Reviews

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

bubblegirljulz's review against another edition

3.0

The pros of this book are that it's set in the STEM field and the writing is fairly good. I HATED Tom but we're supposed to so the author did a good job there.
The negatives are that it's originally a Reylo fanfic. Adam Driver is one of the least sexy people to me so I was trying to make myself NOT thinking about him. Olive was pretty much a Mary Sue because there was nothing all that descriptive or anything that stood out to me.
Overall it wasn't that bad. It's nice to get STEM representation. The author didn't even refer to any kind of map when talking about Stanford and Palo Alto. She clearly has never been because it's not a hilly area! She also mentions there are no bike lanes and there's a bunch. Haha.

Spoiler

While the love scene was pretty steamy, I didn't love that the protection conversation was kind of glossed over. Adam seemed WAY more aggressive during the the scene than the entire book. It felt out of character just so the author could write a dominating sex scene.

Overall, the writing is decent enough and I appreciated the STEM representation.

mom2boyz's review against another edition

1.0

So this was an OK 2 star read, it had a cute beginning, but I really struggled to pay attention, and put it down a few times.

Then I came to the white male bashing chapter

mayhem9683's review against another edition

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

caterrillion's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.75

kay_simmons's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny 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

3.5

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood was such a fun read, I seriously enjoyed the rom-com vibes and absolutely loved the romance. The grumpy, moody guy paired with the insecure yet sunshine-y character? Chef’s kiss. That trope always gets me, and Hazelwood did a great job with it. There were so many cute moments that had me giggling and kicking my feet like a total schoolgirl. The chemistry between the characters felt natural, and the slow-burn romance was just the right amount of frustrating and satisfying.

That said, I do have some mixed feelings. While I completely understand the challenges women in STEM face, there’s no denying how much harder they often have to fight for their place, I felt like the author’s personal ideology came through a little too strongly. For me, it distracted from the story at times. I totally get wanting to highlight important issues (and I’m not trying to invalidate anyone’s experience), but I believe that when these topics are approached with an obvious tone of dislike or resentment, it can sometimes push people further apart instead of bringing them together. I’m a big believer in peace over conflict, and I just think there might’ve been a way to express these struggles without making it feel so heavy-handed.

That being said, I don’t want to downplay the importance of these conversations, and I respect Hazelwood for bringing them to the table. It just wasn’ t my favorite approach.

All in all, though, the love story totally made up for it. It was sweet, funny, and had all the fluffy moments I look for in a romance. For anyone thinking about picking this one up, just a heads-up there are some themes that might feel a little heavy or polarizing depending on your perspective. But if you’re in it for the romance? You’ll definitely get all the swoon-worthy feels.

natalee02's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual content

pinklish234's review against another edition

funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

winrythereader's review against another edition

5.0

Spoiler

I liked this book a lot! I was afraid of some repetition because of the prior book I just finished. The author did repeat a little about personality traits but it was worded or came from a different source so I did not mind at all.
I thought this was a cute, quirky read and I agreed with a lot of the chapters hypotheses.

Of course, I remembered like a third of the way through that my friend said something about a book that only has like one sex scene in it.. it was this one.

katchaslay's review against another edition

1.0

Characters lack depth and uniqueness. Even if the boring, trope-heavy plot was just a vehicle for the romance, the romance was cringe-worthy. The only reason I didn’t DNF is to make sure my poor opinion is valid.  

jackiread's review against another edition

5.0

I get that it’s thinly veiled Reylo fanfiction (there was even a wink to Star Wars in there), but it was good.