Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

A ​szerelem képlete by Ali Hazelwood

81 reviews

alecatlin's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny 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? No

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

charlottefannon's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny 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

2.0

I’m really torn on this one. On one hand it is really cute, and I don’t regret reading it, but I have a couple major problems with it:

1. It is just Nice. It’s a nice book. It’s not amazing or revolutionary, nor is it offensive. But it’s pretty forgettable, and I know for a fact I won’t re read it. And tbh I don’t even want it to take up room on my shelves it’s such a middle ground book. 

And my biggest issue: after purchasing but before reading I found out that this is actually republished work. Republished fanfiction- of Reylo (Kylo Ren and Rey) from the Star Wars sequels. Now, all the power to Ali Hazelwood, I’m a fanfic writer myself and I think that it’s a great way to get into the industry. The fact that she wrote this and published it later is fab. (I don’t hate Reylo shippers either) But the fact that it is Reylo fanfic made me squicky. Then it became a domino effect of who’s who. Anh is Rose, I assume Malcolm is maybe Poe? Jeremy I think is Finn. Dr Aslan is Leia, Holden is Huxley, Adam’s lecturer who he hates is Luke, and the rest fall into place. 

I don’t know why this ruined the book for me, maybe because I don’t like the ship Reylo particularly, maybe because I don’t think that Adam Driver is attractive but every scene with Adam the character all I could picture was the actor. 

The book has some other issues, mainly pacing. The beginning is too fast, we’re thrown in the deep end and it’s like “woah”. Secondly Anh. I love Anh, genuinely. She’s great, and so the moments where she’s like “hey Olive go be cute with your bf” come out of the blue and are really jarring. And pretty invasive. And I’m glad Olive calls her out on it later in the book. Thirdly, the plot is a little thin. The plot relies too heavily on miscommunication and, this may be me being insensitive, but the “everyone who loves me leaves” feels like a get out of jail free card for the protagonist not to tell Adam she loves him. It’s paper thin, especially since she does have friends! Who she loves! 

Also Olive’s demisexuality is great- but use the label and stop referring to people who have a sex drive as “normal”, I’m ace and I’m tired of that crap. 

That’s all my gripes to be honest. Olive is a good protagonist, who I cared about. Adam is a pretty good love interest. He’s a feminist, he’s really protective of Olive but not in a creepy way, and he’s sweet! 

But that’s about it. It’s a nice story, but nothing new or spectacular. It’s very middle of the road, with manufactured drama, but a protagonist you root for.

EDIT: in light of Hazelwood admitting she writes novels based on tropes her editor spoonfeeds her I’m decreasing my rating. Mediocre white women rule this industry, while people of colour get left behind. This is poorly written, under the guise of “feminism” and honestly the “steminist” label makes me barf. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

What a fun read, I really liked the book. I appreciate a good fake-dating-trope and paired with a  grumpy-and-sunshine trope, this was immensely entertaining. The
boob in the mouth
scene towards the ending did weird me out a bit, but did not take a way from the overall enjoyment.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

things100's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective tense 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

4.75

Let’s start with the cover not a huge fan but really sums up their first kiss 😂 so it’s very Olive and Adam. Such a great book, I could not put it down, read the entire thing in a day and a half. So cute but also tackled the issues women especially women in STEM face
I still can’t believe he who shall not be named Ughh Also can we talk about how hot Adam was in the restaurant scene. He really would’ve killed he who shall not be named if Olive hadn’t said something 😍
. I did love how science and their lab work are a part in the book because it’s such an important part in both characters lives. Olive really reminded me of my cousin who’s in her phd program and always at the lab 🧪. Adorable book just a heads up if you need lots of spice this book probably isn’t gonna work for you since it only have 1 spicy scene. But I thought it’s still definitely worth a read and worth the hype because the rest of it is iconic. Also just how hilarious this book is I was laughing my ass off most of the book 😂. Or the quotes one of my favs “carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man”. Overall a great book would definitely reread. Now time to go find myself an Adam 😂
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sophiemartin's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

emilysines's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

ohhh my god. i blew through this in, like, 6 or 7 hours. i’m obsessed!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

k80strickland's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny 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? No

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

maggie_hamel's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny fast-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

3.75

cute rom com <3
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I decided to read this book because of booktok. I was a little sceptical reading it at first just because it’s booktok and it was very overhyped. For once, booktok actually got this book right. 

This book is about Olive Smith who is a third-year Ph.D. candidate, and she doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationship. However, her best friend does and that is how she got into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and that she is happily in love, but it’s going to take more than just saying that she’s happy on her own. Scientists always require proof. So, like any biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. The man that she kisses 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. Soon Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope. Will they be able to keep up the act? 

I didn’t expect to fall in love with this book as much as I did. But it had all my favourite things – fake dating, the grumpy-sunshine trope, contemporary romance, kick ass women who are all feminists who just want equality, the man who hates everyone but her, the over-protective man who will burn the whole world down for her and guy falls first. Just everything I loved. Adam Carlsen is just . . . perfect and complex and just eurghhhh, I love him and the friendship and relationship between him and Olive. I thought the book was a bit slow-paced at first but it got better and Olive really really needs to learn how to communicate and just needs to be honest. 

Overall, this book was so cute and swoon worthy and I want more of Adam and Olive, Anh and Jeremy and Holden and Malcolm. I would love a sequel of this book. I might have to add Ali Hazelwood to my instant-buy authors and this book has been added to my favourite books and if I could I would give it 10 stars. I cannot wait to see what Ali has in store next. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings