Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Love, theoretically

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Love, theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

105 reviews

rchulin1's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny 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

3.5

Content Warnings

emilywemily6's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

I almost DNFed this book in the first 20% multiple times because the FMC was annoying and childish. I ended up being glad that I kept going, but the first bit was a slog. I also really didn’t like how her advisor was clearly manipulating her, especially with her people-pleasing tendencies, but I appreciated that she had faults and blind spots. I liked Jack but I wasn’t totally convinced of their relationship from her POV, especially since she kept thinking the worst of him and kept ignoring her main issue with him and his fraudulent scientific article he wrote in high school. I might like another protagonist a lot more but her faults and struggles were not ones I could connect with or sympathize. She had a lot of character growth though, and I liked where the plot ended up.

Content Warnings

xinawebb's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

mattiedancer's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

**SPOILERS**

Writing: 3.75⭐️/5

I do like Ali Hazelwood’s writing. I appreciate that this one – while keeping with the funny, quirky, academically driven voice she’s known for – did venture away from feeling like a copy-paste of her other stories. I like how she brings a sense of humour to her writing without diminishing the story or the characters.

Characters: 3.5⭐️/5

Alright, so while, yes, these are very similar characters to her other novels, I appreciated the attempts to move away from her favourite tropes. Our MC is less self-assured than other protagonists in their personality. I loved how Elsie was a self-proclaimed people-pleaser (perhaps just because I definitely related to that). That being said, there are still a lot of similarities to her other protagonists, and I do wish she had stepped even further out of her own shadow with the characters.

Plot: 3.25⭐️/5

I do think Hazelwood tried to venture past her regular tropes here and, while I think that worked well in many sections, there were several portions of this novel that simply seemed to drag. The crux of the conflict in the novel felt slightly forced, and Elsie’s switch from avoiding Jack to running after him felt sudden and out of character. That being said, there are several wonderful sections of this novel’s plot that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Who Should Read This Book?

Fans of Ali Hazelwood; nerdy romance fans; fans of Twilight (trust me); someone looking for a quick, mostly lighthearted read.

Content Warnings?

Gaslighting, misogyny, sexism, mentorship abuse, toxic relationship, death of parent, grief, medical trauma

Post-Reading Rating: 4⭐️/5

Awww. I had fun. I also really loved her tongue-in-cheek reference (and avoidance) of her fave trope: fake dating.

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5 (3.56)

Content Warnings

heftsi's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

cocochich1's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

the_reading_italian's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

Oh. My. Gosh. I'm in love with this book. I started reading it as a joke, but I fell in love with the characters and the plot and literally just everything. This is the perfect book and will now be my permanent go-to for anytime I need a comfort read. My favorite part of this book by far was just the relationship between Jack and Elsie. Could it have gotten any better? No. It was that good. I love the way he is in love with her (he learned everything he possibly could about diabetes for her, for gods sake) and I love the way she learns to better herself for him. I love the way they talk to each other and the things that they do together to make the other person in the relationship happy. For real though, 10/10 read!!! I loved every second of it and it was such a great book. Please, please, please read this if you are looking for something uplifting and adorable <3

Content Warnings

citrarowan's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.5

honestly i read this last year when it was published but i think i was only focused on that small cameo that i barely paid attention to the actual story but this time i did and let me tell you one thing and one thing only: elsie i adore you.

Content Warnings

noellegrace8's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

This is a great, fun romance read that says a ton about character and careers. I love when romances are also plot-driven, and with the excess (in a good way!) amount of physics concepts, university politics, and familial issues, this absolutely fits the bill. The main characters have electric chemistry, and the side characters are also all fully fleshed out and interesting. I liked the date-for-hire idea for a struggling student who's supposed to be above all of that as an academic. And the brother storyline! Good representation. The fact that they stayed friends was so nice. And I actually teared up two or three times while reading this, even though it's not that dramatic of a plot, because I could just feel the emotion of the characters/ where they were coming from so much. I feel like I could relate to and learn a lot from Elsie.

A few low points for me personally were some of the wording that won't age well & cheesy moments that seemed to lean a bit too much into the classic tropes of the genre instead of modern takes, which is typicsl of Hazelwood, and the epilogue. I'm not really into the trope of adding prologues and epilogues to romance novels, I'm not really sure where that came from and why it's so popular. But this prologue didn't add anything to the plot, and the epilogue was mildly confusing. I felt like maybe it was a callback to something within the book, but if it was, I had completely forgotten about the reference by the time I reached the epilogue. Also, what happened to Kyle?? And, I got annoyed by the idea that Elsie's brothers were fully grown adults acting like children, and the mother is okay with that, AND Elsie entertains it? Moments talking about her brothers fighting over some chick were just not convincing to me at all.

I don't factor audiobook performance into my overall review of a book, but I would give Thérèse Plummer 4/5⭐️. She did a fine performance, although her male voices came across as a bit odd, unlike some other female narrators I've heard.

Content Warnings

booklifeisthelife's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

Such a cute romance. I loved the emotionality of this book. The development of both main characters but especially the first. The journey was sad but moving and hopeful. I loved how

Jack pushed her to grow, to be honest and herself. How he cared for her and making her feel wanted, loved, secure. That it was okay to want things for yourself, to not mold yourself around other people's ideal. I love that he he helped her get out of that mindset. I also love the women supporting other women. How they won't bash each other. How even if they failed they want the other to succeed. I loved the subtle lgbtqia+ rep, like with the demisexual and aromantic and women couples. I felt seen. I loved her finally telling her mom to shove it and her mom ends up trying to be better which is nice.

the main thing I disliked was

how hypocritical Jack was at the end, how he lied to her this whole time when he's been trying to get her to be completely honest yet not doing the same. But thats where we see some development from him. I like that he made it right in the science world though, both because of it being the right thing and overdue but also for her.

Content Warnings

More...