Alternate Titles:
- Obtuse Women and the Men Who Love Them
- Tall, Professional Man Owns His Own Home
- What Makes Us Vulnerable Makes Us Human
This contemporary romance review started with just The Love Hypothesis and morphed into an amalgamated Ali Hazelwood catchall. I didn’t combine them just because it’s quicker, but because I really struggled with conveying my feelings about The Love Hypothesis and then had a bit of breakthrough while re-reading it Love Theoretically and Not in Love for Cannonball Read honesty purposes, then I went ahead and read Love on the Brain, and so here we are.
Ali Hazelwood Summary: Hazelwood does a glorious job of damaged people finding a balancing counterpart. Her characters are wounded, complicated, and interesting. They are whole — even if held together with resolve and coping mechanisms. Entrenched in the world of STEM, each has a support network of friends and/or family. Everyone has lives beyond the central relationships and belongs to a community. The two leads do not build a world of two. For trope elements, there are duplicitous villains twirling their metaphorical moustaches and the hero does seem to be riding to the professional rescue/support for each woman. He creates the safety and space for wrongs to be righted and the women find themselves with the freedom to pursue their desires and goals. Everybody has to get out of their own way, but these large, stalwart, and honourable (and a bit older) men facilitate dreams and financial security. It is a wish fulfillment genre after all.
The Love Hypothesis Short Version: Shades of Kulti. Betimes, I found myself annoyed instead of invested. I kept reading because that’s the power of good writing.
Love Theoretically Short Version: Very good, includes a delightful romantic gesture and truly enjoyable friendships. Interesting, with a not entirely believable version of the temporary prostitute trope.
Not in Love Short Version: Prickly, guarded people find love and some semblance of justice. My favourite Hazelwood so far.
Love on the Brain Short Version: I don’t know if it was, but it felt like an earlier effort. The very high-stakes climax was over-the-top.
And now, my abandoned-I-just-couldn’t-seem-to-get-it-done-review of The Love Hypothesis (Olive and Adam):
The Love Hypothesis Amazon’s Version: 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.
The Love Hypothesis My Longer Version:
First, a curse on whichever CBR reviewer it was who said they pictured the hero as Adam Driver. It’s fair based on the hero’s a. name and b. physical description and c. the over art, but, still, a plague on your house! It consistently impinged on my reading experience as I find him actively unappealing (though talented). Not only was my head cannon version of his appearance a problem, the character is not exactly a pleasant guy. I am not averse to “he’s an a-hole, but he’s her a-hole” trope in romance. I loved Kulti and absolutely adored Dukes Prefer Blondes; heck, after I read this book I revisited both Penny Reid Neanderthal books. It’s just that in The Love Hypothesis, Adam is a dick. An honourable and blatantly besotted one, but also “stubborn and mercurial” and “responsible for 90% of the department’s tears” nonetheless. It was too much for me. Would it have bothered me less if I thought he was a hottie? That’s something for me and non-existent therapist to muddle through.
Outside of the family and personal dynamics, Hazelwood’s books are set firmly in STEM and academia with their sins and fascinations at their center. There are few spaces where the women are not vulnerable and this is depressingly realistic, apparently even in a world where intellectual capacity is meant to all that matters. Sigh. Adam’s characterization means he manifests many of the negative elements Hazelwood is portraying of academia, he’s just not exploitive about it….
