Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Love Hypothesis

The sex scenes in this book were so unbelievably bad and cringey that I almost stopped reading the book entirely.
If you take a shot every time Adam's bigness is mentioned you will die of alcohol poisoning by page 35
The love interest is named Adam Carlsen because Adam Driver would be too obvious.
Olive might be in STEM, but she is dumb as hell. By the end of the book I was incredibly frustrated with all her decisions and leaps in logic. Her primary trait of unfathomable self doubt was equally frustrating to read. I know this might be a common character flaw in the real world, but something about it's portrayal in this novel made me want to claw my eyes out.
Credit where it's due: the Olive and Adam had good chemistry in their dialogue. If only it wasn't sandwiched in everything else.

Content Warnings

prettybaddieb's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

thereaderfriend's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

Okay, I am much more disappointed with this book than I thought I’d be.

I love character driven novels but i didn’t appreciate the underlying motives.

It was so stupid of Olive to fake date Adam to make her friend—who should know that Olive is demisexual and over Adam—happy and feel comfortable dating her ex. Her friends should know her and respect that aspect of Olive.

Yes Ahn did tell Olive later that Olive didn’t need to do that but she should’ve gave her that safe space and acknowledgment earlier.

Also didn’t appreciate the brief moments where the author covered Olive’s sexuality. It was underwhelming.

And the author didn’t give enough time for the

sexual harassment situation

to be handled. It felt halfhearted and disheartening to only get the amount that was explored of the situation. Also, am not enjoying the fact that Adam had come to the rescue in that situation (and many others).

Olive had issues with her self esteem, and that’s fine, but their was little to no growth. I wanted more for her. I could relate in moments where Olive was insecure and untrusting, but I wanted her to learn to trust herself more. It seemed like she grew to trust Adam completely instead of herself. I hate that. Adam was great, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t like the way the author handled this.

There were many things that were super ridiculous to me but some that I need to mention right here.

what scientists are so willing and careless with unsafe sex? And wtf was that when Adam grabbed Olives hand and put it on his penis when she was telling him that she wanted to have sex with him and he was denying it? That was so horrific to me. She seemed hesitant and thrown off before this because he kinda didn’t want to have sex with her because he thought that it was a bad idea. I doubt many people would react well to this like she did. What the fuck?

It was funny in parts. I really liked Adam for a good amount of it. I liked his intentions and that he was grumpy but not with Olive. I loved Holden. He was my favorite.

I also did not feel the smut scenes. I get why they were like that because

she was a “virgin” and demisexual so it was overwhelming

but I think that some of it was too much and some moments that seemed to me would be not consensual because

she was one moment overwhelmed and then feeling like she couldn’t say no. Yeah it’s normal to have mixed feelings but I felt unsettled because I feel like this was pushing her in the wrong way and direction. She needed to be pushed in emotional ways first but I guess that didn’t matter as much as her needing to be pushed in that intimate way.

Content Warnings

spaghettireads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

samisversion's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Overall, the book was incredible. I got a little distracted by thinking about which character in the book was which Star Wars character in the original fanfiction, but still, i did enjoy it.

One thing I will mention is the end.

I felt myself get a little frustrated at Olive towards the end; there was so much she was keeping from Adam with Tom, but I did understand why. She wanted to protect him and she was also scared. Also, the scenes where they were having sex and she kept on insisting she wouldn’t be able to feel the physical attraction she has for him… olive, baby, who hurt you? I’m happy in the end she ended up letting herself be pleasured by Adam. She deserved it, and I’m glad she was comfortable with him once she let herself have a good time.

Another gripe I had about the book — it was getting difficult to figure out who was talking when Olive/Adam and Malcom/Holden went on a double date. I feel like it could have been set up a tad better. Or maybe it could have been less words and more description of the four of them hanging out together. Speaking of Holden, their relationship felt a little unnatural. And I honestly would have loved to see it where maybe Malcom and Holden were dating while Olive and Adam fake-dated and hid it from them. It would have made the fact that Holden and Malcolm were seeing each other a little more exciting.

Content Warnings

lolaaareadss1's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging 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? No

5.0

Ok this book was absolutely amazing. Adam and Olive are the cutest together and I love there relationship
I felt like they were perfect together..and I loved the plot of fake dating.

The only real part that was bothersome for me was what adam’s friend says to olive in the end..how she isn’t good enough and that he only picked for the program because of her looks. But Adam handles it really well.

Content Warnings

alphabetmafiamember's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.5

Content Warnings

More...