Score: 4.5 ★ / 5 ★
Okay, where do I even start.
I am an avid reader, yes. I spend hours glued to my phone reading hundreds of thousands of words each day, but none of them are actual books. I’ve spent the better part of the last 2 years reading exclusively fan fictions and it wasn’t until I came across an Instagram reel of a bookstagramer that I decided to try reading non-fan fiction books again.
This is a case of Twitter Made Me Buy It because I saw a tweet about a Reylo fan fiction getting published and I just know I found the perfect transition book to start with. You see, the last pairing I was obsessing over was Reylo and it was like the universe worked in my favor for once, Ali Hazelwood had just released The Love Hypothesis only two weeks before. My dudes, the sound I made was nowhere near human. I immediately downloaded the e-book (my current preferred method of reading) and spent exactly a day and a half finishing it.
(I know it’s not that impressive but when you factor in the fact that I have two small human beings to take care of, it’s pretty dang impressive).
At first I thought I would need to see Adam and Olive as Kylo and Rey to help me stay interested in the story, since that was a problem that I’ve encountered a lot when I tried reading works that were not fan fiction. I find myself really surprised and pleased that by the second chapter of the story, I realized I haven’t thought of them as their fan fiction counterpart but as their own character.
The Love Hypothesis, not to reduce it into a simple trope-addled piece of fiction, is filled with my favorite clichéd plot lines. I mean, the grumpy and sunshine pairing? Fake-dating? ‘uh oh, are we sharing a hotel room?’, friends to lovers? Happy endings? Gah! All the best stuff fiction has to offer!
Immediately though, Adam. Phew, that man is a six foot tall of grumpy, awkward, and sexy, which probably shouldn’t make sense but somehow it does. He’s my favorite type of the brooding male lead, who is mean to literally everyone except his love interest. He could go from making people cry to giving heart eyes whenever Olive is around.
Speaking of Olive. My girl, a broke PhD candidate who is guilty for using her contact lens way past it’s expiration date (which I also am guilty of sometimes, they’re obscenely expensive) who is both the dumbest and the smartest character I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The endearing kind of dumb though, not the annoying kind. Her life is one gigantic trope and he has no self preservation and jumps into things without thinking it through, like uh… Kissing Adam Carlsen? Love it.
If there’s one word to describe Olive, it would be resilient. Or strong, I can’t really decide. She’s a smart, hardworking, goal-reaching PhD candidate who just wanted to make this world a better place by diagnosing cancer early so that people could have a chance to get it treated. Pushed by the loss of her own mother to cancer, she worked herself to the bone to make it happen. All this, without making her a Mary Sue type character. She’s insecure, she’s anxious, she’s positively optimistic to the point where it’s almost naive. Her flaws made her realistic and human that when I read about Olive, I was actively rooting for her to the very end.
What I love about The Love Hypothesis is that Ali Hazelwood managed to put common tropes and plot lines in the book without making it annoying or rudimentary. It’s cheesy, sure, that was pretty obvious from the start, but it’s the good cheese. The kind that left you wanting more with a smile on your face, not the kind that cloyed in your mouth and made you nauseous.
The reason why I gave it a 4.5/5 and not a full 5 because of the sex scene.
Gasp.
I know, I know. It surprised me too. I enjoy a well written steamy scenes as much as the next person, but this one came out of nowhere. Sure there were flirting and some UST sprinkled here and there, but from the start I just never got the vibe that it was that kind of story. So to have that scene in the middle of the book took me out for a second, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I felt like it would have been better if the scene was like glossed over or make it a fade-out type of thing.
Still a great read though, not a deal breaker at all for me. All in all, this was a great book to restart my reading journey and I’m glad that I was introduced to the joy that is Ali Hazelwood.
Until next read, bye!
xo Briana
briana salmun 