I wrote a glowing review of Ali Hazelwood’s newest book a few weeks ago. I liked it so much I picked up the first book the author wrote- The Love Hypothesis. The Love Hypothesis has many of the aspects I liked about the author – a deep and thorough knowledge of working in STEM and strong female characters with great personalities and interests, as well as interesting male leads and supporting characters. But that’s where many of the similarities end. What I liked about Loathe to Love was the tight writing and maturity. I loved the modern romance that still had a hint of whimsy… unfortunately, The Love Hypothesis very much feels like a fantasy written by a student about her professor or TA etc. and made into a novel.
The Love Hypothesis is still very enjoyable and engaging, but the maturity is missing. The story is about a PhD candidate who starts a fake relationship with a tenured professor. The reasons the heroine chooses to enter into the fake relationship are a bit weak. She wants to convince her friend that she is happily in a relationship to clear the field for the friend to go out with the heroine’s ex. The reasons for the tenured professor, or love interest, to enter into the fake relationship are a bit more substantive if also farcical – he needs to prove the institution that he is sticking around so they release his funding, and what better way to do that than dating a PhD candidate?
Even if I didn’t feel a bit squeamish about a professor dating a candidate ( I know it happens a lot, just still feel icky) the situations they are ‘thrown’ into in order to prove their relationships are silly and childish including being goaded into putting suntan lotion on each other at a work function, and her sitting on his lap at an overflowed guest speaker event, again a work function. The hero himself is also a bit too perfect in a fantasy trope. His major flaw is that he is really tough on PhD candidates and will fail or send their thesis’s back for more work or evaluation to make sure they will succeed.
Overall the book was still solid in many ways and really well written, I’d recommend it as a beach read or lazy day read. My issues are probably my own in that the other book I read from the author was so well done in my mind that this one just fell flat in comparison.