A review by thereaderfriend
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

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.
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