it wasn't a movie-made, perfect sex scene with graceful movements and smooth dialogue. The scene was a little awkward, imperfect, and full of consent and conversation, making it refreshingly real.

3. The book deals with other topics besides the main love story, making it a much deeper read.

While it's wonderful to get swept up in the magic of a romantic storyline, having a secondary plot that addresses real issues is what makes a romance novel truly great . 

Mild spoilers and content warnings ahead: While "The Love Hypothesis" is a fun romantic read, it also addresses the pain of familial death, power differentials, intimacy challenges, and, most prevalently, workplace sexual harassment. 

Love is beautiful, fun, and amazing, but "The Love Hypothesis" takes the opportunity to also include conversations about serious issues. While these topics may be tough for some readers, I think these plot points, hard conversations, and complicated emotions take "The Love Hypothesis" to the next level and make it a five-star read. 

The bottom line

"The Love Hypothesis" has everything I personally look for in a romance novel: A unique storyline, authentic characters, and an important message. If you're looking for a perfectly balanced romance read, "The Love Hypothesis" is worth the hype and definitely one of the best romance books to come out in the past year.

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The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | Book Review

Posted August 12, 2021 by Jana in Adult Fiction , Book Review / 4 Comments

When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. 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.

So. I’m really not the best at reviewing books I absolutely loved because I don’t have many words! We all know I love fake dating romances, and I loved the idea of a STEM romance because science is cool and I really love and miss Big Bang Theory (and no, this isn’t like that per se, it’s just got super smart people spouting off science facts). Anyway, I immediately gravitated toward The Love Hypothesis because it sounded fresh and funny and unique. It was all those things and more! As always, my main points are bolded.

1. This book is so, so nerdy and I loved it. The people are a little awkward and extremely smart. There’s strong women in science, and I loved learning a little bit about the challenges women face in this field. Every chapter starts off with one of Olive’s hilarious little scientific hypotheses about love and life, each one teasing a bit about what’s coming up in that chapter. These made it very hard to stop reading because I’d get to the end of the chapter and decide to read and then BOOM. I’m intrigued again and must continue reading. Very clever. A lot of the book takes place on campus in the labs, and I thought it was such a fun setting with people working late and running experiments because science doesn’t wait for people to sleep or eat. There’s lots of science talk, there’s a science convention and people get all excited about presenting posters and attending talks and it’s all just so much fun. It reminded me a bit of Ross’s paleontology convention from Friends, just no Barbados.

2. Olive is sweet and strong. She’s smart and strong and totally dedicated to her cancer research. She’s looking for a lab that will accept her the following year so she can continue her testing with better equipment and proper funding. It matters more to her than pretty much anything. Everyone she’s ever loved has died, so she’s very reluctant to get too close to anyone except her two best friends. Relationships are scary and also a little confusing for her. It takes her a while to sort through her feelings and figure things out, and I loved watching her grow and evolve.

3. Dr. Carlsen (Adam) is a dreamboat. He’s seen as rude and lacking in compassion. He’s hard on his grad students, but it’s because he wants them to succeed. He’s super sexy and thoughtful and protective of those he cares about. He’s sarcastic, flirty, suave, and all the things I love in a hero. Olive is a little inexperienced in the love department, and there’s a scene where he puts all of his focus on taking care of her. Consent and comfort are so important to him, and the entire scene was him making sure she was ok. It just melted me, and I’ve never read another scene quite like this one.

4. The chemistry between Olive and Adam is insane. These two can throw the banter back and forth forever and get me laughing, but they can also build up a level of tension that makes you squirmy. There’s an age gap of about 8-9 years between these two, so Olive loves to make fun of him for being old. She also loves to make fun of his healthy eating habits. He likes to tease her about her love of sugar and poor taste in food. But then there’s a scene where Olive’s best friend kind of forces her to kiss Adam after he’s just pushed a car out of the road and is all sweaty, and wow. And then there’s a scene at the department picnic where Olive has no choice but to coat his muscley back in sunscreen (poor girl), and wow. Their relationship is sweet and spicy and tender, and I just love them.

5. Olive’s best friends, Anh and Malcolm, made me so happy. They are both scientists and work together, although their research is all different. Anh is the loyal best friend, who also mothers Olive and makes sure she doesn’t get skin cancer. Malcolm is Olive’s roommate, and he’s pretty much made of rainbows and sunshine. They love to discuss hot men and other fun things. I would love to be a part of this friend group. Adam’s friend, Holden, is another favorite character of mine. He gives great advice, really cares about his people, and is so happy all the time.

6. There’s some deeper issues at play that run throughout the story, including the #MeToo movement. All were treated with sensitivity and respect. 

7. There’s so, so much humor! I actually laughed out loud at one point, which never happens to me. I’ve been known to smile or silently laugh, but this was an actual audible laugh that startled me.

8. The writing is also spot on, and flowed so nicely that the pages practically turned on their own. 

All in all, this is a stunning debut for Ali Hazelwood. Strong women in science, a sexy doctor hero who values and supports those women, hilarious banter, strong friendships, and a very sweet love story all wrapped up into a glittery, sugary package. What’s not to love? I highly recommend The Love Hypothesis, and cannot wait to see what Ali Hazelwood does next!

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Overflowing Shelf

Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

CW: sexual harassament/assualt

Did I read the same book as everyone else? Because this book was a big fat NO from me. I know a lot of people love The Love Hypothesis , but everything about it – from the writing to the characters, to the plot and even the romance – did not work for me. If this wasn’t a hyped book, I would have put it down after the first chapter and marked it as Did Not Finish.

I honestly don’t know where to start with this review.

To try to make this digestible, I’m going to structure this a little bit differently than my normal review with sections: 

Within the first page of The Love Hypothesis , I knew this book would not be for me because of the writing style. I know this was originally fanfiction, but I was expecting better writing since Berkely published it. 

First off, why are there SO MANY ITALICS in this book? You may be thinking, “oh, they’re for internal narration!” Nope. They were all italics used for emphasis. Dear Lord, there were five different words italicized for emphasis on the first page alone. As soon as I noticed the italics, it was all I could see. By my count, there were only about 47 pages in my ebook without italics. The story was only around 230 pages long. I just couldn’t with that.

The tone also missed the mark for me. I feel like Hazelwood was aiming for quirky and fun, but I found it childish and too cutesy for my tastes. It impacted my read on Olive as a character (more on that below on the characters).

And dear Lord, was this book lacking in descriptions. And the descriptions it did have were so repetitive. Did you know Adam was big, dark and huge? And did I mention he’s big? And he’s got a deep voice? I felt like I kept getting hit over the head with these same descriptors for Adam every time he was on the page. Meanwhile, with Olive, I felt like I knew nothing about what she looked like besides she was around 5’ 8” and that she’s Canadian. The only reason I pictured her as a brunette is because of the cover.

Finally, I felt like there were a lot of chunks of dialogue text where there were no attributes or tags to who was speaking, which sometimes made it hard to follow a conversation. When deployed properly, a lack of attribution during a conversation in a book can be a great writing device. Here it just caused confusion. 

This book has the dumbest reason for a couple to begin fake dating. And that’s not even touching the non-consensual actions that lead to it (more below in the romance section). Instead of talking to her best friend in the world like a normal person, Olive needs to lie about dating Adam to make her friend feel comfortable about now dating a boy that Olive went on a few dates with. Like what? WHAT? 

It’s like, “oops, I got caught kissing this guy. Guess we now need to pretend to be in a relationship, so my friend feels okay in her relationship.” In what world does that make sense? This whole book wouldn’t have happened if Olive had just stopped lying. Even Olive knows that as she says: “It would have been so easy to confess the truth.” 

I feel like the whole reason the plot of this book exists is summed up by this passage:

“This was what happened whenever Olive lied: she ended up having to tell even more lies to cover her first, and she was horrible at it, which meant that each lie got worse and less convincing than the previous.”

I just couldn’t deal with the weak premise for the fake dating and the plot. I threw the book across the room every time Olive told a new lie, and then at the end, she had the GALL to tell Adam, “ You didn’t need to lie, you know.”

Finally, the conflict at the end of the book made me so angry. It hinges on sexual harassment in academia. Up until that point, that had become a joke thanks to the treatment of Title IX earlier in the book. That rubbed me the wrong way for a lot of reasons. It’s a serious issue, but it was thrown in as a random plot point and not given the exploration it needed as it was there to purely introduce drama into Adam and Olive’s relationship. 

Additionally, Olive had proof of what happened on a tape recorder. Still, she forgot about it for multiple chapters and, of course, decides the only way to resolve the situation is to – you guessed it – lie. 

CHARACTERS:

Let’s talk about the characters. Our main female lead is Olive, and the book is primarily told from her perspective. Despite this, I felt like I knew relatively little about her.

Additionally, Olive came off as incredibly childish. Her actions read more like a high-schooler, not someone in her mid-20s in a Ph.D. program. Honestly, if this story featured two high schoolers, I might have bought it more as the fake dating premise would make more sense.

Also, I found it weird that Olive kept insisting she was all alone in the world. Yes, her parents are gone, but Olive has an incredibly close-knit friend group with her best friend Anh and Malcolm who have her back no matter what. Heck, even Adam is there for her, yet she insists she’s all alone. 

It does appear Olive is asexual in the novel, which I appreciate, but I also found it hard to know if she identified that way. There were a few throwaway lines earlier hinting at it and a bit more of an exploration of it later in the book, but it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity to explore that more.

Now on to Adam. Weirdly, I sort of liked him even though I found him bland and lacking dimension. Because the book is told from Olive’s point of view, I struggled to get to know him beyond the surface level as the two of them never had in-depth, genuine conversations. I know he’s big and huge and has a deep voice, but his personality seemed to be a bit non-existent.

There did seem to be a bit more to Adam than meets the eye, and I wish Hazelwood had explored that more. Everyone says he’s this mean person, but I felt like he was one of the few characters who was a voice of reason. While he might have cultivated a bit of a toxic work environment, it seems like he was coming from a genuine place of wanting to help others, not hurt them. I honestly didn’t find him as much of a bad person as all the characters in the book did.

Outside of Olive and Adam, the secondary characters felt very flat and like caricatures. They’re also supposed to be Olive and Adam’s friends, but boy, were they all terrible friends. 

Finally, our villain character was almost too evil villainy to be believable in a contemporary romance. He seriously gives a monologue like you’d see an old-school Bond villain do, and it just felt so out of place and a bit out of left field. 

And finally, we’ll close with my thoughts on the romance. This book lacked any sort of chemistry between Olive and Adam. I just did not see it at all. There was no spark, no fizz, no butterflies in your stomach. 

Now, I can see why some people love the romance in this. It is full of extremely popular tropes. You get fake dating with a splash of enemies-to-lovers, what is not to like? But the tropes were executed poorly, which hurt the romance. 

Let’s also start with the fact that their romance starts non-consensually. Olive literally grabs Adam and kisses him without his consent. The first chapter writes this act off in the first sentence:

“In Olive’s defense, the man didn’t seem to mind the kiss too much.” 

If the roles were reversed, we find that incredibly problematic, yet the book portrays it as an adorable meet-cute. Add in the fact that he’s a professor and she’s a student and you get a really weird power dynamic in play. The book tries to write it off as a non-issue, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. 

Additionally, all the scenes where we’re supposed to be building romantic tension fell flat for me. I found it so weird that she was sitting in his lap in an academic lecture in front of everyone and that her friend essentially forced Olive to make out with him afterward. 

And the sexy scenes were so not sexy. I was already dreading the sex scene as the book was not working for me, but it was even more cringeworthy than I imagined. 

First off, Olive kept on HER UNICORN KNEE HIGH SOCKS. That’s the opposite of sexy.  Second, Adam, of course, is BIG. It’s the only thing we know about it, so it obviously extends to his entire body. Finally, I actually threw the book down with this line:

“He could fit her entire breast in his mouth. All of it.” 

First off, how? Second off, why? That does not sound romantic to me at all. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a good sex scene. But this felt like it was in there just to add some smut (a term I hate!) and didn’t add much to the overarching story. It was also incredibly cringe in its writing, so I couldn’t wait to get past it. If they had better chemistry, it might have worked better.

Finally, let’s talk about the falling in love part of Olive and Adam’s relationship. I felt like she wasn’t actually in love with Adam as she had to be told by someone else that she loved him before she felt it. And then, when she realized she had feelings for him, she had to lie about it to him. I felt like Adam was much more invested in their relationship than she was. It was abundantly clear to everyone except Olive that the man was head over heels in love with her and would do anything for her. It took her far too long to realize that.

I wish we had a little more time with them as an actual couple, as they were in a fake relationship for most of the story. I’d have liked to see more of their real relationship as that was more interesting to me, and they seemed like they’d be cute together. 

I hope this review doesn’t come off as too harsh, but I had a lot of thoughts and feelings about why this did not work for me while I was reading it. I did want to like this one, but it was clear pretty quickly that this was not going to be the book for me.  I felt like I was hate-reading it to finish it, which is never a good sign.

Will I be reading more from Ali Hazelwood? At this point, probably not. 

