Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Love Hypothesis

It was a bit of a struggle for me to get Reylo out of my head while reading this. Also the sock thing™️ was a little weird to me (personal preference sorry idk man). It just all felt very fanfic-ey to me BUT that is not a bad thing by any means. I am a fanfic aficionado so I have no issues with fanfic whatsoever. I just felt like it took me out of the book a little bit, since I personally am NOT a fan of Reylo. So I gotta get that out of the way at the start of the review, this definitely affected my opinion of the book, but not by any fault of the author’s or the writing.

I do love a fake dating trope. I would absolutely die for that trope, so therefore I very much enjoyed this book. I also enjoyed the science references, as a STEM nerd myself.

I found the sexual harassment thing to be kind of triggering in a way because it was just too real and horrifying. It was hard to read because I know, unfortunately, how often that kind of thing happens and it very often does not work out as well in real life as in this book. Most people don’t have a recording of the offensive misogynistic comments that they can use to hold the person accountable. I just kept stressing about how that could’ve gone so differently, and often does. So having that in the book kind of brought me out of the fluff a bit because I was so distressed. BUT that moment at the restaurant where she plays the recording for everyone was so fucking satisfying I was LIVING.

Another issue I had with the book was the way that Olive kept just lying out of her ass to Adam and not just being honest about her feelings drove me kind of crazy. I understand that she was afraid of admitting feelings and being rejected, but I also felt like she needed to tell him that her feelings had changed because it wasn’t fair to keep him in the situation when he didn’t know the full story. It feels like in that kind of situation it’s important that everyone is on the same page at a certain point. I understand her reasoning, it just annoyed me and there was like 20% of the book where she was just not telling him important stuff and I was like girl. what. I just felt like having him continue the fake dating once he thought she liked someone else seemed unfair because she wasn’t being fully honest with him. I also thought the fact that she kept assuming that he just like someone else, for absolutely no reasoning, irritated me a lot. I guess this is my long winded way of saying that Olive as a character kind of got on my nerves.

All this said, the book was fun and had some tropes that I love to death. I am an absolute sucker for fake dating and grumpy-sunshine. I just think that this was not my favorite of the fake dating/grumpy sunshine books that I have read. But if you like that trope I would still recommend this book.

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bibliothekderliebe's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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lizzye33's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful relaxing sad medium-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

3.75

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kelleyedwards_96's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.5

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sarahkarine's review against another edition

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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

3.0

I see what people are saying about the way the fake dating situation starts with the potentially questionable kiss being problematic. Though I think the author addresses it more than her criticizers give credit for.

This book requires you to put up with some pretty insufferable choices on the main characters side.

the choice to not own up to liking Adam and Tom’s shittiness when she first has the chance is so frustrating. And also her willful ignorance to believing adam might like her back all in the name of science?! No. Just communicate. You’re adults.

I loved the addition of the friends. That got me through.

The smut scene what’s weirdly possessive on Adam’s part and that threw me off too.

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slayharrie28's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

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baearles's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

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booking_along's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

this was very fun.
fast and easy to read but just the right amount of quirky snarky bantering characters to keep it light and entertaining without being too silly.

i really enjoyed the setting and how science was part of the plot without making it necessary for the reader to be a scientist or knowledgeable a lot the topics themselves to understand what’s happening but it still being a big enough part of the entire story to make it something not only important to and for the characters but also part of the story itself.

i really enjoyed of this fake-dating trope was handled and how the characters behaved towards each other.
sure there where some silly moments and i personally always dislike the “let’s create a conflict to break it all up only to come back together” trope but it wasn’t horrible here and had actual real reasons that any woman should be able to understand in some small part.

the writing was nice. easy to read and understand but not simple. it kept the story entertaining and fun and light but also added enough substance to the needed moments without making them dramatic.

“it will be fine, olive.” his smile softened. “and if not, at least it will be over.”

honestly the only moment i didn’t love but sadly is too realistic and i can understand why it was included as it was was the entire Tom situation. i could have done without that entire character and i do think with him the book would have been just as good with the small changes that would have done anyway with him completely and nothing would have changed on the overall story.
but i didn’t write it and as i said i understand why it was included and it’s sadly a very common thing especially male dominated fields.

i enjoyed myself a lot with this book and defiantly enjoy this authors romance works.

if you want something quirky and quick with a fun tone but still da static characters that will at least make you smile but might bring you a whole range of emotion?
Hazelwoods books are a good option!

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