Reviews with content warning for Outing - Love, Theoretically

Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

88 reviews

ang3lina_'s review

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emotional funny 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

4.5

Content Warnings

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

Not my favourite by Ali Hazelwood and that’s a shame because I was so excited to read this!

MFC, Elsie, is the dumbest smart person out of all of Ali’s novels. She doesn’t speak up for herself. Ever. With anyone. She moulds herself into whoever she thinks the person she’s speaking with wants her to be—dates, her mother, best friend, mentor, coworkers, her students, random people she’s meeting for the first time. This is her personality and I guess her idea of survival mode in academia? But it is cringy to read.

Elsie and MMC, Jack, have a major height difference which is such a common trope I’m beyond tired of it. She needs to crane her neck to look up at him. She needs to stand on her tippy toes and pull his face towards her to kiss. His pen!s pokes her in the stomach. She’s a small-average height woman and he’s a giant. We get it.

Elsie’s interactions with her mother felt forced. Phone calls with and memories of mommy dearest are added sporadically throughout the book. Mom calls and expects Elsie to break up fights between her two older brothers—who are adults. We never meet the mother or the brothers so, even though their interactions give examples of Elsie putting up with a lot of garbage from a lot of people, they felt like unnecessary characters.

Elsie and her best friend/roommate have an odd cheese obsession. This is focused on so much it is actually a character trait. Cheese is one of the few things they have in common, but they make it work.

Elsie does grow throughout the book with Jack’s help. She starts to tell people what she thinks and how she feels which made me proud. One of Elsie‘s dislikes is her best friend ’s taste in movies. But even though Elsie starts voicing her opinions by the end of the book, in the epilogue she’s sitting through yet another movie she doesn’t want to be watching. Furthermore, the person she’s watching this movie with told her earlier in the book that they would never watch her favourite movies with her ever again. So Elsie is expected to compromise for their tastes, but they won’t compromise their’s for her? Eww. No thank you

The ending was meh for me. It didn’t feel as climatic as it could have been.

Sorry. This storyline and the characters just really weren’t for me.

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chasingpages1's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

As an author, Ali Hazelwood falls into the same camp as Elena Armas for me. I know when I pick up one of her books I will have to endure a plethora of cringey elements to her writing style (the incomprehensible height difference between her MMC and FMC, the extremely millennial humor, the almost hyperbolic quirkiness of her main characters, etc.) but I’m willing to do so for her silly, smutty, STEM romcoms that are nothing short of a fun time! Did I like that there was a hedgehog subplot in this book? No. Did Twilight need to be brought up every 5-7 pages? No. Do I think any actual 27 year old girl would willingly pair a sweater dress with thigh highs and then leave her apartment for a date? No. But did I enjoy the academic enemies to lovers trope? Yes! Did the banter have me giggling and kicking my feet the whole time? Yes! Did I think the book explored some surprisingly deep truths on honesty and self advocacy as a form of love? Yes!

If you enjoyed The Love Hypothesis (or Love on the Brain, though personally I try to forget it exists!) then you’ll like Love, Theoretically. If you can’t put up with cringe in exchange for a fun plot then look elsewhere for your romcom fix!

Content Warnings

beesin03's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective tense 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

4.25

Content Warnings

sinoclock's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I've read a fair number of Ali Hazelwoods contemporary nerd spicy romance books and this one may be the best of them.

Content Warnings

callenmecait's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

saracree's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

tallard's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Personally, my favorite Ali Hazelwood novel. It gets more into the academic weeds compared with her other novels. I think that's what I liked about.

Content Warnings

kylieqrada's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I thought I would love this after seeing reviews, especially because it has diabetes AND aro/ace rep. But SIGH. I liked it enough, but it was nothing mind-blowing (for me).

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