Her next book Love on the Brain , sounds and feels way too similar to The Love Hypothesis to hold any appeal for me. As a relatively new author, I don’t want to write off someone completely, but I think she’ll need to write something drastically different for me to want to pick up one of her books again.  

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5 thoughts on “ Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood ”

I listened to this one and didn’t read it – so the writing stuff you mentioned I didn’t notice. I also don’t know if that helped me enjoy it more – but I did really enjoy this one. But, to each their own. I love that you even said “did everyone read the same book?”

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I was wondering if the audiobook experience would be better as I don’t think you’d notice some of the weird writing quirks. While I didn’t like this book, I can see the pieces of it that make it incredibly popular and respect that a lot of people love it. It’s so funny how people can react so differently to the same thing, which is what makes reading so fun. This one didn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for others!

If you finished the book, you did better than me. I also was ready to give up during the second chapter but pushed through until I read 1/3 of the book. I couldn’t force myself to read more and returned it to the library. The writing is extremely juvenile and so over-the-top, repetitive and unbelievable. Huge problems with the characters as well. Diverse character traits are great, but the protagonist flip-flops between being a genius and acting like an insecure child. Plot is also totally annoying and unbelievable. Every event she sets up in the most childlike way. I don’t even see this book working for a YA audience.

I honestly have no IDEA how I finished this book, let alone went on to read the next two books she wrote. I keep hoping they’ll get better, as I weirdly want them to work for me, but so far, they’ve all been not great, though I think The Love Hypothesis is the worst of the bunch.

[…] I find most of Hazelwood’s sex scenes to be super cringe and the least sexy things ever (see here, here, and here for examples), so it actually helped not to have to read it play out on the […]

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Book reviews and book adventures, review: the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood, the tiktok viral book delivers on troupe filled twists and turns..

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

• Buy the book here
• Page count: 384
• Genre: Romance, comedy, contemporary, fiction
• Content warning: Discussions of workplace harassment and assault

Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis has earned the title of being a “BookTok book” through being heavily read and discussed by content creators on TikTok. The romance novel has earned both praise and criticism from the community, with some hailing it for being sweet and funny, and others hating it for feeling cringe.

There’s one obvious trait about the fanfiction that sets it apart from other romance novels: the book has roots in fanfiction. One look at the cover and any Star Wars fan (me, I am the Star Wars fan in question) will immediately notice the cover star characters bear a striking resemblance to two familiar faces. Author Ali Hazelwood has been open about her own start as a writer of fanfic and how this helped start getting her own original work published.

There is a lot of discourse surrounding the value and validity of fanfiction, but I tend to stand with the principle that spaces encouraging new creative writers are a good thing. For those without access to creative writing programs, writing groups, or publishing industry connections, fanfiction websites might be the first place a young writer is able to share their work and receive feedback from readers and other writers.

Ties to fanfiction aside, The Love Hypothesis is an original work with original characters. The story follows Olive, a third-year Ph.D candidate who enters a fake relationship with notoriously brooding professor Adam Carlsen to convince her friend Anh that she’s over another boy in their program.

I read this book in one day. I bought it, brought it to local cafe, and read the whole thing before dinner time. It moved that fast. Each chapter begins with a “hypothesis” that gives a little clue about the action of the chapter. While Olive and Adam start off the book as strangers, the antics of the well meaning Ahn force the two into intimate and often humorous situations that grow the bond between them.

Outside of the romance, the book focuses on misogyny experienced by women in STEM fields and provides a look at the specific challenges that women like Olive face everyday. It was nice to read a lighthearted book that focuses on this issue but also showed the passions and achievements of women in STEM. Ali Hazelwood, who has a STEM background herself , does a nice job portraying of what the experience of women in academia looks like.

This book kept me reading because it does a nice job of growing a genuine connection between the two lead characters. I’ll admit that the story felt a bit absurd at the beginning, but the longer things played out, the more I found myself rooting for Olive and Adam. Hazelwood’s best moments in this story are the lighthearted and comedic ones where she leans into the fact that this story is cheesy and goofy.

There’s a nice inkling of self-awareness in the book, too. Olive seems pretty aware that she’s living out the plot of a steamy romance movie, even quipping once that she and Adam will likely end up experiencing the classic “one bed” romance troupe if she agree to share a hotel room with him.

If you’ve read my discussion of Vampire Academy, you’ll know that I am tired of stories about power imbalance relationships , specifically those between older men and younger women. Although Adam is not Olive’s direct supervisor and they do not work together, he still holds a high position in the department where she is a candidate. I was frustrated that this book once again represented an unrealistic desirability of dating one’s superior. Powerful and strong women do not need to date older men with higher positions to “meet their match”. It would’ve been simple for this story to take place between two Ph.D. candidates.

Power dynamics aside, there is one thing in this book that I just cannot get past: the recurring Title IX jokes. For a book that makes a point to tackle sexism and harassment of women in the STEM fields, I am surprised by the jokes about Olive and Adam reporting each other to HR. Sexual harassment of women in academia continues to be an issue, and it felt in poor taste that these jokes were included in the story.

It has been a long time since I have read a happy romance novel. I can say this: I had fun reading The Love Hypothesis . The overall story provided a funny, if unrealistic, get-together between two characters who could not be more different from one another.

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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

Chapters 16-19 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 16 summary.

Adam rips his shirt off and pulls Olive to him, kissing her and running his hands over her body. The touches spark a range of sensations Olive’s never felt before, making her squirm. Adam tries to slide one finger inside her, but her tightness makes it difficult. She admits to having sex only a few times in college, which makes Adam recoil because she’s practically a virgin. She babbles on about how virginity works, which makes him laugh and draw her in for another kiss. Less flustered, Olive explains that she doesn’t “feel any sexual attraction unless I actually get to trust and like a person” (267), and he’s the first person she’s gotten close enough with to want sex.

Since Olive is inexperienced and tight, Adam starts by giving her oral sex until she orgasms. It takes some more work to get her open enough for intercourse, but once she is, they make fast, desperate love. Adam climaxes while muttering about how long he had wanted this and how he can never let Olive go. Olive climaxes right behind him, shivering with pleasure.

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Romance and urban fantasy reviews, review: the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood.

September 16, 2021 by Kate 7 Comments

The Love Hypothesis is mostly a charming book. There is so much to love about it. Olive and Adam are adorable together, and the fake-dating plot was perfect. Olive’s friends are amazing and I enjoyed the banter all around. The writing is great, and I breezed through it in one sitting. But while I would very much like to overlook my problems with it for the cuteness, it feels disingenuous to skim over what I feel is a very significant issue with the plotting of the book. 

