Hi All!
I hope everyone’s week is off to a lovely start!
This week I read Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood so I’m floating on big bubbly clouds of happiness while contemplating how much cheese I can purchase without the cashier eyeing me funny.
If you’ve seen reviews for Ali’s books, you’ve probably seen something along the likes of “one-hit wonder” mentioned. However, what some call a one-hit wonder, I call my happy place. After a long week or a big book slump, I can always count on an Ali Hazelwood book to bring me back to loving love 😊
Was this one any exception? Let’s find out!
Genre: Romance
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Edelweiss Blurb:
Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.
The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.
Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
What I liked about the book:
1. Like Ali’s many, many MMCs and FMCs, she is something of a scientist herself: she has a formula and she sticks to it. It had witty humor, sarcasm up the wazoo, and all the feel-good feelings one can possibly muster about gigantic men in Henley’s and tiny women who are wicked smart.
2. This couple was probably my favorite. And really, it’s because Jack was my favorite. He called Elsie out on all her issues and then was the most supportively sweet sweetie (with an edge, of course!) that only fictional men can be. From checking in with her periodically to replacing her beverage in a group of others without so much as another thought, he was the best incarnation of an Ali Hazelwood MMC I’ve read to date.
3. I absolutely LOVED the Adam and Olive content (The Love Hypothesis), as well as Sunny! And I’m pretty sure I saw a reference to Bee from Love on the Brain! I love when authors have throwbacks to other books/characters as it definitely gives the “it’s a small world after all” vibes.
4. Lastly, the supportive side characters (aka bffs, sassy assistants, Asexual fake boyfriends, etc.) in Ali Hazelwood books are always topnotch. They are the right amount of humor, undying loyalty, and spunk to keep the readers on their toes and add a touch of reality to the situation when Ali’s FMCs start to go off the rails.
What could have been better:
1. This is basically The Love Hypothesis book 3. While the formula works, I would like to see something new from Ali. I know you have it in you, love, let’s see it!
2. Of all of Ali’s books, the romance was my favorite, but the sexy-times were my least favorite. Can’t decide how that split makes me feel yet… (Side note: No one will ever replace Levi’s mouth!)
Final Thoughts:
It’s Ali Hazelwood. Of course, it’s adorable.
Final Rating:
4 stars
Special thank you to Edelweiss, Berkley Publishing Group, Penguin Random House, and Ali Hazelwood for the free ARC. My opinions expressed above are honest and voluntary.
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