Reviews with content warning for Cancer - A Hipótese do Amor

This story made me kick my feet like a school girl. I loved following Olive and Adam’s story as they try to navigate fake-dating each other. Watching them slowly get to know one another and that blossom into them falling in love had my heart exploding. Then, to top it off, having that satisfactory “full circle” moment at the end of the book was just the cherry on top.

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

2 out of 5 stars

‘The Love Hypothesis’ isn’t the worst book I’ve read courtesy of booktok, but it isn’t the best.

Hazelwood’s debut follows third-year Ph.D candidate Olive Smith, whose disbelief in lasting romantic relationships gets her in hot water when she panic-kisses a young hotshot professor in a bid to convince her best friend she is over her ex.

The professor in question is Adam Carlsen, well-known at their university for his bad attitude and rigorous scientific dedication. To her utmost surprise, Adam offers Olive an opportunity — to help keep Olive’s charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend in exchange for helping him convince their department he’s here to stay. But when a scientific conference gone wrong draws them closer together, Olive’s carefully calculated theories on love are thrown into chaos and she begins to wonder if her hypothesis on love may need to be put under the microscope.

As former fanfiction writer myself, I have to respect Hazelwood’s game for getting her Star Wars fanfic published and having it become a New York Times Bestseller. Despite the initial struggle of having to seperate this story from the ship it’s inspired by (as I am a Reylo hater), I still kinda ate this book up.

The writing style of this is very readable. The prose isn’t flowery nor particularly lush, but it also feels decently edited in a way that many rom-coms of late have been lacking. It’s highly digestible and made for a really quick, fun read which is exactly what I was after.

There are for sure some cringe moments — I’m pretty sure the description of Adam fitting Olive’s entire breast in his mouth (yes, the entire thing) mid sex-scene almost made me catatonic. Likewise, the scene in which Olive had to sit in Adam’s lap in a crowded lecture hall made me physically recoil given the characters were in a professional work setting. But it’s fun regardless of these moments.

The trope of ‘grumpy-sunshine’ rarely works for me unless it’s subverted in an interesting way, so the odds were stacked against ‘The Love Hypothesis’ from the beginning.

Likewise, as much as I am self-described slut for the ‘fake dating’ dynamic, contemporary romance books often seem to miss the mark with it more and more. In ‘The Love Hypothesis’ it felt like a contrived and immature method of getting the two main characters in close proximity — Olive’s excuse of needing to fake date Adam purely so her friend will date the guy she likes, is flimsy at best and annoying at worst. A lack of communication between characters is my pet peeve in books like these, particularly when it feels as immature and pointless as it does here.

Similarly, ‘fake dating’ is at its best — in my opinion — when nobody beyond the two main characters knows it’s fake. This dynamic raises the stakes of the fake relationship, causes a tension and a trust to build between the two protagonists that feels palpable. Personally, I find ‘fake dating’ in rom-coms to not really work as well as it ought too.

The cause of my lower rating stems from, what I feel, is the unnecessary inclusion of a sexual assault plot point. Personally, I’m not entirely sure why books purported as rom-coms insist on including scenes of sexual assault/harassment that are never properly addressed. While ‘The Love Hypothesis’ is not as bad as other books that share this feature, I still came away from the novel wondering why that sequence was necessary.

Sexual assault is hard to write about and have conversations about in general, but even more so when the book is attempting to be a feel-good, lighthearted romance and keeping everything surface level. It really does a disservice to such an important topic. If you’re going to include healing from sexual abuse trauma in a romance novel, it should not be used as a plot point to drive forward a contrived conflict.

As such, I feel I cannot give this book a higher rating — even though I did mostly enjoy my time reading it.

On a more personal note, this book also makes mention of a mother passing away of cancer which is something due to my personal circumstance I’m rather sensitive about. Prior to coming across it in the book, I’d never heard mention of this facet of the story so coming across it organically without anticipating it was rather an unpleasant surprise. However, this is mostly a me thing and I don’t begrudge the book for the inclusion this but I’d be remiss to think that didn’t put a damper on my enjoyment.

All this to say, while ‘The Love Hypothesis’ was not a smash hit for me; I definitely can see the appeal and it’s one of the stronger ‘booktok romances’ that I’ve tried.

Hazelwood is an author who I’m certain I will be revisiting.

This one just didn’t go the distance for me.

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naluminum's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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petite_madeline's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

All of Ali Hazelwood's books are a must-read for me! I always devour her stories and have a great time, so this book was no exception!

You'll love this book if you love:

STEMinist romance
Grumpy, broody MMC with "you hurt her, you die" energy
Fake dating

There is definitely a noticeable formula to Hazelwood's books: A bubbly and witty woman in academia is placed in forced proximity with a colleague who she initially hates then learns to love. Then cue a second man who she trusted but turns out to be a vile despicable person to turn her life upside down. But, of course, things turn out great in the end.
I love it! Sometimes, it's comfortable to read a book and know where it's going without knowing where it's going at the same time. And, as they say, if it's not broke, don't fix it!
I wonder if, perhaps, my affinity for Hazelwood's books come from the fact that I initially started really getting into romance through fanfiction. There's something familiar, cozy, and nostalgic about that fanfic feel that just hits right for me.

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