Slightly past halfway through the book, Olive is sexually harassed, and that incident becomes a catalyst for the rest of the plot. My issue is that I do not feel that it was handled in a way that made sense for the characters or provided any real closure afterwards. Unfortunately, it’s a bit difficult for me to talk about why I don’t believe this worked without giving specific details, so feel free to skip the next couple paragraphs if you’re concerned about spoilers. 

Olive is sexually harassed by a colleague (Tom) of her fake boyfriend (Adam). After the incident, she’s concerned about two things if she tells Adam: that he won’t believe that Tom harassed her, or if Adam does believe her, he will be forced to give up a project he is working on with Tom, that he is very excited about. So she resolves not to tell him, and ends their “relationship” (which had become a bit more like a relationship , as you do in a fake-dating romance novel). 

Shortly after that, Olive’s friends overhear the recording she has of the incident, and they convince her she needs to tell Adam, which she does, and then within a day or so, (after Tom is fired) Olive is basically confessing her love to Adam and they are all of a sudden real dating. 

This secondary sequence of events is what I had a hard time with. First, she decided to not tell Adam due to her concerns about his reaction, but then she is convinced to tell him because of her friends, not because she has any realization about him/their relationship that would lead her to trust that he would believe her. Then, once she does tell him, they barely have a conversation about the repercussions or Adam’s feelings about the situation before they confess their feelings for each other and move on. It all happens quickly and is wrapped up easily. 

As a result of all that, it feels like Olive is being swept along by the plot, with no agency of her own, and while there are a lot of things that I will put up with because “romance reasons,” the aftermath of sexual harassment isn’t one of them. Especially because I have a hard time reconciling Olive’s decision to not say anything with her decision to date Adam at the end. She goes so quickly from not trusting him to deciding to be in a relationship with him that I almost got whiplash. It didn’t seem reasonable for her character to have that complete 180 in such a short period of time. 

Overall, it felt like the sexual harassment plotline was written in as an easy way to create a Very Serious Conflict. And I just don’t think it was necessary. In the hands of a skilled writer, even the tiniest possible conflict can be written such that the reader is convinced of its importance to the characters’ lives and relationship. I can think of many other conflicts for this book, including but not limited to: Adam’s perceived or real power over Olive’s career, Olive’s issues believing people will stick around after a lifetime of not having that, the fact that they were lying to all of their friends for months about their relationship, Adam being a demanding asshole to every other grad student or Adam’s possible move across the country. I have read romance novels where characters had a third act breakup for less than that last reason, for example. I do not believe we need to traumatize our romance heroines (or trigger readers who weren’t given a heads up) for the sake of causing conflict.

I know many people really enjoyed The Love Hypothesis , and I certainly did until about 65% in. It’s possible that because the situation with the sexual harassment is written in such an over-the-top way (it did feel a little like somebody took an HR manual on “How not to sexually harass” and included every example of what to avoid) that maybe it didn’t land for other readers in the same way it landed for me, but I am honestly frustrated with how it ended after such an amazing beginning. Maybe if I had been aware of what was going to happen, it would not have bothered me so much, but there were no indications that the book was going to take the turn it did.

I want so hard to like this book, and as I said, I think there is a lot to like, but I cannot recommend it without reservations. I look forward to seeing what Hazelwood does next. 

CW: Sexual harassment with some unwanted physical contact, Olive’s mother died of pancreatic cancer prior to the events of the book.

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September 16, 2021 at 12:04 pm

thank you for writing this review, your comments about how people write trauma are something I’ve been thinking on for a while now!!

September 16, 2021 at 7:12 pm

Of course! I really think it’s something we need to be talking about more in romance, honestly. I’m glad you enjoyed the review.

September 16, 2021 at 11:27 pm

Thanks for this review! I also have problems when such heavy issues are dumped into a story and then not treated as seriously as they merit. But even in stories with smaller (and as you say, more realistic-feeling) conflicts, lately I’ve been kinda irritated when one of the MCs needs a push from their friends to move the relationship (and plot) forward. As you pointed out, where’s the MC’s agency, where’s their inner fire pushing them toward the path that’s right for them?

September 17, 2021 at 4:30 pm

Yes! I felt like there were so many other things that the author could have focused on that would have shown Olive’s growth and agency in the story.

September 17, 2021 at 6:44 am

Had the exact same issue with Hot Copy. Workplace sexual harassment as a plot device…

December 30, 2021 at 11:02 pm

I like the book but I want them to be honest with each other. I need them to use their words instead of their genitalia.

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Our Verdict

IndieBound Bestseller

THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS

by Ali Hazelwood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 14, 2021

Fresh and upbeat, though not without flaws.

An earnest grad student and a faculty member with a bit of a jerkish reputation concoct a fake dating scheme in this nerdy, STEM-filled contemporary romance.

Olive Smith and professor Adam Carlsen first met in the bathroom of Adam's lab. Olive wore expired contact lenses, reducing her eyes to temporary tears, while Adam just needed to dispose of a solution. It's a memory that only one of them has held onto. Now, nearly three years later, Olive is fully committed to her research in pancreatic cancer at Stanford University's biology department. As a faculty member, Adam's reputation precedes him, since he's made many students cry or drop their programs entirely with his bluntness. When Olive needs her best friend, Anh, to think she's dating someone so Anh will feel more comfortable getting involved with Olive's barely-an-ex, Jeremy, she impulsively kisses Adam, who happens to be standing there when Anh walks by. But rumors start to spread, and the one-time kiss morphs into a fake relationship, especially as Adam sees there's a benefit for him. The university is withholding funds for Adam's research out of fear that he'll leave for a better position elsewhere. If he puts down more roots by getting involved with someone, his research funds could be released at the next budgeting meeting in about a month's time. After setting a few ground rules, Adam and Olive agree that come the end of September, they'll part ways, having gotten what they need from their arrangement. Hazelwood has a keen understanding of romance tropes and puts them to good use—in addition to fake dating, Olive and Adam are an opposites-attract pairing with their sunny and grumpy personalities—but there are a couple of weaknesses in this debut novel. Hazelwood manages to sidestep a lot of the complicated power dynamics of a student-faculty romance by putting Olive and Adam in different departments, but the impetus for their fake relationship has much higher stakes for Adam. Olive does reap the benefits of dating a faculty member, but in the end, she's still the one seemingly punished or taunted by her colleagues; readers may have been hoping for a more subversive twist. For a first novel, there's plenty of shine here, with clear signs that Hazelwood feels completely comfortable with happily-ever-afters.

Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-33682-3

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Berkley

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021

ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE

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BOOK REVIEW

by Ali Hazelwood

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PERSPECTIVES

New York Times Bestseller

IT ENDS WITH US

by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016

Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...

Hoover’s ( November 9 , 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.

At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.

Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016

GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

More by Colleen Hoover

by Colleen Hoover

SEEN & HEARD

IT STARTS WITH US

by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022

Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.

The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.

Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6

Page Count: 352

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022

ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL FICTION

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• Entertainment

Academic Romance Is My New Favorite Book Genre After Reading This Debut Novel

If you told me that my favorite book of 2021 would end up being about two fake-dating scientists whose characters are loosely based on Rey and Kylo Ren from Star Wars, I would not have believed you. Fake dating isn't my favorite trope, science was my worst school subject, and while I've always enjoyed watching Star Wars, I wouldn't exactly call myself a fan. But that was before I read The Love Hypothesis (out Sept. 14) by Ali Hazelwood.

In the novel, Olive Smith is a biology PhD student who is on a mission to convince her best friend that she's in a relationship. Considering she's definitely single, and worried that her friend will learn the truth, Olive randomly panic-kisses the first man she comes across in the lab — who just so happens to be the notoriously intimidating Dr. Adam Carlsen, a professor in her department. Nobody is more surprised than Olive when Adam agrees to go along with her charade. But how long can Olive keep up the ruse of fake dating when real feelings become involved?

I have a thing for love stories in which the guy has harbored a years-long crush on the girl while she remains endearingly clueless (don't worry, I'm not giving anything away — it's pretty obvious from the start how Adam feels about Olive), and so I knew by Olive and Adam's second interaction that I would LOVE this book. Olive is smart, ambitious, and funny, Adam is tender and thoughtful, and together their connection is pure slow-burning gold with lots of chemistry (both the literal and figurative kind).

Their connection is pure slow-burning gold with lots of chemistry (both the literal and figurative kind).

This is Hazelwood's debut novel, but she's been writing fan fiction for years. I read that this book was actually based on a previous, and hugely popular, Star Wars fan fiction story she wrote a few years ago. So if you're a Rey and Kylo Ren stan , you should probably read this book. I mean, just look at the cover!

Standout Quote

"His eyes were on her, now. There was light in them that she didn't understand. 'You are not mediocre, Olive. . . And the work you presented is important, rigorous, and brilliant.' He took a deep breath. His shoulders rose and fell in time with the thudding of her heart. 'I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.'"

Get ready to dive into all things academia: the politics, the research, the nerdy banter. It's like a world of its own and reminded me a little of my own college days. This book has some funny antics but doesn't shy away from diving into the more serious side of academia (including sexual harassment).

Where You Should Read It

Snuggled up at a student cafe with a pumpkin spice latte (Olive's drink of choice).

Read This If You Like . . .

Rey and Kylo Ren fanfic, romance stories set in academia like How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams , or a fake-dating trope.

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt(s)

This novel can check off more than one 2021 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge prompt; just pick the one that fits best for you.

• A book that's published in 2021
• A book about a subject you are passionate about
• A book you think your best friend would like

How Long It Takes to Read

The story is 360 pages long, and I read it every spare second I could over a weekend — and then immediately started over again when I finished since I didn't want it to end.

Give This Book to . . .

Friends who love Star Wars or smart and science-y love stories, who work in STEM, or who have ever fantasized about dating that really hot professor from college.

The Sweet Spot Summary

The Love Hypothesis ($14) follows Olive, a PhD student, who fake dates the one professor her peers love to hate: the intimidating (and intimidatingly hot) Dr. Adam Carlsen. She doesn't really believe in love, but if there's anyone who can convince her, it just might be Adam.

Emoji Rating

👩‍🔬 + 👨‍🔬 + 🔬 + 🔥

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The Love Hypothesis Paperback – September 14, 2021

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 400 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Berkley
• Publication date September 14, 2021
• Dimensions 5.48 x 1.06 x 8.2 inches
• ISBN-10 0593336828
• ISBN-13 978-0593336823
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Editorial reviews, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved..

Chapter One

Hypothesis: When given a choice between A (a slightly inconveniencing situation) and B (a colossal shitshow with devastating consequences), I will inevitably end up selecting B.

In Olive's defense, the man didn't seem to mind the kiss too much.

It did take him a moment to adjust-perfectly understandable, given the sudden circumstances. It was an awkward, uncomfortable, somewhat painful minute, in which Olive was simultaneously smashing her lips against his and pushing herself as high as her toes would extend to keep her mouth at the same level as his face. Did he have to be so tall? The kiss must have looked like some clumsy headbutt, and she grew anxious that she was not going to be able to pull the whole thing off. Her friend Anh, whom Olive had spotted coming her way a few seconds ago, was going to take one look at this and know at once that Olive and Kiss Dude couldn't possibly be two people in the middle of a date.

Then that agonizingly slow moment went by, and the kiss became . . . different. The man inhaled sharply and inclined his head a tiny bit, making Olive feel less like a squirrel monkey climbing a baobab tree, and his hands-which were large and pleasantly warm in the AC of the hallway-closed around her waist. They slid up a few inches, coming to wrap around Olive's rib cage and holding her to himself. Not too close, and not too far.

It was more of a prolonged peck than anything, but it was quite nice, and for the life span of a few seconds Olive forgot a large number of things, including the fact that she was pressed against a random, unknown dude. That she'd barely had the time to whisper "Can I please kiss you?" before locking lips with him. That what had originally driven her to put on this entire show was the hope of fooling Anh, her best friend in the whole world.

But a good kiss will do that: make a girl forget herself for a while. Olive found herself melting into a broad, solid chest that showed absolutely no give. Her hands traveled from a defined jaw into surprisingly thick and soft hair, and then-then she heard herself sigh, as if already out of breath, and that's when it hit her like a brick on the head, the realization that- No. No.

Nope, nope, no.

She should not be enjoying this. Random dude, and all that.

Olive gasped and pushed herself away from him, frantically looking for Anh. In the 11:00 p.m. bluish glow of the biology labs' hallway, her friend was nowhere to be seen. Weird. Olive was sure she had spotted her a few seconds earlier.

Kiss Dude, on the other hand, was standing right in front of her, lips parted, chest rising and a weird light flickering in his eyes, which was exactly when it dawned on her, the enormity of what she had just done. Of who she had just-

Fuck her life.

Fuck. Her. Life.

Because Dr. Adam Carlsen was a known ass.

This fact was not remarkable in and of itself, as in academia every position above the graduate student level (Olive's level, sadly) required some degree of assness in order to be held for any length of time, with tenured faculty at the very peak of the ass pyramid. Dr. Carlsen, though-he was exceptional. At least if the rumors were anything to go by.

