Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Love, Theoretically

Though Ali Hazelwood tends to have a formulaic approach to her novels, they’re still so much fun!

Love, Theoretically focused more on academia, and, as someone who was highly involved in higher Ed, I appreciate the way power dynamics and everyday struggles were accurately portrayed.

The one thing that did annoy me, though, was that the whole “honesty” thing reminded me of “naked truth” from It Ends With Us.

Overall, this was a fun book!

Content Warnings

amandaboyer's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing 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

3.0

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deluna's review against another edition

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emotional 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

5.0

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jessiereads98's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood follows Elsie and Jack as they navigate a relationship which started with a lie and animosity. The romantic and comedic elements were well balanced, and I found the story to be charming overall. It isn’t a perfect book, but it is a lot of fun.

I can see why people say this is Hazelwood’s best work, as her craft has clearly improved here. Her character and relationship development do seem to flow more smoothly and realistically here. Hazelwood has also improved at communicating information to the reader more subtly through her diction, without just outright telling us the information. Unfortunately, Ali Hazelwood remains unsubtle with the size kink in her work. At least once a chapter if not more, we are reminded how big the male main character is, and how small the female main character is (she’s described as medium a couple times, but really she’s so tiny especially compared to him). Hazelwood has also cut down on the amount of cringe overall. However, if I ever have to read about a pee erection or the character who’s supposed to be an adult combining that into one word ever again, I am suing for emotional damages.

As always, I appreciated the STEM element in this book. As someone unfamiliar with physics, I did find bits a little jargon-heavy. The heavy jargon bits did not interfere with my comprehension of the plot or characters, and I was able to understand the comedic, and plot or character relevant physics puns and metaphors. I enjoyed the realism that Ali Hazelwood brought to the story from her STEM background, such as the blurb on Elsie’s dissertation topic, and using real journal titles like Nature. I also thought the discussion of the role of adjunct professors in the current academic landscape was important, and well done.

The part of the book that was most frustrating to me, was unfortunately Elsie (the female main character). Her characterization was often contradictory, and not because she’s a people pleaser. We are repeatedly told how good Elsie is at reading people, yet she is constantly having miscommunications with Jack. This felt completely out of line with what we are told about her character, and like it was just being done to further the plot. She is also repeatedly unfair to, and disrespectful of Jack. Her take on the academic journal scandal, was completely wrong, and bordering on stupid. As someone within academia, it is not

Spoiler

Jack’s

fault that a journal accepted a blatantly falsified article, and the journal, its editor, and possibly the field do deserve scrutiny for that. It’s also unlikely that a single falsified article could affect funding to a field as large as theoretical physics so significantly, unless there were other problems in that field. So either this plot point was unrealistic, or Elsie is just stupid despite how smart she purportedly is. When arguing with Jack, she is unfair and makes false comparisons. There is also an instance where after

Spoiler

Jack says no to sex, Elsie just strips in front of him

. This borders on sexual harassment in my opinion. Elsie as a character frequently left me frustrated and with a bad taste in my mouth.

On the other hand, Jack is possibly my favourite male main character of Hazelwood’s. He’s the most fleshed out of her male main characters, and takes more of an active role throughout the story. He has flaws which are addressed in the book, but overall he’s likeable. His grand gesture was also fitting and unique, and I loved it.

Similarly, the side characters in this book really shine. Most of the side characters who get time on page have full personalities, and are likeable. They can each stand on their own as characters, rather than simply propping up the plot or being convenient set dressing.

Spoiler

I also obviously loved the Adam and Olive cameo, and references to Bee from Love on the Brain.

Despite my complaints about Elsie’s characterization, and the blatant size kink, this was another fun Hazelwood STEM romp which in some ways does improve on her previous works.

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kimveach's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Another great novel by Ali Hazelwood. In the author's own words, this is "a love story set against the backdrop of academic politics." It also talks clearly about the misery of a person with a Ph.D. trying to get a decent-paying job with benefits.

Once again, her books follow the standard romantic trope, but that is not what most of the book is about. It's what makes her romance books stand out.

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hq_reads'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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I read this so quickly and I still really enjoy Ali Hazelwood’s writing - it’s witty and fast-paced. While I enjoyed the plot I have to say that I am a little bit tired of the ginormous man and the teeny tiny petite woman who is naive about sex so the man, usually in some position of power, teaches her how to enjoy sex…. Come on, Ali! Can we get an FMC who is confident in her sexuality and is sex positive please???

Secondly there was one line that instantly turned me off: “fitting his fingers into the dips of my ribs”…… Ali, this is not the 00s anymore. Would it hurt to have a midsize or plus size FMC?? Or not glorify skinniness…

Despite my grumbling this was really good and I completely understand how people would rate this 5 stars. It’s just my personal preference. I gave 5 stars to love hypothesis and love on the brain and they absolutely deserved it. But because of the above I could not give this 5 stars. Soz.
-0.5 stars for glorifying skinniness and making me feel fat (that’s a personal reaction, not suggesting it was intentional or anyone else will feel like this!)
-0.5 stars for using the same trope with the FMC being super naive about sex
-0.5 stars because I don’t think Jack’s behaviour was okay right before they first hooked up and she should have gone home instead of giving him the goods. He needed to suffer more 😅 then get the goods!!! (Because the spicy scenes were VERY GOOD)

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tigerkind's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-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

4.0

I’ve previously been kind of “meh” about Hazelwood’s books but I feel like this might’ve been her best one yet. Likeable, relatable characters for the most part, a realistic story arc and actual real-life issues? Great stuff. Not amazing-life changing, but very solid.

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indieandajean's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

5.0

Help, I've been impaled.

It's always been easy for me to relate to Ali's characters, but our heroine Elsie is just a little too relatable for comfort. This one is for all the people pleasers in the world, it's got a message for us all and we need to hear it.

Loved all the attention to academic politics and the way it shows the very real problems with the adjunct system. Also I always love a good star wars & Reylo homage, which are always sprinkled in here and there (I can only assume Millicent is one of these and obviously there's a straight up Kylo and Rey call out too).

Overall, another amazing piece of steminist fiction!

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