He was the reason Olive's roommate, Malcolm, had to completely scrap two research projects and would likely end up graduating a year late; the one who had made Jeremy throw up from anxiety before his qualifying exams; the sole culprit for half the students in the department being forced to postpone their thesis defenses. Joe, who used to be in Olive's cohort and would take her to watch out-of-focus European movies with microscopic subtitles every Thursday night, had been a research assistant in Carlsen's lab, but he'd decided to drop out six months into it for "reasons." It was probably for the best, since most of Carlsen's remaining graduate assistants had perennially shaky hands and often looked like they hadn't slept in a year.

Dr. Carlsen might have been a young academic rock star and biology's wunderkind, but he was also mean and hypercritical, and it was obvious in the way he spoke, in the way he carried himself, that he thought himself the only person doing decent science within the Stanford biology department. Within the entire world, probably. He was a notoriously moody, obnoxious, terrifying dick.

And Olive had just kissed him.

She wasn't sure how long the silence lasted-only that he was the one to break it. He stood in front of Olive, ridiculously intimidating with dark eyes and even darker hair, staring down from who knows how many inches above six feet-he must have been over half a foot taller than she was. He scowled, an expression that she recognized from seeing him attend the departmental seminar, a look that usually preceded him raising his hand to point out some perceived fatal flaw in the speaker's work.

Adam Carlsen. Destroyer of research careers , Olive had once overheard her adviser say.

It's okay. It's fine. Totally fine. She was just going to pretend nothing had happened, nod at him politely, and tiptoe her way out of here. Yes, solid plan.

"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.

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 been 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?"

"I-" She buried her face in her hands. "It's not the way it looks."

"Okay. I . . . Okay," he repeated slowly. His voice was deep and low and sounded a lot like he was on his way to get ting mad. Like maybe he was already mad. "What's going on here?"

There was simply no way to explain this. Any normal person would have found Olive's situation odd, but Adam Carlsen, who obviously considered empathy a bug and not a feature of humanity, could never understand. She let her hands fall to her sides and took a deep breath.

"I . . . listen, I don't mean to be rude, but this is really none of your business."

He stared at her for a moment, and then he nodded. "Yes. Of course." He must be getting back into his usual groove, because his tone had lost some of its surprise and was back to normal-dry. Laconic. "I'll just go back to my office and begin to work on my Title IX complaint."

Olive exhaled in relief. "Yeah. That would be great, since- Wait. Your what?"

He cocked his head. "Title IX is a federal law that protects against sexual misconduct within academic settings-"

"I know what Title IX is."

"I see. So you willfully chose to disregard it."

"I- What? No. No, I didn't!"

He shrugged. "I must be mistaken, then. Someone else must have assaulted me."

"Assault-I didn't 'assault' you."

"You did kiss me."

"But not really ."

"Without first securing my consent."

"I asked if I could kiss you!"

"And then did so without waiting for my response."

"What? You said yes."

"Excuse me?"

She frowned. "I asked if I could kiss you, and you said yes."

"Incorrect. You asked if you could kiss me and I snorted."

"I'm pretty sure I heard you said yes."

He lifted one eyebrow, and for a minute Olive let herself daydream of drowning someone. Dr. Carlsen. Herself. Both sounded like great options.

"Listen, I'm really sorry. It was a weird situation. Can we just forget that this happened?"

He studied her for a long moment, his angular face serious and something else, something that she couldn't quite decipher because she was too busy noticing all over again how damn towering and broad he was. Just massive. Olive had always been slight, just this side of too slender, but girls who are five eight rarely felt diminutive. At least until they found themselves standing next to Adam Carlsen. She'd known that he was tall, of course, from seeing him around the department or walking across campus, from sharing the elevator with him, but they'd never interacted. Never been this close.

Except for a second ago, Olive. When you almost put your tongue in his-

"Is something wrong?" He sounded almost concerned.

"What? No. No, there isn't."

"Because," he continued calmly, "kissing a stranger at midnight in a science lab might be a sign that there is."

"There isn't."

Carlsen nodded, thoughtful. "Very well. Expect mail in the next few days, then." He began to walk past her, and she turned to yell after him.

"You didn't even ask my name!"

"I'm sure anyone could figure it out, since you must have swiped your badge to get in the labs area after hours. Have a good night."

"Wait!" She leaned forward and stopped him with a hand on his wrist. He paused immediately, even though it was obvious that it would take him no effort to free himself, and stared pointedly at the spot where her fingers had wrapped around his skin-right below a wristwatch that probably cost half her yearly graduate salary. Or all of it.

She let go of him at once and took one step back. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"The kiss. Explain."

Olive bit into her lower lip. She had truly screwed herself over. She had to tell him, now. "Anh Pham." She looked around to make sure Anh was really gone. "The girl who was passing by. She's a graduate student in the biology department."

Carlsen gave no indication of knowing who Anh was.

"Anh has . . ." Olive pushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear. This was where the story became embarrassing. Complicated, and a little juvenile sounding. "I was seeing this guy in the department. Jeremy Langley, he has red hair and works with Dr. . . . Anyway, we went out just a couple of times, and then I brought him to Anh's birthday party, and they just sort of hit it off and-"

Olive shut her eyes. Which was probably a bad idea, because now she could see it painted on her lids, how her best friend and her date had bantered in that bowling alley, as if they'd known each other their whole lives; the never-exhausted topics of conversation, the laughter, and then, at the end of the night, Jeremy following Anh's every move with his gaze. It had been painfully clear who he was interested in. Olive waved a hand and tried for a smile.

"Long story short, after Jeremy and I ended things he asked Anh out. She said no because of . . . girl code and all that, but I can tell that she really likes him. She's afraid to hurt my feelings, and no matter how many times I told her it was fine she wouldn't believe me."

Not to mention that the other day I overheard her confess to our friend Malcolm that she thought Jeremy was awesome, but she could never betray me by going out with him, and she sounded so dejected. Disappointed and insecure, not at all like the spunky, larger-than-life Anh I am used to.

"So I just lied and told her that I was already dating someone else. Because she's one of my closest friends and I'd never seen her like a guy this much and I want her to have the good things she deserves and I'm positive that she would do the same for me and-" Olive realized that she was rambling and that Carlsen couldn't have cared less. She stopped and swallowed, even though her mouth felt dry. "Tonight. I told her I'd be on a date tonight ."

"Ah." His expression was unreadable.

"But I'm not. So I decided to come in to work on an experiment, but Anh showed up, too. She wasn't supposed to be here. But she was. Coming this way. And I panicked-well." Olive wiped a hand down her face. "I didn't really think."

Carlsen didn't say anything, but it was there in his eyes that he was thinking. Obviously.

"I just needed her to believe that I was on a date."

He nodded. "So you kissed the first person you saw in the hallway. Perfectly logical."

Olive winced. "When you put it like that, perhaps it wasn't my best moment."

"But it wasn't my worst, either! I'm pretty sure Anh saw us. Now she'll think that I was on a date with you and she'll hopefully feel free to go out with Jeremy and-" She shook her head. "Listen. I'm so, so sorry about the kiss."

"Please, don't report me. I really thought I heard you say yes. I promise I didn't mean to . . ."

Suddenly, the enormity of what she had just done fully dawned on her. She had just kissed a random guy, a guy who happened to be the most notoriously unpleasant faculty member in the biology department. She'd misunderstood a snort for consent, she'd basically attacked him in the hallway, and now he was staring at her in that odd, pensive way, so large and focused and close to her, and . . .

Maybe it was the late night. Maybe it was that her last coffee had been sixteen hours ago. Maybe it was Adam Carlsen looking down at her, like that. All of a sudden, this entire situation was just too much.

"Actually, you're absolutely right. And I am so sorry. If you felt in any way harassed by me, you really should report me, because it's only fair. It was a horrible thing to do, though I really didn't want to . . . Not that my intentions matter; it's more like your perception of . . ."

Crap, crap, crap.

"I'm going to leave now, okay? Thank you, and . . . I am so, so, so sorry." Olive spun around on her heels and ran away down the hallway.

"Olive," she heard him call after her. "Olive, wait-"

She didn't stop. She sprinted down the stairs to the first floor and then out the building and across the pathways of the sparsely lit Stanford campus, running past a girl walking her dog and a group of students laughing in front of the library. She continued until she was standing in front of her apartment's door, stopping only to unlock it, making a beeline for her room in the hope of avoiding her roommate and whoever he might have brought home tonight. It wasn’t until she slumped on her bed, staring at the glow‑in‑the- dark stars glued to her ceiling, that she realized that she had neglected to check on her lab mice. She had also left her laptop on her bench and her sweatshirt somewhere in the lab, and she had completely forgotten to stop at the store and buy the coffee she’d promised Malcolm she’d get for tomorrow morning. Shit. What a disaster of a day. It never occurred to Olive that Dr. Adam Carlsen— known ass— had called her by her name.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (September 14, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593336828
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593336823
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.7 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.48 x 1.06 x 8.2 inches
• #202 in Romantic Comedy (Books)
• #223 in New Adult & College Romance (Books)
• #637 in Contemporary Romance (Books)

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About the author

Ali hazelwood.

Ali Hazelwood is a multi-published author—alas, of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the U.S. to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies her. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, crocheting, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her two feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband).

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• Mar 15, 2022

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | Book Review + Questions

Updated: Oct 25, 2023

When we chose The Love Hypothesis for our book club February book, I was feeling giddy and excited. But as I started reading that feeling slowly started fading away. But ... wasn't this book all hyped up on Bookstagram and TikTok? What was happening? Then a crazy thought entered my mind ... Was I too old for YA or NA books? Thankfully according to Marie Pabelonio, associate editor at Goodreads, NO. 😁😁 ( click here for the article ).

First things first , I'm not into the professor / student romance. Call me uptight, but it's just not my thing. And as it's not my thing in real life, then it's not something I particularly enjoy reading in books.

Second - Adam. I know he was supposed to come off as moody and sullen, but I found his character very bland. Very been-there-done-that. I hated finding out that he had actually been pining over Olive since their meet-cute. I don't see how that needed to be added to the storyline actually - it only made it worst for me! If Olive hadn't fake kissed Adam, then how long would he have continued to wait before talking to her?

Third - The first kiss. I thought their meet-cute was cute, but ..... the first kiss? Ughhhhh ... Olive kisses him, as she would have done to any random guy, because she wanted to fool her best friend into thinking that she was over the guy she last dated because her best friend was crushing on said guy but wouldn't do anything about it because she was thinking Olive was still into him. Again ughhhh ... These are PhD students, but why does it feel like I'm reading something outta high school? Also ... a stolen kiss is only sweet in movies and books. Trust me.

Fourth - Olivia and Ahn's friendship. Read paragraph above. If you need to go through all that to convince your best friend, then I question the friendship. If Anh is really her best friend, why can't they just have a sensible conversation about this? And what kind of best friend puts her friend time after time in embarrassing situations and expect her to do what she tells her to? Ahn was annoying!

Fifth - The sex scene. I was very shocked that it had unprotected sex. Someone assuring you that they are clean counts for nothing in my book and I think this shouldn't be included in books. Always practice safe sex. Someone in the book club also mentioned that she hated the way it was written and the words used. The word "pornographic" was mentioned during our book club discussion.

So is there one thing that I liked about this book? Yes!

Olive. But Olive without her friends and without Adam . Olive, a successful woman in STEM. She came from Canada and pursued her education in the US. Moreover, she experienced many difficulties and faced obstacles to have opportunities she deserved, but nevertheless she really fought to get them. I admire that about her, which is maybe why I am so upset at how she is represented in love and her friendships.

Book Club Questions:

Did you find that there first meeting was cute?

What did you think of Olive?

What did you think of Adam?

Did you find Olive immature at times?

How did you picture Olive physically?

What did you think of the side characters? Which one was your favorite? Which one was your least favorite?

Did you think that Anh was a cliché character?

Why do you think it was more important for Olive to deceive Anh than to tell her the truth?

How do you feel about unprotected sex in books? Does it ruin the sex scene for you?

How did you feel about how Olive managed the situation with Tom Benton?

How did you feel about the ending?

Do you think that this book was overhyped?

xoxo Elodie

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The Love Hypothesis

When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman’s carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.

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.

If you would like to read a list of content warnings for The Love Hypothesis (warning for mild spoilers), please click here . 

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Love Lies Bleeding Ending Explained: Unpacking The WTF Scenes And Why Perception Is Key

WTF just happened...

Love Lies Bleeding pumps you full of adrenaline and leaves you scratching your head by the end. It’s a sexy, violent, and a little bit mad movie. It’s one of the great neo-noir crime flicks . Kristen Stewart gives another great performance in Love Lies Bleeding , and Katy M. O’Brian is equally enthralling in this breakout role. Love Lies Bleeding is hilarious at times with its surreal look at crime, love, and bodybuilding. The film has many WTF moments but the Love Lies Bleeding ending might be the biggest one. 

It borders the lines of reality and fantasy with an ending that escalates, cools down, escalates, and ends on a perfect final image. The Love Lies Bleeding ending ties up the movie but leaves a lot of questions that make you wonder what’s real and what’s fantasy.  Let’s dig into it.

Warning Love Lies Bleeding spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution. 

What Happened At The End Of Love Lies Bleeding 

Lou Sr. ( Ed Harris ) kidnaps Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian) and plans to pin all the murders on her to free himself and Lou (Kristen Stewart) from facing any consequences. However, Lou warns him to let Jackie go or she’ll tell the police everything. He scolds her and hangs up. He sends one of his men to kill Lou. This leads to a shoot-out.

Lou manages to kill her father’s hired killer and heads to rescue Jackie. After a confrontation with Beth ( Jena Malone ), Lou saves Jackie. Jackie is not happy to see her because of the assumed affair with Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov). The women talk it out and then Lou goes to find Lou Sr. She tells Jackie to go the opposite way.

Lou Sr. shoots Lou in the leg. The two talk as Lou says the police are on their way. Lou Sr. tortures his daughter a bit by sticking his finger in her gun wound. Then plans to kill her. However, Jackie turns into a huge version of herself and picks him up.

Lou then places a gun in his mouth but doesn’t shoot. She and Jackie leave him for the police to handle. We then see Jackie and Lou on the road. Jackie falls asleep. Then Lou goes to check on Daisy’s body. Daisy is partly alive, so Lou strangles her. Then dumps her in the field and has a smoke. 

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How Perception Is Key To The Ending 

The Love Lies Bleeding ending can be taken at face value. Jackie suddenly transforms into a giant. However, it seems more complicated than just Jackie turning massive. The perception of Jackie offers some insight and clues into why she suddenly grows. 

Love Lies Bleeding is a love story and when people are in love, they often only see their partners as brilliant, beautiful creatures, at least at the start of the relationship. When Jackie returns to save Lou from her father, she is probably a normal size but Lou looks at her with such admiration, that she imagines her as this huge goddess-like creature. Some of the best romance movies also have an inflated gaze at the object of affection. 

In an interview with The Mary Sue , Love Lies Bleeding director, Rose Glass, kind of supports this theory of Lou having this elevated perception of Jackie in the end. 

Quite early on, I thought of Jackie as a little bit like a superhero. That’s certainly how Lou sees her, and I wanted the film to have that visceral feeling. So all the bulging, hulking muscles felt like quite a natural escalation to me.

The other way perception can work in this scene is that Jackie envisions herself becoming this goddess. She has always been obsessed with her strength and body. Jackie aims to push it beyond belief and may see herself achieving this when she saves Lou. The giant version is a physical manifestation of accomplishing the goal of using her strength in the best possible way. 

We also must remember that Jackie has kind of lost her mind. She’s been overdosing on steroids and dealing with the guilt and trauma of murdering several people. She could be fully imagining herself as a giant saving Lou. I believe most of the otherworldly stuff happening in Love Lies Bleeding is a metaphor for the characters’ perceptions or mental states. Therefore, I don’t believe Jackie actually turns into a giant. Someone is just projecting that idea of her in this heroic moment. 

The Toxicity Of Love In Love Lies Bleeding 

Love Lies Bleeding is a great queer love story because it shows the complexities of falling in love. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine. It can reach levels of toxicity. Lou and Jackie’s romance follows similar patterns to other romance movies that end up in dark places . Like some of those films, Jackie and Lou reach dangerous levels of codependency and moral grayness. They do end up both killers after all, and kill for each other. 

Love Lies Bleeding showcases the extremes people go to for love. We also see this with Daisy’s obsession with Lou and how that ultimately leads to her death. Then we see this again with Beth and her willingness to endure because she loves and depends on JJ ( Dave Franco ). Lou also sacrifices some of her life because she loves Beth and doesn’t want to leave her alone with JJ and Lou Sr. 

In an interview with West Side Today , Glass mentions how films often oversimplify the idea of love. They only show it as a transformative thing in a positive way. They don’t show how it can push people to their most selfish and most destructive selves. 

Jackie and Lou are in the early stages of their relationship, so despite everything that has happened, they’re in a blissful haze. Once that clears, they may not be so happy with all the things they did for love and to be together. The Love Lies Bleeding ending shows this possibly sobering reality with how it starts with them running happily to travel the world and escape their crimes, then ends on a somber, harsh note. They still have to get rid of Daisy’s body.

Love can lift you up but also pull you down to the pits of hell.

The Fate Of Daisy And Why It’s Important To Lou’s Fate 

In an LA Times interview, Glass states that everyone eventually becomes their parents. This is the unfortunate fate of Lou. She may not become a ruthless kingpin criminal like Lou Sr. However, she has now inherited some of his attributes. Lou saw herself as more righteous and morally superior to her father, but killing Daisy, who was annoying but not deserving of death, shows she has his capacity for darkness and evil.

She can justify it to protect someone she loves. Lou Sr. may have started the same way. Lou Sr. even points out that she would like to believe she’s nothing like him, but she’s probably a lot like him. The film ending with Lou smoking is a funny nod to her trying to quit throughout Love Lies Bleeding . It also shows that she can’t escape bad patterns: smoking and murder. 

Because Love Lies Bleeding plays with reality, it’s unclear whether Daisy is really still alive. However, it doesn’t matter. Lou’s true colors are shown whether she really strangles a barely alive Daisy or just fantasizes about it. She has Lou Sr.’s darkness. In the same West Side Today interview, Glass explained how horrible deeds are all part of the film’s message.

Yeah. Selfishly, it’s kind of a love letter to humanity’s weaker, baser instincts. Maybe. But hopefully. It’s kind of like we think humans are terrible. All humans have the credentials to be terrible, but we’re also wonderful. We embrace the terribleness—some sort of love letter to it, I guess.

Love can be wonderful but it can also make you terrible. That’s one of the takeaways from the Love Lies Bleeding ending. Lou and Jackie’s love story is mesmerizing and romantic at times but it’s also chaotic and destructive. It’s the duality of love. 

Love Lies Bleeding is one of A24’s most interesting movies . It breaks the boundaries of reality and showcases all the bliss of falling in love with some gritty, dark aspects. We all go a little mad in love, just hopefully not to the extremes of Love Lies Bleeding.

Rent or buy Love Lies Bleeding on Amazon. 

Spent most of my life in various parts of Illinois, including attending college in Evanston. I have been a life long lover of pop culture, especially television, turned that passion into writing about all things entertainment related. When I'm not writing about pop culture, I can be found channeling Gordon Ramsay by kicking people out the kitchen.

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